Liberty head football coach Hugh Freeze met with the media on Monday following his team’s win on Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe to move to 4-0 on the 2020 season. The Flames are scheduled to travel to Syracuse to play in the Carrier Dome this Saturday at Noon in a game that will be televised on ACC Regional Networks.
Here’s everything Freeze had to say, beginning with his opening statement.
“Obviously, we’re excited to be 4-0 and had a great team meeting this morning where we went over the truth of Saturday with everyone, put it in the trash, and now you got to prove yourself again this week. That’s the great thing about football, last week is over and you’ve got to prove yourself again this week and it starts by winning each day in preparation. We’re excited about a very difficult challenge to go play an ACC opponent in their place. I have great respect for Dino, he’s a good man, number one, and a good football coach. I know he will have his guys ready, look forward to this challenge though.”
WHAT TYPE OF CHALLENGE IS SYRACUSE AND WHAT TYPE OF OPPORTUNITY DOES THIS GAME PRESENT?
“Everything we do is about, in year two, trying to advance our program. What better opportunity do you have than being able to go play an ACC team on the road and hopefully be in the game and have a chance to compete to win it. That’s our goal. Are we ready for those opportunities yet? I don’t know, but I do know that for it to have meaning at this point in the season in year two, we have taken some steps forward. There are people that are expecting us to compete. That’s an expectation we embrace and we’re excited about. Are we worthy of it? I don’t know. We’re certainly going to give it our best shot and hopefully prove those people who believe that to be accurate. Time will tell. Obviously, whatever the scoreboard says after 60 minutes, we’ll accept and move from there as to where exactly we are right now. I think we are further along in year two than I thought we would be, having gone to a bowl game last year and sitting here at 4-0, I’m proud of our kids and our staff and our administration and everybody here, but we will see how Saturday goes. We certainly are excited about it and are embracing the fact that we’re expected to compete in it.”
YOU’VE INDICATED THAT YOU WILL MATCH THE COVID-19 TESTING OF WHATEVER LEAGUE YOU PLAY, WHAT DAYS YOU HAVE IT PLANNED THIS WEEK AND IS THERE AN OUTSIDE LAB YOU ARE USING?
“We’re contracted with an ACC lab. The same lab they’ve used, we’ve used all year long. This week, we’re testing every single day except for Tuesday and twice on Friday. How many is that? 5 tests, I think there’s 5 tests this week that we’re doing. We will keep our fingers crossed and pray that all those tests are good.”
Note for clarity: Liberty uses Radeas Labs in Raleigh, North Carolina to conduct COVID testing.
WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM LAST YEAR’S GAME AGAINST SYRACUSE FOR THIS YEAR?
“Nothing for me. I won’t even watch last year’s game. That’s so far removed from my mind. Obviously, I think, we’re different with Buckshot and Malik at quarterback, it’s two different deals. Our defense, I think, we’ll watch it. They will probably show me some clips from it when we’re finalizing the plan, but I won’t watch it from an offensive perspective. What I do take from it, is I’m glad to be upright.”
WHAT TYPE OF EMPHASIS DO YOU PUT ON SPECIAL TEAMS DURING THE WEEK?
“I think there are certain teams that you certainly do (try to put your best players on special teams) then there’s others that you mainly try to rest some, but that’s the first two and a half periods of every practice is special teams. Then, more on Thursday. Coach Burns, who played for me, has done a really nice job with those. Had one of those great days on Saturday, which that’s thrilling. Anytime you get points out of special teams can be the winning edge. Anytime you can get points on those it’s pretty special, and when you give up points on those it’s kind of like a dagger. It was real exciting that Tanner’s plan was great and also see kids like Treon Sibley and others contribute. Demario Douglas we’ve all know is a good returner, but the blocking that was on both of those returns it was really well coached you could see. They had shots to block people in the back and they all did great job high-walling. I know Brody Brumm and Quinton Reese on the touchdown one just did an outstanding job with that. Tanner’s doing a good job coaching them. We’ve had a bad day on special teams this year too, and that was a great day Saturday, hopefully we will get more of those.”
WHERE HAVE YOU MOST IMPROVED SINCE LAST YEAR’S SYRACUSE GAME?
“We were really good offensively last year at times. After four games we’re different. We’re certainly trying to manage the game a little more, keep our defense on the field as few of plays as we can. I think our offensive line has improved. We didn’t play particularly well last Saturday, but on the totality of the year I think they’ve improved since last year. We’re probably not quite as good as receiver right now just because of losing AGG and then we’ve not been at full strength yet. We really miss Noah and CJ being hampered some has really hurt us too. Running game I think we’re probably a little better. Defensively, I think we’re better in a lot of spots. I think we’ve improved there everywhere.”
HOW MUCH IS BEING MORE CONSISTENT ON OFFENSE ON MALIK BEING MORE CONSISTENT THROWING THE FOOTBALL?
