The Liberty Flames dropped to 5-2 with an upset at the hands of UL-Monroe, 31-28, on Saturday night in Monroe, Louisiana. This week, the Flames are back on the road heading to Texas to take on North Texas with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. in Denton, Texas. Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze met with the media for his weekly press conference on Monday and here is everything he had to say beginning with his opening statement.
“Obviously, extremely disappointed in the outcome of Saturday,” he said. “It’s no other way to put it. Sickening weekend, felt sick physically, mentally, the whole deal with the way we performed Saturday night. Give a lot of credit to Monroe. We’ve got to go back and evaluate everything that we do from our signaling structure to everything. They had a great plan, give their coaches credit. Their kids out played us. They played harder than we did.”
“People don’t want to hear it, I’ve said it since I’ve been here – there’s very, very few times that we will take the field where our roster is better athletically than others. That’s just the truth. We may be better at certain spots, but we’re not good enough to not prepare and play at the level that we have to play to win games. It’s hard to win college football games. That was never more evident than Saturday evening when we certainly didn’t play our best.”
“We’ve got another opportunity again. People care about Liberty football right now. That shows up in a lot of different ways, some good, some bad, but we’re somewhat relevant. We’ve got a chance to be bowl eligible for our third straight year. We will try to make the most of a learning experience from Saturday night and get ready to go play what I think, I don’t know how North Texas is not winning games. They’ve got a good plan and they’ve got really good players. It will be an interesting test for us, for sure.”
HOW HAVE THE PLAYERS RESPONDED TO YOUR MESSAGE THIS MORNING?
“We actually haven’t met with the team yet. We had this planned long before because it was a point in our schedule with the two back-to-back road games, we’re going to let them sleep in with us getting back late. After academics today we will have our team meeting at 5:15 and then our Monday walk-throughs after that. That was already planned, so I haven’t addressed them yet.”
HOW MUCH OF THE FOCUS THIS WEEK IS HAVING URGENCY IN ALL THE DETAILS?
“It will determine the rest of our season. The way we go about learning from mistakes and experiences and how we prepare after that and how we respond to negativity. How we respond to what the tape says. How we respond to all of that will determine what we do the rest of the season. This sense, if there is a sense, of entitlement because you’ve had some good years and won some good bowl games, if there’s some of that it will certainly show. That’s not the way you win football games. We will continue to preach that.”
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT WITH A TEAM OF 115+ TO DEAL WITH HANDLING PAST SUCCESS?
“I think you can just look at kind of the way our season has gone. I think it’s one of the tougher challenges we face as coaches, but yet that is the assignment we have as coaches. We have to, somehow, if you’re going to have the success that you want or sustain success, you certainly have to have the ability to get them to focus. To focus on the things that matter and not the things that don’t. It certainly helps when you have some in the locker room that believes the same way. I do think we’ve got a very good core that will respond in the right way to this disappointment, but there’s no question when you put the film on we’ve got to own what’s on it. There’s some things that we haven’t done much of. It’s frustrating to watch and certainly, again, it comes back to us as coaches first. Why is it that way? We’ve got to figure it out.”
WHAT HAS PUT MALIK WILLIS ON THE RADAR AS FAR AS NFL TEAMS GO?
“Well, I think early on last season he played consistent. Early this season he played consistent. His athleticism, I think, is very attractive and his arm strength. Having said that, he has not played well the last two weeks. Sometimes, I think, Malik is so athletic and so talented to be able to make plays when things break down, but man it seems when he short-circuits that, his progressions or things, sometimes great things happen, sometimes some not so great things have happened in the last couple of weeks. It just so happens that some of those have been in critical moments and have put us in a bad position, but I think there’s no question you can’t help but see the talent that he has when you watch him play. That’s where all the accolades or all the NFL talk is coming from. He’s a highlight-reel waiting to happen, most any game. You can put on most any game that he’s played and you can pull out 4, 5, 6, 7 plays that normal just don’t make.”
WHERE DOES HE RANK AMONG NFL PLAYERS YOU HAVE COACHED?
“Quarterback wise, I think he’s the most complete. I haven’t had a lot of quarterbacks that made it in the NFL, but I thought Chad, Bo, and Ryan all were really, really talented kids. They all had different strengths. I think Malik is probably, he has the most combination of running-throwing arm strength that makes him probably more complete than any I’ve coached.”
DO YOU EXPECT HIM TO RESPOND THIS WEEK AFTER A TOUGH GAME?
“I certainly do. I think it’s our job to help him respond correctly. No one will be more hungry to do that than he will. We’ve got to get him back to really, really doing exactly what the play demands on each given play.”
DO YOU EXPECT NORTH TEXAS TO COME OUT READY TO PLAY AFTER FIVE STRAIGHT LOSSES?
“Well, yes, I do. I know Seth, and I know the coaching staff there. I’ve watched on film. The bit I watched this morning and last night, they are a scary team. I don’t know how, when you watch them move the ball up and down the field on Missouri and defensively you look at the athleticism that they have. I think they are just waiting for a breakout game to start having more confidence or whatever it is that is causing them to lose games. It’s certainly a scary team. Like I said earlier, our roster is not going to be any more athletic than theirs are at very, very few positions. Same as last week. We can’t afford, we’ve got to go play well every week if we’re going to win football games. This one is no different.”
YOU MENTIONED SATURDAY YOUR OLINE DIDN’T CONTROL THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE, HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO IDENTIFY WHERE SOME OF THOSE ISSUES MAY BE COMING FROM?
