The Flames compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of Conference USA.

[2] In 2021, Liberty University announced the Flames would become full members of Conference USA effective for the 2023 football season.

[3] In 1971, Jerry Falwell and Elmer L. Towns established a private Christian school in Lynchburg Baptist College.

Falwell stated a plan to “have our athletic program comparable to USC, to Notre Dame, to Alabama, to anybody in time,”, with the football team beginning play in 1973.

They played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics until 1980 before moving onto NCAA Division II for seven years.

[5][6] Liberty ran its unbeaten Big South streak to 11-straight games, finishing back-to-back conference championship seasons with a 30–10 victory over Gardner-Webb.

After starting off 2–0 in conference play, Liberty traveled to Coastal Carolina, where they lost to the Chanticleers 36–12, bringing their overall record to 3–5.

Liberty would then play then ninth ranked Stony Brook, beating them 28–14, also extending their at home conference win streak which dates back to 2006.

In order to win a share at the Big South title, they would have to beat the Virginia Military Institute Keydets.

Liberty opened up conference play at home against Coastal Carolina, where they let a 19-point lead slip away in the second half as the Chanticleers rallied to win in double overtime, 55–52.

[11] Seventeen months after resigning from Ole Miss Rebels football, Hugh Freeze was named as Liberty's ninth head coach on December 7, 2018.

[13] In 2020, after a 6–0 start, Liberty made it in the AP Top 25 Poll for the first time in their program history, making it at No.

[14] Freeze departed Liberty on November 28, 2022, to be the head coach at Auburn University after a few weeks of negotiations, discussions, and rumors.