#25 Liberty (7-0) knocked off Virginia Tech (4-3), 38-35, on Saturday afternoon at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia thanks to a 51-yard field goal from walk-on kicker Alex Barbir with one second remaining. The kick keeps the Flames undefeated and ranked in the AP Top 25 poll for at least another week.
Barbir was just 7 of 11 on field goals in his collegiate career entering the game, all coming earlier this season, and just 2 of 6 on field goal attempts longer than 29 yards. His kick in the final seconds sealed a wild final two minutes of a game that went back and forth.
Just prior to Barbir’s kick, he had lined up for a 58 yard field goal try with 8 seconds left. The kick was blocked and picked up and returned for what appeared to be a game winning touchdown for the Hokies. The PA announcer in the stadium even announced, ‘And that’s your ball game!’ But Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente called timeout to try to ice Barbir just before the kick.
When play resumed, Liberty’s offense was back on the field going for it on 4th and 6 from the Tech 41 yard line. Malik Willis found an open CJ Yarbrough for 8 yards as he stepped out of bounds at the 33 with just 5 seconds remaining. That’s when Freeze called on the walk-on kicker who won the game for the Flames.
“We had three options,” Freeze said of the 4th down play with 8 seconds left. “The only option of throwing it was if they gave us the option of throwing it to the boundary for the first down where we could stop the clock and try for the field goal. Other than that, we’ve got to go to overtime. I don’t care how far you run, I don’t care what you do, but use the 8 seconds up and we go to overtime. I was getting nervous because the official was standing over the ball and I knew we had it. I was like please hurry and let us snap it. That’s a tough call for all of us there. They’re thinking hail mary, which I thought about, could have gone to that. That was the third option, hail mary, run around, or take the throw for the first down.”
The final 10 minutes of the game were wild and back and forth, as well. Liberty scored a touchdown with 10:29 to play to take a 28-20 lead. Virginia Tech marched down field and scored a touchdown on a 4th and 3 play at the Liberty 9 yard line with 4:43 left in the game. The successful two point conversion tied the score. Liberty was able to pick up a couple first downs to move the ball to midfield and keep the clock running. The second first down on the drive came on a 3rd and 8 when Willis was hit from behind, the ball was a bit wobbly when it came out, and CJ Yarbrough was able to catch the jump ball to move the chains. The Hokies then let Peytton Pickett walk into the end zone with 1:41 left in the game, as the Flames grabbed a 35-28 lead. Hooker led the Hokies back down the field in a hurry, scoring a touchdown to tie the game with 52 seconds remaining.
Liberty utilized a ball control offensive game plan from the opening whistle. The Flames got the ball to begin the game, and Hugh Freeze’s offense methodically marched down the field for a 9 play, 75 yard touchdown drive that ate up 5:14 of game action. It set the tone for the game as the Flames controlled the ball for 37:57 of the 60 minutes on Saturday afternoon. Liberty had its longest scoring drive of the season in terms of yards (95) and time (7:25) in this game.
“We knew we were going to have problems stopping them,” Freeze said of the high-powered Virginia Tech team. “I tried to slow the game down and manage it so that we would have a chance late in the game. The plan worked pretty good. I should have ended the game earlier instead of scoring the touchdown we should have taken the knee, but I really thought with one timeout they would tackle us again. We had to get the first to end the game. I was so mad at myself, but now it’s all forgiven.”
The win is the biggest in school history for the Liberty football team who is in its second full season of FBS play. The Flames are now 11-0 under Freeze when outrushing its opponent, as LU wins its second game over an ACC team this season, following an early 38-21 win at Syracuse.
“It’s hard to quantify wins that you’ve had that are like that, but I just know that sitting here today there’s none bigger for our kids and our program, our administration, the vision that Dr. Falwell had many years ago,” Freeze explained. “To not come up here and play the JV team but to play the big boy team and have a chance to compete. Man, I just couldn’t be prouder of the way our kids competed and didn’t worry about the scoreboard and played the next play.”
Liberty returns to action next Saturday from Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia when the Flames play host to FCS Western Carolina. It will be the Catamounts first of three scheduled games for the 2020 season. The rest of the season includes games at NC State and #15 Coastal Carolina, where Liberty will again have the nation’s attention. But for tonight, the Flames will enjoy this one.
“To me Virginia Tech, I don’t have facts to back this up, but to me over the last 20 years I’ve got to say I believe Virginia Tech is a top 25 program in the nation,” said Freeze. “Believing that and knowing the type of players they have, for us to come to their place and get a victory in year two of our full FBS membership, I don’t know if I can really put into words really how big it can be.”
“I already know I’ve got a big job next week to try to get our kids back down to earth and understand how to prepare for another game. You’ve got to handle successes and failures. So far, we’ve been ok, but I think this will be my biggest challenge, for sure, getting them to come off this high. It’s an in-state, Power Five team that affects recruiting, and, obviously, I have great respect for Coach Fuente. He does a great job. They’ve got a great program here. To beat, what I consider to be a top 25 program, not just one or two years, but a lot of years they’ve been there. For us to do that in our journey here is special.”
*photo courtesy Liberty Athletics
