Warning, warning! This is not a drill! We are less than 3 days away from kickoff and I don’t know about you but I’m ready for the football season to be back! While you may be scrambling to clean off the grill, buy that body paint, or dust off those extra-large plastic serving trays (you know the cheap ones that are meant to be thrown away after one use but you’ve kept going for 3 years now), the Flames football program has a different set of priorities they’re focusing on as they prepare for the week one matchup against the FCS Campbell Camels. This article will examine some of those priorities as we look at 3 keys to the game for the Liberty Flames vs Campbell.
1. KEEP IT SIMPLE
The off-season is long and there’s just something not the same about going up against your own guys in practice, pads or not. Teams usually struggle on the fundamentals the first game of the season: route running, tackling, catching, you name it. Now, luckily for the Flames, Campbell shouldn’t prove to be much of a challenge, but coaches still hate to see game-time errors and the best way to avoid mistakes is to slow it down and keep it simple. This will do two things: first, it will allow Malik Willis and the rest of the offense to get in rhythm for a season that is going to be much more challenging than last year, and secondly, it won’t reveal much on tape for opposing coaches to analyze, who won’t be underestimating the Flames after LU went 10-1 last season with a win over Top 15 Coastal Carolina. Now, this may be counter-intuitive to Freeze and his high-octane offensive attack, but slowing it down will help the Flames work on their fundamentals and knock off the rust while still managing a nice win against an FCS opponent who hasn’t managed to win more than 6 games in a season their entire 13-year school history.
2. KEEP RUNNING THE OFFENSE
Now, this may seem slightly counter to the last point but hear me out. Just because I want Liberty to slim down the playbook a bit for this matchup doesn’t mean I want them to let off the gas entirely and revert to a predictable run, run, throw attack (fans from the Gill days will know what I’m talking about), especially in the second half when Liberty sends in the subs in what should by then be a lopsided affair. As I said previously, Liberty is playing a far more challenging schedule this season, and there is a high potential for the second string to be called on due to injury or fatigue among the starters (especially if a certain star QB can’t learn to slide *cough*). There is a tendency among most coaches when the game is well in hand and the subs are in to just try to run out the clock. If Liberty is going to have the level of success that many fans and analysts expect out of the Flames this year, that can not be the case. The backups need meaningful game-time experience running the same offense they may end up being called upon to execute later in the season. Liberty should treat the game like the score is 0-0 until late in the fourth quarter.
3. AVOID INJURIES
In the week 0 matchup against UConn, Fresno State fans first scratched their heads and then held their breaths as their starting QB trotted out onto the field for the second half of a game that Fresno was already leading 31-0 and a few plays later was helped off the field by the trainers as he struggled to walk. Luckily for Bulldog fans, it was just cramps but it could have been much worse. Malik Willis is a QB who is exciting to watch due to his scrambling abilities and no fear mentality but those same attributes put him in harm’s way more times than fans or coaches would like. This is a 12 game season and Liberty needs Malik to stay healthy if they want to pull off some upsets in November (Liberty plays Ole Miss, Louisiana, and Army to close out the season). Liberty should look to pull their starters as early as they can in this one, whether that’s at the half or midway through the second quarter. This should not be a game that is ever in question (if it is, Liberty has a lot more to worry about than just shaking off some rust) and a three (or more) score lead at any point in the game is almost certainly going to prove insurmountable for the fighting Camels. Plus, the earlier the subs get in the game the more likely they are to experience real game time scenarios and action.
SUMMARY
Last season Campbell opted out of FCS league play and instead played a 4 game FBS schedule. They came close to pulling off an upset in their first matchup against Georgia Southern (losing by one point) but the rest of their season was a disappointing affair, getting trounced by 20 or more points in every game to finish the year 0-4. There are elite FCS schools out there who routinely challenge and beat FBS level teams (Liberty pulled off a memorable upset against Baylor their last season in the FCS in 2017), but Campbell isn’t one of them. In their 13 years as an FCS program, they are 50-83 and have never beaten an FBS school. This should be little more than a pre-season scrimmage for Hugh Freeze and the LU Flames as they roar to a massive victory which will likely not even register as a blip on the collective consciousness of the rest of the football universe. I expect Liberty to blow through this game, knock off some rust, get the backups some experience and keep the starters well rested for the following week’s matchup vs Troy.
SCORE PREDICTION: LIBERTY 48 VS CAMPBELL 10
Written by Mr. Exclamation Point
