Liberty (5-2, 3-2 CUSA) suffered its second consecutive loss, falling to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks (5-3, 4-0), 31-21 on Wednesday night. This marks the team’s first back-to-back conference losses since 2017 when the Flames lost Big South games to Kennesaw State and Monmouth.
“This is big just because they haven’t been beaten here in a long time,” said Jax State head coach Rich Rodriguez. “They were the favorites coming into the league to win the championship. We’ll enjoy it for a day. We’ve got a lot out in front of us. We won’t look too far ahead. We’ll look forward to the next one and try to get better. We’ll get back to work with the players on Friday. All wins are good, but when you beat a quality opponent like this at their place, it’s extra special.
Jax State running back Tre Stewart rushed for 232 yards and 4 touchdowns while quarterback Tyler Huff added 130 rushing yards. The Gamecocks, entering the night as the fifth best rushing offense in the country, ran for 363 yards as a team.
“He did a great job,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell said of Stewart. “We had a hard time tackling him. I thought we did a better job, because I think he had 192, in the first half. So, we held him in the second half to 40 something yards. So, we did a way better job in the second half. We’re not letting him break some tackles and things, but great player.”
Liberty had their chances to get back in the win column after the humiliating loss at Kennesaw State a week ago. Entering the fourth quarter trailing, 24-14, the Flames cut the deficit to one score with an 11-play, 87-yard drive capped with a four yard touchdown pass from Kaidon Salter to tight end Jacob Jenkins. On the drive, the Flames converted a 4th and 8 and 3rd and 9 to set up the score.
The Flames’ defense, which allowed 458 yards of offense on the night, answered the call when it mattered most. The Gamecocks picked up one first down on the ensuing drive, but the Liberty defense would stand strong and force a JSU punt.
Getting the ball back with 10:33 left to play, Liberty, for the fourth time in the game, moved the ball into the red zone once again. After a three-yard Salter run on 3rd and 4 from the 20, the Flames faced a 4th and 1 with just under 6 minutes remaining. Instead of attempting a potential game-tying field goal, Chadwell elected to keep the offense on the field. The Flames fumbled the snap, Salter recovered it but was stuffed for no gain, forcing a turnover on downs.
“We were drawing them off-sides, and we didn’t execute the call,” Chadwell said of the 4th down play. “The coaches did not execute the call the way it should have. We had mixed signals. Some guys knew we were not snapping it, some guys thought we were snapping it. One of those things where as coaches, we put our team in a bad spot right there. Because we’ve run so much quarterback sneak the last couple of weeks, we had a play specifically for a situation where we could get them to false start, but we didn’t, coaches didn’t communicate well enough.”
Again, the Liberty defense got a stop needed, forcing a Jacksonville State punt with 3:46 to play. The punt traveled 54 yards and was downed at the Liberty 6 yard line where the Flames took over with 3:33 left to play and no timeouts remaining.
Two runs by Cooley picked up a first down and moved the ball to the 20 before Salter was intercepted by Geimere Latimer on an out route intended for Bentley Hanshaw. Latimer returned it to the two, setting up Stewart’s fourth touchdown of the game to seal the victory for the visiting Gamecocks.
With the win, Jax State pushed its winning streak to five games, remaining unbeaten in conference play and tied atop the conference standings with Western Kentucky. Meanwhile, the Flames fall to 11-2 all-time in CUSA regular season games with both losses coming in the last two outings.
The loss, in front of 18,069 fans, snapped a 12-game home winning streak which was the second longest streak in program history. It also marked Chadwell’s first loss as a head coach at Williams Stadium, dropping him to 14-1 at the venue, including a 2-0 mark as a visiting head coach.
Jax State set opponent season highs for points (31), rushing yards (363), and total yards (458). Stewart’s 232 rushing yards are the most individual rushing yards against Liberty since AJ Hines of Duquesne rushed for 253 yards on Nov. 4, 2017. The Gamecocks are only the second opponent to outrush Liberty in a game during the Chadwell era, with the other being Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.
Quinton Cooley rushed for 133 yards on 27 carries, his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season and 12th 100-yard rushing contest of his career. He helped the Flames to rush for 273 yards on the night. Liberty came into the game 11-0 when Cooley eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark.
Salter completed 12 of 25 passes for 147 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He also rushed for 68 yards on 17 carries. He had to perform without the services of his top three wide receivers as Treon Sibley, Tyson Mobley, and Reese Smith all missed the game due to injury.
“I think where he went with the ball was right, but the timing was off,” Chadwell said of his quarterback. “I thought he played tough. We were out three starting wide. We tried to be wise of what we asked those guys to do, try to put them in some situations where they could be successful. But I thought he played tough. He obviously did some things he needs to improve, there were some throws on third down that we could have continued some drives. He also made some nice runs when we needed some runs.”
Liberty will be back in action looking to achieve bowl eligibility at Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Nov. 9.
“I told the team, our effort tonight, the way we played, we didn’t play clean, but our effort is the type of effort that’s expected from our program and what Liberty expects,” Chadwell said. “We played more together tonight than probably we have all season long, truth be told, and it was in a loss, but I’m proud of the way they responded to last week. It’s disappointing, but we’re headed in a good direction, I know it’s hard to say after 2 losses, but if we can bottle the way we played tonight, as far as the effort and the mindset, then we got some better days ahead of us.”
