Liberty travels to Conway on Thursday night to renew its rivalry with Coastal Carolina in a nationally televised matchup at Brooks Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, and with no other FBS game scheduled for Thursday, the Flames and Chanticleers will have the national spotlight to themselves.

For Liberty, the game represents the final non-conference test of the regular season and a chance to continue building momentum after a 51-15 demolition of Ball State. The Flames enter at 2-1 after winning back-to-back games, while Coastal comes in at 1-2 following a 22-14 loss at Delaware.

But this game is about much more than two teams meeting on a Thursday night. It is the latest chapter in one of Liberty’s longest-running rivalries — and it marks Jamey Chadwell’s first return to Conway as an opposing head coach since he left the Chanticleers to take over in Lynchburg at the helm of the Flames in December 2023.

Analyzing the Chanticleers

Coastal Carolina enters Thursday in the first season of the Ryan Beard era.

Beard was hired after spending three seasons as Missouri State’s head coach, where he went 19-16 before taking over a Coastal program that finished 6-7 in 2025. He inherits a roster that underwent significant turnover during the offseason, including a completely new quarterback room.

The Chanticleers opened 2026 with a difficult trip to West Virginia and nearly erased what appeared to be an insurmountable halftime deficit. Coastal trailed 24-0 at the break before storming back in the second half, ultimately falling 31-24. The Chanticleers finished with 425 total yards, topping the Mountaineers’ 413 yards of offense.

Coastal bounced back in its home opener, blasting Fordham 45-7. The Chanticleers forced four turnovers in the victory and got three touchdown passes from quarterback Deuce Bailey. The third game of the season was another road test, this time at Delaware. Coastal entered that game 1-1 and averaging 442.5 yards per game, but the Blue Hens held the Chanticleers to 14 points in a 22-14 victory.

Through three games, Coastal has shown flashes of the offensive explosiveness that has historically characterized the program, but Thursday will be its first game against Liberty since the two programs met in the 2020 Cure Bowl.

Positions, Players to Watch

Quarterback Deuce Bailey will be one of the biggest players Liberty’s defense has to account for. Bailey won the starting quarterback job during the offseason after following Beard to Coastal. The Missouri State transfer came to Conway with limited FBS experience but showed his potential in the Fordham victory, throwing three touchdown passes.

Liberty will have to deal with an offense that has been capable of moving the ball through the air. Coastal averaged 291 passing yards per game through its first two games, and the Chanticleers finished their first two contests with 885 total yards.

Wide receiver Tristian Gardner is another player worth watching. Gardner was named Preseason Second Team All-Sun Belt by Pro Football Network and is one of the experienced skill-position pieces Coastal will lean on against Liberty’s secondary.

Defensively, defensive back Myles Woods is the name Liberty’s receivers will need to know. Woods was a Preseason First Team All-Sun Belt selection after starting 11 games in 2025 and leading Coastal with three interceptions. He also recorded 45 tackles and six pass breakups last season.

That creates an intriguing matchup with a Liberty passing attack that finally appeared to find another gear against Ball State. Deshawn Purdie played his most complete game of the season Saturday, completing 13-of-20 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns in Liberty’s 51-15 victory. Makai Jackson continued his strong start to the season with four receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown, giving him a receiving touchdown in all three games to begin the 2026 season.

After struggling to consistently generate offense during the first two weeks, Liberty scored on six of its first seven drives against Ball State and finished with 460 total yards — including 212 rushing and 248 passing. The question now is whether that offensive performance was the beginning of a trend or simply a one-week breakout.

The Matchups

The biggest matchup may be Liberty’s rushing attack against a Coastal defense that has shown some vulnerability early in the season.

After rushing for only 91 yards against JMU, Liberty produced a more balanced attack against Gardner-Webb before exploding for 212 rushing yards against Ball State. The Flames used 11 different players in the run game against the Cardinals, with Terron Kellman breaking a 43-yard run and Kam Davis adding a 14-yard touchdown run. That kind of balance is exactly what Chadwell wants from his offense.

The Flames also have to be prepared for Coastal’s ability to create explosive plays. The Chanticleers averaged 442.5 yards per game through their first two games and showed against West Virginia that they can move the football even when facing a significant early deficit. For Liberty’s defense, the priority will be preventing Coastal from getting comfortable early.

The Flames held Ball State to 261 total yards — including just 93 passing yards — in their most complete defensive performance of the season. Liberty’s defense also produced a season-low total against the Cardinals in both rushing and passing yardage allowed. Thursday provides a much different challenge.

Unlike Ball State, Coastal has the benefit of playing at home, and Brooks Stadium will have a rivalry atmosphere and a national television audience it will be looking to impress. The Chanticleers have also designated the game as their annual Teal Out, adding another element to the environment.

