Liberty has been picked as the preseason favorite in Conference USA by Athlon Sports, in their recently released 2025 college football season preview magazine.
Liberty is coming off a 2024 season where the Flames went 8-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play, finishing in fourth place. Liberty lost to Buffalo, 26-7, in the Bahamas Bowl on January 4. The Flames will open the 2025 season at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg against Maine on Saturday, August 30. The very next week, Liberty will hit the road to open conference play against the defending league champs, Jacksonville State, in Jacksonville, Alabama on Saturday, September 6.
In the newly expanded 12-team CUSA for 2025 with the additions of Delaware and Missouri State, Western Kentucky was picked by Athlon to finish behind the Flames in second. Jacksonville State follows at three and then UTEP at four. The newcomer Delaware was picked to finish fifth and they are followed by Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston, Middle Tennessee, FIU, Missouri State, New Mexico State, and Kennesaw State.
Athlon picked Liberty to defeat Western Kentucky in the CUSA Championship Game which is scheduled to be played on Friday, December 5, 2025. Like recent seasons, whoever finishes atop the league standings at the end of the regular season will host the conference championship game.
Here is how all of the CUSA teams are ranked by Athlon nationally out of 136 FBS teams:
67. Liberty
89. Western Kentucky
110. Jax State
111. UTEP
113. Delaware
114. Louisiana Tech
115. Sam Houston
127. Middle Tennessee
129. FIU
131. Missouri State
132. New Mexico State
133. Kennesaw State
And here’s where Liberty’s non-conference FBS opponents are ranked:
59. James Madison
95. Old Dominion
118. Bowling Green
