Liberty fell behind 24-0 before fighting back in the second half to make the game interesting in the 4th quarter. The Flames ultimately would fall to the Ole Miss Rebels, 27-14. Here’s everything Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze had to say following the game:

OPENING THOUGHTS

“First, I told them in the locker room, I am as proud to walk out of here with them as I was to walk in here with them. They fought for 60 minutes. You look at the first downs and the stats and everything, the game should have been closer, we just made way too many mistakes, whether it was a dropped ball here, turnover here, or a holding call, to beat a team that is as talented as Ole Miss, you can’t with those many mistakes. We probably should have run the ball more in the first half because we really struggled to protect Malik from their defensive ends. Proud of our fight, really proud of our kids. 10 weeks, that’s a long time to play this game without a break. They gave us everything they had today. I love being their coach. I loved playing here today, it was fun, wish we would have got one more in and made it really interesting there at the end. Congratulations to Ole Miss. Corral is one heck of a player and those receivers are really tough. Congratulations to them, but really proud to walk out of here with our guys.”

DEFENSIVELY, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU PLAYED PRETTY WELL?

“You can’t give that many explosive ways that we did particularly first half. Ole Miss is very good at that. They’ve got to be one of the top in the nation at creating those. We knew that coming in. We just allowed them to have too many that created scoring opportunities. That was probably the difference in the first half. Second half I thought we played a little better, still gave some explosives, but kept them out of the end zone. If we could have done that in the first half, I think it could have been a very interesting ball game, but if if and we didn’t. We will go back to the Mountain and get rest and hopefully healed up and get ready for two really tough home games.”

MALIK GETTING SACKED, DO YOU THINK YOU SHORED SOME THINGS UP IN THE 2ND HALF?

“I don’t know that we shored things up. We changed up our slide a little bit that helped us some, but most of all we ran the football and had situations where it was usually 3rd and 4 or so where we have proven that we are willing to run it in those and they can’t just tee off and bring pressure.”

DID THE FIRST HALF MISCUES COST YOU FROM BEING ABLE TO COMPETE FOR A WIN?

“I thought it was big. I can tell you now without watching film. Whether it was the missed field goal or something that killed a drive or a turnover, I’m going to be sick. If we come into half getting possession, down two scores you feel a little better. We didn’t play well enough in the first half.”

THE 2 QBS, WHAT DID YOU SEE FROM THEM?

“Truthfully, Matt Corral is really special, but he seldom was under any pressure. I think our guy throws it really well too when he’s not. He had so much pressure on him that it was very difficult to probably see his true ability in throwing the football. I’m so proud of Malik, the way he fought and battled, he got hit, hit, hit and just kept fighting. Man, Matt is pretty special. He throws a very accurate ball. He is poised and knows when to kill a play and use his legs. I was as impressed with him as I was on film.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE COMING BACK HERE FOR YOU PERSONALLY?

“First, I want to say to the Ole Miss people, thank you for your kindness to me and my family. It couldn’t have gone any better from that regard. Obviously, I don’t like losing, and wished we would have had a chance to win that in the end, but as far as the reception from the Ole Miss people last night in the hotel in Tupelo, or when we arrived or after the game or when we’re walking to halftime, I thought they were just incredibly kind. That is a huge (tearing up), it’s an answered prayer for Jill and I. I’m thankful.”

THE SACKS, HOW MUCH OF THAT WAS SCHEMATIC OR OLE MISS TALENT?

“B. Totally. You can only protect so many different ways, but somebody is going to be in a 1 on 1 unless you just want to leave 8 people in and only send 2 out then we probably could shore it up some, but probably hard to get people open. We just lost a bunch of 1 on 1s in the first half. They brought pressure, we were in some third and longs and they brought pressure. Schematically, trust me, we have looked at every pass protection there is, if you’re wanting to get some receivers out, I don’t know any more you can develop. You’ve got to win some 1 on 1s sometimes. Another thing, we didn’t win some of those 50-50 balls that we usually do. We had several. We just didn’t win any of those 50-50 balls. Then, the drop at the end, the overturn, I didn’t see it, I will have to watch on film. I thought we had it down there close to another score. That one got overturned. Dropped a critical third down, wide open slant. All those plays, you can’t beat a top 20 team when you make those. We certainly didn’t protect well in some of those 1 on 1 battles.”

ARE YOU ABLE TO BUILD OFF THIS ONE GOING INTO THE END OF THE SEASON?

“I hope so. We will look at the film and certainly there will be things that we have to try and improve on because we are playing two talented teams at the end of the season. Thankfully we are through with the road games and we get to back to the Mountain and that’s a special place for us to play. I think we can build on it. Hopefully we can get everybody healthy for the last two games and close out the season with maybe a couple more wins.”

YOUR TEAM WAS ABLE TO COMPETE WITH A TOP 20 TEAM, ARE YOU PROUD OF YOUR TEAM WITH THAT?

“Yeah, we’re not into moral victories or anything, but I’ve always said when I got here that our goal every year is to compete on Saturdays and put our players and our university in a place to go to bowl games. When, you’re Independent, you get a few different types of schedules. This has been a very difficult schedule for us. I think our kids have competed and they certainly did today. Like I told them in the locker room, I’m as proud to walk out of the stadium with them today as I was when I walked in. Wish we would have played better in the first half. Wish I would have coached better in the first half. I would have loved to have gotten that thing to one score and let our kids have a chance there at the end.”

DID YOU THINK THE RED ZONE DEFENSE WAS STRONG ENOUGH TODAY?

“I think they’ve played pretty well all year. Defensively, you look at the stats, outside of a few games I think they’ve played really solid. Did they give up too many explosive plays today? Yes, but a lot of other great teams in this conference have given them up to those guys. We knew we were going to have to be really good in the red zone and probably hold them to a few field goals. We did that, we just needed to do that in the first half and them to maybe 14 or 17 in the first half. Obviously, we should have gotten a few points in the first half that would have helped make a difference too and we didn’t. I’m proud of these kids, proud of the fight, proud of our coaches, our administration. I’m at a great university with great people. Like I said, wish we could have found a way to get the thing close and the truth of our team this year is when we’ve not turned it over we’ve won. When we turn it over we usually lose. Give credit to Ole Miss for causing those turnovers.”