Liberty gets the big upset win over Appalachian State 55-48 in overtime. Here are a few quick hit notes:
- This win is huge, for several reasons. For a few of them, go back and read our post from earlier this week 6 reasons the App State game is the biggest of the year.
- What a crazy game. The back and forth, ebb and flow of the game was amazing.
Offense
- The offense was simply amazing tonight. The Flames finished with 501 yards, 356 passing and 145 rushing.
- Josh Woodrum finished 24/37 for 356 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He also added 1 score on the ground. He has definitely raised his game a level this season, and continues to come up big in big situations. Woodrum, who has at times focused on Peterson too much this season, spread the ball around very well tonight. 6 different Flames finished with a catch, and Petey had just 7 of the 24 receptions.
- Dante Shells had the best game of his career leading the Flames with 8 catches for 164 yards and 1 touchdown. After struggling with drops much of his career, he was nearly flawless tonight.
- Darrin Peterson finished with 7 catches for 64 yards, but caught the game winning touchdown in overtime.
- After having just 6 yards at halftime, D.J. Abnar turned it up in the 2nd half. The junior running back finished with 129 yards and 2 touchdowns. When LU needed to move the chains and take some time off the clock to give its defense a rest, Abnar answered the call.
- Those 3rd down struggles? Not tonight. The Flames finished 10/17 on 3rd down.
Defense
- Anytime you give up 48 points and over 600 yards of offense there’s plenty of blame to pass around, but at the end of the day the defense made the stop in overtime they needed to secure the victory. Jacob Hagen being Jacob Hagen as he came up with the game winning interception.
- The turnovers App committed was the defense’s lifeblood. The Mountaineers had 4 turnovers, and could have scored 60 points if they didn’t.
- That’s 3 straight weeks Liberty’s secondary has been picked apart. I’m not even sure what Coach Wimberly can do.
- When can Sigmon and O’Grady return?
Special teams
- John Lunsford. Man that kid is good. He was 2 for 3 on field goals with his only miss coming from 57 yards, and I thought that one was good. It looked to be about a yard or two short. And every one of his kickoffs was out the back of the end zone with the exception of that opening onside kick attempt. He is definitely a weapon.
- As for that onside attempt, I like the play call especially with the way the game turned out. The Flames couldn’t stop them and perhaps Coach Gill had a feeling that was going to be the case. If Lunsford kicks it 10 yards and is able to recover it, it’s a huge momentum gain right at the beginning of the game. As it turned out, it was a near disaster. The kick only went 6 yards. Just poor execution. You have to believe it was practiced throughout the week with better results.
- With the exception of Lunsford, special teams play continues its sketchy play. The failed onside kick, and then the botched fielding of the punt inside the 10 yard line which App recovered for a touchdown. This has become a trend under Gill. It needs to be addressed.
Man, huge win for the program, it’s 3rd ever over an FBS opponent. The Flames are now 1-0 all-time against Sun Belt teams. This should give the team a huge momentum and confidence lifter entering the bye week and conference play.
