Summary: Liberty 62 vs UMASS 17
We finally got it Flames Nation!! The blowout fans have been waiting for all season finally happened and it couldn’t have come in a more dramatic fashion! After failing to live up to two big Vegas point spreads, Liberty finally proved the analysts right with a 45 point victory to meet the 36+ Vegas prediction. Liberty put up 604 yards to only 284 by the Minutemen, had 3 LU QBs throw touchdown passes for the first time in school history. It was truly a complete and dominant performance by a squad that has struggled all year to live up to expectations or dominate in all phases. Hugh Freeze and this football team have the biggest game of their season next week but it’s a game they can enter with increased confidence as things definitely seem to be trending upward for this LU Flames squad.
OFFENSE: A
Liberty hasn’t gotten a lot of As on offense this season but they certainly deserve this one. The O-line continued to perform poorly today but Liberty finally found a way to adapt for the struggles upfront through aggressive play-calling which mixed in quick throws, deep passes, QB draws, and the RB run game to keep the UMASS defense guessing and off-kilter and it worked to perfection. Liberty scored touchdowns on their first two plays and threw for 6 scores as Liberty passed the 600 yard mark for the first time this season.
As always this season for LU, the QB play is what highlighted the offensive performance. Willis looked smooth and methodical Saturday as he targeted a variety of receivers (6 players had 40 or more yards receiving and 10 players caught passes), threw the deep ball beautifully, and avoided throwing any interceptions for the second straight game after a two-game slump where he threw 6 picks. It was a complete performance for Willis who had struggled this season to be consistent but seemed to find himself in the second half of the North Texas game. More importantly, Willis looked perfectly in sync with his wide receivers on the deep ball which has been a real issue for the star QB all season. Liberty is about to enter the hardest 3 game stretch in school history and will need some spectacular performances from Willis to come through even partially unscathed. Willis couldn’t have started heating up at a better time.
Willis wasn’t the only QB lighting up the scoreboard though, as Liberty fans got to see true freshmen QBs Nate Hampton and Kaidon Salter in action today for the first time and both QBs threw TDs in their first-ever collegiate action. The 6’6’’ Hampton showed off both good running ability and an impressive arm with 30 yards on the ground and a perfectly thrown 63-yard strike to Khaleb Coleman for the score. Hampton definitely needs more reps to correct some underthrows and a few mistakes in timing today but certainly showed he has the raw talent as a multi-faceted QB.
The Tennessee transfer Kaidon Salter looked equally impressive in his game time action with a well-executed touchdown drive which had him showing some Willis-like running ability with 47 yards rushing including a 38-yard scamper. Most impressively though was his field awareness. Salter managed to turn what should have been a sack into a touchdown by evading rushers, keeping his eyes downfield, and just before he crossed the line of scrimmage on what looked like a QB run threw a perfect lob pass to Brody Brumm who broke a tackle in route to the end zone.
There is a good probability that this will be Willis’ last season with LU as he is a high draft candidate and today’s performance will only raise his draft stock, but if LU’s star QB does decide to move on fans can rest assured knowing whichever QB emerges from what will be a fierce QB battle between Bennett, Hampton, and Salter, the future will remain bright for Liberty football.
One final element of the offense bears mentioning in this lengthy synopsis. For the first time this season, Liberty went with one main back vs the multi-back look that has struggled so much this year. TJ Green got the majority of the RB reps in the first half and Louis was mixed in situationally for primarily passing downs. Green seemed to get better as the game went on and showed excellent vision on his second TD score, a 29-yard run. Green finished the game with 60 carries for two TDs and a 12 yard per carry average! I have been calling for LU to go to a one-back look all season and although the run game wasn’t a huge emphasis of Liberty’s game plan today the one-back look with Louis used situationally was definitely effective.
DEFENSE: B+
Liberty’s defense started out hot with an interception (first play of the game) and a forced fumble in the first two drives. While the performance overall wouldn’t be quite as dominant as the first two drives promised, Liberty’s D did have a nice outing overall with only 17 points allowed (3 in the first half before the backups came in), amassed an incredible 13 tackles for loss and 7 passes deflected, and only allowed 74 yards passing from a UMass team which (while not a prolific passing team) has averaged 170+ passing yards a game.
There will definitely be some learning moments from this game though because while Liberty did dominate against the passing game, they really struggled against the ground attack with 210 rushing yards allowed from a Minuteman offense that averages about 112 rushing yards per game. UMass’ main RB Merriweather seemed to have his way against Liberty in the first half with 127 yards rushing, and although the defense would do a better job of containing Merriweather in the second half (only 22 yards allowed) UMass still put up 90 yards on the ground. Liberty will need to make this a point of emphasis this week as they face an Ole Miss team next Saturday who averages 263.3 yards rushing per game.
