Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 101. Liberty
Fan the Flames!
Liberty and Coastal Carolina. Always together. They’ve been hated rivals since their inceptions. They moved to the FBS at pretty much the same time, 2018 and 2017, respectively. And here they are rounding out the non-Top 100 teams on this list, at 101 and 102. Anyone else feeling an enemies to lovers arc here? No, just me? All right, let’s get into the meat and potatoes.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+---------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+---------+------+--------------+--------+
| 16 | Liberty | 2020 | 23.083 | 10-1 |
| 49 | Liberty | 2021 | -0.124 | 8-5 |
| 59 | Liberty | 2022 | -4.9 | 8-5 |
| 63 | Liberty | 2019 | -10.165 | 8-5 |
| 92 | Liberty | 2018 | -20.147 | 6-6 |
+------+---------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 3430 (101st)40-22 record
0 conference titles
3-1 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
3 NFL players drafted
Liberty’s been near-flawless since moving up. 4 bowl appearances in 4 eligible years, a 3-1 record in those games, and an average season of 8 wins 4 losses. We can nitpick and say they didn’t win a conference title, but no one’s expected to in their first 5 seasons in a new division. Liberty’s most notable NFL draft pick is easily QB Malik Willis, but don’t sleep on 2023 NFL Draft pick WR Demario Douglas.
Top 5 Seasons
5. 2018 (6-6 overall, Independent)
Like Coastal Carolina, we’ll do the first half in chronological order, and the second half in reverse chronological. Former Kansas and Buffalo head coach Turner Gill entered his 7th season with the Flames, posting a 41-29 record at the FCS level the 6 years prior. Having gone 6-5 in 4 of the last 6 years, Gill served up more of the same in 2018 with a 6-6 record. A pretty innocuous year, 2 wins came over FCS teams and Liberty bounced around .500 for most of the season. RB Frankie Hickson ran for 1000+ yards, future NFL WR Antonio Gandy-Golden had 1000+ receiving yards, and the late Jessie Lemonier had a fantastic year with 55 tackles, 10 sacks, 3.5 TFL, 2 FF, and 1 FR.
4. 2019 (8-5 overall, Independent)
Aside from just record, 2019 saw major improvements on defense, going from the 118th ranked defense nationally in 2018 to 68th in 2019. Former Ole Miss coach Hugh “Mungus” Freeze took over and instantly transformed returning starting QB Stephen Calvert. Calvert went from 21 TD 18 INT in 2018 to 28 TD 7 INT in 2019. Liberty notched some nice wins like 35-17 over 8-5 Buffalo and 23-16 in the bowl over 7-6 Georgia Southern. I’m not sure what New Mexico State did to deserve it, but Liberty played and beat them twice: 20-13 in game 6 and 49-28 in game 12. RB Hickson had another 1000+ yard rushing season, and WR Antonio Gandy-Golden had an even better year, catching 79 balls for 1396 yards and 10 TD. The late Jessie Lemonier had another 10+ sack year with 80 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and 5 TFL. Gandy-Golden was drafted by Washington in the 4th round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
3. 2022 (8-5 overall, Independent)
Oh hey, Charlie Brewer. The former Baylor QB did everything to continue playing football, and at his 3rd school in 3 years, did manage to get on the field a few times. The QB position was mainly shared between senior Johnathan Bennett and sophomore Kaidon Salter, who combined for 2622 yards 20 TD 14 INT. The best player on the team was by far DE Durrell Johnson, who led the NCAA in total TFL with 27.5 (9 sacks, 18.5 TFL). A close second was RB Dae Dae Hunter, who in just 9 games ran for 854 yards and 8 TD on 6.6 YPC. After an 8-1 start with a win over Arkansas, the College Football Playoff Committee continued to have shady rankings toward G5 teams as Liberty remained unranked despite being #19 in the AP Poll. If the CFP Poll was meant to be predictive (which it’s not), then they were right, as Liberty lost their last 4 games, 2 of which helped UConn and New Mexico State become bowl eligible.
2. 2021 (8-5 overall, Independent)
You got any more of those 8-5 seasons!? Despite all being the same record, this is clearly the best team out of the 3 according to my algorithm. Liberty didn’t start 8-1 like 2022, but they played a tough schedule and got through it pretty well. A 5-1 start included wins against bowl teams UAB, Middle Tennessee, and Old Dominion, with a loss to Syracuse. A 2-4 finish to the regular season included a win over bowl team North Texas, and a hard fought 14-27 loss to #16 Ole Miss. QB Malik Willis had a fine year, throwing for 2857 yards 27 TD 12 INT while rushing for 878 yards 13 TD on 4.5 YPC. He won the Bobby Bowden Award given to the best player who epitomizes being a Christian student-athlete, and was drafted in the 3rd round of the NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. His top target was WR Demario Douglas who broke out to lead the team in receptions and receiving yards and would go on to finish his career as Liberty’s all-time leader in catches (172) at the FBS level. WR DJ Stubbs added 342 receiving yards and finished his career as Liberty’s 3rd all-time leading receiver at the FBS level with 1897 yards.
1. 2020 (10-1 overall, Independent)
No brainer. What a fantastic year for Liberty, who reached double digit wins and was ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time. The season opened against a Western Kentucky team coming off a 9-4 year, but Liberty would outgain them by almost 200 yards in a 30-24 victory. After a close 36-34 win over FIU, 2 much needed cupcake games against North Alabama and UL Monroe got them to 4-0. After a 38-21 win over Syracuse, Liberty had a real shot at finishing in the top 25. A win over Southern Miss would get them in at #25, and they headed to Blacksburg to play 4-2 Virginia Tech. Tied 35-35 with 8 seconds remaining, Liberty lined up for a 59 yard FG for the win…BLOCKED! VIRGINIA TECH TAKES IT BACK FOR A TD, AND THEY WALK OFF THE GAME ON A BLOCKED FG TD RETURN!
Hold. The. Phone. Virginia Tech had used a TO before the play! They replayed the down, only this time Liberty chose to run a play, picking up 8 yards on a quick pass. This set up another FG try for the win, this time from 51 yards out. Alex Barbir got it past the line of VT defenders, it has the accuracy…and the distance! Liberty walks off on one of the craziest endings of the 2020 season! Liberty’s only regular season loss would be 14-15 to eventual 8-4 NC State. They entered the bowl against 11-0 Coastal Carolina as 7 point underdogs, but pulled off the upset in a 37-34 OT win thanks to 4 rushing TD from Malik Willis. Willis finished the year with 3000+ yards of total offense and 34 total TD. Liberty finished the year ranked #17 in the AP Poll and #16 in my rankings, and 2020 Liberty is my 624th ranked team since 1983.
5th Quarter
Now that we’ve finished the non-top 100 teams, who’s the last triple digit team at 100? Also, what do you think about Liberty’s football team?
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