Flames Nation flocking to Florida to give football team a boost at Cure Bowl

History was made on Dec. 8 when the Liberty University football team accepted an invitation to face Georgia Southern in the 2019 FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl. This opportunity to play on the national stage marks the school’s first foray into postseason play and makes Liberty only the fifth team to receive a bowl invitation during its first full season of FBS play.

And as preparations are underway to get the Flames Football team, the Spirit of the Mountain Marching Band, Sparky and the Liberty cheerleaders, and student fans to the game, here’s a quick look at what it takes to pick up everything that typically happens on a Saturday and move it from Lynchburg to Orlando.

The Flames Football team will mobilize 114 players plus coaches and staff, and the semi-truck that accompanies the team will carry everything needed to battle the opposing Eagles at Expedia Stadium on Dec. 21.

“Most of our folks have already traveled for this year’s six road games, so the operation is a well-oiled machine,” says Robert Goodman, Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Ticket Sales. “But, make no mistake – this is not just another Saturday for us. Being on the big show at the Cure Bowl makes all the difference.”

The Liberty Flames cheerleaders, also veterans at traveling to support the team on the road, will be preparing for the Cure Bowl just like they do for every game.

“We have 18 student-athletes attending and it is an honor to witness history and to cheer on the Flames in their first bowl appearance,” says Jordan Ballard, head coach of Liberty’s cheerleading team.

Coach Ballard says that the cheerleaders and members of the football team will visit the Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center and will participate in the J. A. Edwards of America Feeding Children Everywhere Hunger Project.

“We will join an assembly line of Flames Football players and staff members to create care packages. The Georgia Southern players, cheerleaders and staff will do the same — a kind of contest held by Cure Bowl staff to see who can produce the most care packages.”

For the Spirit of the Mountain marching band, which typically travels only once a year — the past two seasons to nearby Charlottesville, Va., to perform at the game at the University of Virginia — the coordination, travel, and schedule details are “about being prepared for the little details which, in this case, are big details,” Assistant Band Director Alyssa Hurley said.

Although Liberty’s Director of Bands, Dr. Stephen Kerr, notified members early in the semester that a postseason trip was a possibility, details did not become available until the semester had nearly concluded and most students had returned home for Christmas break. That timing left band leadership with the task of arranging for 270 people and hundreds of instruments, uniforms, water bottles, shakos and plumes, and pink Cure armbands to get to Orlando for a national bowl game played four days before Christmas.

“We have arranged for five independent bus routes to pick up students from cities in the Midwest and along the East Coast, including Lynchburg, and get them to Orlando in time for dinner on Wednesday night,” Dr. Kerr said.

Although this bus option does accommodate most students, some will be flying to meet the band in Orlando having traveled from throughout the U.S. including California, Colorado, Wyoming, and Washington state.

Despite the travel and coordination challenges, Hurley believes that once the band arrives in Orlando and gets to participate in the Cure Bowl events like the Battle of the Bands between Georgia Southern and Liberty, students will be honored to be part of the school’s first marching band to attend a bowl game.

“This is going to be one of the best memories from college, using the mission the Lord has given and using our talents to bring glory to Him,” she said.

Goodman is thankful that not one person is responsible for preparing for the bowl.

“We’ve got a great team here, and everybody takes their little slice of the pie and does everything that they need,” he said. “When we put it all together and put it in the oven, it all comes out very tasty.”

That is helpful for the team responsible for marketing the bowl, selling tickets, and getting fans to the game.

Goodman says that although the Cure Bowl selection wasn’t final, the “inkling” they had allowed them to ramp up in preparation for the announcement. Email templates, a website, TV and online commercials, player profiles, a charter flight, and a bus trip for students were a few of the many activities that happened beforehand.

Once that confirmation occurred, he and his team leapt into action.

“We sent out over 200,000 emails to students, faculty, staff and Flames Club members directing them to the one-stop shop at Liberty Flames Bowl Central,” Goodman said. “That same day our students started signing up for the bus trip and our fans started buying tickets for the game and the charter flight.”

For fans who cannot attend the game but still want to support first-year Head Coach Hugh Freeze and Liberty’s student-athletes, they can purchase proxy tickets which will be donated to members of the military and local cancer survivors in the greater Orlando area.

Goodman believes that due to the coverage of Freeze’s illness, the Flames’ Men’s Basketball team’s run in the NCAA tournament in March, and other outstanding achievements, Liberty will be on the national stage like never before.

“You can’t put a number on that exposure,” Goodman adds. “You can’t buy that.”

Hurley says the Spirit of the Mountain has taken the message of 1 Thessalonians 5, edifying the body of Christ, and adapted it so that it is the band of Christ that gets to edify the body.

“Ultimately, when the band gets to work alongside the cheerleaders and Sparky and the football team and all of us together get to spread the name of Christ, that’s what it’s all about,” she said. “We are so excited to get that opportunity in Orlando.”