[BJWilliams]

The Liberty University football schedule for 2014 was announced today, the earliest announcement in recent memory. Jon Manson, from our good friends at Flames Nation broke down the schedule on the blog today: http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/2014 ... breakdown/

Its a bit early but here is how I see the games shaking out:

08/30 @ North Carolina

This is Liberty's third opener in four years against an ACC school (2011 NC State, 2012 Wake Forest) and fourth overall. the Flames came close against Wake Forest and they have, for the most part, played FBS teams pretty close in the last few seasons. UNC will be coming off a season where they won a bowl game in their backyard and regardless of the FLames' QB situation, will go into this one as a heavy favorite. Chalk up another win for the ACC in this one, although it wont be as one sided as UNC's matchup with Elon.

North Carolina 34
Liberty 24

09/06 @ Norfolk State

This game has personal meaning to me being only 15 minutes from my hometown. Liberty lost to NSU in their last trip to Dick Price Stadium in 2005 (to cap an all-time worst 10 game losing streak) and then lost their home opener to the Spartans in 2012. Liberty has not beaten an in state team NOT named VMI on the road was 1997 (bonus points if anyone can name the opponent in question without looking it up). This isnt the same team that lost in 2005 and I think LU finally gets an in-state road win

Norfolk State 14
Liberty 31

09/13 vs. Brevard
Liberty weathered the Tornados in Lynchburg last year, routing the D2 visitors from NC 59-21, including a very controversial touchdown. Hopefully this will be the last D2 to grace Williams Stadium at least for the foreseeable future (depending on how long the Flames remain FCS they could be the last ever), and the Flames continue the pounding from last year (and make sure to finish tackles this time)

Liberty 56
Brevard 7

09/20 vs. Bryant
The Bulldogs make their first ever trip to Williams Stadium (as a sidenote, the baseball team traveled to Lynchburg in 2012 so they are the second team to come to Lynchburg) and they are the fourth team from the NEC in the last 8 seasons to face the Flames (although Monmouth will be in their first year as an affiliate member of the Big South and were officially an independent last season). Bryant finished 5-7 last year in their second season as a Division I FCS program. Liberty has not been a gracious host to NEC teams, with lopsided wins over St Francis (PA) (68-10 in 2007 and 52-7 in 2010 at City Stadium) and Robert Morris (38-7 in 2011) and I think the trend continues here as the Flames win their third straight

Liberty 41
Bryant 17

09/27 @ Indiana State
Liberty makes their first trip to Terre Haute, Indiana, home of the NCAA Cross Country National Championships, and the Terre Haute Action Track (for dirt track racing fans), but the action this time will be at the home of the Sycamores, who finished 1-11 in their first year following the departure of current Georgia State head coach Trent Miles. They will come in with a pair of young running backs taking the place of Shakir Bell and Buck Logan (who took over as the lead back when Bell was kicked off the team and finished as the leading rusher) in LeMonte Booker and Tyler Evans. I think Liberty wins this one in a close matchup and gets a nice bump beating a MVC squad

Liberty 33
Indiana State 30

10/04 vs. Richmond
Liberty gets a second chance at their old ballcoach, this time in their own house. Richmond took advantage of a few Liberty miscues to get the 30-21 victory down in Richmond. For the returning players, this is one of two games that they will probably have circled on the schedule this year (the other being Coastal, more on that later). This game will be a homecoming of sorts for both Coach Rocco as well as one of the 2 QBs on the roster, his son Michael who transferred from UVa and sat out in 2013. The Spiders will be without Ben Edwards but will have Jacobi Green who had a huge night against Liberty. I will pick Liberty to take this one in a good old fashioned OK Corral style shootout as the Flames hit a late field goal to exorcise the demons from last year

Liberty 52
Richmond 49

10/11 @ Appalachian State
The Flames make their first trip to "The Rock" since 2001 and face off with the newly minted FBS Mountaineers. As Jon noted in the LFN breakdown of the schedule, Liberty has shown that they can compete with FBS teams, even though they havent gotten over the hump as of yet. Of the two FBS games on the schedule, this one is one that could go either way. I think App State wins in a close one, but I would not be the least bit surprised if the Flames did knock Satterfield's boys off

Appalachian State 24
Liberty 21

10/25 vs. Gardner-Webb

After a bye week, Liberty dives into Big South play playing host to the Runnin Bulldogs, two years after the largest comeback in Flames history on Homecoming, dealing a crushing loss to a team that had not beaten Liberty since 2006. The Flames havent lost to a Big South team outside of CCU at home since 2006 and it was Gardner-Webb that was the last team to beat LU at home before the Chants turned the trick last season. G-W has a chance to continue their improvement under Coach McCray, but Liberty holds serve and ups the new home winning streak to 3.

