By Marie Reader
The Liberty Flames, winners of Conference USA and owner of a perfect 13-0 record, will face No. 8 Oregon in the 2023 Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Monday, January 1 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Liberty captured its first-ever FBS conference championship, Friday night, with a 49-35 win over New Mexico State in the CUSA Football Championship to move to 13-0 on the year.
With the win over the Aggies, the Flames are the highest-ranked Group of Five school in the country, earning their first-ever New Year’s Six bowl game appearance.
Liberty was ranked No. 23 in the final CFP rankings, one spot ahead of No. 24 SMU, who won the AAC Championship title yesterday against Tulane.
The matchup against No. 8 ranked Oregon will be Liberty’s fifth-straight bowl game and fifth overall bowl game in school history.
The Flames have earned a bowl game appearance each year they have been bowl eligible since moving up to the FBS level (transition year in 2018; first year of bowl eligibility in 2019).
Liberty is 3-1 in its previous four bowl game appearances. The Flames were victorious in the 2019 Cure Bowl (W/ 23-16 over Georgia Southern), 2020 Cure Bowl (W/ 37-34 over Coastal Carolina) and the 2021 LendingTree Bowl (W/ 56-20 over Eastern Michigan).
The Flames will square off against Oregon (11-2, 8-1 Pac-12), who lost a 34-31 decision to Washington yesterday in the Pac-12 Championship game.
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