Liberty lost to Virginia on Saturday afternoon and must defeat New Mexico State to become bowl eligible. With one week in the regular season remaining, here are where several national pundits are projecting the Flames to play.
ESPN, CBS Sports, the Sporting News, Banner Society, and 247Sports currently have the Flames projected to make a bowl game.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach projects Liberty in the Cure Bowl against Arkansas State on December 21st in Orlando, Florida. Schlabach has had this projection for five straight weeks.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura projects Liberty into the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl against Wyoming. This game is played in Fort Worth, Texas on January 4 at 11:30 on ESPN.
CBS’ Jerry Palm projects Liberty into the Birmingham Bowl against Tulane on January 2nd at 3 p.m. airing on ESPN.
The Sporting News also has Liberty in the Birmingham Bowl facing Charlotte. This is the fourth straight week this publication has projected Liberty into the Birmingham Bowl and second time against Charlotte.
Banner Society projects Liberty into the Tropical Smoothie Bowl in Frisco, Texas against Tulane, for a second straight week.
247 Sports has the Flames in the Independence Bowl against Miami.
Liberty is in its first season as a full-fledged FBS member and eligible to make a bowl game provided it reaches bowl eligibility of 6 FBS wins. The Flames currently have 5 FBS wins, as only one win against an FCS team is able to count.
This year, Liberty is in its 2nd season of a 2-year agreement with the Cure Bowl. It is a secondary bowl agreement which will give the Flames the opportunity to replace a team from the American Athletic Conference or the Sun Belt Conference should either league fail to field enough deserving teams.
Beginning with the 2020 season, Liberty has reached a bowl agreement with ESPN which could put the Flames in one of at least six bowl games – Boca Raton Bowl, Camellia Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, Myrtle Beach Bowl, or the New Mexico Bowl.
