2018 Liberty Flames football team
The 2018 Liberty Flames football team represented Liberty University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Turner Gill and played their home games at Williams Stadium. This was the Flames first year as a member of the FBS. Playing as an independent, they finished the season 6–6. As part of their transition to FBS, since they won six games, Liberty would have been allowed to apply for bowl eligibility had there not been enough teams with non-losing records to fill the available bowl games, but there were already four more teams than could be accommodated.
| 2018 Liberty Flames football | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Conference | Independent |
| Record | 6–6 |
| Head coach |
|
| Offensive coordinator | Joe Dailey |
| Co-defensive coordinator | Robert Wimberly |
| Co-defensive coordinator | Vantz Singletary |
| Home stadium | Williams Stadium (Capacity: 25,000) |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 5 Notre Dame ^ | – | 12 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 19 Army | – | 11 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BYU | – | 7 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Liberty | – | 6 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMass | – | 4 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico State | – | 3 | – | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On December 3, head coach Turner Gill retired.[1] He finished at Liberty with a seven-year record of 47–35. On December 7, Liberty hired former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze for the job.[2]
Schedule
| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1 | 6:00 p.m. | Old Dominion | ESPN3 | W 52–10 | 20,425 | |
| September 8 | 12:00 p.m. | at Army | CBSSN | L 14–38 | 25,133 | |
| September 22 | 6:00 p.m. | North Texas |
| ESPN3 | L 7–47 | 14,112 |
| September 29 | 6:00 p.m. | at New Mexico | W 52–43 | 18,804 | ||
| October 6 | 8:00 p.m. | at New Mexico State | Aggie Vision | L 41–49 | 8,337 | |
| October 13 | 2:00 p.m. | Troy |
| ESPN3 | W 22–16 | 17,389 |
| October 20 | 2:00 p.m. | Idaho State |
| ESPN3 | W 48–41 | 16,502 |
| November 3 | 3:30 p.m. | at UMass | ELVN | L 59–62 3OT | 10,338 | |
| November 10 | 3:00 p.m. | at Virginia | ACCRSN | L 24–45 | 41,485 | |
| November 17 | 4:00 p.m. | at Auburn | SECN Alternate | L 0–53 | 81,129 | |
| November 24 | 2:00 p.m. | New Mexico State |
| ESPN3 | W 28–21 | 16,022 |
| December 1[lower-alpha 1] | 2:00 p.m. | Norfolk State |
| ESPN3 | W 52–17 | 13,243 |
| ||||||
- Game originally scheduled for September 15, but moved in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.
Game summaries
Old Dominion
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monarchs | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Flames | 14 | 0 | 10 | 28 | 52 |
North Texas
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean Green | 14 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 47 |
| Flames | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
At New Mexico
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flames | 21 | 21 | 0 | 10 | 52 |
| Lobos | 7 | 3 | 13 | 20 | 43 |
At New Mexico State
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flames | 7 | 7 | 14 | 13 | 41 |
| Aggies | 7 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 49 |
Troy
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trojans | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
| Flames | 0 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 22 |
Idaho State
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengals | 0 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 41 |
| Flames | 7 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 48 |
At UMass
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | 2OT | 3OT | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flames | 14 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 59 |
| Minutemen | 14 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 62 |
At Virginia
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flames | 7 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 24 |
| Cavaliers | 14 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 45 |
At Auburn
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flames | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tigers | 15 | 17 | 21 | 0 | 53 |
New Mexico State
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aggies | 14 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Flames | 17 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
Norfolk State
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spartans | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| Flames | 10 | 28 | 7 | 7 | 52 |
This game was originally scheduled for September 15, but it was rescheduled due to Hurricane Florence. On December 4, 2018, Turner Gill announced that he would retire immediately.[7] On December 7, Hugh Freeze was tabbed to be the next head coach of the Liberty Flames football team.[8]
References
- "Turner Gill retiring after coaching Liberty for 7 seasons". USA TODAY. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
- Caron, Emily (December 7, 2018). "Liberty Hires Hugh Freeze". SI.com.
- "2018 Liberty Flames Football Schedule". FB Schedules.
- "2018 Season Football Schedule". Liberty Flames Athletics.
- Walls, Dave. "Liberty dethrones Old Dominion, 52-10, for first FBS win". WSET. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- "Liberty vs. Army - Game Summary - September 8, 2018". ESPN. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
- "Turner Gill Retiring". ESPN.
- "Hugh Freeze Hiring". Lynchburg News.