The Liberty Flames (5-1) wasted little time against Middle Tennessee (2-4) coasting to a 41-13 victory in front of 19,935 fans for Liberty’s 50th anniversary homecoming. The win extended the Flames’ program-record home winning streak to 14 games, dating to Sept. 14, 2019.
On their opening drive of the game, MTSU picked up one first down before they were stopped on 3rd and 1 at the 45 yard line for no gain. Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill had no hesitancy keeping his offense on the field and going for it on the first drive of the game from their own territory. The Liberty defensive front flexed their muscles as Storey Jackson and Elijah James combined for the stop to force the turnover on downs.
Behind Malik Willis and Demario Douglas, the Flames were quickly able to get on the scoreboard to take the lead. It only took three plays, with Douglas catching a 35-yard strike from Willis for the score. The team wouldn’t look back.
Liberty would go on to score three first half touchdowns to take a commanding 21-0 lead before Middle Tennessee would get on the scoreboard. The Blue Raiders would keep the game within striking distance, keeping it within two to three scores most of the rest of the way, but this game never felt in jeopardy after the early Flames’ lead.
For the first time and only fourth game in his Liberty career, Malik Willis was intercepted, and the Blue Raiders picked off the Heisman and first round NFL Draft pick hopeful three times. MTSU entered the game as one of the top teams in the country in terms of forcing turnovers, as they forced six last week in their win over Marshall.
Willis finished the game by completing 17 of 30 passes for 222 yards, 2 touchdowns and three picks and rushing 16 times for 80 yards and a touchdown. On the season, Willis has now completed 93 of 137 passes for 1,337 yards, 13 touchdowns, and the three interceptions. He’s also rushed for 498 yards and another seven touchdowns.
For the second straight week, Demario Douglas set a new career high in receiving yards. Last week at UAB, the slot receiver had 128 yards. This week, Douglas surpassed that number and finished with 156 and a touchdown on six receptions, doing all of his work in the first half, as he was only targeted once in the first half.
Joshua Mack had his best game of the season. After struggling through much of the first five games, the leading active career rushing leader in FBS football finished the game with 14 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown. He led the team in rushing yards for the second time this season after also leading the team in the season opener against Campbell when he finished with 65 yards.
“Middle’s got a good football team, very athletic, has a good scheme both offensively and defensively,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said. “I thought when we needed to assert ourselves and run the football we did that well. I was glad to see JMack run as well as he did. Obviously, Malik made some phenomenal plays that just make you go wow.”
The Liberty defense entered today’s game ranked No. 6 in the country in total defense, holding opponents to 266.4 yards per game. The Flames were also ranked No. 9 nationally in scoring defense holding opponents to 14.6 points per game. Both of those numbers will be improved this week as MTSU was limited to 13 points and 265 yards of offense. The Blue Raiders could only muster 35 rushing yards. This was the second time this season Liberty has held an opponent to fewer than 40 yards rushing.
“They ran the ball so well last week,” Freeze said. “We knew we had to stop the run make him beat us. He’s pretty accurate. He throws a good ball. Really felt like we needed to make them one-dimensional, stop the run. I thought we did that. It’s the 4th game we’ve won the rushing battle and we’ve won all five of those. That’s something I preach to our team every Friday night at the hotel. We’ve got to win the rushing battle. Our defense did a good job stopping the run. I think our linebackers are starting to play better.”
Liberty goes back on the road next week, traveling to Louisiana to face ULM with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. EST in a game that will be streamed on ESPN+. The Warhawks are 2-2 on the season entering their game Saturday night against Georgia State. A week ago, ULM dropped a 59-6 decision at Coastal Carolina.
