Thanks to a technical issue, here are last night’s quick hit notes: #24 Liberty jumped out to a 24-0 first half lead, and was able to overcome a cluster of special teams errors en route to a 38-21 win Saturday night at Williams Stadium. The Flames dominated the stat line in this one, and look to be building momentum going into next week’s match up against Indiana State.
Liberty took care of business at home Saturday night.
Offense
Liberty’s offense seems to be improving by the week. The Flames put up 498 yards of offense against a stout Bryant defense, and could have put up a lot more were it not for penalties and a few missed connections.
Despite missing on a few deep balls, Josh Woodrum is building confidence in this offense. He is showing a stronger command with each game.
The ground game was established early, and was very solid throughout. Both D.J. Abnar and Todd Macon went for 79 yards, with Abnar taking two rushes in for TD’s. Were it not for a penalty, Abnar would have had a lot more yardage.
Gabe Henderson appears to be reemerging. Gabe had 6 catches for 85 yards.
Defense
The defense had a better game than the 21 Bryant points let on. Were it not for several special teams blunders leading to short fields for the Bulldogs, there is no way they put up that many points.
Jacob Hagen continues to be Jacob Hagen. It’s hard not to love the way this guy plays the game. If there is a play to be made on the ball, the dude is there. He had a big INT in the 1st quarter, and was in on a few other near turnovers.
Bryant definitely looked to get the ball out of QB Dalton Easton’s hands fast. That limited Liberty’s opportunities for sacks.
Special Teams
Special teams continue to be an issue, and in a close game this has to make Liberty fans nervous.
Zac Parker had a pretty rough game. He botched a couple of kickoff returns (one of which led to an easy Bryant TD), and also fumbled a punt out of bounds.
John Lunsford got the momentum going for Liberty early. He was sent out for a 52 yard field goal attempt that appeared to be good, but the Flames were called for delay of game. Coach Gill left the field goal team out for a 57 yard attempt. Lunsford knocked it through with plenty of leg for a Liberty record. Congrats to John for that.
Lunsford also performed well on kickoffs, putting most through the end zone for touch backs. He did miss one field goal from 35 yards out, so accuracy still leaves a little bit to be desired.
Penalties popped up as an issue again for Liberty. The Flames had 9 penalties for 79 yards, but they were actually worse than that. One penalty alone on D.J. Abnar’s highlight reel run brought back more than 50 yards of offense.
