The 2025 regular season is in the books as teams now are full on their off-season preparation or preparing for a bowl game. For Liberty, the Flames finished 4-8 on the season and are now preparing for the 2026 season after seeing its bowl streak come to an end.

2025 also marked the third season for the Flames in Conference USA and the third season for CUSA’s five-year media deal with ESPN and CBS. As part of this deal, the networks agree to air numerous CUSA games on their channels throughout the season, including the notorious CUSA midweek slate in October. Playing in the midweek, gives CUSA and its members much more attention than if those games were played on Saturday.

Here is a look at the highest watched CUSA games from this past season (note: this is just CUSA vs CUSA games and does not include games on CBS Sports Network as that channel is not rated):

  1. 580k – Jacksonville State vs Delaware, Wednesday, October 15, ESPN
  2. 417k – Delaware vs Middle Tennessee, Wednesday, October 22, ESPN2
  3. 338k – Missouri State vs Middle Tennessee, Wednesday, October 8, ESPN2
  4. 303k – Middle Tennessee vs Jacksonville State, Wednesday, October 29, ESPN2
  5. 282k – FIU vs Kennesaw State, Tuesday, October 21, ESPN2
  6. 53k – Kennesaw State vs  Louisiana Tech, Thursday, October 9, ESPNU
  7. 50k – Kennesaw State vs UTEP, Tuesday, October 28, ESPNU
  8. 47k – Western Kentucky vs FIU, Tuesday, October 14 – ESPNU
  9. 31k – Jacksonville State vs Kennesaw State, Saturday, November 15, ESPNU

Note: Liberty had one game in 2025 that made its way onto the ratings list – Saturday, September 20, 67k people watched Liberty vs James Madison.

All of the top eight most watched CUSA games this season happened on a midweek. These numbers are similar to last year when eight of the top nine rated CUSA vs CUSA games happened on a midweek.

It’s clear to see why CUSA prefers the midweek schedule. Of course, it has to be balanced with preserving the tradition of a college football Saturday as the midweek contests do take away from attendance and make it harder for people to get there in person. But, for the Group of Five, they have to do whatever they can in order to grab some attention and provide the best possible TV deal for its members.