It wasn’t the type of game many expected, but Liberty (7-0, 5-0 CUSA) escaped with a 42-35 win over Middle Tennessee (2-6, 1-3 CUSA) at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia on Tuesday.
The two teams combined for 969 yards of offense on the night, but it was a series of defensive stops by the Flames that secured the victory. Five straight defensive stands to end the game punctuated the win for Liberty. During that stretch, the Flames forced three turnovers and two punts.
“Well, it’s never boring is it,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell joked following the game. “I want to give credit to Middle Tennessee. They played a heck of a game. They came and took it after us. I shared they are better than their record and they showed that. It wasn’t obviously the cleanest game for us in a lot of areas. Here’s what I’m proud of though, defensively we stunk for a long time but they found a way there in the second half, especially the fourth quarter. When we needed to make plays they got turnovers, got big plays, that’s the way we should be playing defense. Proud of them.”
On the first play from scrimmage, Liberty quarterback grabbed the wrong helmet and had to return to the sideline. By the time he came sprinting onto the field with the correct lid, there was only about 10 seconds left on the play clock. He hurriedly called the play and snapped the ball. It led to an interception as his pass was lobbed a little bit and the defender was able to run in front of it. Three plays later and the Blue Raiders take the early 7-0 lead.
The teams would exchange scores on the following three possessions as the game was tied at 14 and it looked like we were headed for a shoot out. The Liberty defense got a stop and forced a punt, and a Billy Lucas one yard rushing touchdown put the Flames ahead at 21-14 for the first time on the evening. MTSU would score a touchdown in the final minute of the first half to tie the game at 21.
After the halftime break, the Flames defense quickly forced a three and out and punt, but Quinton Cooley lost a fumble. Middle Tennessee used a 36-yard pass play two plays later to regain the lead at 28-21 early in the third quarter. That score was the start of four straight touchdowns scored as the teams tied the game at 35 going into the final 15 minutes of the game.
Following a Middle Tennessee fumble late in the third quarter, the Flames took the ball with a tied game. Facing a 3rd and 14, Salter scrambled for a 9 yard game. Looking like Liberty would be facing a 4th and 5, MTSU was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty at the end of the play. That penalty gave the Flames a first down in MTSU territory, and, on the next play, Salter connected with CJ Daniels on a 37-yard touchdown strike to give Liberty the lead it would not relinquish.
“They were begging us to throw the ball, they were begging us,” said Chadwell. “We had missed some of those, whether it was a drop or just missed some. We knew we had the matchup we wanted. We thought that was the best time to let it rip. He made a nice throw. CJ made a nice route and catch. Obviously that gave us the lead and we were able to hold on.”
The Liberty defense has been strong the entire season in the fourth quarter, and it would come through again on Tuesday night. The Flames got stops on all four possessions for the Blue Raiders in the final quarter. Two punts and then two interceptions would seal Middle Tennessee’s fate.
“You’ve got to win challenging games and you’ve got to take everybody’s best shot,” said Chadwell. “We talked all week that you can’t allow complacency to set in. We didn’t have a great week of practice and it showed up. We played like we didn’t have a great week of practice. Fortunately we were able to find a way to win and continue to move on and put ourselves one step closer to what we want to try and get accomplished for this team.”
Salter had a career high 160 rushing yards on 16 carries. He also completed 12 of his 20 passes for 140 yards and 2 scores.
Quinton Cooley went over 100 yards rushing once again, finishing with 134 and 3 touchdowns on 24 carries. James Jointer added 48 yards on 7 carries and Aaron Bedgood had 32 rushing yards on 3 carries.
Daniels led the team in receiving with 6 catches for 71 yards and the touchdown catch. Bentley Hanshaw added 2 catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.
Liberty finished the game with 401 rushing yards, the most for the team in the FBS era while holding Middle Tennessee to just 96 yards on the ground. The Flames finished with 541 total yards of offense compared to 428 for the visiting Blue Raiders.
“The way they were playing us, especially early, they were keeping everybody deep and saying we’re not going to give up any deep shots,” Chadwell explained. “That was their plan from the first half on. We just decided, alright, we’re going to run it and do some things. Take your chances and we were able to do that. When you don’t have your best in the other areas, if you can run like that, it gives you a chance. That allowed us to stay in the game because it kept them off the field when we weren’t playing good defense and we were able to control the ball, control the clock, until we could make it more of a game that we want to try and play.”
The Flames will put their unbeaten record on the line once again next week for perhaps the toughest test on the schedule. Liberty heads to Bowling Green, Kentucky to take on the preseason CUSA favorite Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. WKU suffered its first setback in conference play on Tuesday night, falling at Jacksonville State, 20-17. The Hilltoppers are 4-3 overall and 2-1 in CUSA play.
