The Liberty Flames (7-4) were unable to overcome numerous miscues, including six turnovers, as No. 21 Louisiana (10-1) picked up the win, 42-14. The loss ends the nation’s fourth longest home winning streak as the Flames had won 15 straight games at home dating back to the first game of the 2019 season.
“We did not play well tonight,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said following the game. “We didn’t coach well. This is the first game since I’ve been here that I felt like we did not compete. That’s very disappointing. I shared that with our team. It’s just a very disappointing night. I hate it for our fans, I hate it for our administration, I hate it for our school. We take pride in competing for sixty minutes, something was off tonight. Ultimately that is my responsibility.”
Liberty had six turnovers and several penalties at inopportune times throughout the game against one of the better Group of Five teams in the country. The six turnovers are the most by a Liberty team this season. It started on the first drive of the game and didn’t end until the game was well in hand. After a trick play on the opening kickoff saw Demario Douglas return the ball to midfield, the Flames were driving deep into Cajun territory when Shedro Louis fumbled at the 30 yard line.
Special teams miscues would come into play, as well. Liberty had a muffed punt that was recovered by the Ragin’ Cajuns deep inside Flames’ territory. Punter Max Morgan would mishandle a snap and fumble the ball, recovered by Louisiana and returned for a touchdown. Liberty’s other punter, Aidan Alves, would have just a 28 yard punt that led to a 10 play, 41 yard touchdown drive for Louisiana with two 4th down conversions on the drive. All those miscues led to a 21-0 Cajun first half lead.
The Flames would respond and make it 21-7 before the end of the first half, and had the ball with a chance to to make it a one score game entering the break. Liberty had a first and goal at the two yard line, and Malik Willis rushed into the end zone for what appeared to be a touchdown. That was called back thanks to a holding penalty on Jacob Bodden. On the next play, there was another holding call, and then Willis was sacked twice to force a punt on 4th and goal at the 44.
The Liberty offensive line continues to struggle. After allowing nine sacks at Ole Miss in the last game two weeks ago, the Flames surrendered seven sacks as Willis was frequently running for his life. There were also a couple of sacks that he took where he had the opportunity to get rid of the ball.
“We’ve played some really good teams, really good defenses and defensive lines,” Freeze said of his offensive line play this season. “We’ve certainly got some improving to do. We’ve got to go recruit and get some help there and get better.”
The miscues would continue into the second half. After Liberty scored to bring the score to 21-14 early in the third quarter, Willis would be intercepted twice in the second half. One of which his pass was batted down at the line of scrimmage by a defender, it bounced around off a couple players and ended up being caught by a Louisiana player who scooped it up just before it touched the turf.
“It’s deflating, just deflating,” said Freeze of the turnovers. “It seemed like the game started with that. It was like it wasn’t important to us tonight. I’ve got to find a way to make sure that our kids are better prepared to play.”
Similar to the first game against Louisiana in 2019 when the Flames were tied at 14 at halftime before the Ragin’ Cajuns reeled off 21 straight points for a 35-14 win, UL scored 21 unanswered Saturday night at Williams Stadium.
The stat sheet was fairly even across the board. Louisiana out-gained the Flames 296-293 in total offense, 130-87 on the ground, and Liberty held a 206-166 advantage in the air. The biggest disparity was in turnovers (6-0), penalties (7 for 76 yards for the Flames and 3 for 30 yards for UL), and sacks (7-3 edge for UL).
Malik Willis had one of his worst games in a Liberty uniform, particularly passing the ball. He completed just 14 of 34 passes for 162 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, much to the chagrin of the six NFL scouts in attendance. He rushed for 92 yards, but when factoring in the lost yardage from the sacks, finished with just 28 yards rushing.
Kevin Shaa led Liberty’s receivers with three receptions for 72 yards, and he also hauled in both of Malik’s touchdown passes. Shedro Louis had three receptions for 69 yards, and Demario Douglas also caught three passes going for 34 yards.
TJ Green led the team with 56 rushing yards on just four carries as he picked up 43 on one attempt. Louis had five carries for 16 yards and Joshua Mack added two carries for three yards.
Liberty will close out its regular season next Saturday against the Army Black Knights at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia. Kickoff is scheduled for noon and will be carried on ESPN+. Army is currently 7-3 on the season following their 33-17 win over UMass on Saturday.
“We will find out a lot about us, for sure,” Freeze said when looking ahead to next week’s regular season finale. “We’ve got to flush it, but we’ve got to own it also. It was a disappointing effort in a lot of ways.”
