Liberty Flames football

Liberty Flames Football
First season 1973
Athletic director Jeff Barber
Head coach Turner Gill
1st year, 0–0  (—)
Home stadium Williams Stadium
Stadium capacity 19,200
Stadium surface FieldTurf
Location Lynchburg, Virginia
Conference Big South
All-time record 198–198–4 (.500)
Postseason bowl record 0–0
Conference titles 4
Current uniform
Colors Navy and Red            
Fight song Fan The Flames
Mascot Sparky
Marching band Spirit of the Mountain
Rivals Coastal Carolina
Website LibertyFlames.com

The Liberty Flames is a college football program that competes in NCAA Division I-FCS, in the Big South Conference.

Contents

History

Liberty's football program is headed by Turner Gill who took over in December 2011 after previously being head coach at Kansas & Buffalo. Liberty plays their home games at Williams Stadium which has a capacity of 19,000.

Conference Championships

2007 Big South Conference Champions

The Liberty Flames captured their first Big South Conference Football championship with a commanding 31-0 victory over Gardner-Webb University. The Flames capped off their second year under head coach Danny Rocco with an 8-3 record and an unblemished 4-0 Big South record to claim the title. The same week, The Liberty University Men's Soccer team beat Radford University 2-1 to capture the Big South Conference soccer title and their first appearance in the national tournament. Also that same week, the Liberty Women's Volleyball team shutout Winthrop in the finals of the Big South Volleyball tournament. it was the first conference championship for the volleyball team since 2001. The Liberty Men's and Women's cross country teams also won the Big South Championship with Josh McDougal, Jordan McDougal and Jarvis Jelen sweeping the top 3 positions in the men's race for the third straight year.[1][2]

2008 Big South Conference Champions

Topping its 2007 performance, Liberty ran its unbeaten Big South streak to 11-straight games, finishing back-to-back conference championship seasons with a 30-10 victory over Gardner-Webb. The Flames finished with a 10-2 record on the year and finished the conference slate unbeaten at 5-0. Liberty’s victory allowed the Flames to become the first team in Big South history to win five conference games in a season and to join Gardner-Webb as the only two teams to post consecutive unbeaten seasons. Liberty finished ranked 15th in the FCS Coaches Poll and 14th in the Sports Network Poll.[3][4][5]

2009 Big South Conference Co-Champions

Undefeated in Big South play for 2009, the Flames just needed to capture a win over Stony Brook in the season finale to secure a 3rd straight Big South Conference Championship. Stony Brook who had only lost one game in Big South play (a 30-27 overtime loss to Charleston Southern the previous week) for 2009 could claim half of the Big South Championship with a win over Liberty. The Seawolves didn't back down from the challenge and won the game 36-33 to share the 2009 Big South Championship with the Liberty Flames.[6]

2010 Big South Conference Co-Champions

Liberty again became conference co-champions in 2010. They were looking to beat Stony Brook in the season finale to win the 2010 Big South Championship but they first had to beat rival Coastal Carolina. Coastal beat Liberty for the first time since 2006 then the Flames bounced back the next week to secure a win over Stony Brook and a share of the conference championship (3 way tie with Coastal Carolina and Stony Brook).

Liberty vs Coastal Carolina Rivalry

Liberty Ahead 5-4

Liberty vs FBS Schools

Year FBS Opponent Result Opponent's Conference Opponent's Head Coach Liberty's Head Coach
2011 North Carolina State L, 43-21 ACC (Atlantic) Tom O'Brien Danny Rocco
2010 Ball State W, 27-23 MAC (West) Stan Parrish Danny Rocco
2009 West Virginia L, 33-20 Big East Bill Stewart Danny Rocco
2007 Toledo L, 35-34 MAC (West) Tom Amstutz Danny Rocco
2006 Wake Forest L, 34-14 ACC (Atlantic) Jim Grobe Danny Rocco
2005 Connecticut L, 59-0 Big East Randy Edsall Ken Karcher
2004 Kent State L, 38-10 MAC (East) Doug Martin ---
2003 Bowling Green L, 62-3 MAC (West) Gregg Brandon ---
2003 Toledo L, 49-3 MAC (West) Tom Amstutz ---
2002 Akron L, 49-21 MAC (East) Lee Owens Ken Karcher
2002 UCF L, 48-17 MAC (East) Mike Kruczek ---
2001 South Florida L, 68-37 Independent Jim Leavitt Ken Karcher
2001 UCF L, 63-0 Independent Mike Kruczek Ken Karcher
1999 Marshall L, 63-3 MAC (East) Bob Pruett Sam Rutigliano
1992 Northern Illinois L, 27-21 Independent Charlie Sadler Sam Rutigliano
1989 Eastern Michigan W, 25-24 Mid-American Conference Jim Harkema Sam Rutigliano
Liberty 2 - FBS Schools 14

Former players

References

External links