“So be true to your school, just like you would to your girl or guy! Be true to your school now, let your colors fly! Be true to your school!” – The Beach Boys, 1963
I get it. I was where you are, just last year. It’s the end of the semester. You’ve got more projects, papers, and exams than you know what to do with. Your only reprieve this week is Christmas Convo, Coffeehouse, and VCS at TRBC if you’re lucky – just to keep the Christmas spirit. There’s no way you could burn a whole day for a game. There’s just too much studying to be done. Well, I would like to ask you to reconsider.
You see, this is special. This has never happened before in the history of Liberty University. Our football team – our Flames – are playing football in December. In the FCS Playoffs. We have a 1/16 shot at being the National Champion in Division 1 Football. This is the Sweet 16. The odds of the Rot having chicken sandwiches are lower than this. We can do it.
I’ve seen this team on the road this year. I was in Chapel Hill when Kenan Stadium went silent in the 3rd Quarter as Liberty took a 22-21 lead. I was in Boone this year when Jacob Hagen intercepted Appalachian’s QB for an overtime win. I was in Conway when Chima Uzowihe reached up for the “block heard ‘round the world” – I saw it with my own two eyes and still don’t believe it. And I was in Harrisonburg when our Flames Football team beat JMU for the first time since before some of you seniors were born. This is possible.
So grab your books, charge your laptops, find some rain gear, and drop the $5 to get on that bus at 8am Saturday, and make the trip to Philadelphia. Our players might not need our support to #BeatNova, but they surely deserve it. They have done something no other Liberty Football team has been able to do, and they’ll go down in the history books because of it. They deserve to have us out there screaming and cheering them on. You can study on the bus. Get your friends together, load up that bus, and don’t forget to be early, be loud, and wear red.
The forecast for Saturday is for a high of 47° and a 90% chance of rain. But that’s okay—one of my favorite Liberty Football memories is being cold and soaking wet my freshman year in 2009, waiting in line 3 hours before kickoff, and cheering for the Flames against JMU with my best friends and 15,000 other fans. It’s a long drive to Philly, but I’ve driven over 24 total hours this season to watch Liberty Football, so what’s 12 more? My friends and I will stop for breakfast at Lumpkin’s in Scottsville, and grab some Chick-fil-A for lunch along the way to keep a game-day tradition alive. And we’ll roll back down to Lynchburg Saturday night into Sunday morning, and wake up in time for church. Why? Because our Liberty Flames are in the playoffs. And they’re on the road again this week. Against another higher-ranked team. Another team favored by more than a touchdown. Another team the experts don’t expect us to beat. Another team that has that title that we want: National Champions. We’ve done it before this season, and we’ll do it again this Saturday in Pennsylvania. It’s Liberty Football’s time. It’s our time. GO FLAMES. BEAT VILLANOVA.
Will Crabtree is a 2012 graduate of the Helms School, and graduated in May 2014 with his MBA from Liberty. He currently lives in the great state of North Carolina, and served as Sparky during the 2010-2011 season.
