Liberty improved to 2-0 on the season and opened CUSA play with a win, as the Flames defeated New Mexico State, 30-24 in dramatic fashion. Following the win, head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media. Here is the video from his press conference, as well as the full transcript:
“It was one of those that just nothing seemed to be going your way. I thought, obviously the first half was just atrocious, and then had opportunities to get some points on the board and touchdowns, and we settled for field goals. And defensively, we started out bad, but thought our defense really picked it up there late second quarter, third played really well. Offensively, it took us a while, but the whole strike the stone is a mentality that we talk about all the time in our program. I told them in the fourth quarter, I said, ‘Hey, this is it. This is going to show the character that we have is going to need to show up. It did.”
Quinton Cooley had a big second half, was it something that opened up to be able to use him more then?
“We did a lot of three and outs, so that didn’t help. I think probably we got away from running the ball when we needed to probably. We were second and long. We probably tried to throw a little bit too much instead of maybe sticking with it. He gets stronger as the game goes. We were just back and forth; we were struggling a lot, and there was just a lot of inconsistency. We’d have a good play and then it would be a penalty in there. Those last couple drives, we just said, ‘Hey, let’s let’s go a little bit faster and let them, not necessarily, line up as quickly as normal or whatever. He was able to bust some big ones, which was big. Credit to him. He wasn’t getting what he normally does, and just kept believing. I love how he’s matured in that way.”
Kaidon Salter, kind of a mixed bag overall, but for him and this team, this offense, to find a way to win this game, what does that say?
“It’s good that we found a way. Those last two drives were great. He did a good job of making some plays with his feet when we needed to get some first downs and did some nice stuff. He’s got to be, we’ve got to be way more consistent. We’re giving up plays that can be made because we’re trying to do too much stuff instead of just doing the right play. We had three drop passes, third down, a touchdown, those plays could have changed the whole game and you don’t have to sweat it out until 2:30 am. Those are things that I’m just more disappointed in more than anything. Where there’s plays to be made, we don’t make them or we’re trying to do too much.”
“I told the team in there (the locker room), I told them two truths – one, their character showed up, as far as them keep striking, but also the second truth, I said, we’re a selfish team. You’re a selfish team when somebody says something to you, and you respond, and we get personal fouls that really cost us in big situations. Again, that’s me. That’s me. I’ve obviously not done a good job, and I gotta get that fixed. But you can’t be selfish if you want to have a championship level program. I’ve got to clean it up.”
Have you been around a team that has struggled with that before and how do you approach it?
“Well, it’s a good question. Obviously, I’m doing a bad job at it. Like last week, it was a lot of younger guys. So, okay. Then, tonight, we had a guy that’s played a lot of football for us get a couple for whatever reason. Those are huge. I think we had a hands to the face or something, sometimes that happens. But the ones where you push somebody afterwards, I think they called one on us for giving a guy a ball or something, maybe they’re ticky tack, I need to see some of them. But again, those are just stupid things that we’re doing. It’s selfish stuff. It’s a selfish thing, and it’s fake toughness. That’s what I’m more concerned about where we’re trying to be a physical, tough program, but that’s fake toughness. What I’m now concerned with, two games in a row where you had three plus, so guess what everybody’s looking for? They’re looking for any little thing. I can run them, I can discipline. I can do all these things, it comes down to,hey, you as a man, a young man or a man – some of these guys are older guys – hey, is that who you want to be? Is it more important for you to feel good about yourself by retaliating to somebody, or do you care enough about, love your teammates enough to withhold that emotion when you want to let it out because this guy’s trying to get under your skin. That’s what’s happening. It’s not like our guys are just doing it, somebody’s doing it to us, and we’re responding. But the old adage, they always catch number two.”
The turnover from Reese and Bazile for the touchdown, that felt like a huge momentum change?
“Changed the momentum at least. Now they went down and scored the next drive anyway, but it gave us hope. I mean, offensively we were terrible. Let’s just be honest. We were terrible until the last two drives. That gave us some hope, which our sideline needed. But then they go score. We answered and gave our gave our defense hope, but we cannot wait. I mean, we gave up a screen pass for 70 yards or whatever. We cannot wait to play good defense until we’re pissed off. We can’t do that. We’ve got to learn how to play a standard of football the whole game. That don’t mean they won’t have plays, but we don’t play to a standard until our backs are against the wall. Then our guys want to go. That’s me. I got to figure out with our defensive staff why we are not coming out with that mentality. Is it what we’re practicing? I gotta figure that out.”
You talk about it’s hard to win football games, you got it done in the fourth quarter though, what did you learn about your team?
“Flames’ Quarter. I think one of the question marks is, when you have so many new parts, will they be able to gel and keep believing in each other when it was dire and it was dire. We were down nine and six minutes to go. I did learn that they believe in each other, they believe in our mantra. Our strength program and all the things that you do in the off-season in the summer showed up in that fourth quarter. We were the fresher team. I learned that we do have that mentality. My challenge is, we need that all the time and not just when we want turn it on.”
Slow start for your defense on those first three drives but then they responded?
“Yeah, defense kept us in it. They didn’t come out very well. We had drives in the first half, penalties hurt us, or a drop pass here or there, but, after halftime, we really struggled. I thought the defense kept us in. They had one drive there where they scored the touchdown there in the fourth quarter, but our defense kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win. They’re capable of doing some really good things. I think that shows if we can just play with that same type of urgency and energy the whole time, but they kept us in it. They might have got us in the hole, but they kept us from the hole being huge. It allowed us to find our way there in the second half.”
