Flames vs. WVU: Hot start for LU football in ’09

By Chris Lang

Published: March 31, 2008

Liberty football coach Danny Rocco has certain criteria for scheduling games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents.
Is it a quality opponent from the Big East or ACC? Is it a regional opponent, one that LU fans can easily reach by car? Will it give the Flames a boost in one of their traditional recruiting areas?
Check all three on West Virginia, Liberty’s opponent to open the 2009 season.
The Flames will meet the Mountaineers in Morgantown Sept. 5, 2009, starting a run of games against regional FBS opponents in the next six years.
Liberty is scheduled to face Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 2011 and Virginia in Charlottesville in 2013.
“I just think it’s great, the exposure it will bring for our program,” Rocco said. “To play teams that are from those conferences who, regionally, our fans can relate to, is great.
“To me, it just made way too much sense.”
Liberty has a history of games against FBS (formerly Division I-A) teams, but the Flames haven’t played anyone of WVU’s pedigree.
True, the Flames played Wake Forest in 2006, when the Demon Deacons made a stunning run through the ACC to win a league championship and earn a berth in the Orange Bowl. But that 11-win Wake season came out of nowhere. When the game was scheduled, Wake Forest wasn’t exactly one college football’s elite programs.
West Virginia, coming off a blowout of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, was in the national championship race until the final week of the 2007 season and has a long history of competing for championships in the Big East.
Liberty hasn’t won a game against an FBS opponent since beating Eastern Michigan in 1989. The Flames led Toledo 34-22 heading into the fourth quarter last season before losing 35-34.
With the WVU game finalized, Liberty needs one more game to complete its 2009 schedule. Also on the non-conference home slate are games against James Madison and Iona, along with a to-be-determined opponent.
The Flames will travel to Lafayette in 2009 to complete a home-and-home series that will begin in October at Williams Stadium.
Liberty will host Big South opponents Coastal Carolina, Presbyterian and VMI in 2009 and travel to Stony Brook, Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb in league play.