2018 Liberty Flames football team

The 2018 Liberty Flames football team represented Liberty University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Turner Gill and played their home games at Williams Stadium. This was the Flames first year as a member of the FBS. Playing as an independent, they finished the season 6–6. As part of their transition to FBS, since they won six games, Liberty would have been allowed to apply for bowl eligibility had there not been enough teams with non-losing records to fill the available bowl games, but there were already four more teams than could be accommodated.

2018 Liberty Flames football
ConferenceIndependent
2018 record6–6
Head coachTurner Gill (7th season)
Offensive coordinatorJoe Dailey
Co-defensive coordinatorRobert Wimberly
Co-defensive coordinatorVantz Singletary
Home stadiumWilliams Stadium
(Capacity: 25,000)
2018 NCAA Division I FBS independents football records
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 5 Notre Dame ^   –     12 –1  
No. 19 Army   –     11 –2  
BYU   –     7 –6  
Liberty   –     6 –6  
UMass   –     4 –8  
New Mexico State   –     3 –9  
Rankings from AP Poll

On December 3, head coach Turner Gill retired.[1] He finished at Liberty with a seven-year record of 47–35. On December 7, Liberty hired former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze for the job.[2]

Previous season

In their final season in the FCS as a member of the Big South Conference, the Flames finished the 2017 season 6–5, 2–3 in Big South play to finish in fourth place.

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 16:00 p.m.Old Dominion
ESPN3W 52–1020,425
September 812:00 p.m.at Army
CBSSNL 14–3825,133
September 226:00 p.m.North Texas
  • Williams Stadium
  • Lynchburg, VA
ESPN3L 7–4714,112
September 296:00 p.m.at New Mexico
W 52–4318,804
October 68:00 p.m.at New Mexico State
Aggie VisionL 41–498,337
October 132:00 p.m.Troy
  • Williams Stadium
  • Lynchburg, VA
ESPN3W 22–1617,389
October 202:00 p.m.Idaho State
  • Williams Stadium
  • Lynchburg, VA
ESPN3W 48–4116,502
November 33:30 p.m.at UMass
ELVNL 59–62 3OT10,338
November 103:00 p.m.at Virginia
ACCRSNL 24–4541,485
November 174:00 p.m.at Auburn
SECN AlternateL 0–5381,129
November 242:00 p.m.New Mexico State
  • Williams Stadium
  • Lynchburg, VA
ESPN3W 28–2116,022
December 1[lower-alpha 1]2:00 p.m.Norfolk State
  • Williams Stadium
  • Lynchburg, VA
ESPN3W 52–1713,243
  1. Game originally scheduled for September 15, but moved in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.

Game summaries

Old Dominion
1 2 3 4 Total
Monarchs 3 7 0 0 10
Flames 14 0 10 28 52
See also: 2018 Old Dominion Monarchs football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–1 October 5, 2013 ODU, 21–17

at Army
1 2 3 4 Total
Flames 0 0 14 0 14
Black Knights 14 3 7 14 38
See also: 2018 Army Black Knights football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

[6]

North Texas
1 2 3 4 Total
Mean Green 14 7 6 20 47
Flames 0 7 0 0 7
See also: 2018 North Texas Mean Green football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at New Mexico
1 2 3 4 Total
Flames 21 21 0 10 52
Lobos 7 3 13 20 43
See also: 2018 New Mexico Lobos football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at New Mexico State
1 2 3 4 Total
Flames 7 7 14 13 41
Aggies 7 14 14 14 49
See also: 2018 New Mexico State Aggies football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

Troy
1 2 3 4 Total
Trojans 7 3 3 3 16
Flames 0 14 0 8 22
See also: 2018 Troy Trojans football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–1 October 9, 1993 TROY, 35–13

Idaho State
1 2 3 4 Total
Bengals 0 17 14 10 41
Flames 7 13 14 14 48
See also: 2018 Idaho State Bengals football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at UMass
1 2 3 4OT2OT3OT Total
Flames 14 10 0 21770 59
Minutemen 14 10 7 14773 62
See also: 2018 UMass Minutemen football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at Virginia
1 2 3 4 Total
Flames 7 10 7 0 24
Cavaliers 14 10 14 7 45
See also: 2018 Virginia Cavaliers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at Auburn
1 2 3 4 Total
Flames 0 0 0 0 0
Tigers 15 17 21 0 53
See also: 2018 Auburn Tigers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

New Mexico State
1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 14 0 0 7 21
Flames 17 11 0 0 28
See also: 2018 New Mexico State Aggies football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–1 October 6, 2018 NMSU, 49–41

Norfolk State
1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 3 7 0 7 17
Flames 10 28 7 7 52
See also: 2018 Norfolk State Spartans football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–2 September 6, 2014 LU, 17–0

This game was originally scheduled for September 15, but it was rescheduled due to Hurricane Florence. On December 4, 2018, Turner Gill announced that he would retire immediately.[7] On December 7, Hugh Freeze was tabbed to be the next head coach of the Liberty Flames football team.[8]

References
  1. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2018/12/03/turner-gill-retiring-after-coaching-liberty-for-7-seasons/38667315/
  2. Caron, Emily (December 7, 2018). "Liberty Hires Hugh Freeze". SI.com.
  3. "2018 Liberty Flames Football Schedule". FB Schedules.
  4. "2018 Season Football Schedule". Liberty Flames Athletics.
  5. Walls, Dave. "Liberty dethrones Old Dominion, 52-10, for first FBS win". WSET. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  6. "Liberty vs. Army - Game Summary - September 8, 2018". ESPN. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  7. "Turner Gill Retiring". ESPN.
  8. "Hugh Freeze Hiring". Lynchburg News.
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