Liberty 24
Gardner-Webb 10

11/01 @ Presbyterian

In 2012 Liberty blew PC out of their own building, scoring the first 28 points on the way to a 56-7 victory. A lot of youth will be back for PC in 2014, including starting QB Heys McMath and with as many rising sophomores and juniors on their roster, They are probably a year away and Liberty wins this one solidly

Presbyterian 14
Liberty 31

11/08 vs. Monmouth
In an unusual turn, the Hawks return to Lynchburg for a second consecutive year as they officially join the Big South in football. Liberty won their inaugural matchup going away, and they have won their last two meetings against first year Big South programs (Stony Brook in 2008, Presbyterian in 2007). Liberty gets another solid Big South win and heads into the "South Carolina Swing" (sort of) with a Big South title in sight

Liberty 38
Monmouth 17

11/15 vs. Charleston Southern

The Flames dominated a very good CSU squad in Charleston last season to run their streak over the Bucs to seven in a row and clinch at least a share of the Big South for the fifth time. Flames Nation is not too keen on sharing anymore and the players aren't too fond of it either. CCU was the first conference school to get a win for a coach making his first appearance in Lynchburg since 2002. Jamey Chadwell is a good one, but he isnt going to make it #2, and the 2014 seniors go out on top as they set up a final showdown in Conway the next week.

Liberty 31
Charleston Southern 7

11/22 @ Coastal Carolina

This is THE game of the year, and its the finale for the first time ever. CCU forged the first two game streak in the series since 2004-2005 with their win over the Flames in Lynchburg in double overtime last season. Liberty has only one win in Conway in program history in 2008. CCU will be breaking in a LOT of new players at skill positions, but they do bring back triggerman and first team all-conference QB Alex Ross. If Josh Woodrum wins the starting nod at Liberty, it will be a showdown of the previous year's top two QBs which should make for quite a show on the Grand Strand. This game could go either way, but Im gonna take the Flames in this one just because I want to believe they finally get over the top this year and gets to keep the trophy all for themselves and bump off all this sharing business...which only works in the schoolyard, and they finally dont have to endure false hope in getting a playoff berth.

Coastal Carolina 38
Liberty 45


Final record 10-2

9-3 is not out of the realm of possibility if they lose to CCU but for that to get them into the playoffs as an at-large will require a win in one of their two FBS matchups and over Indiana State. Anything less will be an unmitigated failure.

[flameshaw]

We will go 8-4 and once again miss the playoffs. Hate to say it, but we always lose the big game(s). Until we win one, I am not going to get my hopes/expectations up. No one hopes I am wrong, any more than me.

[Purple Haize]

10-2. We make the Playoffs. No excuses (barring significant injury)

[Cider Jim]

BJ, Mike Rocco is Danny's nephew, NOT his son. And why don't you predict a score for the Coastal game?

[thepostman]

I say 9-3 is best case scenario but we shall see.

[flamesfilmguy]

8-4 we historically don't travel well and historically don't play well at Coastal. We lose the UNC, Indiana State, App State and Coastal. Once again 8-4 isn't enough to get us in the playoffs barring an epic collapse by Coastal. I'm sorry i've become skeptical of our abilities to win big games until this team proves us wrong.

[SuperJon]

8 wins guaranteed.

11 wins possible.

9 wins likely.

[Rooster Cogburn]

I say 10 wins. And no way the UR score is that high IMHO.

[Sly Fox]

Consider me the eternal optimist but I see 10 wins as well. And I agree with SJ that 11 wins is attainable.

[VAGolf]

We aren't competing with UNC.

We won't beat Richmond.

We'll get pummeled by Coastal.

We'll win the rest, except for maybe App State. I can't figure that one out. 9-3 at BEST. 7-5 is possible. 8-4 is probable.

[BJWilliams]

We win all the should be games that's 8 right there. The games that will really shape how we do this year are the three toss-up games (Richmond, @ App State and @ Coastal) and the underdog game (North Carolina). 2-2 in those 4 games puts us at 10-2 and probably in line for an at-large if one of those losses happens to be to Coastal (because we would have an FBS win in there somewhere).

I don't see us getting waxed by UNC. They are probably second tier in the ACC behind Miami, Clemson and FSU and possibly Louisville (who will be in the ACC next season). They are better, but I don't think they are 3+ touchdowns better. Coastal loses a LOT of their better skill players save Ross which should close the gap somewhat down in Conway. I think if Wimbo doesn't out-think himself we have a chance to avenge the game from this past year on Homecoming night.

