Liberty Gets Coveted Group Of 5 Bid To The Fiesta Bowl...But Did They Deserve It?
The biggest storyline to come out of the CFP rankings was Florida State missing a top-4 spot. The second-biggest surprise was Liberty getting a Fiesta Bowl-bid over SMU.
In the final CFP rankings of the wildly chaotic 2023 season, the Flames got ranked No. 23 in the nation - one spot ahead of the Mustangs. That guaranteed the Christian school from Lynchburg, VA a date with the 8th-ranked Oregon Ducks in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. The New Year’s Six matchup will take place at 1 p.m. EST on Jan. 1 in Scottsdale, AZ.
Here’s Liberty’s reaction once the announcement aired on ESPN.
It is by far the biggest moment for a football program that has only existed for 50 seasons, and only been an FBS school since 2018. First-year head coach Jamey Chadwell joked that he might have done himself a disservice by winning “too much, too early,” but obviously expressed excitement at this seminal moment for the program.
“It’s a special thing from a standpoint of recruiting, for notoriety, and now with the CFP coming next year, now your name is out there,” Chadwell said. “That gives us more access hopefully if we continue to do a great job.”
Liberty is in, and that can’t be changed. But the biggest question is, did the school deserve it?
Now before I answer this question, I must be honest, since that’s the best policy. I graduated from Liberty in 2021, and as such am a Flames fan (see my bio at the bottom). However, I will attempt to provide objective insight, and examine what each team accomplished.
Liberty, SMU Had Similar Resumes To Present To Committee
Liberty’s Resume: 13-0, 49-35 win over New Mexico State in Conference USA Championship Game
SMU’s Resume: 11-2, 26-14 win over Tulane in AAC Championship Game over Tulane.
At first blush, this looks like an easy discussion. How can a two-loss team compete with an undefeated one? After all, going 13-0 isn’t easy, and the Flames only had two games end with less than a 10-point deficit. Throw in a two-touchdown win in the conference title game (and the fact that they had the nation’s best rushing attack), and we seem to have a done deal.
However, it’s not that simple. Liberty remained relatively low in the CFP rankings all year because they had one of the weakest schedules in the country.
Before the season began, some experts projected the schedule to be ranked 118th out 133 in terms of difficulty. Liberty never played a ranked opponent, and got home-field advantage in the title game.
Head coach Jamey Chadwell (center) and the Flames proved the belonged in the Fiesta Bowl. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Unfortunately for SMU, its schedule didn’t help much either, it was ranked 116th by that same standard. On the flip side, the Mustangs did face two ranked opponents. They lost to (at the time) No. 18 Oklahoma, 28-11, and then went on the road to beat Tulane by 12 for the AAC crown. By the way, going on the road and winning a conference title game against a ranked opponent is no small feat.
If SMU had scored another 10 points against Tulane, that would have convinced the committee that the Mustangs should face Oregon. A win is a win, it just seems a slightly bigger margin of victory could have helped.
Flames Earned The Right To Go To The Fiesta Bowl, But Barely
If that’s the only thing that kept SMU out of the Fiesta Bowl, every committee member should be replaced. They should anyway, given that they snubbed Florida State, but I digress.
However, SMU did have a glaring stain on the resume. That was a 17-point loss to a terrible, 5-7 TCU Horned Frogs team. Like it or not, that might have swayed the committee to side with Liberty over SMU for the Fiesta Bowl.
So on the one hand, we have a Liberty team that went undefeated, but had every scheduling factor you could imagine go in their favor. On the other hand, we have an SMU team that won a title game on the road against a ranked opponent, but had a comparably weak schedule - and a really, really bad loss.
If Liberty did deserve this honor, it was by the thinnest of margins. And if it’s any consolation to Mustangs fans, the Flames will almost certainly get blown out.
If New Mexico State can put up 322 passing yards against that secondary, I don’t want to dream of what the Ducks skill position players could do against us (even if Bo Nix ends up skipping the game). But for the sake of school spirit, keeping a positive attitude, and not losing sight of how historic this moment is, I’m going to enjoy it.
Fan the Flames baby!