“Well, if we’re just talking about last Saturday, I thought our defense had one of the more complete efforts that I’ve been associated with in 27 years. I think it was like 7 three & outs or 8 three & outs, then got turnovers. I just thought they played really solid. Offensively we were not consistent. Some of it, we lost really three possessions with special teams that maybe we could have done something with. Malik was very inconsistent early in the game. The entire first half they were committed to stopping the run, we had some people open, some for touchdowns if we complete them, we missed a lot of throws. He was inconsistent. Games 1 and 2 I thought he was really consistent. He missed 6-7 practices, and hopefully Kent and him can get his mechanics back right, that was most of his problem. He still made plays for us too, he was just inconsistent with some throws. We had people who were open for touchdowns on some shot plays and we missed all three of them and then missed some short throws too.”
JOSH MACK IS FROM OUT THIS WAY, HOW DID HE END UP WITH YOU AND WHAT DOES HE BRING TO THE TEAM?
“I talked to him in the locker room after the game, he’s excited about going back to his home state. I honestly was not here when they recruited him, he was here when I arrived, so I can’t really speak a lot to that, but I sure am glad we have him. He’s doing a nice job of maturing as a young man and obviously he’s our go to go at running back.”
COULD YOU DESCRIBE HIS STYLE?
“He kind of reminds me, I’m not saying he’s on the level of Leveon Bell, but he’s very patient like him. He’s patient to the hole and then he gets through the hole pretty quick. He typically, even for his size, falls forward a lot. You very rarely see him going backwards at contact. He doesn’t have top end speed, but he’s fast enough to have explosive plays. He pass protects very well this year which is a big improvement from last year. I think he’s a pretty complete back, but I think his patience is how I would describe him in the run game.”
FIRST VOTES RECEIVED IN THE AP TOP 25 POLL, WHAT DOES THAT SPEAK TO THE LEVEL OF PLAY THAT LIBERTY HAS SHOWN THIS YEAR?
“I think we’ve advanced the program. From our players and administration and staff, everyone that pours into it, for us to be in those discussions certainly means you’re heading in the right direction. Exactly where we are on that road map is a wide spectrum, who really knows. The end of the season will tell. We’re getting ready to go into a very difficult stretch of games with Syracuse, Southern Miss, Virginia Tech, NC State. That’s a tough stretch of games for us. Hopefully we can stay healthy and hopefully we can pass the COVID tests and be full strength and have a good finish to our season. There’s no question for us in year two to be in those discussions, we’ve done some good things that have got us headed in the right trajectory.”
IS THERE AN ADVANTAGE TO HAVING 4 GAMES UNDER YOUR BELT RATHER THAN PLAYING THEM RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE?
“Probably so. There’s probably an advantage right now because we know a little bit more about ourselves and what we can do and what we can’t do, what we’re good at and what we’re not good at. When you play a Power Five team like Syracuse the roster is stacked with Power Five players. That doesn’t mean that they will have the best team on a given day, but certainly if you just look at the roster from top to bottom they are probably going to test out better than we would in a lot of areas. I think to be able to play them with more confidence and at the same time to know more about who we are and what we can do is definitely a bit more of an advantage for us going in it than probably for them. They probably can line up and do what they do and maybe are better than us, I don’t know. We probably need to be very good at play calling on Saturday to have a chance to win it, and I think having four games to see this kid can do this, this kid can do that, this kid can do that, let’s stay with what we can do.”
IS THERE AN ADVANTAGE TO THE FACT THAT THERE WILL BE A LIMITED CROWD IN THE DOME?
“I haven’t experienced the Carrier Dome. I don’t know, I need to find out. I don’t know if they are piping in noise. I don’t know all of those things yet, we need to find those things out. I’ve got that on my list of things to do today. I really don’t know what the environment is going to be like.”
HOW’S YOUR BACK?
“I’m so blessed, thanks for asking. It gets stiff every now and then from standing some I think, but really no pain to speak of. Thank you, I am doing well.”
WHAT IS THE STATUS FOR NOAH FRITH AND TIM KIDD-GLASS THIS WEEK?
“Doubtful on Noah. Tim Kidd-Glass I will know more tomorrow.”
HOW IS BRYCE MATHEWS DOING?
“I think he will be back tomorrow.”
DUKE WAS ABLE TO RUSH ON THEM, DO YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THAT?
“We will look at every film they have played. Certainly Duke lines up similar to us, for sure. Do we have equal players that Duke has? I don’t know. We watched a lot of tape yesterday. We think we will have a good plan. Certainly we will take a lot from those games as to what fits in our system. The first thing that jumps at you when you put the Syracuse film on is that D-Line. They jump off the page now. We’ve got to work hard to try to handle them. All their movements and twists can give you problems.”
I’M PRETTY SURE YOU WERE SERIOUS ABOUT TESTING 5 TIMES WHEN I ASKED, IS THAT IN RESPONSE TO SOME OF THE QUESTIONS YOU FACED EARLIER THIS OFFSEASON?
“I think the 5 tests this week, that’s not normal for 5, it’s usually 2-3 depending on what conference we play. At minimum 2, most weeks it has been 3. This week, I think it has more to do with the state of New York. We’re adding some at our own decision. I know we were scheduled to do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We’re going to add one on Thursday and I know on Friday before we get on the plane an antigen test. Then, the ACC people come to the hotel, I think that Friday, and do another one.”
