Liberty’s Kaidon Salter scored the go-ahead touchdown in overtime and then Christian Bodnar sacked FIU’s Keyone Jenkins, causing the FIU quarterback to fumble. Jerome Jolly would fall on the loose ball to secure the 31-24 victory for the home team, Tuesday night at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia.
“We got in overtime, and nobody on that sideline had any doubt,” said Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell. “They knew they were gonna win. I think the other side was hoping, we were knowing. There’s a big difference in that.”
With the win, the Flames improved to 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in CUSA play while the Panthers fell to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in conference. Liberty has opened its season at 5-0 for a second straight season and third time in the last four years.
“I told our team that the ultimate objective is to find a way to win, which we did, and we’ve gotta learn how to finish,” said Chadwell. “We gotta learn how to not beat ourselves in certain situations. But I was pleased that we found a way to win.”
For the 5th time in five games, the Flames had to come from behind to pick up a victory, falling behind 10-3 early in the second quarter. The teams exchanged field goals on their second drive before an offensive pass interference wiped off a 3rd down conversion and forced a Liberty punt. FIU would take the lead on a 17-yard rushing touchdown after the ball was fumbled into the end zone and fallen on by the offense for the score.
Liberty would respond with an 11-play drive with 10 plays coming on the ground including a four yard Quinton Cooley touchdown run to tie the game at 10. The teams would exchange punts until Liberty’s final drive of the game. Salter was able to bounce off a couple would be tacklers for a 20-yard touchdown scamper as the Flames took a 17-10 halftime lead.
Coming out of the intermission, Liberty’s Amarian Williams intercepted a deflected Jenkins pass to set the Flames up inside FIU territory looking to extend the lead to two scores. Liberty would move the ball all the way to the FIU 1-yard line before Quinton Cooley fumbled and the Panthers recovered, keeping their margin at seven points.
After exchanging punts, FIU moved the ball into the red zone. On the first play of the fourth quarter, facing a 4th and 4 at the 18, Jenkins attempted a pass to the end zone which was incomplete, resulting in a turnover on downs.
The Flames would once again rely on the run game, as five of the next eight plays were on the ground. The drive resulted in a nine-yard Cooley touchdown run to extend the lead to 24-10 with 10:43 left in the fourth quarter.
The visitors from the 305 drove right back down the field. A nine-play drive resulted in a touchdown to bring the game back to one score at 24-17 with 6:23 left.
Looking to move the chains a couple of times and melt the clock away, Liberty opened the possession with a pass. Salter’s throw intended for Reese Smith was incomplete. Salter then mishandled the snap and fell on the fumble for a three-yard setback. On 3rd and 13, Salter’s pass for Smith was incomplete and the Flames had to punt after only allowing 57 seconds to elapse.
Jenkins and the Panthers took advantage. It took them nine plays once again to get into the end zone, this one coming with 1:42 remaining as they tied the game.
The Flames would move the ball to midfield before Chadwell elected to punt on 4th and 1 with 27 seconds left in regulation. The Panthers kneeled on the ball to send the game to overtime.
“My job as a head coach, where I’ve got to figure it out, and I’ve not done it yet, is how we can start to finish, finishing games,” Chadwell explained. “We played better in the first half than we have in a long time, which was good, but we didn’t do the things necessary to really finish out the game the way we should have. Obviously, the fumble right there out of the gate in the third quarter. There’s some things that we know we got to improve.”
This was Liberty’s first overtime game since a four OT victory at Southern Miss in the 2022 season opener. In that game, Salter came on in relief to help spur a struggling Liberty offense to the win. The Flames’ last home overtime game was Oct. 29, 2016 against Gardner-Webb.
The Flames are now 11-0 all-time in CUSA regular season. They have also won 20 straight games against CUSA opponents, going 21-1 all-time against the CUSA.
Liberty also extended its regular season winning streak to 17 games, the longest active regular season winning streak in FBS. Also, the Flames now have a 12-game home winning streak, the second longest home winning streak in program history, trailing only a 15-game streak which spanned Sept. 14, 2019-Oct. 30, 2021.
The Flames rushed for a season-high 281 yards on 50 rushing attempts. Cooley led the way with a career high 29 rushes for 174 yards and 2 touchdowns. Salter added 60 yards and 2 scores on 12 carries. Salter was 9 for 16 passing for 125 yards, a season low for the team in passing yards.
We made our decision in overtime, we’re going to ride or die with him. We went down and scored. KSalt pulled the ball for the one play, but we were going to ride or die in overtime with him. We didn’t finish the game. If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down getting the ball to our most productive player on offense. We made that decision. We’re getting the ball and we’re going to try to run down their throats and it happened
Coming off a three-touchdown game, Reese Smith led the team with four catches for 68 yards. He did leave the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent right knee injury, the same knee he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus, causing him to miss the entire 2023 season before tearing the meniscus again this past summer.
“Hopefully it’s not as bad as it looked,” Chadwell said of Smith’s injury. “Sometimes you just pull the scar tissue and it feels worse than what it is. We’re hoping that’s what it is. That’s what we’re hoping. We’ll find out. He was in there in the locker room and seemed to be feeling better. Hopefully it’s not any structural damage.”
Having gone 17 days between games due to the cancellation of the Appalachian State game, the Flames now have 15 days until their next game. Liberty is scheduled to play at Kennesaw State on Wednesday, Oct. 23 where the team will be looking to secure bowl eligibility and remain unbeaten in the regular season under Chadwell.