“You know, I don’t know that we’ve ever just dominated a line of scrimmage. I don’t think that’s who, we body blow, and then in the fourth quarter, we’ve had success. That’s who we are. I don’t know of many offensive lines today outside of the elite ones that can just dominate these defensive lines that you play. You’ve got to get the dirty 3 yards, 4 yards. We were very effective when we went with our tempo in the second half. That may be something that’s more advantageous for our OLine. I thought Monroe had a really good plan, and their kids played extremely hard. I probably got away from the run a little bit too early in this game, should have probably stuck with it more.”
“The thing turned so quick in the third quarter. They had a really good plan coming out. Rich Rod did a great job, stuff we hadn’t seen. He held it until the second half, that first drive. It produced points. Then, of course, we had the quick turnover, and then they get it back. Our defense hadn’t had any time to make any adjustments for the first three possessions. We still out-rushed our opponent which usually you win. Out-rushed them over 100 yards, you usually win those games, but truthfully when you watch the tape, we left a lot of points out there. We did not execute. Bottom line, we turned the ball over three times. Once, in the tight red zone, once, backed up where they got it on the one yard line on plays that should have never happened. As poorly as we played, that sums up, that’s no excuse for how poorly we played, that’s my fault and our coach’s fault for not having them better prepared, but you’ve got to take care of the football. Those two should not have happened.”
OUR TEAMS SCHEMING MALIK ANY DIFFERENTLY THESE LAST COUPLE GAMES?
“No. They may be bringing more pressure, green-dogging the back some, but it’s nothing we haven’t prepared for. We’ve just got to get him back to fundamentally not short-circuiting some of the reads, and he’s got to stand back there. But he’s so dang athletic and gifted that you kinda understand, and sometimes that works out, but he’s got to learn when it’s time to live to play another down. We missed some touchdowns the other night, for sure, for whatever reason. We haven’t sat down and gone through the tape, but we will do that this afternoon and hopefully get it corrected. I’m pretty confident that they knew whether it was run or pass. That’s not Malik’s fault, that’s our operational fault. I’ve got to get that fixed too.”
THE DLINE ROTATION GOT SHORTENED UP, WHAT IS THE INJURY STATUS THERE?
“Durrell had surgery on his knee. I don’t know how long, but we do expect to get him back at some point. Kendy and Khristian will probably be day to day this week. We will see if they…they both tried to practice last Wednesday and Thursday and just could not go.”
“Let me tell you, Aakil Washington is a football player. He played his tail off, and he played the complete 73 snaps which is way too many. I think that affected us some in the third quarter. Again, Rich Rod had some good stuff too in that third quarter. We had some kids play too many snaps, for sure. Hopefully we can get a few guys back.”
DEMARIO WAS DRESSED, WERE YOU TRYING TO REST UP HIS ANKLE?
“Yeah, he wasn’t able to practice last week. He would have tried to go. You get up 14-0 and you’ve rested him that long, you think you’re going to be able to hopefully get him healed up. All of a sudden we’re in a dog fight. He’s not loose, and certainly didn’t want to set him back any more. Felt like we could have won the game without him. He was not 100% for sure and you just want to get him there.”
THE PENALTIES ON SPECIAL TEAMS, IS THAT BECOMING A CONCERN FOR YOU?
“We had one last week, the blocking out of bounds that is not on tape. I don’t know what to tell my kids. I’m going to show them today and I’m not sure what to say. They never touched the guy out of bounds. He ran out of bounds and ran into one of the coaches. I don’t know what to tell him. I think that was the only special teams penalty, that was the only one I remember.”
“I’ve got to figure out what rouging the passer is too.”
YOUR FORMER BOSS AT OLE MISS, COACH ORGERON IS LEAVING LSU, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HIM BEING BOOTED OUT SO SOON AFTER WINNING A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP?
“It’s sad to say but nothing surprises me anymore in our profession. It’s an absolute incredible calling, but sometimes it is a terrible business. I don’t claim to know any of the details of what is going on at other programs, I’ve got my hands full here. I’m not sitting here saying I know everything. I don’t know what’s going on inside the walls and what the administration sees. I’m not at all saying someone is right or someone is wrong. There are so many things that should be important in the evaluation of coaches that sometimes aren’t because of probably the money that is being paid to us. We all know that when we sign up for it, but we’ve got a chance to make a difference in kid’s lives and that’s not going to keep your job anymore and I get that. So does Ed.”
“You hate it for so many families that it will disrupt that are on that staff. People don’t even think about, you’ve got the on the field coaches, sure, but there’s a whole ‘nother building full of people that don’t make a lot of money, yet they have a wife and kids, or a husband and kids if they’re a female. It’s just a lot of hurt that goes on in it. You just hate to see it in this coaching profession, and you know there’s a lot of anxiousness and hurt that goes on in those changes, but, yet, it is part of our business. We all accept it and understand it, but that doesn’t make it enjoyable.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE DEFENSE’S PERFORMANCE IN THE 3RD QUARTER, WAS THIS AN ANOMALY?
“Yeah, again, it’s hard to prepare for everything. Rich Rod had a great plan coming out. It was some stuff we had never seen. You had done so well in the first half, you don’t have a lot of adjustments at halftime really, when it’s 14-0 and you held them to 35 yards after the first possession. They came out running those sucker schemes which we haven’t been answering. We fixed it after about the third possession, but unfortunately we didn’t get to make those adjustments fast enough because we didn’t take care of the ball.”
