Liberty concluded the regular season on Friday with a 20-18 loss to Sam Houston. The Flames conclude the regular season at 8-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play. Following the game, head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media. Here is the full transcript and from his press conference:
“He (Salter) wasn’t (100%). We were hoping that he could play and do some things. He was obviously limited and it showed. We put Ryan in there in the 2nd half to try to give us a little spark. We threw the ball and couldn’t finish. Then, we got in the fourth quarter, and we were behind, time was limited, we knew we had to make some throws, he drove us down there the last two drives. Obviously, we got stopped there on the first one on four downs and then the big play and had the play to make it there, the two point to tie it and just couldn’t get it done. He was gutsy. It was hurting him. He was able to play through that. I think that says a lot about him.”
Your defense made some huge plays in this ball game.
“They did. They kept us in it. They gave us an opportunity at the end. They kept it 20-9 there in the 4th quarter. We got a stop on a field goal and then we got a stop on a 4th down, as well. They kept us in it and gave us a chance to win it at the end. That’s all you can ask. I thought they played hard all season long, they gave us a great chance to win.”
A lot of injuries in this game and before the game.
“It was but that’s everybody at this point of the year. We didn’t get it done as a coaching staff. We didn’t put our guys in the best position to make plays. Hopefully, when we get some guys back, for our bowl game, hopefully we can be healthy. Regardless of who is out there or who isn’t, we expect to win and we didn’t get that done.”
Looking to the bowl game, what’s the message to the team after the regular season?
“Well, it was a good regular season. Obviously, it wasn’t great. You always want to play for a championship but we came up a little short. We will see what happens here coming up with the portal open. We will see what our team looks like because that is next. We will see where our bowl game is. We will be excited about going to it. Hopefully we will have the majority of our team ready to rock and roll and play.”
Take us back to the two point play.
“We had an opportunity to roll to the right. We had a little play over there and if it was covered we had a throwback. Looking back right now, we probably should have had a better call on but it was the best one in the situation as we discussed it. You wanted to give the quarterback a couple of options and then you wanted to move him just a little bit because we thought they might pressure us. It’s a play that we ran before but they covered it down pretty decently.”
How much was Kaidon able to practice this week?
“He practiced some Wednesday and some yesterday. Was able to do some individual. We kept him out of some things. We knew he was going to be not 100%. We were hoping his, whatever he was percentage wise, you would have to ask him what he was, we were hoping that he would be able to execute some of the things. We were going to limit some of the things which we did. We didn’t let him run a lot and some of those things. It got to the point there he just decided to play through it. He didn’t practice a lot.”
How much did their rush defense affect what you could do on offense?
“I think they are really good. They dictated to us. We had some opportunities to get some big plays in the run game. There were a couple of times we should have pitched the ball and we didn’t. There were some things there that could have got us explosive runs. Versus a team like them that is really good defensively, you’ve got to make sure you are set up the right way with all those things. We had some little things that weren’t completely right and that turns a run that could be 8-10 yards into 3 or 4. They did a nice job. Then, when we get in a situation when the clock is running, then you have to abandon it a little bit and do some other things. We will look back. I thought they were really good. I thought we had a good plan coming in. With where Kaidon was and some of the things, we probably needed to adjust a little bit sooner, but they are pretty good too.”
First thoughts looking back on the season right after the regular season ends. What’s your gut reaction?
“Discouraged because I thought we were capable of being a championship team. Disappointed. It’s hard to win games. We are 8-3. Out of those three games, we had opportunities to win them too. It’s not like we were blown out in any of them. I think we had a caliber to be we just didn’t get that done, just a lot of different things but ultimately from a coaching staff we didn’t get that done. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t finish it and put ourselves in that position to go win one because that’s your expectation. Our guys wanted that. The coaches wanted that. Anytime you come up short of that it’s discouraging, but there’s a lot that we will look back on and excited about from the season. There’s a lot of things there, but also things we have to improve.”
