woodrum3Flames Nation Tailgate this Saturday 9/19
We are excited to announce we will be hosting the first Flames Nation tailgate of the 2015 season this Saturday prior to the Montana game! Many of you joined us for our tailgates last year, and we are looking to carry on this tradition again this season. We will be in the same general area where we had our tailgate last season – right across the street from the Lahaye Ice Center behind the student section of Williams Stadium and beside the football practice field in that large grass area. We will have our big Flames Nation banner with our logo on it so you can easily find us. Be sure to stop by for a burger, hot dog, games, and maybe even a free Flames Nation t-shirt! We should be all set up and ready to go by 4pm. 

Montana on 4th downs
I did not mention Montana’s propensity to go for it on 4th downs as part of our Game Preview & Prediction this week, but it merits discussion. The Grizzlies are 4-for-9 on 4th downs this season. While that may not seem like a high number, new Griz head coach Bob Stitt will go for it on 4th down regardless of where they are on the field. 4 times Coach Stitt has elected to go for it on 4th down when Montana was in their own territory. Just looking at the statistics of their first 2 games, it seems as though if the Grizzlies reach their own 40 yard line, they are likely to go for it on 4th down.

Eye on the scoreboard
Anytime a Bob Stitt coached team is your opponent, you have to be cognizant of the scoreboard. His teams are very aggressive on offense as they run a hurry-up, spread look in addition to their 4th down tendencies. As a result, this generally leads to higher scores. Coach Gill mentioned this week his goal for the offense is to score at least 35 points Saturday, and he wants the defense to hold the Grizzlies to 17 points or fewer. If you look at Montana’s first two games this season, they beat North Dakota State by scoring 38 points and they lost to Cal Poly by only scoring 19. 

woodrumJosh Woodrum’s first career start
Interesting note that 4-year starter at quarterback Josh Woodrum made his first career start at Montana in 2012. He was just a redshirt-freshman at the time, and finished the afternoon with a very impressive stat line of 34/44 for 322 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Saturday’s game will be his 36th career start.

Uzowihe nears career marks
Chima Uzowihe is nearing a couple of career sack records. He currently has 20.5 career sacks which sits him in a tie for the Big South career sack record. Uzowihe needs just 2 more sacks to break the Liberty career sack record. It’s not outside the realm of possibility for him to break both marks this weekend. 

Injury update
Head coach Turner Gill says Kendall Couamin is out for the season and is scheduled to have surgery on his left knee. Couamin was injured in the first half of the Delaware State game and immediately grabbed his left knee when he went down. Nolan Spicer and Thomas Kennedy are both listed as probable.

peters

True freshman Jeremy Peters #3

True freshman participation
Four true freshmen saw playing time in the opener against Delaware State – CB Jeremy Peters, S Cameron Jones, DL Juwan Wells, and DL Will Brown. One other true freshman made his debut against West Virginia in Damian King. King returned 3 kickoffs for 60 yards. Dontae Duff is the only other true freshman that Coach Gill mentioned as possibly getting some action this season. Duff is currently listed on the 2-deep behind Lucas Holder at center.

Opponents update
The Flames have one of their toughest nonconference schedules in recent memory, arguably the toughest in program history. Here’s a quick update on how the Flames’ 2015 foes are faring:

  • The Flames face Southern Illinois on September 26th in Carbondale, Illinois. The Salukis nearly pulled off an upset over Power 5 opponent Indiana in their opener, falling 48-47. Last week, SIU lost to Southeast Missouri State, 27-24. The Salukis have a bye this weekend before facing Liberty on the 26th.
  • Georgia State got their first ever FBS and Sun Belt win last weekend by beating New Mexico State, 34-32. The Panthers opened their season with a loss to FBS newcomer Charlotte, 23-20. This weekend the Panthers face the Oregon Ducks. GSU has a bye on the 26th before hosting the Flames on October 3rd.
  • For an update on the Big South members, be sure to check out our weekly Big South Football Power Rankings. 

Football commits update

    • Both of the Flames’ quarterback commits had huge weeks last week. Stephen Calvert was 20/26 passing for 292 yards and 5 touchdowns while Rud Yearick was 11/15 passing for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns. Yearick also rushed for 103 yards and 2 more touchdowns.
    • Brandon Tillmon, who will play safety for the Flames, had 140 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 13 carries.
    • Offensive lineman Aidan Burroughs is off to a solid senior season, and you can get caught up on the Nebraska prospect in this article from NebraskaHSFootball.com.
    • Alex Probert was his team’s player of the game after all of his kickoffs went for touchbacks last week. He also set the school record with a 46 yard field goal. Here is the video of that field goal: 

Flames in the NFL update
Walt Aikens started his 2015 season with the Dolphins as a starter at safety. He finished the game with 2 tackles as the Dolphins picked up the win over the Redskins, 17-10. Rashad Jennings opened his 2015 campaign with the Giants with 52 rushing yards and 1 touchdown. He did make some national news as Rashad stated after the game that he was told not to score on the Giants final drive of the game as they attempted to milk the clock. The plan backfired though as the Giants left enough time on the clock for Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys to score the winning touchdown.

Basketball commit & visits
Coach McKay picked up a commitment this week from 2016 point guard prospect Xzavier Barmore. Barmore is a 6’0” point guard from Seneca, South Carolina who also has 3-point range shooting 42% from deep as a junior. He averaged 27.2 points, 5.4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4.4 steals per game as well. This will also be a big basketball recruiting weekend with at least 2 official visits confirmed in Brock Gardner and Will Hrubes. There is no reported offer from Liberty for Hrubes, but it sounds like Gardner is at the top of McKay’s wish list for the 2016 class.

Other Sports update
Your weekly non-football Fall sports update:

  • The men’s soccer team improved their record to 3-3 with wins over VMI and Howard this week. They are in Harrisonburg this weekend taking on James Madison.
  • The women’s soccer team beat VCU 1-0 in overtime and lost to George Washington on Thursday.
  • The women’s field hockey team beat Ohio before dropping their first match of the season to #11 Louisville. The Lady Flames are 5-1 on the season and ranked #13 nationally.
  • The women’s volleyball team dropped all 3 matches at the Appalachian State Invitational last weekend. The Lady Flames will look to rebound this weekend in Blacksburg as part of the Hokie Invitational.

FlameFans thread of the week
This week’s FlameFans thread of the week is 2016 Recruiting Class Discussion where we have been discussing the Flames’ men’s basketball recruiting class and the big weekend ahead.