Fan the Flames Preview: James Madison

Chris Summers had his coming out party up in Easton, PA this past weekend catching a career high 14 passes as Liberty hung on and defeated the Lafayette Leopards 19-13 and avenge a loss at Williams Stadium in 2008. Mike Brown made his second straight start at QB and had another solid game, going 29-36 for 256 yards and 20 rushes for 88 yards. Summers finished with a career high in yards as well, with 138 on those 14 catches.

Now to look ahead to what will be the biggest game in Liberty history...






(1-1) #6



vs.




(2-1) #24



The James Madison Dukes make their first return to Williams Stadium since 2001 for a Saturday night clash on Hall of Fame weekend. This will be the first time ever that the two teams will both be ranked coming into the matchup. The Dukes are led by their own dual threat QB in Drew Dudzik. The redshirt junior leads the team in passing going 18-28 for 335 yards and 5 TDs but also ranks second in rushing with 112 including a 70 yd TD in the opener against Maryland. Another one to watch is leading receiver Rockeed McCarter. the 6-3 senior is second on teh team with 189 receiving yards and 2 TDs both second on the team behind TE Mike Caussin. If the Flames are going to win this game they are going to really have to step up the pass defense as they did against Elon last fall, otherwise the Dukes will be running up and down teh field all night and putting up points in bunches. Danny Rocco always gets the boys up for big games and coming off back to back wins the Flames will be burning extra hot and in front of a record crowd, I think they get an upset victory

Liberty 34
JMU 31

Fan the Flames Preview: NC Central

Jarrett Brown passed for 243 yards and added 69 and a rushing TD as the West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Liberty Flames 33-20 in Morgantown. This was the first loss for Liberty in a season opener under Danny Rocco (having won the last three).

LU certainly gave the Mountaineers all they could handle despite the final margin. Tommy Beecher passed for 210 yards and a TD but the real surprise was redshirt sophomore Mike Brown. Brown finished with 11 catches for 157 yards and a TD, Rushed two times for 7 yards and ANOTHER TD, and had 3 KO returns for 107 yards. If the band was there he'd have probably taken a few minutes to direct them for a couple songs too. The kid can do everything and he has a chance to be a real stud this year and the next two years. The biggest problems that I noticed (and these were confirmed in discussions with fellow fans after the game) were poor tackling and giving up big plays in the passing game. I counted a number of times where either Brown for WVU should have been sacked or the runner should have been stopped in the backfield for a loss. Despite that, the Flames certainly earned the respect of Mountaineer Nation and best wishes to them in the Big East this year. Now its back to the mountain...


(0-1)



vs.

(0-1)



The North Carolina Central Eagles (along with the Marching Sound Machine) make their first trip to Williams Stadium as Liberty opens the home portion of the 2009 season Saturday night. The Eagles lost last week to the Hampton Pirates 31-24 to open the 2009 season. They are led by their own dual threat redshirt sophomore QB in Michael Johnson who finished last weeks game with 123 yards through the air and 2 TDs as well as a TD on the ground. LU has not lost an opener at home since Aug 31, 2002 against Western Carolina. LU has a pair of important games coming up against Lafayette in Easton, PA and at home against #8 James Madison but they cannot overlook NCCU. LU has averaged 38.8 points per game in home openers since the loss to Western Carolina in 02 and defeated Division II North Greenville last season 49-10 and the Flames have won 44 consecutive games at home when scoring at least 30 points (I'll have to contact Elias and see who has the longest streak in that regard). LU knows that this could be a trap game with two very important constest on the horizon but COach Rocco knows they are going to have an electric atmosphere at Williams Stadum and that will carry the Flames to a decisive home win.

LU 49
NCCU 7

Fan the Flames: Game #1

Well after a long hiatus we are back! Lets dive right in with the 2009 season opener
(2008 Record: 10-2)




vs.



(2008 Record: 9-4)





Well months of lifting and practice (yes Mr. Iverson, we are talking about "practice") officially culminate with the 2009 lid lifter for both teams this Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.

West Virginia has been very successful under second year head coach Bill Stewart (He actually came on to coach the bowl game at the end of the 2007-2008 season before becoming full time head coach in 2008). According to the Mountaineers website, He set the standard for the most wins for a first year head coach ever. West Virginia will look to get back to the top of the Big East Conference and leading the way will be QB Jarrett Brown and RB Noel Devine, but these arent the only returning cogs Stewart has to work with as they are returning 18 starters and 35 total letter earners from last year's team.

Liberty is looking to get off to a good start and hopefully make a case for an at large playoff berth in the last year before the Big South gets an automatic playoff berth with the field expanding from 16 teams to 20 in the Division I Football Championship. This will be the first of three very tough games in 4 weeks for the Flames and they will be breaking in a new starting QB (although he is certainly not new to starting or to facing FBS competition) in Tommy Beecher. This team has a lot o fpotential weapons that could really light up a scoreboard but according to what Ive read, WVU will probably be faster than any team LU faces this season and I think they win this one but LU keeps it competitive for a while


WVU 42
LU 21