Liberty improved to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in CUSA play following the team’s win over UTEP on Saturday night. 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:
“I thought they (the defense) did a fantastic job. I mean, if you look right here, they end up playing 73 plays. Anytime you’re playing against a team like that, to run some tempo and things that’s hard to do. Held them to 10 points. Stopped them numerous times, 3 of 14 on third down and 1 of 3 on fourth down. Fantastic job. I thought they were, with the exception of the one big play right there, we gave up the big play. They were able to get some yards, but, man, when we needed to stand up, we did. So I think our defense was exceptional.”
“We played a lot cleaner game. We didn’t give up foolish penalties. Very pleased with them.”
Some injuries, you lost Quinton Cooley tonight, Darius Copeland, as well.
“Darius does not sound good, we’ll see. Cooley’s does not sound good. But, you know, it’s gotta be a next man up mentality. That changes it a little bit. Darius was a big part of that game plan. He went out, first quarter. Went out early. So that changed up some things there. He had a great week of practice. It’s one of those things there where, you know, you got to figure out a way to overcome. Our guys did.”
“I think it took us a little while. We were trying to find the right rhythm and flow with habits and different things that we had to do. But, that Flames Quarter, our guys did a great job there in the fourth quarter, finishing drives and getting points. Realistically, we would have scored on the last three drives there. We about ran it in d own there but thought better of it.”
How about the performance Billy Lucas had tonight?
“When you’re in a game like that, your best player, best running back, goes down. You gotta put somebody in the game that you can trust. He’s gonna do what he needs to do consistently. We and the defense and the whole coaching staff and the players, they have a lot of trust in Billy.”
“We feel like our running back room is as good as there is in this league, from top to bottom. It’s going to be tested, we’ll see, it’s going to be tested. For him to be able to carry the ball that much, he looks strong. He was running through some tackles, really finished well. I mean, it was needed. It wasn’t easy tonight. As I said, we’re still a work in progress offensively. But, most likely the MVP of the game. I mean, realistically, from an offensive standpoint, did a fantastic job.”
How important was it for your defensive line to get pressure throughout the night?
“When you’re playing a lot of man, like we do, you want to make a quarterback throw from a well, so to speak, where he has trouble seeing it. We got after him pretty good. They were holding us all night long. We didn’t get a lot of calls, but we got after him pretty good, affected him. I think he had two interceptions. Really should have been a third. We made some plays, made him have to make some throws from some different angles, and made him inaccurate on certain things. I thought our D line did a fantastic job. We’re obviously banged up, up there, but I think you saw some of our depth, some guys were rotating in and played well. As I told the team in there, you want to start strong. I thought we started the game way better than we had probably the first two. We hit a little lull some there, from an offensive standpoint. Obviously, the defense kept the momentum going. When they got it to four points, we found a way to keep it up to 11 and get stops. That D line was a huge tonight.”
Did you have a good look at the play where Cooley went down?
“I think it had something to do with, he’s getting drug out of bounds, and I think his leg was caught underneath him a little bit when he got hit. It looked almost like he was trying to do the splits, and it did something there. I didn’t see it completely. I saw the hit. He got back up, but you could tell something’s wrong. I mean, he was really, he was really hurt. Then they took him in the tent and said he was done.”
How much did TJ Bush set the tone for the defense?
“Just huge. Great motor, great effort. He plays hard. He plays with excitement, urgency. He empties his tank. We challenged our team about emptying our tank, and he’s one that empties his tank all the time. Obviously, he’s a great player, but he’s becoming just a better teammate, better leader, by the way he’s practicing, the way he’s preparing, and that’s how you’re seeing him play. He’s preparing more. Last year, I think he was doing it as a new guy just figuring things out. He’s really taking ownership of being more than just a football player, really being a leader on that defense to get the guys going.”
How much did that throw to Jacob Jenkins get the offense going in the second half?
“It was huge. There in the second second half, we get to second and five, and then second down was just an atrocious play. It either be a fumble on a handoff, which it’s unacceptable, or something happened with a penalty and all that. It was 14-10 at that time. We were getting stops, but we just weren’t doing anything. That was a huge play, great call by Coach Korn. He got lost. Kaidon stayed in the pocket, found him, and that gave us the momentum. Got us up 21-10, and then we were able to keep that 11 point swing. I thought that was a huge play from a momentum standpoint. I thought Kaidon played really well. There were some times there where we didn’t do some things from an execution standpoint, but he stayed with it, and was able to manage the game and help us get through those time frames. Really played well there in that last quarter.”
First two picks of the season, can you talk about the improvements the secondary has made?
“I think we have a lot of competition there. We brought a lot of guys in, and so there’s a healthy competition. We’ve had some guys injured. So you’ve not seen Mo Williams play a lot. You’re not seeing Elijah Hopkins play a lot. So Christian Bodnar is getting more opportunities than maybe we thought he would. Dexter (Ricks), the same way. Those are guys that we knew would play some but they’re playing a lot of football right now, and I think they’re playing well. They’re playing well. As we’re working on getting E-Hop back and Mo back, those guys have really filled a void.”
