The Liberty Flames concluded the 2017 season, its final as an FCS member, with a 20-19 loss to Charleston Southern. With the loss, the Flames conclude the season at 6-5 overall and 2-3 in Big South play. This is Liberty’s 4th straight loss to CSU and gives the program its first losing Big South season since 2005.
RANKING THE TOP PLAYS FROM THE GAME
- Charleston Southern’s Tyler Tekac connected from 42 yards with one second remaining to give the Buccaneers the 20-19 win.
- Just one minute prior, Alex Probert was perfect from 49 yards out to give Liberty a 19-17 lead.
- After Liberty’s 2nd and final touchdown of the afternoon, Probert’s extra point was blocked, the 6th extra point miss of the season. That one point proved crucial as it was the margin of defeat.
- Antonio Gandy-Golden caught a 22 yard touchdown pass midway through the 2nd quarter to tie the game at 7.
- Buckshot connected with AGG for the 2nd TD of the day to push Liberty ahead by their largest margin of the day at 16-7.
WHAT IT MEANS
It looked like the Flames were about to seal their 4th straight win and first 7+ win season since 2014. Liberty had the 19-17 lead and the Buccaneers were facing a 3rd and 21 on their own 14 yard line with 58 seconds to play. The Flames’ Achilles’ heel all season, its defense, was unable to get the job done as Charleston Southern picked up that first down, converted a 4th and 1, and picked up 61 yards in those 58 seconds to set up the game winning field goal.
With the Buccaneers lining up to attempt what would be the game winning field goal, Coach Gill and the Flames had 3 timeouts in their hip pocket they could use to attempt to ice Tekac. Gill decided to do so on the first attempt, one that Tekac missed badly. The Flames then sat on their final two timeouts, and Tekac drilled the attempt that counted.
On the bright side, Buckshot concluded the single most impressive season a Liberty quarterback has ever had. Against Presbyterian a week ago, Calvert set the single season school record with passing touchdowns, a number he pushed to 29. Against CSU, he also claimed the single season record for passing yards, finishing with 3,363 yards on the season. He also tied the school record with 257 completions on the year, a mark that was set by Robby Justino in 1991.
LOOKING AHEAD
We’re just 9 months from the 2018 season, one that we have all been looking forward to since the day we started following Liberty football. On September 1, 2018, the Flames will open the year as an FBS team against Old Dominion in a newly expanded 25,000 seat Williams Stadium.
There is still plenty of work that needs to be done between now and then though. Construction is just beginning in earnest on the stadium expansion, and, if you pay any attention to social media or message boards, many Liberty fans want there to be construction done to the Flames’ coaching staff.
Turner Gill just completed his 6th season with the Flames, compiling a 40-28 record during that time. However, Liberty has finished 6-5 for 3 straight years and 4 out of Gill’s 6 seasons. That’s a record that may become satisfactory in the coming years as an FBS program, but with the investment the University makes in the football program, it is not something that was expected during the final FCS years.
Gill does have some high marks on his resume at Liberty, helping the Flames over the hump and into the FCS Playoffs for the only time in school history in 2014 and to the program’s first ever win over a Power 5 team to open the 2017 season by defeating Baylor.
BY THE NUMBERS
51 | Following 3 very productive weeks running the football, Liberty was only able to pick up 51 yard on the ground against CSU.
60 | Antonio Gandy-Golden and Damian King each had 60+ receptions on the season, the first Big South teammates to each catch 60 passes in the same season.
400 | In each of the final 6 games of the year, Liberty surrendered over 400 yards of offense, including 415 allowed to the Buccaneers. 8 of 11 teams surpassed the 400 yard mark against the Flames in 2017.