[Purple Haize]

We win all the should be games that's 8 right there. The games that will really shape how we do this year are the three toss-up games (Richmond, @ App State and @ Coastal) and the underdog game (North Carolina). 2-2 in those 4 games puts us at 10-2 and probably in line for an at-large if one of those losses happens to be to Coastal (because we would have an FBS win in there somewhere).

I don't see us getting waxed by UNC. They are probably second tier in the ACC behind Miami, Clemson and FSU and possibly Louisville (who will be in the ACC next season). They are better, but I don't think they are 3+ touchdowns better. Coastal loses a LOT of their better skill players save Ross which should close the gap somewhat down in Conway. I think if Wimbo doesn't out-think himself we have a chance to avenge the game from this past year on Homecoming night.

You do realize they beat ODU so badly they SHORTENED the 4th quarter? An ODU team that beat us?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1862 ... 3-quarters

[VAGolf]

UNC won 5 of their last 6 games this season under a fairly new coach. They have almost everyone coming back, most of them are coming from highly touted classes. Fedora is a good coach and he'll want to send a message early in the season. They beat ODU by 60. That's how much they beat them by, not how much they scored. They are NOT behind Miami. Miami is awful. UNC likely wins the coastal this year.

Richmond should be a toss up game but it isn't a toss up game. Unless our fate has already been decided, we NEVER win big games at home, especially when it's a non-conference game.

We are not going into Coastal and winning. That team is coached too well for us to have a chance. We don't win toss-up road games either. We'll lose this one by at least ten, probably 17.

[BJWilliams]

We win all the should be games that's 8 right there. The games that will really shape how we do this year are the three toss-up games (Richmond, @ App State and @ Coastal) and the underdog game (North Carolina). 2-2 in those 4 games puts us at 10-2 and probably in line for an at-large if one of those losses happens to be to Coastal (because we would have an FBS win in there somewhere).

I don't see us getting waxed by UNC. They are probably second tier in the ACC behind Miami, Clemson and FSU and possibly Louisville (who will be in the ACC next season). They are better, but I don't think they are 3+ touchdowns better. Coastal loses a LOT of their better skill players save Ross which should close the gap somewhat down in Conway. I think if Wimbo doesn't out-think himself we have a chance to avenge the game from this past year on Homecoming night.

You do realize they beat ODU so badly they SHORTENED the 4th quarter? An ODU team that beat us?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1862 ... 3-quarters

Im quite aware (a friend of mine works with the ODU Sports Network and he told me about it when it happened) of what they did. We have largely managed to remain competitive against FBS teams, and the only time we really have been "blown out" was the NC State game and even that one we were within single digits early in the 4th.

[VAGolf]

Different coach/different team/different opposition. Not comparable. The closest we'll keep UNC is 42-10.

[flameshaw]

We lose to UNC by at least 4 touchdowns. The other 3 games are winnable, but because they will get us into the playoffs, we choke again. We don't win big games, home or away. Hope I'm wrong.

[4everfsu]

8 wins

[nyblue92]

UNC is the best team we've played in recent memory and will probably drop 50 on us. We don't win unfamiliar road games and will drop one maybe two games against Indiana State and App State. We will commit the extra penalty and give up a huge special teams play to Richmond and get our hearts ripped out again. No way we win in Conway in the season final.

The way the schedule looks I don't see us winning more then 8 games and to be honest 7-5 is more then realistic.

And even if we find a way to win one of the "tough" games we'll turn around and drop a gimme to either chuck south or presby.

I hate to be the downer but I've been getting my heart ripped out by the flames for 15 years. I think the term would be "foolish" if I expected anything different from this campaign.

Here's to hoping I'm wrong. Go Flames!

[SumItUp]

I hope you are wrong!

[jcmanson]

Since this thread got bumped, we put up a new poll on the home page yesterday. Vote and tell us what you think Liberty's 2014 record will be: http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/

[Chris Lang]

Indiana State is awful. Just horrible. They had a couple of decent years with Shakir Bell, but they fell right back to where they were before Trent Miles got there, which was the worst full-scholarship football program in the country. That's an absolute must-have for Liberty if the Flames are worth anything next year.

[ballcoach15]

Which ever game turns out to be "the big game", we must win that one. As posted above, we always find a way to lose the big game.


I will never forget the fake punt CCU ran on us last season. That one way kept LU out of the playoffs, in my opinion.

[Chippy]

Which ever game turns out to be "the big game", we must win that one. As posted above, we always find a way to lose the big game.


I will never forget the fake punt CCU ran on us last season. That one way kept LU out of the playoffs, in my opinion.

. . . and I think it was the punt down the middle of the field run back for a TD with 4' left in the ODU game with us up by 10 at the time. Coastal did everything right in the 2nd half of that game. It was surreal to watch.