“E-Hop and Mo played tonight, but Dexter and Christian are doing some great things. Christian looked like he was running in mud on that interception I was beating him down the sideline, so I got to figure out what he was doing there. But he’s playing really well with confidence.”
“The more and more these guys play, they’re playing more, their conference will build. As I told our team, when there are opportunities to make a play, make ’em. Somebody’s going to have to step up. Now, if we lose the guys that got injured, if they are out, people have to step up. Nobody’s going to cry for us. Nobody’s going to care. You got to figure it out. When guys are out, guys have to step up. And those guys have been doing that.”
How much more disciplined was this team tonight?
“I think we’ve always been, honestly, a mentally tough team. We’ve had some penalties the first couple weeks that were unlike us. Then you get all the the outside noise and the social media on it and it puts a little bit more pressure on you. We just had to start playing and take a deep breath. What we are, how we play the discipline piece, the mental toughness,, that’s who we are as a program and a team. It’s not what the penalties were for the first couple of weeks. It just needed some guys to understand that and work through it. They did. I thought you saw we played a cleaner game.”
“Now we are struggling from an offensive standpoint, from an efficiency standpoint. What I mean by that, we go to hand the ball off and we fumble it and we turn the ball over. I mean, we practice that all the time. Stuff like that is what’s frustrating to me. Defenses do different things, they’re doing things to you. I get that, but we’ll go back and watch this video. There’s going to be so many plays that are there for us to make plays, to score or get big plays, and nothing they did, it’s all us, ball handling and little things. That’s a frustration for me, but with this group, we have to stay positive. We have to continue to encourage. Our defense is playing well. There’s certain things that normally I might have been going for things, I didn’t do those things tonight. Let us figure out defensively, let our offense come and find our way. We found our way in the in the fourth. We’ve done that two weeks in a row. We gotta find it early, because we know the competition’s raising up.”
Was it good to see some of the other receivers do something other than just Treon Sibley?
“I think it’s huge. Sibley had a great game. Our quarterback’s gotta continue to trust those other guys, that they’ll make the plays when they need to. Tyson made some really nice plays. That won in the end zone, an unbelievable catch. Huge catch. It was pass interference and he still caught it. Reese getting his confidence in playing more and more. He almost made that one, and Kaidon is getting more confidence. Elijah Canion had a couple of nice plays. So that’s coming. Then, what people don’t realize, I think, when you have so many new players that really only got going in the summer, besides Sibley, it takes a while to get the timing. It takes a while to build that trust. We’re slowly getting there, but for them to make the plays when they did tonight in key situations, third downs, then the quarterback’s going to continue to trust those guys and make those plays. Right now, obviously his safety blanket is 21. I don’t blame him. He’s running like a dang bull in a china shop. Great to see those guys come.”
Can you talk about the decision not to score a touchdown at the end there?
“I’ve been on that end. I’ve been on that end when the game’s over and somebody runs it up on you. We’re not going to be about that. As much as I wanted to, as much as they were telling me, but if we’re going to say that we stand for something different here and unique here, then I gotta live on that every day. I’m the one that controls that. We’re going to make sure that we respect our opponents and respect them no matter what they did. I mean, I don’t know why he took a time out. Frustrated me and frustrated everybody. If you’d have heard our coaches during that time frame…but my job is to be the head of this program and represent our university the way that it wants to be represented. If we have the opportunity to take a knee, we’re going to take a knee. No matter what everybody else wants to do, no matter what the bookies want us to do and all that stuff.”
First interception on defense tonight, was that a confidence booster for them tonight?
“I think it’s huge. This team threw way more so we have more opportunities. First couple weeks, they threw it some but it was more dink and dunk and try to run the ball. These guys were trying to take some shots and do some things. We affected them. Our guys in the secondary, the line backers and backfield, one of our mottos is tips and overthrows, gotta get those. We had a third, almost had a fourth. I think we knocked it out of each other’s hands down there. It might have been Akhori and Dexter. The more we do that, the more that builds confidence there. The turnovers are big. We turned it over right back. It was a big deal when they got ’em, and it helped us maintain a lead and figure it out from there.”
Were you pleased with the crowd again tonight?
“Oh, it was unbelievable. I don’t know what the announced attendance was, but they were phenomenal. They were loud. They stay in it. When we need them to be loud, they’re loud, and it’s the best home field advantage in this conference, bar none. I don’t know what our record here is right now, but it’s a lot versus a little. I know that, and the big reason because of that is our fans and how committed they are. Students were awesome. Our loyal alumni that came back, and want to see a homecoming victory. We wanted to pay homage to our alma mater, our band, and the great job they did by standing for our alma mater and stuff on homecoming. We thought everybody coming back and to be able to come back to a place they love, and teaching our players about that as well.”