One other point of emphasis this week should be catching the ball. No, I didn’t accidentally put an offensive point in the defensive section, Liberty had one interception today but it should have been 6 as LU defenders had 5 balls go right through their hands-on mostly easy interceptions (with maybe 2 exceptions). While the inability of the LU defensive backs to catch was somewhat humorous today with the ESPN announcers describing one missed pick as “A bear trying to catch a pine cone,” such missed opportunities could be critical next week. Liberty will need all the breaks they can get and missing chances to capitalize on Ole Miss mistakes will likely mean the game. Liberty defenders have struggled all year to hang on to balls and today’s numerous missed chances just highlighted what has been a systemic problem for this defense. Liberty should honestly think about getting the wide receiver coaches to work with the defensive unit a bit this week and try and get LU’s DBs more used to catching passes as Liberty will get very few opportunities to force turnovers the next 3 games and needs to take advantage of any chance they get.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C+
I said Liberty dominated in all phases but that isn’t entirely true. Liberty missed another PAT for a third time this season. That wasn’t the end of Liberty’s kicking woes as LU’s placekicker Jason Stricker also saw a kickoff go out of bounds. The punt game was actually pretty good but that was really the one highlight from LU’s special team’s performance.
To add to the special team’s mess, Demario Douglas (the main return man for the Flames) took two ill-advised returns, one that he caught with his back facing the coverage team after running backwards to catch the punt (a big no-no in punt returns) and took another one off the bounce with the coverage team in his face. Overall, Douglas ended up with -6 yards returning and was lucky not to turn the ball over. However, while Douglas may not have turned it over in the return game, Liberty did not escape the game without a turnover in the return department as a punt that trickled backward ended up hitting off one of the up-men’s legs and was recovered by UMass to be the cherry on a very sloppy special teams performance by LU.
The special teams has been a real issue for LU and haven’t seemed to be a point of emphasis to Hugh Freeze who at times seems to act like the unit doesn’t even exist with his unwillingness to attempt even the shortest of field goals. However, in big games your special teams in all phases becomes key and LU will struggle to win the last 3 games of the season even if Willis is able to put together career-defining performances if they fix some of the many woes for this struggling unit.
HOW DID LIBERTY PERFORM AGAINST MY KEYS TO THE GAME?
1. DON’T ASSUME: A+
Liberty did not come in assuming a win in any way in this one. In almost a merciless fashion Freeze kept the pedal to the metal all the way up to the final drive.
2. PLAY TO THE WHISTLE: A+
Liberty played more inspired and more aggressive in this one than they have all season. Any time a back or WR got stood up there were instantly 3-4 LU defenders swarming to the football and Liberty’s offense wouldn’t be outdone with 9 TDs on 13 drives.
3. PUSH WILLIS HARD AND SIT HIM EARLY: B-
Ok, in the first half this key was an A+. Liberty played their full offense, allowed Willis to use all his abilities, get in and stay in sync with his receivers, and build up a massive amount of momentum for the Ole Miss game with 278 yards passing, 4 TDS and no picks to include a perfectly executed 2-minute drill that ended in a passing TD from Willis to Johnny Huntley in the red zone (an area Liberty has struggled in this season).
However, Freeze in a move that completely baffled the announcers and the fans, decided to bring Willis back in the second half despite Liberty being up 41-3. On the first drive, Willis went 3 and out with a 10-yard sack (the only sack of the game) and Freeze was forced to bring Willis out for a second drive so he could end the game on a positive play (Willis would lead the Flames down for a score). However, Willis was forced to run multiple times in those two drives and took at least 5 hits as he risked injury multiple times in what was for all practical purposes meaningless playing time.
Willis had all the momentum at the half and there was no need to play him in the second half, plus Liberty’s second string would have gotten a chance to prove they could maintain momentum and play big when called on. Instead, Freeze risked his star QB getting injured, took away some of the momentum Willis had for the Ole Miss game and reduced the reps the backups got. A very bewildering decision by Hugh Freeze with LU facing the biggest game of the season where Willis will not just need to be at the top of his game and uninjured, but a matchup where Liberty’s backups will likely be called on to step up in key moments and would have benefited from a full half to practice and get reps.
SUMMARY
Liberty put up 62 points, and yeah, it was against a one-win, bottom of the FBS team in UMass, but Liberty won this game not just because they were playing a terrible opponent but primarily because they executed more efficiently today than they have all season. Liberty has played some pretty terrible teams this year but never looked fully dominant against them like they did today. The reason for Liberty’s success? They spread the ball around better than they have all season, threw the deep ball better than they have all season, used their backs more effectively than they have all season, and played with more energy and confidence than they have all season. I said that Liberty had woken up and found itself in the second half against North Texas and this game proved me right. Liberty still has a lot to work on going into the Ole Miss matchup but Liberty’s best hope for a victory was always going to be its offense which seems to have finally found its groove and not a moment too soon.
Written by Mr. Exclamation Point