If Liberty can establish the run, protect Purdie and prevent Bailey from finding explosive plays downfield, the Flames should have an opportunity to control the game. But if Coastal can force Liberty into obvious passing situations and make the Flames one-dimensional, the home crowd could become a significant factor.

Chadwell Returns to Conway

This is where Thursday night’s game becomes unlike any other on Liberty’s schedule. Jamey Chadwell is going back to Conway.

Before taking over at Liberty, Chadwell spent the better part of six seasons at Coastal Carolina. He joined the program in 2017 as an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and interim head coach before becoming the program’s head coach, ultimately guiding the Chanticleers through their rise from the FCS level into the national spotlight.

Chadwell’s Coastal teams became one of the biggest stories in college football during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. The Chanticleers went 11-1, won the Sun Belt’s East Division and reached No. 9 in the AP Poll. Chadwell was named national Coach of the Year after leading Coastal to the program’s first Sun Belt championship and its first FBS bowl appearance. Coastal’s rise under Chadwell helped turn this rivalry into something much bigger than a former Big South matchup.

Liberty and Coastal played every year from 2003 through 2016 as Big South rivals, with the two programs frequently battling for conference championships. They met again in 2020 during one of the most memorable seasons in the history of both programs, a win for the Flames under previous head coach Hugh Freeze, upsetting Chadwell and the Chanticleers in the 2020 Cure Bowl.

Chadwell left Coastal following the 2022 season to become Liberty’s head coach, taking over a Flames program that had just lost Hugh Freeze to Auburn. He has gone on to lead Liberty to a 13-1 season and Fiesta Bowl appearance in his first year and a pair of bowl appearances in his first two seasons. Now, for the first time since leaving Coastal, Chadwell walks back into Brooks Stadium as the opposing coach.

There will be plenty of familiar faces, familiar landmarks and plenty of memories for the Liberty head coach. But once the ball is kicked, Chadwell will be trying to beat the program he helped build.

A Rivalry Reignited

Liberty and Coastal Carolina have met 15 times, with Liberty holding an 8-7 advantage. The programs played 14 consecutive seasons from 2003 through 2016 as members of the Big South before both eventually moved to the FBS level.

The rivalry has produced plenty of memorable games.

There was Liberty’s 58-13 demolition of Coastal in 2009. There was the 2013 thriller in Lynchburg that Coastal won 55-52 in double overtime. Liberty’s upset of #1 and undefeated Coastal Carolina in 2014, 15-14, thanks to a blocked field goal. There was Liberty’s 24-21 victory in 2015. And there was Coastal’s 42-7 win in Conway in 2016, the final meeting between the programs before both moved on to the FBS.

Then came 2020.

The teams were scheduled to meet in the regular season with that meeting canceled because of COVID before Coastal and Liberty finally squared off in Orlando for the Cure Bowl in December. Coastal entered the game 11-0 and ranked No. 9 nationally, while Liberty was 9-1 and ranked No. 23.

Liberty won that game 37-34 in overtime in the Cure Bowl. The Flames blocked a potential game-tying field goal in overtime to secure the victory, giving Liberty its first win over a ranked FBS opponent and ending Coastal’s 12-game winning streak. Malik Willis accounted for 357 yards of offense and four rushing touchdowns and was named Cure Bowl MVP. That remains the most recent meeting between the two programs.

Now, nearly six years later, the rivalry returns with both programs having gone through significant changes. Coastal has a new head coach. Liberty is in its fourth season under Chadwell. The Big South is long in the rearview mirror. But the history remains.

The Return to Conway

There is plenty riding on Thursday beyond the rivalry itself.

Liberty enters the game 2-1 and coming off its most impressive performance of the season. The Flames have scored 75 points over their last two games after managing just 13 against JMU in the opener. The offense appears to be finding its identity, while the defense just held an FBS opponent to 261 total yards.

Coastal, meanwhile, is 1-2 after playing three very different games: a seven-point loss at West Virginia, a 38-point home win over Fordham and an eight-point road loss at Delaware.

And then there is the stage. Thursday night’s game will be played in front of a national ESPN audience at 7:30 p.m. ET, with the Liberty-Coastal matchup standing alone on the FBS schedule that night. Coastal has designated the game as its annual Teal Out, while Liberty will have an opportunity to showcase its program nationally.

For Liberty, it’s another chance to show that the 4-8 season of 2025 is behind it. For Coastal, it’s an opportunity to knock off its former coach.

And for Chadwell, it’s a return to the place where he helped build one of the most unique success stories in recent Group of Five football.

The rivalry is back.