Injury report
Here’s your weekly injury report update from Coach Gill:
Des Rice, Aldreakis Allen, Francis Bah, and Dylan Bowman are all questionable. Dallas Griffiths is out.
Scoring defense
Liberty’s defense has been sensational all season save for the 2nd half of the game against Coastal Carolina. The Flames rank #5 in the country in scoring defense giving up 18 points per game. That’s even more impressive considering they’ve played the #1 scoring offense in Coastal Carolina and also Old Dominion who averages 43 points per game this season.
Charleston Southern has the 2nd best scoring defense in the conference and ranks 9th in the country allowing 19.4 points per game. The Flames and Buccaneers face each other on November 23rd.
Football schedule almost done
#ScheduleTweet: Liberty’s 2014 home schedule is (probably) complete: Bryant will come to Williams Stadium next season.
— Chris Lang (@ChrisLangLNA) November 3, 2013
With that, here’s Liberty’s 2014 schedule with 1 more FBS game left to be scheduled (in no particular order):
Taliaferro leads #3 CCU against #16 CSU
@ North Carolina
@ Norfolk State
@ James Madison
vs Richmond
vs Brevard (DII)
vs Bryant
<<FBS>>
@ Presbyterian
@ Coastal Carolina
vs Monmouth
vs Charleston Southern
vs Gardner-Webb
Showdown in Charleston
Huge matchup this weekend in Charleston between #3 Coastal Carolina (9-0, 3-0) and #16 Charleston Southern (9-1, 2-0) with the winner likely representing the Big South in the playoffs with the automatic bid. Both rankings are the highest either team has been respectively ranked in school history. Could this be the biggest game in the conference’s football history?
Basketball starts today
College basketball gets started today, and here’s the Big South teams’ schedules for opening night:
The Citadel @ VMI 3:30 (ESPNU)
UNC-Asheville @ Kentucky 7pm
Radford @ George Washington 7pm
Shenandoah @ Campbell 7pm
High Point @ UNC Greensboro 7pm
Gardner-Webb @ Xavier 7pm
Presbyterian @ Georgia Tech 7:30
Coastal Carolina @ Akron 8pm
Johnson University @ Charleston Southern 8pm
Randolph @ Liberty 8pm
Other games to keep an eye on this week include:
Charleston Southern @ Delaware 2pm Sunday
Liberty @ William & Mary 7pm Tuesday
We will continue our Big South basketball power rankings this season, but will not be updating them until the end of November/beginning of December once everyone has a few games under their belt. In the meantime, check out our preseason predictions for both the North and the South Division.
Stavian Allen is 1 of Liberty’s 5 verbals
Early signing period
Basketball’s early signing period begins on Wednesday. Liberty has 5 early verbals from Evan Maxwell, Stavian Allen, Ezra Talbert, AC Reid, and Braxton Bonds. Hopefully all 5 will sign in the early signing period.
Rashad Jennings
“Anything you can do I can do better.” That’s what Mike Brown and Rashad Jennings have been doing the last several weeks in the NFL. This week it was Rashad’s turn as the Oakland Raiders running back had 176 total yards and 1 touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles. What did you think about his touchdown celebration?
Women’s hoops tips Friday night
The men aren’t the only ones starting their season this weekend. The Lady Flames start their season Friday evening with a 5pm tip in Charlotte against the 49ers. Liberty faces James Madison in the Vines Center on Tuesday night at 7pm for their home opener.
Women’s soccer #2 seed
The Lady Flames continue their strong play into the Big South Tournament where they are the #2 seed. They faced #7 seed Presbyterian in the 1st round on Sunday and won 1-0 behind a goal from Crystal Elmers. The Flames now head to Coastal Carolina where the remainder of the tournament is held. Liberty faces #6 seed High Point on Friday night at 7pm with the winner advancing to Sunday’s 2pm championship match.
Field Hockey #1 seed
The Liberty women’s field hockey team finished their regular season at 14-4 overall and 8-0 in the NorPac Conference. Liberty is the #1 seed in the East Division and defeated Cal, the #4 seed from the West Division, 3-1 Thursday afternoon. The Flames will play UC Davis in the semifinals on Friday afternoon.
Track & field
Last weekend Liberty’s men’s cross country squad won its 9th consecutive Big South conference championship while the Lady Flames came in 2nd. The men’s team advance to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships held November 15th.
