Liberty looks to rebound from a tough loss to SMU against the Gamecocks of Jacksonville St tonight at 7pm. If the Flames are to be considered for an at large playoff berth, this is a game they must win. Here’s what they need to do tonight:
1 – Limit the Turnovers
It might sound like a broken record, but the turnover battle is so vital to the success of this Liberty football team. The defense will force turnovers, as they’ve created 10 takeaways in 3 games. But the offense needs to take care of the football. The Flames are playing a very good Jacksonville St team. They were the National runners up last season and are currently ranked #3 in all of FCS. If they want to win, they need to take care of the football.
2 – Feed off the Home Crowd
I wrote this for the Jacksonville game, but the same thing applies. If the Flames get off to a good start and can keep the crowd in it the entire game, that will be a huge advantage to them. The Flames have been dominant at home in recent years, and a lot of that is due to the crowd. CFAW is this weekend, which means an extra couple thousand fans that will make the stadium even louder. The Flames need to use that to their every advantage.
3 – Slow Down Eli Jenkins
The quarterback who led the Gamecocks to the National Championship last year has also led the offense to over 500 yards of total offense against their 2 non FBS opponents. He has the offense clicking on all cylinders, and it’ll take an army to stop him. The Liberty defense probably won’t be able to stop the Gamecock offense completely, but if they can slow them down, they’ll give their offense a chance to win the game.
