Liberty head football coach Hugh Freeze met with the media on Monday following his team’s win over UMass on Friday. The Flames have re-entered the Top 25 polls, ranked at No. 25 in both the AP Top 25 poll and the Coaches Poll following the team’s 9-1 start to the season. This Saturday, the Flames travel to Conway, South Carolina to face No. 14 Coastal Carolina with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m. on ESPNU. It will be the highest ranked opponent Liberty has ever faced at the FBS level. Here’s everything Freeze had to say in this week’s press conference, beginning with his opening statement.
“Extremely proud of our kids last week and the way that they bounced back from a difficult loss. Obviously, a one point loss on the road to an ACC team was hard to swallow. I didn’t like it much, wanted to get the taste out of our mouth, was really interested as to how our kids would respond, it’s been so long since we lost. Curious to see how we’d respond. I thought our kids did a tremendous job preparing and going out and being balanced on offense and being stingy on defense to give up points. I was really pleased with the effort to get us 9 wins and undefeated at home in year two and back in the top 25 is really beyond anything that we imagined.”
HOW FAMILIAR ARE YOU WITH THE LIBERTY-COASTAL RIVALRY?
“I haven’t yet, I know nothing about it. I do have (Matt) Bevins and (Kyle DeArmon) are going to give me a tutorial this afternoon, but I will be very straight with you, like I always am, I was a part of the most heated rivalry I think there is in college football. I’ve never seen, because it’s heated, I’ve never seen that help you win, ever. I’ve only seen it hurt you. So, I don’t need this to be a rival game to get my juices flowing. It’s a top 25 matchup, a chance for us to win 10 games. I will get educated on it, but I will be very disappointed if our kids let this get to their emotions to where they are not poised. I would think Coach Chadwell would feel the same. His team is very disciplined, one of the fewest penalized teams in America. Truthfully, besides the media and besides the people in the stands, all that pushing and shoving that happens in these rival games before the game and in the first minute of the game, all the chit chat, and all that stuff, after about 2 minutes when you get hit right in the face, all that kind of just subsides and you might ought to worry about executing on the given play and the game plan much more than you do that. The fans will still yell back and forth and do what they do, and the media will write about it being a rivalry, but it’s a rivalry to me because top 25 teams playing in a game that means something. I don’t know if that answers your question, but I won’t make much of, I’ll make much of this opportunity is big, but whether it’s Coastal or whether it was whoever, it would mean that to me.”
I’M GUESSING WHAT THE MEDIA AND WHAT THE VOTERS SAY PROBABLY DOESN’T REGISTER VERY HIGH ON YOUR PRIORITY LIST?
“We probably don’t need to go down that road.”
DOES GETTING BACK IN THE TOP 25 SUGGEST VALIDATION TO WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE DONE?
“Oh yeah. These are two separate discussions. I like it when they are in our favor. I like the media when they are in our favor, but I think we’ve earned that in 2020. Listen, I’m a realist. There’s a lot of teams in Power Five conferences that probably haven’t played as many games to really judge their standing this year, but in this year, in this 2020, in this craziness, but yet we’ve been blessed. Who would have thought we’d get 10 games in without one team on either side of it having issues, very few have done that. I do think that we have in people’s minds, obviously in two different polls, have earned the right to be hovering around that top 25 and this week is our fourth week in the top 25. I think, absolutely, that gives us some validation that 2020 we’ve done some things right.”
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN PREPARING FOR A TOP 25 TEAM?
“Not in the preparation. I may approach the team meetings a little differently. I may approach my energy level a little bit and what they see from me in a given practice in my approach to it, but I would expect the preparation to be exactly the same every single week. Then, there should be some extra juices flowing. I don’t expect that every week, but this one here. Who knows what’s going to happen after the regular season is over? Who knows if there’s going to be bowl games? Who knows? This opportunity that we have to beat a top 15 team, I believe, number 14, that should get your juices flowing. I don’t know what the outcome of the game is going to be, but I will say this to you, what non Group of Five school has the most impressive wins this year? I’ll let ya’ll answer that.”
WITH EVERYTHING GOING ON IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL, HOW PROUD ARE YOU THAT YOU HAVEN’T HAD ANY ISSUES WITH COVID?
“Listen, we’re never out of the woods on COVID. It’s a weekly on pins and needles waiting for the tests to come back and see what the results will be. Truthfully, we have been affected by it, we just don’t talk about it publicly. We haven’t had the cases of it to where it has really altered us terribly, so we have been blessed in that regard, but it’s that time of the year where the flu season is around and all of that so we will be sitting on pins and needles all week this week waiting on the tests to come back. We are blessed, but how long does that last? I don’t know. I hope we last one more week for sure.”
