No. 23 Liberty (9-1, Independent) vs. No. 9 Coastal Carolina (11-0, Sun Belt), Saturday, noon EST

LOCATION: Orlando, Florida

TOP PLAYERS

Liberty: Dual-threat junior QB Malik Willis has passed for 2,040 of his 2,847 yards of total offense and 20 of his 30 touchdowns. He averages 316.3 yards of offense per game and ranks 11th nationally.

Coastal Carolina: Redshirt freshman QB Grayson McCall ranks 36th nationally in total offense with 2,643 yards, including 2,170 passing to tie for 21st in that category. He’s a finalist for the Manning Award and was a semifinalist for several other honors.

NOTABLE

Liberty: The Flames have posted their best regular season in school history and look to finish with a second consecutive bowl win. They went 2-1 against the Atlantic Coast Conference, losing to bowl-bound North Carolina State after beating Syracuse and Virginia Tech.

Coastal Carolina: The Chanticleers have made history in multiple ways this season. They’ve completed the first unbeaten regular season in school and Sun Belt history (8-0), including Top-25 wins over then-No. 8 BYU and No. 21 Louisiana and Power 5 win over Big 12 Kansas in the opener. Coastal shares the Sun Belt championship with Louisiana after Saturday’s game was cancelled due to COVID-19-related issues.

LAST TIME

First bowl meeting between the schools. The former Big South Conference foes have split 14 meetings. They were scheduled to play on Dec. 5 before the game was cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols and precautions in the Flames’ program.

BOWL HISTORY

Liberty: The Flames beat Georgia Southern in last year’s Cure Bowl and were the third FBS team to win a bowl in their first season at the top level.

Coastal Carolina: The Chanticleers will make their first bowl appearance in school history and mark their first-ever neutral site game.

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