Fan the Flames Game #6 Preview: Kennesaw State (Big South Opener)

After a bye week, the Liberty Flames return to the gridiron and make the final run to a playoff bid and it begins just outside of Atlanta.

Two weeks ago the Flames bounced back from their worst home loss in the Turner Gill era against Jacksonville State with a 41-7 win over Robert Morris. Stephen Calvert made his first career start and passed for 340 yards and three TDs setting a freshman record for passing yards in the process. Unfortunately the running game struggled, finishing with only 72 net rushing yards on 30 carries.

The Flames officially finished the first half of the season at 2-3, which is a little behind my expectations for the season at this point, but the major focus is and always has been the conference schedule for this year's squad.

With that, let's take a look at this week's matchup:

 Liberty (2-3, 0-0 Big South)

vs.

 Kennesaw State (4-1, 0-0 Big South)

Matchup

Location: Fifth Third Bank Stadium Kennesaw, GA

Series: Second Meeting

Last Meeting: Liberty 45-35

Kickoff: 7:00 PM

Radio: The Journey FM Radio Network/Liberty Flames Sports Network (Liberty) Alan York play-by-play; Kennesaw State Owls Radio Network

Television: Big South Network/ESPN 3 Evan Lepler play-by-play

Coaches: Turner Gill (5th Season at Liberty 31-22 Record), Brian Bohannon (2nd Season at KSU 10-6 Record

Last Week: Liberty had a bye, Kennesaw State W 49-16 vs. Missouri S&T

Ive mentioned this over on the A Sea Of Red forums, but Liberty has had a very disturbing trend when it comes to first visits to new Big South programs...the Flames have lost their last three times they made their first trek to a new Big South member (2008 vs. Presbyterian, 2009 vs. Stony Brook 2015 vs. Monmouth) and all of those games were decided by only three points.

Kennesaw State comes in on a four game winning streak, scoring at least 40 points in three of those games. The Owls are flying high, leading the Big South in all major team offensive categories. The Flames defense will certainly be tested by KSU's option offense, which comes in averaging around 480 yards per game.

I've seen mixed thoughts about this game on the message forums, but I think that this is a game that Liberty can win, with Calvert leading the way. With a number of offensive linemen out with injury, it will be imperative that the Flames put the pedal to the metal of their new uptempo offense, in order to take some of the pressure off a now very thin unit. That said, I will pick the Flames to get the first of the 5 wins they need to win the Big South outright

Liberty 31
Kennesaw State 21