Liberty concluded its home portion of the regular season with a 38-21 win against Western Kentucky on Saturday afternoon. The Flames improve to 8-2 on the season and 5-2 in conference play. Following the game, head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media. Here is the full transcript and from his press conference:
“Probably the most complete game that we played in all three phases. Special teams got us some huge plays, got us momentum, especially there outside of…The second half when they scored, we got that kickoff return. Defensively, we got four turnovers, answered the bell every time we needed to answer the bell. Then offensively, obviously, we controlled the line of scrimmage and was able to run the ball, but I thought the key was there in the third and fourth quarter, we needed to make a play on third down on a pass play. We had some big plays there. The way we played together, the joy, the excitement, is what we expect from our football team. Our challenge is hopefully we’ll bottle that and play that way all the time. That’s been the challenge this year. Very proud of the group. I think they’re a really good football team over there. Our guys, the last opportunity here in this stadium for our seniors, with our backs against the wall, I’m just pleased overall, the effort, the way we played, even when we got some foolish penalties, we overcame them. We played within ourselves. Got a little fortune too. They blocked that kick and it went in. There’s a lot going on, but very thankful for the win.”
Your rushing attack has been tremendous, take u s through your offensive line and the job they did.
“You got to give them all the credit. Them and the tight ends and the running backs, we used them all. Going in, we thought they would play a certain coverage and try to say, hey, we’re gonna let you run it. That’s what they’ve shown to do and see if we were patient enough to do it, they were taking away some explosive plays. Not to get technical, playing a lot of cover two, two safeties deep and not letting you try to get deep shots. And our honestly, our offensive line and tight ends said, Hey, go out, keep pounding and keep pounding, keep pounding. And we just kept going at ’em and kept going at them, kept going at them, and stayed with the game plan, and I was very pleased with the whole effort from first quarter through fourth. We didn’t finish in the first quarter like the way we needed to, or this game might have been not close, but we were able to overcome that. Our guys didn’t doubt. The O-Line, the last three weeks, really four, we put a lot on them, whether that was because of injuries at receiver and different things, we put a lot on them, and they rose to the occasion every week. Coach Durkin does a great job with those guys, but they they’ve taken a lot of pride. We had a starter get hurt, and just, next guy up, and they just kept going at ’em, kept going at ’em.”
How important was that third down Billy Lucas run late in the first half, allowing you to go up two scores?
“I think it’s huge. They punted, and I knew they were using their time outs. We’re thinking, hey, we need a first down, or if we don’t get it, we’re talking about what we were going to do on fourth down, and we break that big long run. He did great. Now you go, I think we had three time outs, and so you go, Hey, let’s score. You’re thinking a field goal, but once we got down there, the 15 or 20 we’re saying we’re going to take, I think there were about 20 seconds left, we’re going to take some shots at the end zone. KSalt did a nice job of getting around the pocket and Juju making the play. I think that was huge momentum, because I felt like we controlled the whole first half. We had nothing to show for it. We were up seven, but they’re getting the ball out of half time. And to me, that gave us a little bit of leeway. So if they did come out and drive the ball down the field, which they did in the second half, you’re still up seven and you feel okay about it. I think that was a huge momentum for us, obviously, but really it gave us that cushion that you needed. And so when they made adjustments, you’re not in a tie ball game, you know, you still have that seven point lead. So that was a big swinging point in my opinion.”
You sprinted about 40 yards down field to call a timeout after the at run, what’s your time in the 40-yard dash?
“Well, at that moment, probably way faster than you Ed. You know what, you’re there, and then you see it. Hey, I need to take a time out, so I’m going. My hamstrings are hurting right now to be honest with y’all, and dehydrated, so I’ll probably be with the athletic trainers. But I was sprinting pretty fast there. I don’t know how fast it was, somebody should time it, because I guarantee that’d be probably a good job for somebody to do. But I was moving pretty good now, but way faster, probably than ever did when I was actually playing.”
How do you think your secondary performed especially with the injuries you have back there?
