Dan Lanning believes Liberty belonged in Fiesta Bowl despite blowout loss

After entering the second quarter of the Fiesta Bowl down 6-3 to Liberty, Oregon put their foot on the gas and never looked back, defeating the Flames 45-6 in the team’s second straight bowl victory in year two under head coach Dan Lanning.

Lanning gave high praise to Liberty ahead of their matchup in Glendale, Arizona, but afterward, he was asked if his team’s dominant performance against the Flames at all changed his perception of that team and the worthiness of their Fiesta Bowl appearance.

“Not at all,” Lanning said. “I mean you talk about they were an undefeated team, they had an elite season, Coach [Jamey] Chadwell‘s won everywhere he’s been. Yeah we had the better game today, we played well today and they’re a good team. You can’t discredit a team going unscathed throughout the season undefeated. It speaks to the quality of the team they are and the quality of coaches they have.”

Liberty definitely impressed in their first year under Chadwell after he spent the previous four seasons as the head coach at Coastal Carolina. He helped lead the Flames to a flawless 13-0 record before their Fiesta Bowl appearance, taking home the Conference USA Championship in the process as well.

The Flames earned a New Year’s Six bowl bid after being the highest-ranked Group of Five team in the final College Football Playoff rankings at No. 23. But unfortunately, they were no match for the Ducks on Monday.

“They had an elite season and hopefully this doesn’t overshadow the season that they had,” Lanning said. “But I know how I wanted to come out on the end of this thing and fortunate enough for us our players went out and performed.”

The Ducks just missed out on the College Football Playoff with their only two losses of the season coming to Washington, who secured their spot in the national championship on Monday night. Many still regarded Oregon as one of the best teams in the nation despite missing the CFP, and they surely looked like just that against Liberty.

After a closely contested first quarter, the Ducks would go on to score 28 unanswered points in the second quarter. They’d score a touchdown apiece in the third and fourth quarters, only allowing points exclusively in Liberty’s very first possession of the football game.

Quarterback Bo Nix had a masterful performance in the final game of his collegiate career, ending the Fiesta Bowl with 363 passing yards and five touchdowns. As Oregon will now focus its attention on maintaining, and potentially continuing to build upon, their success as they transition to the Big Ten Conference.