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	Turner Gill (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Joe Dailey (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Co-defensive coordinator	Robert Wimberly (7th season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Vantz Singletary (7th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Williams Stadium
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 NCAA Division I FBS independents football records

v t e	Conf							Overall
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
^ – College Football Playoff participant Rankings from AP Poll

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	Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	ESPN3	W 52–10	20,425
September 8	12:00 p.m.	at Army	Michie Stadium West Point, NY	CBSSN	L 14–38	25,133
September 22	6:00 p.m.	North Texas	Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	ESPN3	L 7–47	14,112
September 29	6:00 p.m.	at New Mexico	Dreamstyle Stadium Albuquerque, NM		W 52–43	18,804
October 6	8:00 p.m.	at New Mexico State	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM	Aggie Vision	L 41–49	8,337
October 13	2:00 p.m.	Troy	Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	ESPN3	W 22–16	17,389
October 20	2:00 p.m.	Idaho State	Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	ESPN3	W 48–41	16,502
November 3	3:30 p.m.	at UMass	McGuirk Stadium Hadley, MA	ELVN	L 59–62 3OT	10,338
November 10	3:00 p.m.	at Virginia	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ACCRSN	L 24–45	41,485
November 17	4:00 p.m.	at Auburn	Jordan-Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	SECN Alternate	L 0–53	81,129
November 24	2:00 p.m.	New Mexico State	Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	ESPN3	W 28–21	16,022
December 1[a]	2:00 p.m.	Norfolk State	Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	ESPN3	W 52–17	13,243
Homecoming All times are in Eastern time

1. Game originally scheduled for September 15, but moved in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.

^[3][4][5]

Game summaries

Old Dominion

	1	2	3	4	Total
Monarchs	3	7	0	0	10
Flames	14	0	10	28	52

See also: 2018 Old Dominion Monarchs football team

At Army

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	0	0	14	0	14
Black Knights	14	3	7	14	38

See also: 2018 Army Black Knights football team

^[6]

North Texas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mean Green	14	7	6	20	47
Flames	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2018 North Texas Mean Green football team

At New Mexico

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	21	21	0	10	52
Lobos	7	3	13	20	43

See also: 2018 New Mexico Lobos football team

At New Mexico State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	7	7	14	13	41
Aggies	7	14	14	14	49

See also: 2018 New Mexico State Aggies football team

Troy

	1	2	3	4	Total
Trojans	7	3	3	3	16
Flames	0	14	0	8	22

See also: 2018 Troy Trojans football team

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	0	17	14	10	41
Flames	7	13	14	14	48

See also: 2018 Idaho State Bengals football team

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

See also: 2018 UMass Minutemen football team

At Virginia

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	7	10	7	0	24
Cavaliers	14	10	14	7	45

See also: 2018 Virginia Cavaliers football team

At Auburn

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	0	0	0	0	0
Tigers	15	17	21	0	53

See also: 2018 Auburn Tigers football team

New Mexico State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	14	0	0	7	21
Flames	17	11	0	0	28

See also: 2018 New Mexico State Aggies football team

Norfolk State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	3	7	0	7	17
Flames	10	28	7	7	52

See also: 2018 Norfolk State Spartans football team

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

1. "Turner Gill retiring after coaching Liberty for 7 seasons". USA TODAY. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
2. Caron, Emily (December 7, 2018). "Liberty Hires Hugh Freeze". SI.com.
3. "2018 Liberty Flames Football Schedule". FB Schedules.
4. "2018 Season Football Schedule". Liberty Flames Athletics.
5. Walls, Dave. "Liberty dethrones Old Dominion, 52-10, for first FBS win". WSET. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
6. "Liberty vs. Army - Game Summary - September 8, 2018". ESPN. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
7. "Turner Gill Retiring". ESPN.
8. "Hugh Freeze Hiring". Lynchburg News.