Kickoff for the 2022 Liberty Flames football season is still nearly six months away, but it’s never too early to begin discussing the upcoming season. ESPN’s Bill Connelly and his SP+ formula has released his preseason rankings for Liberty and the rest of the FBS teams for the 2022 season. The Flames’ projected SP+ rank is No. 69.
As far as the 2022 schedule goes, here’s how Liberty’s opponents look (aside from FCS foe Gardner-Webb).
23. BYU Cougars
28. Arkansas Razorbacks
47. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
57. UAB Blazers
59. Virginia Tech Hokies
95. Old Dominion Monarchs
98. Southern Miss Golden Eagles
127. UConn Huskies
128. UMass Minutemen
129. Akron Zips
131. New Mexico State Aggies
Also of note, FBS newbie and in-state foe James Madison debuts in these rankings at No. 90 as they make the move to the Sun Belt.
Liberty’s schedule has a large gap between the top half of the teams on the schedule and the bottom half. The Flames face five teams ranked ahead of them and all in the top 60. Liberty also has six games against teams ranked from 95-131 of 131 FBS teams.
Liberty has improved considerably in each of the program’s first few seasons in the FBS and the SP+ ranking shows that. The Flames jumped from 121st to 75th in SP+ from 2018 to 2020. Following the 2021 season, Liberty finished ranked No. 49.
The Flames finished the 2021 campaign with an 8-5 record and won a third straight bowl game with a convincing 56-20 win over Eastern Michigan in the Lending Tree Bowl. Liberty is just one of five FBS teams in the country who have won a bowl game each of the last three seasons, joining Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Louisiana.
In its third year of full FBS eligibility, Liberty earned a third straight bowl victory. The Flames, who also won the Cure Bowl in 2019 and 2020, join Appalachian State as the only teams to win bowl games in each of their first three years after transitioning to FBS from FCS.
Liberty has now won eight or more games for the 13th season in program history, including all three years under head coach Hugh Freeze.
Liberty will open the 2022 season at Southern Miss on Sept. 3. The Flames’ home opener is the following Saturday on Sept. 10 against UAB. The rest of the most anticipated home slate in school history includes Akron (Sept. 24), Gardner-Webb (Oct. 15), BYU (Oct. 22), Virginia Tech (Nov. 19), and New Mexico State (Nov. 26).
