EL PASO, Texas (AP) — No. 22 Liberty completed the first undefeated regular season in the program's 50-year history, with Quinton Cooley rushing for three touchdowns in a 42-28 victory over UTEP on Saturday.
Quarterback Kaidon Salter ran for a team-leading 94 yards and threw for a score as the Flames made their Conference USA debut by becoming the league's third team to go 12-0, joining Tulane (1998) and Houston (2011). They are the first team Division I team from the state of Virginia to win 12 games.
Liberty (8-0 C-USA), which rushed for a season-high 441 yards, will host New Mexico State in the conference championship game Friday, but likely will need a Tulane loss to have a shot at the Group of Five bid to the New Year's Six bowls.
Liberty is one of five undefeated FBS teams. It just entered the College Football Playoff rankings for the first time at No. 25, two spots behind the one-loss Green Wave, who beat Southern California in the Cotton Bowl to finish last season.
The Flames, in their sixth FBS season, had already broken the school record of 10 wins in 2020 and left little doubt against the Miners (3-9, 2-6). They found the end zone on four of their first five possessions for a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter.
Liberty had 287 yards rushing at halftime, while holding UTEP to minus-2 yards on the ground, then started the second half by running on all eight plays of a 55-yard drive to Cooley’s third TD.
Salter opened the scoring with his 39th total touchdown of the season — one shy of the school record — on a 6-yard pass to CJ Daniels. Cooley's 42-yard TD run made it 21-7 late in the first quarter.
THE TAKEAWAY
Liberty: The Flames might have a shot at their highest-profile bowl even without the Group of Five bid in the New Year's Six games. Liberty is on a four-year bowl streak started by Hugh Freeze, who left for the Auburn job after last season. The Flames played in the Cure Bowl twice, followed by the LendingTree Bowl and the Boca Raton Bowl.
UTEP: The Miners, who finished the season with their fourth-string quarterback, have had losing records in five of coach Dana Dimel's six seasons and have won more than three games just twice. UTEP hasn't played in any bowl other than the New Mexico Bowl since Mike Price led the program to consecutive eight-win seasons in 2004-05. Those are two of just three eight-win seasons since 1989.
UP NEXT
Liberty: New Mexico State, less than two weeks removed from a 31-10 road win over Freeze's Auburn team, makes the C-USA title game a matchup of a pair of newcomers to the league. The Flames beat the Aggies 33-17 in the conference opener for both teams Sept. 9.
UTEP: The Miners are scheduled to open next season at Nebraska on Aug. 31.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football