Liberty's Chadwell eyes a Conference USA rebound after surgery and a 4-8 stumble

Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell has been looking forward to this season perhaps more than any other.

The Flames went into 2025 as heavy favorites to win the Conference USA title only to stumble to a 4-8 record. Four of the losses came by double digits with four others decided by a touchdown or less.

“There’s no secret, last year wasn’t obviously the type of program, type of team, type of season we wanted to have, and that was because of me and not being able to be the type of head coach that I needed to be to help us have a chance to be successful,” Chadwell said.

The Liberty coach had surgery in January for a “serious but treatable medical condition." It's why Chadwell says he now feels his best since the 2023 season, which was his first with the Flames. Liberty went 13-1 that season, losing to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.

That's why Liberty is targeting the league championship and to get back to what Chadwell wants to see from his Flames.

“Last year obviously was not that,” Chadwell said. "It’s frustrating because you’re the main reason for that, and I was, and so looking forward to getting back out and getting us right back on track.”

Liberty will be trying to become the fourth different champion in as many years in a now 10-team league with Louisiana Tech leaving for the Sun Belt Conference and UTEP for the Mountain West. Kennesaw State, which won the league title in its second season in the Football Bowl Subdivision, will try to repeat as champ.

“One thing about our league, we’ve always evolved, we’ve always recreated ourself,” said Western Kentucky coach Tyson Helton. “It’s always been a very competitive conference. You look at last year, we had tremendous parity. It seemed like every game came down to the last drive. I think we’ll have that again.”

Having a returning starter at quarterback helps any program. Delaware has Nick Minicucci who helped the Hens go 7-6 last season with losses at Colorado and Wake Forest. Coach Ryan Carty said Minicucci has been in the offense a long time with a season of eligibility remaining.

“I think it’s an underrated, maybe overlooked thing in college football right now is how successful a quarterback can be if they stay in the right system for a decent chunk of time,” Carty said. “And he chose to do that with us and we’re thankful for it and hopefully we can see and reap those benefits.”

New Bears coach Casey Woods was SMU's offensive coordinator last season when the Mustangs had to rally to beat Missouri State playing its first home game in the FBS. Now Woods gets to play in this series again in his new gig against his old team.

Woods credits the atmosphere at Missouri State with helping recruit him even if nobody thought that far ahead. The man who played at Tennessee and calls himself an “SEC snob” knew nothing about Missouri State until stepping off the bus before that game. That impression is something Woods uses in recruiting.

“That’s been a message to me, a message to our community about what Plaster Stadium can do, the attractiveness level that you can have for that place,” Woods said the stadium in Springfield. “Because I’m a real world example of what that is.”

He takes over a Missouri State program that went 7-6 last season with coach Ryan Beard hired away by Coastal Carolina, and Woods was able to keep about 70 players on the roster.

Middle Tennessee coach Derek Mason goes into his third season banking on his first recruit to the Blue Raiders in quarterback Roman Gagliano. Mason went 3-9 each of his first two seasons at Middle Tennessee. He is very excited to see what they manage this season.

"Year 3s have been good for me, so here we go," said Mason, who went 6-7 in his third season at Vanderbilt with a loss in the Independence Bowl.

Missouri State will be making two trips to Texas in the first four games. Before Woods gets a chance to coach against his last team in Dallas on Sept. 26 as part of a previously arranged home-and-home series with SMU, his Bears open the season at Texas A&M (Sept. 5).

New Mexico State opens at Florida State, Middle Tennessee hosts Nevada (Sept. 19) and visits Kansas (Oct. 3). Jacksonville State opens at North Dakota State.

Western Kentucky's opening slate might be the league's toughest. The Hilltoppers open at Nevada, visit Georgia (Sept. 12) and then defending champ Indiana (Sept. 19).

AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report from Arlington, Texas.

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