Home Liberty (13-0) gets New Year’s Six invite; JMU, Virginia Tech and ODU also going bowling
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Liberty (13-0) gets New Year’s Six invite; JMU, Virginia Tech and ODU also going bowling

Chris Graham
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The other 13-0 conference champion, Liberty, surprisingly didn’t get the short end of the stick from the College Football Playoff selection morons.

The Flames, the champs of Conference USA< were ranked 23rd by the CFP dolts, one spot ahead of the champs of the American Athletic Conference, SMU, which finished 11-2, and as a result, Liberty is going New Year’s Six bowling.

Liberty will face eighth-ranked Oregon (11-2) in the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl.

Congrats.

They’re going to get their clocks cleaned, but, congrats.

JMU (11-1), the subject of much drama because of the silly NCAA rule keeping them out of postseason consideration unless there weren’t enough bowl-eligible teams, will also be going bowling, with an invite to the Armed Forces Bowl to face Air Force (8-4).

The status of starting QB Jordan McCloud, who announced earlier this week that he will be entering the transfer portal in the wake of the news that head coach Curt Cignetti had accepted the head-coaching job at Indiana, will be one of the big storylines there.

Two 6-6 teams from the Commonwealth are also playing an extra game – ODU gets Western Kentucky in the Famous Toastery Bowl, which is being sponsored by an all-day-breakfast restaurant chain based in the Carolinas; and in the Military Bowl, Virginia Tech will face an 11-2 Tulane team that would have been in the Fiesta Bowl if not for its upset loss to SMU in the AAC title game.

Bowl schedule

Famous Toastery Bowl
ODU (6-6) vs. Western Kentucky (7-5)
Monday, Dec. 18 (2:30 p.m., ESPN)

Armed Forces Bowl
JMU (11-1) vs. Air Force (8-4)
Saturday, Dec. 23 (3:30 p.m., ABC)

Military Bowl
Virginia Tech (6-6) vs. Tulane (11-2)
Wednesday, Dec. 27 (2 p.m., ESPN)

Fiesta Bowl
#23 Liberty (13-0) vs. #8 Oregon (11-2)
Monday, Jan. 1 (1 p.m., ESPN)

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019, and Team of Destiny: Inside Virginia Basketball’s Run to the 2019 National Championship, and The Worst Wrestling Pay-Per-View Ever, published in 2018. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].