For a second straight year, Liberty (8-4) has finished the season with three straight losses, falling to New Mexico State, 49-14.
With reports of head coach Hugh Freeze expected to be named Auburn’s next head coach surfacing Saturday morning, there were obviously distractions for the Liberty football team today. The Aggies took advantage of that and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. After the Flames answered to make it 7-7, NMSU took advantage of two Liberty first half turnovers and pushed their lead to 42-7 midway through the third quarter.
FREEZE DISTRACTION TOO MUCH TO OVERCOME
With the news ramping up to a fever pitch in the hours leading up to kickoff, it obviously got to the rest of the coaching staff and the players. It’s hard for them to push that news to the side and focus on the task at hand. Throw in the addition of New Mexico State being a very hungry team, they seized the momentum at the beginning of the game and never looked back.
QB SHUFFLE CONTINUES
Liberty has not been able to find an answer at quarterback all season. With the injuries early in the season to Charlie Brewer and Kaidon Salter, Freeze and QB Coach Kent Austin never found a guy that were comfortable with leading the team.
Over the past few weeks, it has been a quarterback shuffle with no player able to get into a rhythm. Freeze said earlier this week he planned on deciding on one guy to lead the team at quarterback this week, but three QBs – Charlie Brewer, Kaidon Salter, and Johnathan Bennett – all got playing time in the first half.
FLAMES NOT THE SAME AFTER 8-1 START
Everyone around the Liberty football team was riding high just a few short weeks ago after an 8-1 start with wins over BYU and Arkansas in consecutive games. The team was ranked in the Top 25 and looked like they were heading to one of the best seasons in school history.
That all flipped quickly after the win over the Razorbacks. RB Dae Dae Hunter got injured in that game and was lost for the season, and Liberty never was able to regain the edge needed to pull out a victory. Two close losses to UConn and Virginia Tech, and then an embarrassing loss at home to New Mexico State in the regular season finale.
Up Next
Liberty will now wait for its bowl destination as the Flames head to a fourth straight bowl game. We may have to wait until the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 4 to learn the news. That is when all the bowl pairings are revealed.
The last three weeks of Liberty football have been pathetic. Obviously, Freeze heart has been elsewhere and it sounds like it’s been with Auburn.
I hate it for our university and fans. We gave this guy another shot at coaching when nobody else wanted him. He played the grift. Good on him and best wishes.
He could have held off talks with potential suitors until the end of season. If they wanted him bad enough, it could have waited. They would’ve been there. Instead, his ego bruised our season.