Fan the Flames Game # 4: James Madison

After being away for a week due to illness

#21

(2-1

vs.

#3
(2-0)

Liberty is coming off a road loss to Robert Morris 30-23 just outside of Pittsburgh. It was only their second loss to a team from the state of PA since Danny Rocco took over, and the first loss by LU in the Keystone State since 1994 (34-13 to 2009 National Champion Villanova).

No rest for the weary though as the Flames have to rebound quickly and head p I-81 and face the Dkes from out of the CAA. JMU won the meeting between the two in a monsoon at Williams Stadium 24-10. JMU has actually won the last four meetings between the two programs. JMU is coming off a bye week after upsetting FBS #15 Virginia Tech out of the ACC.

Liberty did nto get off to a fast start last week and they are going to need a fast start if they are going to get the upset here. The weather is looking pleasant for this one so it should not be a factor but JMU is a very good team in multiple facets. If LU can start out like they did agains Ball State two weeks ago and maintain that momentum, I would not be surprised if they pulled off the upset here. I have the Dukes winning in a nailbiter

JMU 34

LU 31

Fan the Flames Game #2: Ball State

The Liberty Flames got off to a slow start in their opener at Lynchburg's City Stadium but after getting down 7-0 early, woke up in a big way as Mike Brown finished with 338 yards passing and 4 TDs and the Flames rolled to a 52-7 win over St Francis. This week, Liberty steps up in competition facing a new foe from a familiar place:

(1-0)


(1-0)


This will be the first meeting between Liberty and Ball State but the Flames have faced MAC competition before, most recently in 2008 when they fell to Toledo 35-34. Ball State defeated another FCS team, SE Missouri State in its opener 27-10. Liberty is not the least bit intimidated by their foe as they have played well against FBS teams since Danny Rocco's arrival in 2006 (including holding a 12 point lead at Toledo before falling). One thing that the Cardinals do well is run the ball, as they did against SEMO. Look for three guys to get the ball throughout, MiQuale Lewis, Cory Sykes and Eric Williams (who led the way with 105 yards last week). If there is one area where BSU could be exposed, its the QB. Kelly Page took up the mantle of departed star QB Nate Davis and had his struggles last year as the Cardinals finished 2-10. Last week against the REdhawks from SEMO, he finished 10-17 for only 85 yards. If Liberty is winning this game they will have to force Page to be the one to beat them. If LU can contain the three back attack, I think they get the upset and finally get that second win over a 1-A/FBS opponent. Im picking the Flames to do just that


Liberty 35
Ball State 24.

Fan the Flames Game #1: St Francis (PA)

Its time for our look at the first opponent of the 2010 season:


(2-9)




(8-3)

This is the second meeting in four seasons between these two programs...the last time the Red Flash came to Lynchburg, the Flames jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, rolling to a 68-10 victory. Rashad Jennings (now of the Jacksonville Jaguars) ran for 107 yards and a TD while Brock Smith threw for 194 and three TDs of his own.

The Red Flash have a new head coach in Chris Villarial,, former NFL lineman and offensive coordinator under previous head coach Dave Opfar. The Red Flash, out of the Northeast Conference, have not posted a winning season since 1992 (8-2...Liberty went 7-4 that season) and have posted five winless seasons in that span.

Now I would like to take a moment and say before I posted my score prediction that I was on FlameFans (a fan board for Liberty athletics where I post my blogs for discussion) and a fan from Presbyterian College took umbrage with my prediction. To SwissMilitant (who also is an occasional reader of this blog), I did not mean to be either "unprofessional" or "hubristic" in my prediction, but I do think that Liberty will win this one pretty handily. I do expect St Francis (as well as every other opponent that Liberty will face this season (including the Blue Hose) to give their full measure on the field but some teams are just much better than others on a given day and on this given day Liberty will be exactly that against the Red Flash


Liberty 72
St Francis (PA) 0