College football team ready to make a leap No. 7: Liberty Flames
Bowl Result: Def. Coastal Carolina 37-34 in FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl
Head coach Hugh Freeze immediately started making the Liberty Flames competitive in their first FBS season a year ago. So the expectation was that the program would be an interesting team once again in the 2020 season. But few could’ve expected that they would’ve finished the year as one of the best non-Power 5 teams in the country.
With wins over Virginia Tech and Syracuse over the course of the season, their only loss came in a nail-biter against NC State, a team that finished the regular season ranked inside the top 25. The needle was already pointing up but then came the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl against previously undefeated Coastal Carolina.
In one of the objectively most entertaining games of the entire bowl season, the Flames needed overtime but got past the Chanticleers and it was the man who got them there that proved to be the difference. While Malik Willis threw two picks, he had 220 yards passing but also rushed for 137 yards and four touchdowns.
Barring a transfer, Willis will be back next season. And though there was some early buzz about him, it does appear that Freeze will be back at Liberty for another year. With the success they’ve found immediately and that type of talent at quarterback, the Flames could compete for an undefeated season in 2021.