Liberty ran their way to a 42-28 victory on Saturday afternoon over UTEP in El Paso, Texas at the Sun Bowl. With the win, the Flames finish the regular season at 12-0 and will play New Mexico State on Friday night at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia for the CUSA Championship.

“We are 12-0,” said Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell. “I got here in December and the turnover again in the spring, if you would have said we were 12-0, I would have said you’re crazy. But this team bought into each other, what a tremendous season.”

Liberty ran for an FBS program record 441 yards in the win over the Miners. Nine ball carriers averaged 7.1 yards per rush as the Flames outgained UTEP by nearly 400 yards on the day.

Flames’ quarterback Kaidon Salter led the team rushing with 94 yards on 12 carries. Aaron Bedgood rushed for 82 yards on just four rush attempts. Billy Lucas had 13 rushes for 69 yards and a touchdown while Quinton Cooley carried 14 times for 65 yards and three scores.

Vaughn Blue, in his first action since suffering a shoulder injury at Buffalo in September, had five carries for 38 yards. James Jointer had four carries for 47 yards, including a 26 yard rushing score. Malik Caper had six rushes for 30 yards.

“We tried to get a lot of different people in there,” Chadwell said of the balanced rushing attack. “This late in the year, you are trying to keep the guys as fresh as you can. It was good to see everybody get involved. Vaughn Blue got back. it was good to have him out there. James Jointer, what a great run there to get in the end zone. It’s big. Normally we have a 100+ rusher here and there. Our guys did a nice job of being balanced.”

Liberty’s rushing attack was so good, the Flames only threw for 28 yards in the win. Salter completed four of 11 passes for 22 yards and one touchdown. He was pressured frequently when he did attempt to drop back and throw the ball.

“It was windy. When you are going against that wind it was challenging,” Chadwell said of the team’s lack of a passing attack. “I thought they did a nice job. They weren’t going to let us beat them deep. They were staying deep on the play action. When that happens you can bang your head up against the board and keep trying it or just do what is working. That is what happened. You would like to have some more, make some passes and connect on some of them, but some of our passes we drop back and he ended up running. That happens. They were really trying to not get beat deep and wanted to see if we were patient enough to run the ball.”

UTEP completed a 64-yard pass on their second offensive play of the game. Just one play later the Miners would get into the end zone to tie the game at seven. After that, the Liberty defense dominated the home team throughout the first half.

The Flames forced three and outs on the next two UTEP possessions. After a Liberty turnover deep in their own territory, the Flames got a turnover on downs in just four plays. Another three and out followed, with an interception, and another three and out to close out the first half.

Liberty would go into the locker room with a 28-7 lead, holding the Miners to just 100 yards of offense in the opening half and -2 on the ground. The Flames could have extended the lead further, but two turnovers ended drives prematurely.

Jointer’s touchdown rush came with 5:33 left in the game as the score pushed to 42-14. However, the Flames would surrender 14 late points to UTEP as the score finished much closer than what the game actually was.

There was a lot of history cemented for the Flames in the win. First, Liberty closed out the program’s first undefeated regular season and extends the school record for wins in a season to 12. It also set a new program record for longest winning streak. The Flames previously won 11 straight contests between Oct. 20, 2007 – Oct. 11, 2008. The Flames also become the first FBS team in Virginia to win 12 games in a season.

The Flames become the third CUSA team to ever start 12-0 or better, joining Tulane (1998) and Houston (2011). Liberty became the ninth CUSA squad to ever go undefeated in conference play.

To accomplish all of this under a first year head coach, an entirely new coaching staff, and about half of a new roster from last year, is quite the accomplishment.

“Being in FBS five years now, making history like that is just something you didn’t start out to do, but because of the success the team has had and what they have been able to do, you’ve been able to make some of those,” Chadwell said after the game. “We will look back on it, as coaches you always think about what’s next, what’s next week, we will look back on it, just how special it was, especially being new. Everybody not knowing how coach is going to handle taking over a legendary coach and this and that, and all the losses we had, our team just stayed together. We will look back on it in a few months, but right now is not the time.”

And next week is a battle for the CUSA Championship against a very worthy opponent in New Mexico State. Following their win over Jacksonville State on Saturday, 20-17, the Aggies are 10-3 on the season and 7-1 in conference play. After starting the season just 2-3, NMSU has won eight straight, including a 31-10 win at Auburn a week ago.

It will be a rematch of the Week 2 contest that saw Liberty pick up the win in its first ever CUSA game, 33-17, a game also played at Williams Stadium. The Flames will hope to seal their undefeated regular season with the program’s first ever conference championship at the FBS level.

Kickoff is set for Friday, Dec. 1 from Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

“Most important game we have played,” Chadwell said of the pending championship game. “We are thankful to be home in Williams. They are playing well. They are a 10 win team. It’s going to be a battle. They are a way better team than they were in the beginning of the season, but I think we are too. We will have to play well to win.”

*photo courtesy Liberty Athletics