Game Prediction: #12 Coastal Carolina vs Liberty
One of the best bowls of the season will be the Cure Bowl, which matches up Coastal Carolina and Liberty.
Coastal Carolina was a great story in 2020, going from being picked dead last in the Sun Belt to winning the league with a perfect 11-0 record. The Chanticleers smashed any notion of BYU being the best non-Power 5 school when it beat the Cougars in December.
Liberty not being ranked in the Top 25 of the College Football Playoff rankings was without question the biggest oversight. The Flames went 9-1 with wins over two Power 5 programs, and their only defeat was a one-point loss to #23 NC State.
The Chanticleers had a few blowout victories, but for the most part they grinded out wins all season, beating Louisiana by three, BYU by five and Troy by four. Coastal Carolina averaged at least 5.3 yards per play in every game, and they finished the season with 2,455 rushing yards and 2,460 passing yards. It's hard to get much more balanced than that.
Coastal played quality defense for much of the year, but it allowed 395.3 yards per game in the final four games, and over 400 yards in three of the final four games.
Liberty is also a balanced offense that finished the season with 2,521 rushing yards and passed for 2,314 passing yards. Quarterback Malik Willis is the engine that makes the Liberty offense run, passing for 2,040 yards, rushing for 807 yards and racking up 30 touchdowns.
The Flames aren't nearly as consistent as Coastal Carolina, but they are more explosive. That is what this game will be all about, the consistency and efficiency of the Chanticleers against the athleticism and explosiveness of the Liberty squad.
In this game I'm going with Liberty to pull off the upset thanks to the dynamic one-two punch of Willis and Joshua Mack.
PREDICTION: Liberty 27, Coastal Carolina 24
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