Fan the Flames Preview: Coastal Carolina

Liberty (3-4, 2-0)

vs.

Coastal Carolina (3-4, 1-1)

The second game of what I call the "holy trinity" of the Big South takes place this weekend as the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers host Liberty.

Both teams come into this weekend with momentum, Coastal coming off a 34-7 rout of VMI in Lexington, while the Flames come in burning bright following their third straight victory over Division II Concord 21-13.

Liberty does come in minus one of their biggest deep threats as Ryan Ferguson was announced as out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury sustained on the opening kickoff against Concord. Darrin "Petey" Peterson and Jaquan Glover saw increased playing time. Ryan Ayers will return to action at cornerback against the Chants, which is a definite bit of good news. The Flames however, did lose linebacker Bobby Partilla and the career of Korrey Davis came to an end due to a hip injury.

The Liberty-CCU series is probably the most even series outside of Liberty and Stony Brook. Liberty won the first meeting between the two in 2003, 38-21. CCU then ran off the next four meetings, including the first two in Conway, 33-6 and 28-26. Liberty broke through in 2007, (the debut of the red jerseys), and won the next three meetings to tie the series at 4. CCU then upset the Flames (who were on the cusp of a top 10 ranking at the time) in 2010, on the way to the first ever automatic bid for the Big South. Liberty then trampled Coastal last season in Lynchburg, scoring the first 42 points on the way to a 63-27 victory and knotting the series at 5.

Liberty has not had a lot of success down at the beach, with the "beach chickens" holding a 3-1 advantage at Brooks Stadium. 

CCU will need a balanced attack to be able to hold serve once again. Aramis Hillary comes into the weekend leading the conference in passing yards (1,657) and second in passing TDs (11), but the Chants will need more from running backs Jeremy Height (who was held to only 9 yards, as the Chants rushed for 159 as a team) and freshman Lorenzo Taliaferro (who is drawing comparisons to former Chant RB Mike Tolbert, now with the NFL's Carolina Panthers) for Coastal to come away with a victory.

Liberty needs to keep winning to force a potential winner take all game in Lynchburg on November 10. a CCU win, coupled with a Liberty win on November 10, likely gives Coastal the automatic qualifier for the second time in three years, thanks to the conference's new tiebreaking procedures (see a very informative post here from LU Flames Nation)

One thing that you can guarantee about games between LU and CCU down in Myrtle Beach is the scoreboard operators are gonna be very busy (the average score between the two has been 47-33 in favor of Coastal). If both QBs (Hillary for CCU and Woodrum for Liberty) play like they have the last few weeks, it will come down to who can establish the running game and open up the lanes for their dual threat QB. I call Liberty to take this one in another South Carolina shootout.

Liberty 45

CCU 38

Fan the Flames Preview: Concord

Game 7:

 Liberty Flames (2-4. 2-0 Big South)

vs.

Concord Mountain Lions (4-3, 3-2 WVIAC)

The Liberty Flames return to the friendly confines of Williams Stadium and welcome the Division II Mountain Lions in the final non-conference matchup of the regular season. Liberty is fresh off a dominating performance in Clinton, SC as they routed the Presbyterian Blue Hose 56-7 on the strength of a school record 692 yards of total offense.

Liberty has a record of 28-2 against current Division II schools, including 21 in a row dating back to September 25, 1993 when the Flames lost to Indiana University of Pennsylvania 23-7. The closest anyone has come since then came in 2005, when Concord held a 6-0 lead at halftime before Liberty rallied with a pair of Marcus Hamilton TDs and a Zac Kolegue field goal and won 17-6.

Times have changed on the mountain, and as noted by LU Flames Nation, Liberty has posted a 48-24 record since that season (where the Flames finished a school worst 1-10 after the victory over the Mountain Lions), including dominating wins over WVIAC members Glenville State (31-7 in 2006 and 44-27 in 2008) and West Virginia Wesleyan (45-7 in 2009). 

Since Kenny Little of Gardner-Webb scored on a 1 yard run with 13:53 remaining in the third quarter of their matchup on homecoming Saturday, Liberty has outscored their opponents, 87-14, including the first 28 points in their win over PC last Saturday. 

Josh Woodrum, after going 3-5 for 14 yards in the loss to Norfolk State, has lit up the scoreboard, throwing for 200+ yards in all four starts, including a career high 373 yards in the comeback win over the Runnin Bulldogs, and 232 yards against PC. The redshirt freshman's efforts have not gone unnoticed, as he was named to the watch list for the Jerry Rice Award given to the outstanding freshman football player in all of  Division I-AA/Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). 

Aldreakis Allen and SirChauncey Holloway, after having some tough sledding against Montana, have each put up dominating performances the last four games, with Allen rushing for 100+ yards the last four games (including a career high 183 yards at PC), and Holloway in three of the last four. 

Pat Kelly, who was thrust into the #1 receiver role after the graduation of Chris Summers, has had no trouble adjusting to the limelight (and extra coverage attention), as he already has eclipsed his total number of catches from last season (40) and is only 119 yards from eclipsing his career high in receiving yards for a season (635 in 2010). With 172 yards in the final 5 games, Kelly will move into the top 5 all time for receiving yards, ahead of former Flame and NFL wide receiver James McKnight.

This weekend comes at a good time for Liberty, after losing four in a row, the Flames are riding high and will likely dominate, even though Concord enters with the #32 overall defense and #26 pass defense in the country for Division II. This will give the team a chance to work out a few more of the kinks before the first of two huge conference matchups in the second half of the season down in Myrtle Beach.

Liberty 56
Concord 7