1 Saint Francis is 2-1 this season.
The Red Flash are 2-1 this season, with their lone loss coming by 2 points at the hands of CAA member Towson on September 16th. SFU owns victories over Lock Haven, 69-3, and Wagner, 31-6. They are coming off a bye week.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Coach Gill said of Liberty’s opponent this week. “It’s tough to find some things that are a little bit weak. They are 2-1. They are a good football team, and we have to be ready to play because they’re going to give us a challenge, there’s no question about that.”
2 The Red Flash are coming off the best 2 seasons in school history.
Saint Francis won 7 games in each of the last 2 seasons, including an NEC championship and trip to the FCS playoffs a season ago. The consecutive winning seasons are the first such occasion in the school’s Division I history and the first time it has happened since 1991-92. They’ve come close on a couple occasions to signature wins over the past year, losing to Montana, Towson, and Villanova (in the FCS playoffs) by 10 points or less.
“They were a playoff football team last year,” Liberty Offensive Coordinator Joe Dailey said, “which shows you those guys know how to win. I’m excited about this challenge.”
3 Liberty is 2-0 all-time against St Francis.
The Flames have played host to SFU on two previous occasions, with Liberty winning 68-10 in 2007 and 52-7 in 2010. Both games were played under previous Liberty head coach Danny Rocco. The 2010 game was the season opener, and it was played at Lynchburg’s City Stadium as Williams Stadium was undergoing renovations which included the tower on the home side of the stadium. Liberty’s current wide receivers coach, Kyle DeArmon, caught two touchdown passes against the Red Flash in 2010.
4 The high-scoring offense is led by a Houston transfer at QB & All-American WR.
After 3 seasons as a reserve with the Houston Cougars, Bear Fenimore graduated and decided to transfer with 2 seasons of eligibility remaining. He decided on Saint Francis, and immediately became the starting quarterback. In his first live game action since since high school football in 2013, Fenimore is completing 64% of his passes while throwing for 8 touchdowns and 1 interception in 3 games. He was a 3 star prospect out of high school with offers from Houston and Rutgers.
All-American WR Kamron Lewis is Fenimore’s favorite target. Lewis broke onto the scene as a true sophomore in 2016 in a big way as he was named NEC Offensive Player of the Year and an All-American by the Associated Press, College Sports Madness, HERO Sports, and STATS. Last season, he set a school and conference record with 1,478 receiving yards. He also finished with 11 touchdowns on 75 receptions and had eight 100 yard receiving games. He has 4 touchdowns in 3 games in 2017 and has recorded a touchdown reception in 7 straight games.
“Offensively, they’ve done a lot of great things so far,” Gill stated. “They have an All-American wide receiver, a guy that’s about 6’4″. They have 4 receivers that are 6’3″ or more. They have a transfer QB from the University of Houston. He’s done a great job so far in the first 3 ball games. He’s very accurate, more of a drop back guy. He’s very efficient, and he knows how to play the game.”
5 The Red Flash is only allowing 8.3 points per game on defense.
After holding its first two opponents to 9 combined points and no touchdowns, the Saint Francis defense had a letdown against Towson allowing 16 points and 1 touchdown. The Red Flash currently rank 3rd in FCS in scoring defense, and having onlly allowed the 1 rushing touchdown which came against Towson two weeks ago.
“A stat that almost stuns me, so to speak, in 3 football games, they’ve only given up 1 touchdown,” Gill said. “That’s a great accomplishment. They’ve created 10 turnovers in 3 football games. They’ve only allowed 4.3 yards per play, that gets my attention. They’ve done a tremendous job in their first 3 ball games.”
