Liberty Flames College Football Pregame Quote, 12/27/2023

DENISE SEOMIN: On behalf of the Board of Directors, Yellow Jacket Committee Members, Ambassadors and volunteers, it is my pleasure to welcome the Liberty Flames to the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.  
 
In its first year in Conference USA, Liberty posted a perfect 8-0 ASUN record going 13-0 overall this season, while winning its first FBS Conference title, defeating New Mexico State, 49-35 in the Conference USA Championship Game. The January 1st Vrbo Fiesta Bowl will mark the first meeting between the Flames and the Ducks of Oregon.  
 
Liberty is led by 2023 Conference USA Co-Coach of the Year, and Paul “Bear” Bryant Award Group of Five Coach of the Year Jamey Chadwell. At this time, I would like to turn over to Coach Chadwell for some opening remarks.   
 
COACH CHADWELL: Thank you very much. On behalf of our President, Dondi Costin; our Chancellor, Jon Falwell; our athletic director Ian McCaw and our football program, we are so excited to be in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. We’ve had a long day, you may have heard. But we are thankful to be in Phoenix, Arizona.  
 
This is something that our university, its founder, Jerry Falwell, when he started the football program in 1971, he had a goal to play at the highest level and to compete for championships and to have the opportunity to play in such a prestigious bowl game as the Fiesta Bowl. We’re here, and I know he’s in heaven right now smiling down and looking down on us and just thankful for the opportunity we have here at Liberty. And we are very thankful to be here. We will represent Conference USA. We are thankful to represent that conference and be 13-0, and we’re looking forward to playing a wonderful game versus an unbelievable opponent.  
 
I will open it up for some questions.  I’ve been to some crazy interviews. This is the first one with planes going over.  
 
Q. Coach, obviously a long day. Could you just detail what your travel day was like, when the day started and to where you are here now.  
 
COACH CHADWELL: When did it start? Are we still Wednesday? It started yesterday. Our plan was to practice this morning, and then we had a good lunch and we headed to the airport, which is five minutes from our university. Everything is looking great, except the weather didn’t cooperate with us.   
 
And so credit to our university, we found some buses. We had to bus to Richmond, which is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive. It seemed like six. And we were able to get up there, finally get out. I think we left at 7:30. That’s how it happened. It did not go as planned, but we’re thankful to be in Phoenix.  
 
Q. What was the practice like before you boarded the plane? Is it a mix of excitement? Are the guys focused enough? Are they ready to jump into a practice first thing tomorrow? What is the team’s mindset right now?   
 
COACH CHADWELL: I think we are under curfew a little bit. We didn’t have much time to enjoy the area, but they’ll be ready to go. I think today was a short practice, knowing that we were getting on plane, the opportunity to come out here. Our guys know why we are out here. We will obviously enjoy the festivities that are planned, but also come out here and win a football game and play our best. We will be ready to go tomorrow.   
 
We also have to get used to the time change. That, to me, is the biggest challenge the first day, to get used to the two-hour time change. We had to do that when we played UTEP earlier in the year. It’s not something that we are not used to, but I anticipate a good practice tomorrow hopefully.  The rest of the team will get here in a bit.  
 
Q. Now that you are here, what emotions are going through your body? This is the first New Year’s Six Bowl in program history. What does it mean to the school to be here on this stage?   
 
COACH CHADWELL: I mean for our university, this is our fifth year of FBS football. They made the choice five years ago to make that jump, and within a five-year period to be able to play in a New Year’s Six Bowl game is arguably unprecedented. So just the notoriety, the publicity that it brings to our university, and our mission of training champions, you can’t put a price tag on that.   
 
And I think for our team, the work that they put in, we’ve had a challenging season to say the least, not necessarily to go 13-0 to say how challenging it was. We lost a young man (Tajh Boyd) in our program in early August. When our staff first got here, we had over 50% roster turnover. We had to go through a lot of challenges. To be here and be part of a New Year’s Six Game in our first year is something special.   
 
And from a coaching standpoint, you know, we all started in Division II. We were washing laundry, and now we are getting ready to play in the Fiesta Bowl. So, hey, look at us.   
 
Q. You talked about Oregon, what kind of problems they present on defense and offense?  
 
COACH CHADWELL: Well, they are big and fast. And I told our team, and it’s no secret, they are six points away from playing for a national championship. They’re a tremendous team. There’s no phase that they don’t excel in. I think our biggest challenge is that they are fast, but they are also long length-wise, and we don’t see that consistently.  
 
A lot our team has played a lot of Power 5s, SEC, ACC before. We just didn’t do that this year. I think that will be our biggest challenge is getting used to their size and speed all across the board.   
 
And Bo Nix is phenomenal, the quarterback, obviously a top three in the Heisman. And then you look defensively, they have NFL players all around. So a big challenge for the Flames.  
 
Q. What is the message to your players as far as getting them in the right mindset? Yes, they are thankful to be here. Yes, they want to enjoy themselves, but they are also here to compete and to win and to take it to the next level and prove that they belong on this stage. What do you say to them?  
 
COACH CHADWELL: Well, that’s been our mission the whole time. We were, obviously, excited when our name was released Selection Sunday, December 3rd. But ever since then, hey, you guys, we’re thankful to be in this, but also we’re going to play our best game and win a football game, and that’s been the mindset all year long. That’s not going to change, even though we’re playing a phenomenal team.   
 
We know the challenge. We know we’re the underdog. We know that. Everybody has told us we ve got no chance. Somebody gave us a 1%, and it reminded me of the movie “Dumb and Dumber.” So you’re telling me there is a chance? One in a million, hmm? But our team knows what is at stake, and I expect us to play our best game.  
 
Q. That will wrap our questions tonight, but before we wrap up the press conference altogether, we do want to give Coach Chadwell a little welcome gift to say, welcome to the Valley of the Sun and the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl finally.  
 
COACH CHADWELL: Finally, yes! (Applause).   
 
I would like to say also, I appreciate everybody being here in the Yellow Jackets. I hope we didn’t ruin your dinner plans, but we appreciate you.