Undefeated 2023 regular season
Liberty runs the table and wins Conference USA in its first year in the league
Program outlook
Program outlook
Liberty went 13-1, won Conference USA in its first year in the league, and played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2023. Two years later: 4-8, the program's first losing season in two decades. The Flames are trying to remember which one was real.
Since Jun 14: W 30-14 at Delaware; W 35-3 vs Sam Houston; W 34-6 at Kennesaw State; W 49-10 vs Florida International. 7-1 this season.
Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs
The 2023 season was the proof of concept for everything Liberty built after joining the FBS in 2018. An undefeated regular season. A Conference USA title in year one of membership. The first Group-of-Five program from that league ever to reach a New Year's Six bowl. Kaidon Salter at quarterback, Jamey Chadwell running the offense, and a No. 18 final AP ranking that certified Liberty as a genuine program, not a well-resourced novelty. Hugh Freeze had built the foundation; Chadwell had taken it to the Fiesta Bowl.
Then the 2025 collapse: 4-8, 3-5 in Conference USA, the program's first losing record in twenty years. For a young FBS program, two seasons between the Fiesta Bowl and four wins is an unusually violent oscillation. The oldest doubt about Liberty — that the rise was an anomaly, that a private Christian university in the Blue Ridge foothills can't sustain what it briefly became — has a data point again. Chadwell enters 2026 as the answer to a question fans are not sure how to ask: rebuild, or slide?
The 2026 season is the clearest verdict Liberty will have had on its own trajectory. The Fiesta Bowl happened. The 4-8 year also happened. What 2026 determines is which of those two years was the exception and which was the program's actual altitude. Lynchburg believes the Fiesta Bowl was the floor. The schedule will say.
On the field
Up-tempo, dual-threat-QB offense — the score-fast identity that powered the undefeated 2023 regular season and made Liberty's rise legible to the national audience. Salter-era football was built around quick decisions, designed runs, and the kind of tempo that small-roster programs use to even out physical mismatches. The 2025 collapse suggests the depth behind that scheme broke faster than expected. Chadwell's 2026 task is rebuilding the personnel without abandoning the identity that got Liberty to the Fiesta Bowl in the first place.
Liberty has won 59% of its games since 1981 — 76% at home, 43% on the road.
163-113 all-time · 32 seasons · 1981–2026
Home
103-32
Away
54-73
Neutral
6-8
2 g
1980s
3 g
1990s
51%
2000s
58%
2010s
70%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
Liberty’s 2014–2026 record is 99-56.
Jamey Chadwell
Jamey Chadwell has held the program for 4 seasons — the era is established.
Era Jamey Chadwell · 2023–presentPrev: Josh Aldridge (interim) (2022)OC: Newland IsaacPrev OC: Willy Korn (co) / Newland Isaac (co) (2023–2025)DC: Shawn QuinnPrev DC: Kyle Krantz (co) / Skylor Magee (co) (2023–2025)
4
years · era
Moments in Liberty history
- Liberty 37, Coastal Carolina 34Fbc Mortgage Cure Bowl · Dec 26, 2020
- Kennesaw State 48, Liberty 42Nov 29, 2025
- Oregon 45, Liberty 6VRBO Fiesta Bowl · Jan 1, 2024
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2023 Fiesta Bowl berth
The first Conference USA team ever to reach a New Year's Six bowl, falling to No. 8 Oregon
2025 losing season
A 4-8 finish — the program's first losing record in 20 years, two years removed from the Fiesta Bowl
Wound
Moment of the year · 2026
Won 51-15 vs Ball State
Week 3 of 2026. A statement margin. Recruiting boards re-rendered overnight.
2022–2023
Liberty has sent 2 players to the NFL Draft since 2022 — none in the first round.
Thin. Roster development still maturing.
2
picks · 0 in round 1
#86
Malik Willis
Quarterback · 2022 · 
Tennessee Titans · #34/126 final season
Tennessee Titans · #34/126 final season
#210
Demario Douglas
Wide Receiver · 2023 · 
New England Patriots · #20/488 final season
New England Patriots · #20/488 final season
#147 all-time · 1 first-round picksthe talent factory →
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Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 7-1
Season standing · 2026 · 7-1Liberty is 7-1 — bowl-eligible, unranked.
6+ wins, bowl access secured. The baseline of a successful FBS year.
Bowl eligible
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Conference USA standing · 2026
2nd in the Conference USA
Liberty is 2nd in the Conference USA at 4-0. 1 team above — that's the direct path to the title game.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 4-0 |
| 2 | Liberty | 4-0 |
| 3 | Delaware | 2-2 |
| 4 | Middle Tennessee | 2-2 |
| 5 | Missouri State | 2-2 |
| 6 | New Mexico State | 2-2 |
| 7 | Western Kentucky | 2-2 |
| 8 | Florida International | 1-3 |
| 9 | Kennesaw State | 1-3 |
| 10 | Sam Houston | 0-4 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Jamey Chadwell
- Hired Josh Aldridge (interim)
- Hugh Freeze departs
- Josh Aldridge departs (interim)
- Hired Hugh Freeze
- Turner Gill departs
- Hired Turner Gill
Coordinator lineage
Liberty’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2018–2026
2018 · Joe Dailey2019–2022 · Kent Austin (co) / Maurice Harris (co)2023–2025 · Willy Korn (co) / Newland Isaac (co)2026 · Newland Isaac
Defense2018–2026
2018 · Vantz Singletary (co) / Robert Wimberly (co)2019–2020 · Scott Symons2021 · Josh Aldridge (co) / Scott Symons / Jack Curtis (co)2022 · Josh Aldridge (co) / Jack Curtis (co)2023–2025 · Kyle Krantz (co) / Skylor Magee (co)2026 · Shawn Quinn
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
FBS Independent → C-USA Entry (2018-2023)
since 2018
more
Liberty's 2018 FBS reclassification (from FCS) → 2018-2022 independent FBS schedule → 2023 Conference USA entry — the most-recent program to make the full FCS-to-FBS-conference ascent. The four-year independent schedule period (2018-2022) included Hugh Freeze's program-rebuild era + multiple bowl appearances. The C-USA entry completed the tier transition.
Hugh Freeze Rebuild (2019-2022)
since 2019
more
Hugh Freeze's tenure (2019-2022) — coming off the 2017 Ole Miss firing and a multi-year hiatus — rebuilt Liberty into a top-25-quality FBS independent. Four straight bowl appearances + 30+ wins + 2020 #17 AP rank produced national legitimacy. Freeze's 2022 departure to Auburn opened Jamey Chadwell's 2023 13-1 + Fiesta Bowl ascent.
2023 Fiesta Bowl Run
since 2023
more
Jamey Chadwell's 2023 13-1 + Conference USA championship + Fiesta Bowl appearance + #18 final AP rank — the program's first year in C-USA. The Fiesta Bowl loss to Oregon (45-6) didn't dim the achievement; Liberty became the first ever C-USA team to make a New Year's Six bowl. The 2023 run is permanent program identity.
Cultural identity
Canon appearances
2024 L
2023 L
2022 L
2020 WReddit blowups
r/CFB moments
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403
[Postgame Thread] Army Defeats Liberty 31-16
224
[Postgame Thread] FIU Defeats Liberty 34-27 (OT)
All-time top community posts
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