“I thought they did great. We had a corner get hurt. We’ve been banged up. We had a corner get hurt during the game and and another one get banged up a little bit. Those guys rose to the occasion. The whole key is you want those guys to keep snapping, to keep snapping, to keep snapping. We didn’t give up any huge plays. They made some plays, but we didn’t give up any back breakers. They had a couple that were open and they missed. I thought our guys did a great job of keeping it in front of them and continue to make them snap the ball. That’s been our biggest challenge all year, is making sure we play clean back there, penalty free and all those things. Those guys did a great job. I don’t think we had a penalty back there, but I thought they played aggressive. They made some plays. They’re going to, they got some good players, but I thought our guys kept going after them, and we kept going after them, kept going after them, and we made just as many plays in the secondary as they did at receiver. Anytime you got a team like that that’s got some of those explosive play makers, we didn’t give up any just cheap touchdowns, and you made them keep snapping. And they ran the clock too. So our job was to run the clock. Let’s see, what was time of possession. Your time of possession was 34 to 25. They kept the ball a little bit too, but that was the whole point. We wanted to try to keep it from them. Since we didn’t give up a lot of big pass plays, they had to use some clock as well.”
Only 3 penalties today, how pleased are you with that today?
“I was very pleased. We got the one there after the touchdown, the celebration. I’ll take that one. I told the guys to have excitement, they went out there, that one was no problem at all. We did have a couple false starts, you know, offensively, but we were able to overcome them. I thought our defense didn’t give any, we didn’t jump off sides. We didn’t give any free plays, and that’s a big deal. And offensively, you hope you are paying penalty free. As many motions and different things that we did, we didn’t have any false starts as far as receivers. So I was really pleased with it. But even when we did, we overcame them. To me, which is a key. In the past, previously, if we got ourselves in those situations, we end up punting or something of that nature, because of the penalties. I was pleased that even though we had them, we still got the first downs and kept moving the ball.”
Seemed like the team came together, had a lot of energy on the sideline, is that something you strive for? Did you sense that from the team this week?
“You want that to be every week, very week. We’re dealing with younger people, and so they look at at who you’re playing and think sometimes, oh we’re better. They get themselves worked up a bit more than maybe, but you hope, with the way we play, as far as just excitement and juice, that’s what you’re bringing every week. We’ve not. Again, that that’s been on me is getting the best out of the team. But you saw, what I was proud of, as you saw, even when things didn’t go your way, the defense is behind the offense. The offense is behind the defense. They’re encouraging. They’re behind each other. We played with an energy, a purpose, that has shown up every game, but maybe not for four quarters. We might play a quarter, two quarters, three quarters, and maybe it took our backs against the wall to realize we have to do that. I know who we are. My job is to get us to be who we are all the time, and I’ve struggled with that this year. But that’s who we are. That’s what I know we are. And so we got to continue to go off.”
Do you feel like you are in the playoffs now, getting the win and staying alive?
“100%. I told the team that, we’re in a playoff, we’re in a one game playoff. We win, we get one more. Now, you know, as a coach, you don’t think about losing, but, you know, you put that, I don’t wanna say pressure. But if we didn’t win today, next week, would’ve been very hard, because then they’re going to think it’s over. But I wanted our guys to understand the moment. That we were given a gift by La Tech, and we gotta take advantage of that gift. I want them to play that way and understand that. Now, as I shared with them, our back’s still against the wall, and we’ve got one more opportunity, on the road versus a really, really good team. I don’t know what time they’re playing today, but they’re fighting for it too. So it’s basically another championship game. Today was a championship game in our mind, because, if you want any opportunity to go play again, you gotta win.”
Do you feel like you are heading in the right direction?
“I don’t know if we were ever in the wrong direction. I just think maybe we took some detours. As a coach, you want everything to go straight and easy. You don’t want to any road bumps or all that. But you know, sometimes there’s signs on the road to get your attention and you don’t pay attention what’s in front of you. And I think that’s what we did this year a lot. We were looking at maybe something in the rear view mirror when we should have been focused on the windshield. But our guys have a lot of confidence in themselves, regardless of what’s happened in the past, and I think this one continues to give more confidence, but we know we have to play better in certain areas, and we know it’s hard to win on the road in this league, and you got a good team. But, I do believe they’re confident in what they have the opportunity to earn.”
