Liberty’s rise in college football has culminated with the best season in the program’s short history.

Kaidon Salter threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and undefeated No. 20 Liberty maintained its hopes of a New Year’s Six bowl bid, beating New Mexico State 49-35 in the Conference USA championship game.

First-year Liberty University coach Jamey Chadwell says the death of a freshman football player was not football-related.

Grayson McCall threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third as No. 24 Coastal Carolina rebounded from its first loss of the season, holding on to top Troy 35-28 on Thursday night.

The American Athletic Conference is in rebuilding mode again.

FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2020, file photo, Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell waits to lead his team onto the field for an NCAA football game against Georgia State in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell is The Associated Press college football coach of the year after leading the Chanticleers to a surprising, near-perfect season. UCF’s Scott Frost was AP coach of the year in 2017 and Gary Patterson won the first of his two AP awards with TCU in 2009 when the Horned Frogs were competing in the Mountain West. Chadwell came to Coastal Carolina in 2017 as offensive coordinator for former coach Joe Moglia after four successful season at FCS Charleston Southern. ___VotingJamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina - 88 points (16 first-place votes).

“Do I think it would be a great matchup in college football, particularly in 2020? College football researcher and statistician Cody Kellner calculated 82 scheduled games were never played and 86.8% of the major college football season will be completed if no games are canceled Saturday. Teams played 52 of 55 potential regular-season games, including 43 of 45 conference games, plus a championship game. Teams played 85 of 90 potential regular-season games, including 70 of 75 conference games, plus a championship game. ___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at https://westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25