The Flames get dominated by Charleston Southern, falling 48-26, to effectively end Liberty’s chances at a playoff bid.

  • What a letdown. This game had all the hype, all the buildup, but Charleston Southern had none of it. After Chris Turner picked off Shane Bucenell’s pass on the 2nd play of the game, there was very little positive for the Flames. The Buccaneers took the lead at 7-3 with 6:47 left in the first quarter. After a 24-0 2nd quarter for CSU, they took a commanding 31-6 lead.
  • The Flames had dominated the series with the Buccaneers, winning 19 of 21 games, including 8 straight from 2006-2013. Jamey Chadwell and company have completely flipped the script. Charleston Southern has now won 3 straight against the Flames, 2 of them coming at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg. For an example of the disparity between the two program’s budgets, Turner Gill makes over $650,000 per year in base salary while Charleston Southern’s Jamey Chadwell Mills makes $120,000 in base salary.
  • Liberty’s offense was woefully inept for much of the game. The Flames had 75 total yards at halftime. Buckshot was 5-of-23 passing at one point. On Liberty’s first 11 possessions, 7 of them went for less than 10 yards. Liberty had four 3 & outs in the first half.
  • Shane Bucenell was 10/16 passing for 170 yards and 3 touchdowns. He added 65 rushing yards and another touchdown. Bucenell is just a redshirt-freshman.
  • Will this be Gill’s last game as Liberty’s head coach? He has to serve his one game suspension in the season finale next week at Coastal Carolina. We’ll have to wait and see.
  • For those of you still clinging to hope, if Kennesaw State beats Charleston Southern next week, the Flames will earn the Big South’s auto bid due to being tied with the Owls for first place in the Big South at 4-1. Liberty would own the tiebreaker over KSU due to their win over Kennesaw earlier this season.
  • We’ll have plenty more coverage from the fallout of this game in the coming days…