Fan the Flames Week 8 Preview: Kennesaw State

The Liberty Flames fell to Monmouth in New Jersey last week 20-17 in overtime. This was the second consecutive loss for the Flames, and marked the first time Liberty has lost multiple Big South games as well as consecutive Big South games since 2006 (current Richmond head coach Danny Rocco's first year at Liberty).

In reading the FlameFans message board, some have the attitude that this is one of the lowest points in the fairly recent history of Liberty football, coming off a playoff berth and high expectations for finally earning an outright Big South title, especially with Coastal Carolina heading to FBS and the Sun Belt Conference.

Josh Woodrum threw for 336 yards, but zero TD passes for the second time in three games as well as two costly interceptions. The story once again, though, was the absence of the running game. Des Rice finished with 66 yards to lead the way, but there was not much else to speak of.

Darrin Peterson finished with 120 yards and became the all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards

Grades:

Offense: C-
Woodrum threw for 336 yards, but he did it on 53 attempts. WAY too many passing attempts I think...As I said above, the running game disappeared once again, which has been a theme throughout the season. Rice currently leads the way with 497 yards.
Petey and Woodrum no doubt have a good relationship as QB and WR, but teams have been keying on him and in many situations, another option is wide open and sometimes overlooked. The senior NEEDS to spread the ball around, and on top of that, needs to take some time and look at his mechanics, especially on the deep ball

Defense: C+
When you only allow 20 points, that is a pretty good day, but when you can't stop the other team when it matters, that takes a good bit of the shine off of the performance. The Flames only finished with 1 sack and 3 TFL on the day despite only allowing just south of 300 yards of offense. They have a bigger test ahead of them this week, though (more on that later)

Special Teams: B-
Turner had a very good day punting, pinning the Hawks inside the 20 twice. Lunsford was booming the kickoffs again, garnering two touchbacks, but had a 27 yard field goal blocked that was the difference in the game (among other things).

Overall: C

 Kennesaw State 5-1 (1-0 Big South)

vs.

Liberty 3-4 (0-2 Big South)

Matchup

Location: Williams Stadium, Lynchburg, VA

Series: First Meeting

Last Meeting:First Meeting

Kickoff: 7:00 PM

Radio: The Journey FM Radio Network/Liberty Flames Sports Network (Liberty) Alan York play-by-play; KSUOwls.com/Kennesaw State Radio Network, Art Giffin play-by-play

Television: LFSN/ESPN3/National: Mike Tilley play-by-play

Coaches: Turner Gill (4th Season at Liberty 24-18 Record), Brian Bohannon (First Season at Kennesaw State 5-1 Record)

Last Week: Liberty L 17-20 vs. Monmouth,  Kennesaw State W 12-7 vs. Gardner-Webb

Prediction

The Flames likely saw any hope of a playoff bid washed away with their loss to Monmouth last week, but they can still play spoiler in the Big South, but they will have to win out, including beating a first year Owls program that has played above expectations through six games. 

I will pick Liberty in this game only because  I expect the Flames to circle the wagons after getting two straight massive reality checks and get a much needed win and move to 3-0 in first meetings with new Big South members

Liberty 42

Kennesaw State 21