HOW HELPFUL IS IT TO PREPARE FOR THIS GAME AFTER GOING THROUGH THREE ACC GAMES?
“There’s no teacher like experience. Those are invaluable experiences, it should help prepare us for this one.”
MOST OF YOUR RESUME IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES HAVE BEEN ON THE ROAD, WHAT IS YOUR TAKEAWAY THERE?
“All of those experiences will play into this. We have a plan for every single road game depending on the kickoff time. We won’t change that. Our kids will be very aware of what that plan will be. I think there’s sometimes something about going on the road that I think unites you a little bit more, particularly in big opponent games, especially when you are not favored. I think, if handled rightly, that draws you together a little bit more. We’ve always favored very well on the road and I think it’s because of our approach.”
WANTING AN INJURY UPDATE.
“Shedro should be good. (Anthony Butler) questionable but hopeful. (Tim Kidd-Glass) doubtful. (CJ Yarbrough) hopeful. (Deon Biggins and Brendan Schlittler) probable, both of those, probable.”
DOES YOUR TEAM HAVE A BOWL WORTHY RESUME?
“You know the answer to that, absolutely. No idea if we will beat Coastal or not, but if we do I think we have as a Group of Five the most impressive wins in the nation compared to the other Group of Five schedules. I don’t get caught up worrying about that. Ian and our administration do a great job working with our partners in the bowl tie-ins or the secondary tie-ins, whatever you call them, ESPN and all of that. They do a great job with all of that. We will cross that bridge when we get there, but if you’re asking me if we’re worthy of a bowl, there is zero doubt I would think in anyone’s mind that that would be the case.”
CAN YOU SPEAK TO THE JOB YOUR GROUP OF WRS HAVE DONE?
“We have been solid. It’s been a challenge because we have never been healthy there. I don’t remember one full game that we had everybody for the entire game. That’s been a challenge. Give credit to Coach Harris and those kids that have collectively been able to produce enough production there for us to be balanced and create explosive plays. I think Shaa has really come on and had more of a role. Of course, DJ and Demario are solid. Noah’s slowly getting back. CJ Daniels has been a bright spot as a freshman. Hopefully we can get CJ Yarbrough and Jaivian Lofton back. Brody Brumm has played his role. It’s definitely been a corporate effort.”
A LOT OF COACHES HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE TOLL THIS SEASON HAS TAKEN ON THEM, WHAT HAS BEEN THE DIFFERENCE FOR YOU IN TERMS OF MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL TOLL THIS YEAR COMPARED TO OTHERS?
“Man, I’m fresh as a daisy. I can’t think about all of that stuff. Does it keep me up at night until I get those texts from our medical staff saying here are the results? Yes, it does. In worrying do you have enough to play a game if you get a certain number back, all of that can cause you to have some worry, but I typically am very quick to just pop out and say alright it is what it is what do we do to find a way to compete? I do have that gift to just say ok bring it on, I can’t control that. I can’t control the results of that test. If it’s safe for us to play, then dangit it’s my job to get our team ready to play. That’s the approach that keeps me from not getting too stressed, I guess.”
HAVE YOU GUYS EVER BEEN CLOSE TO BEING CONCERNED WHETHER OR NOT IT WAS SAFE TO PLAY?
“Not to this point.”
WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN OUT OF COASTAL CAROLINA?
“They are really talented, really well coached. They are a team that finishes. They are a team that plays hard, that’s disciplined. So, you’ve got to give Coach Chadwell and his staff a lot of props. They got a great system on offense that scares you to death because you have to fit the triple option, yet they can throw it, and they have a quarterback that don’t turn it over and is athletic to hurt you with his legs. Nobody has stopped them, so obviously they know what they are doing there. Defensively, they’re as fundamentally sound as any team I’ve ever watched. They are in the right spot. They play extremely hard. They cause you some problems with their athleticism at the defensive end spots, in particular, and then they are solid everywhere else too. It’s going to be a heck of a challenge for us. There’s a reason they are ranked as high as they are.”
WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO YOUR STAFF BEING ABLE TO TURN THIS INTO SUCH A SUCCESS AT THE FBS LEVEL IN SUCH A SHORT TIME?
“Culture, chemistry, and our approach to preparation along with some key, good players in positions. I just think, typically, in football that culture combined with some good players has a really, really solid chance at winning some games. We work extremely hard on our culture and how we want to approach not only the games but life. When things go bad, when things go good, what’s our approach. I believe that culture and the chemistry that is created from those relationships that we try to drive our coach-player relationships, we want to be a relational staff and not just a process driven staff. I think kids respond to that. I think that’s probably the reason I would give to our immediate, unexpected success.”
