Football schedules FBS foes

With Liberty in pursuit of an invitation to join a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference, the Flames will play several highly ranked FBS opponents in the coming years.

The Flames football team is currently a Football Championship Subdivision program and is hoping to graduate to FBS play in the next few years, according to Athletic Director Jeff Barber.

Liberty will continue the tradition of opening its season against FBS foes in 2014. After falling in three consecutive years against N.C. State in 2011, Wake Forest in 2012 and Kent State in 2013, the Flames hope to reverse their streak in 2014 as they take on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Barber said the game will give Liberty “an opportunity to compete at the highest level.”

In 2015 and 2016, the Flames will take on additional FBS opponents. According to the fall 2012 edition of the Liberty Journal, the Flames football team will play West Virginia, which is in the Big 12 Conference, in 2015. The Flames will battle another Big 12 team, the Baylor Bears, in 2016, according to fbsschedules.com.

Also in 2016, the Flames will head to Blacksburg, Va., to play the Virginia Tech Hokies for their first game in history against an FBS opponent from the same state, according to the Liberty Journal.

For more information about the Flames football program, visit liberty.edu/flames.