#16/13 Lehigh (3-0)
vs.
Liberty (0-3)
Liberty returns home for the second time this season and faces the last of three straight ranked FCS opponents as the Lehigh Mountain Hawks come to Lynchburg for the first time since 2004.
Liberty comes into the game on a three game losing streak after falling to Montana 34-14 in Missoula. Josh Woodrum, in his first career start, finished with 322 yards and 2 touchdowns, earning him the Crons Big South Freshman of the Week award.
Lehigh comes into this week with the longest regular season winning streak in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) at 12 games after gutting out a 17-14 victory over Princeton last week.Senior QB Michael Colvin threw for 276 yards and rushed for 56 more in the victory.
These two teams met last season in Bethlehem with the Hawks eking out a 27-24 victory. Chris Lum went 18-28 for 300 yards and 2 TDs in the win. Chris Summers finished with 205 yards receiving and 2 TDs for Liberty.
Its tough to get a good read on either side because despite Lehigh's 3-0 record, its come against some rather low quality competition (Monmouth and Central Connecticut State of the Northeast Conference and Princeton from the Ivy League), while Liberty has played three teams who played after Thanksgiving last year (Wake Forest from the I-A/FBS ACC, and 2011 FCS playoff teams Montana and Norfolk State). The Flames have shown well in all three of their losses, losing by three to the Demon Deacons and 7 to the Spartans before losing by 20 to Montana despite outgaining the Grizzlies 342-296.
Redshirt junior Brian Hudson was out last week after an injury against Norfolk State, but with Woodrum putting on the show he did, it does raise the question again of who the Flames will have calling signals tonight. Coach Gill said in comments leading up to the game that he would evaluate both QBs but looks like we wont know who is starting until they post the starters on the video board during pregame.
I was cruising FlameFans this week and the general sentiment among the fanbase is the same that this writer holds. For Liberty to win this week, they need to cut out the self inflicted wounds. Liberty could not tackle last week in Montana and then add to that ill timed turnovers, like a first half interception from Woodrum that led to a Grizzlies touchdown and allowing their second punt return for a TD in consecutive weeks after allowing one kick return touchdown all of last season.
If Liberty can cut out the mistakes, shore up the tackling and Hudson or Woodrum (whoever gets the start) plays like they did in their previous start, it'll be a happy night on the mountain and 17,000 Liberty fans will go home happy, which is I think, exactly what will happen.
Liberty 34
Lehigh 27
