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Has Liberty lost its chance at the CFPs with cancelation of game against App State?

The game between Liberty and App State has been canceled due to the impacts of Hurricane Helene and will not be rescheduled. Are the Flames out of luck for the CFPs?

By Sam Fariss

Dec 1, 2023; Lynchburg, VA, USA; Liberty Flames running back Quinton Cooley (20) celebrates a touchdown against the New Mexico State Aggies at Williams Stadium.
Dec 1, 2023; Lynchburg, VA, USA; Liberty Flames running back Quinton Cooley (20) celebrates a touchdown against the New Mexico State Aggies at Williams Stadium. / Brian Bishop-Imagn Images
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Due to Hurricane Helene, the matchup between the Liberty Flames and the App State Mountaineers has been canceled and won't be rescheduled for later this season.

Liberty already had a jam-packed schedule for the 2024 season but with this cancellation and two bye weeks ahead of them, fans are wondering when the Flames will squeeze in a 12th regular-season game, or if they even can.

With multiple games on a Tuesday or Wednesday, the Flames don't have much breathing room in their game schedule, even with the two byes in the month of October. Liberty would have to schedule a 12th regular-season game just a few days before or after the Flames play in another matchup.

The Flames are one of the handful of Group of Five teams that were projected to have a chance at the College Football Playoffs this postseason.

So, with zero ranked matchups remaining this year and the cancellation of the game against the Mountaineers, have the Flames' hopes at a spot in the CFPs been dashed?

Teams don't have to play in 12 games during the regular season to earn a spot in the CFPs but it's hard to argue that a team with 11 wins is just as good as teams with 12 wins, especially if it comes down to a conference tie-breaker for which team earns the first-place spot.

Currently, Liberty sits atop its Conference-USA, with two wins over conference opponents – UTEP and New Mexico State. With the Flames' 4-0 start to the season, things are chugging right along for the team but they were expected to easily take down App State, removing an almost guaranteed win from their strength of schedule argument.

Not many of the teams over the remainder of Liberty's conference schedule pose an imminent threat to the Flames' perfect record but how would Liberty compare to a Boise State team that wins out over the rest of the season and only has one loss to a top-ten ranked Oregon? How would an undefeated Liberty team contrast to a perfect 12-0 Army or Navy squad?

As I said earlier, it's hard to argue that an 11-win Liberty is better than a 12-win team that stands atop another G5 conference and wins the conference championship. So, Liberty has to win and win big over the remainder of the season and hope that no more hurricanes get in its way.

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