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

Game #4: Lehigh

#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

Fan the Flames Preview Game #2: Norfolk State

After a two year hiatus, the blog is back.

 Liberty (0-1, 0-0)
vs.

Norfolk State (1-0, 0-0)


The Flames come into town after a close loss to Wake Forest 20-17. Brian Hudson made a big splash in his first collegiate start, going 20-37 for 263 yards and 2 TDs. SirChauncey Holloway led the way on the ground with 53 yards on 17 carries. Elliott Dutra and Pat Kelly led the receivers with 64 and 53 yards respectively (Dutra had a TD as well).

The Spartans come in after a win in the Labor Day Classic againse Division II Virginia State. Thanks to FlameFans, here are the players to watch for them this weekend:

Nico Flores

Vs. Virginia State- 13-24 93 Yards 0 TD, 2 INT

Flores made his second collegiate start against the Trojans, after starting one game last season and playing some spot duty last year, mostly as a runner according to his bio.

Brendon Riddick

Vs. Virginia State: 9 Rushes 87 Yards 1 TD

The former scout team QB leads the ground game for the Spartans as Riddick and Takeem Hedgman combined for 162 yards in the win last week. Look for NSU to go to these two a lot to hopefully set up Flores to find the next guy a lot...

Xavier Boyce

Vs. Virginia State: 6 Receptions 42 Yards

Boyce, a transfer from Virginia Tech, was a favorite target of QB Nick Walley last year, leading the team with 68 catches and 750 yards, and he finished second on the team with 4 TD catches. Walt Aikens will probably get the assignment on Boyce much of the night for Liberty.

Jamal Giddens

Vs. Virginia State: 7 Tackles (4.5 FL), 2 Sacks, 2 Forced Fumbles

This weekend is a homecoming of sorts for Giddens, who played for the Flames in 2008 before transferring closer to his home in Norfolk. Giddens was all over the field against Virginia State, and for his effort was named NCAA National Defensive Player of the Week


This is an important game for Liberty, not only because NSU was a playoff team last year (and enters this game #24 in the FCS Coaches Poll), but because this begins a stretch of three consecutive weeks against 2011 FCS playoff teams. Next week, Liberty makes its first trip to Montana and then hosts 2011 Patriot League champ Lehigh.

My prediction, Liberty hasnt lost a home opener since 2002 and I dont expect that streak to end this year

Liberty 35
Norfolk State 14

FAN THE FLAMES

Savannah State Wrap &Playoff Eligibility

LU scored 21 of the first 28 points and cruised to a 52-14 win over Savannah State University Saturday night in from of a record crowd of 19,314 during the grand re-opening of Williams Stadium. The fourth quarter featured fireworks both on the field as well as off when the display that was intended to take place after the game took place.

Mike Brown had another efficient night, finishing 14-19 for 231 yards and three TDs all of them to his favorite target, Chris Summers who finished with 132 yards for his fourth 100 yard game of his career (three of them this season according to LibertyFlames.com). Liberty has scored 50 or more points in 4 straight games at Williams Stadium and 5 straight home games overall (including the opener at Lynchburg City Stadium). LU has outscored their opponents 104-21 at home.

Starting this week I'll be posting a little something one of my buddies from a website called FlameFans puts together each week based on the criterion that teams competing in teh playoffs need to have at least 7 Division I level wins. Thanks to FlameFans user SumItUp for putting this together every week:

After Week 5, 11 of the 106 FCS teams have been eliminated from consideration for an at-large bid. Eastern Illinois is the first 2009 playoff participant to be eliminated in the 2010 season. There are now 29 additional teams on the bubble.

Bubble Teams - Bryant, Bucknell, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Citadel, Coastal Carolina, Delaware State, Eastern Kentucky, Elon, Fordham, Gardner-Webb, Howard, Indiana State, Lafayette, Morgan State, Murray State, Nicholls State, North Carolina Central, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Sacramento State, Sacred Heart, Samford, San Diego, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, Stony Brook, Tennessee-Martin, Towson

Eliminated in Week 5 - Butler, Eastern Illinois, Idaho State, North Carolina A&T, Northwestern State, Presbyterian, Southern Utah, Tennessee Tech, Valparaiso

Look for a preview of the homecoming game this Thursday and for a more in depth look at the Liberty Flames football team, check out Chris Lang's blog at http://www.mynewsadvance.com/index.php/chris_lang

Until Thursday,

Fan the Flames

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