It was a warm and humid evening in Miami, Florida, where the visiting Liberty Flames ruined the homecoming crowd of 17,437 at FIU Stadium. Liberty defeated the Florida International Panthers, 38-6, to improve to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in Conference USA play. The Panthers are now 3-2 on the year and 0-2 in CUSA.
“I thought special teams and defense were tremendous for the whole four quarters,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell said following the game. “I think offensively we left some plays out there. We turned the ball over, had some penalties. Sometimes we are shooting ourselves in the foot offensively. I was pleased overall with unbelievable effort. We came out with a great mindset really took the crowd away from them early. I was proud of that.”
Behind quarterback Kaidon Salter, the Flames took the opening kickoff and made quick work of the Panthers to take a 7-0 lead. After the Liberty defense forced a quick three and out, Salter connected with Treon Sibley for a 68 yard touchdown, and the Flames led 14-0 before the home fans even got into their seat.
“It’s huge,” Chadwell said of the quick start. “Homecoming, when we came out at first for the game, the crowd wasn’t quite here. It looked like it was a little flat. Our guys coming out and taking it right to them. I think our offense came out with good juice, good energy, good focus. Right down the field twice, and really should have been the third one there. I was pleased with their focus.”
Liberty’s defense force a second three and out to begin the game, and it looked like the offense was going to make quick work of FIU’s defense once again to go up three scores. Those plans were thwarted when Salter threw his first interception of the season on a deep pass down the middle of the field that was thrown into double coverage. Following the interception, FIU quickly marched down the field with a 94-yard touchdown drive to turn the momentum in the stadium.
That momentum was short lived as the Liberty defense did not allow the FIU offense to get into any kind of rhythm and find any amount of success throughout the game. That scoring drive would be the only one the Panthers would have all night and the defense forced three and outs in four of FIU’s first five offensive possessions.
“It was the most complete (game) we’ve had,” Chadwell said of the defense. “Typically we’ve started off well and we hit a lull, or we’ve not done as well and then we figure out. With the exception of that one drive after we threw the turnover and gave them some momentum, our defense was lights out. They really didn’t threaten down there. With the energy, with the effort, with the game plan, I thought our guys had a great plan. We made that quarterback have to beat us from the pocket, he couldn’t do it, that was good to see.”
On offense, Liberty hit a slow patch after the first two touchdown drives. Three straight possessions were ended without points – the Salter interception, a personal foul penalty, and a Salter fumble inside the five yard line all cut those opportunities short.
“We hit a lull there, with some consistency, up and down, penalties hurt us,” said Chadwell. “I think if you looked at it, there was nothing they did to stop us, we just hurt ourselves. We gotta clean that up as we continue to play more teams in the conference. As you get into October, November, man, every game is so important. We’ve got to tighten some of those things up.”
Liberty added 10 points in the second quarter and two more touchdowns early in the third quarter as the lead swelled to a commanding 38-6 mark. From there, the Flames were able to keep FIU from seriously threatening to score and the offense milked the clock behind a strong running game that had success all night.
The Flames finished the game with 520 yards of offense compared to just 147 for Florida International. Liberty got 364 yards on the ground, averaging 8.4 yards per carry. Both Billy Lucas and Quinton Cooley went over 100-yards on the evening, finishing right at 102 rushing yards in the game as Lucas also added a touchdown. Salter rushed for 77 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 carries.
“I thought we really controlled the line of scrimmage,” Chadwell said. “They were trying not to let us run, I think that was sort of their game plan there. We really decided let’s go after them some. We broke some tackles and ran the ball physically. I thought our O-Line was physical.”
This was undoubtedly the best and most complete game for the Liberty defense. That unit has shown flashes and segments of games where they have been very difficult to play against. The Flames, returning just two starters from last year’s defense,
On Saturday in Miami, Liberty created havoc all night, making things tough on true freshman quarterback Keyone Jenkins. He completed just 9 of 21 passes for 133 yards and an interception. The Flames had a season high 11 tackles for loss.
Kendy Charles made his return to the Liberty lineup after missing the first three games with a lower body injury. He made his impact known, finishing the game with 5 tackles, 1.5 tackle for loss, 1 sack, and 1 fumble recovery.
“It was big because Chris Boti, who had been taking his place, didn’t play tonight,” said Chadwell of Charles. “He wasn’t on the trip due to illness. We needed Kendy to play well. I think once he got out there and the adrenaline got going, he didn’t know how much he was going to play and he felt great. Obviously, he almost made that guy miss on the fumble recovery. He looked good. I think we need to do more offensively drills. Really pleased with him. He’s a captain, a good player, obviously as well, just having his presence out there with our defense, those guys played with a lot of juice all game. I think he’s a big reason, having him back, everybody is feeling good about it.”
Liberty now enters a bye week with the unblemished record, one of only 27 FBS teams in the country that remain undefeated and the only one in Conference USA. The Flames will return to action on Sep. 5 against Sam Houston. That game will be played at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia on Thursday night, the first of four straight midweek games Liberty will play during the month of October.
“We took one more step to earning an opportunity to play for the conference championship, that’s what we’re shooting for,” Chadwell stated. “We are still, have not performed to what we’re capable of consistently. That excites me but also as a coach, our staff has to get us there. We’ve got to clean some things up. Some of the things we did tonight would beat us later on if we do that. As a coach, you’re happy, but also you think about hey what didn’t we do well. My job is to try and get that fixed.”
