GAME SUMMARY: Liberty 58 VS Western Carolina 14
Liberty entered the game as 32.5 point favorites, a line that moved to 37 shortly before kickoff, and, after a slow start in the first quarter, turned things around in a big way to exceed expectations with a 44 point margin of victory. Liberty has tended in the FBS era to underperform against FCS schools, but today Liberty looked the part of the strong FBS favorite to further demonstrate the page this program has turned under the incredible coaching of Hugh Freeze.
OFFENSE: A+
Liberty’s offense put up double digits in every quarter except for the first and cruised to 58 points of which 17 were put up by the backup offensive units. In total, Liberty put up 633 yards on offense which included 379 yards passing and 254 yards rushing. As usual, highlighting Liberty’s offensive performance was Malik Willis who had another exceptional game with 306 yards passing on 14/19 completions for 3 TDs and accounted for an additional 97 yards on the ground and a further 2 TDs. Willis truly seems to be hitting his stride as this is the third straight game that he has accounted for 4 or more scores with zero interceptions thrown. Key to Willis’ success today was the Liberty wide receiver group which is finally at full strength after dealing with injuries throughout the season.
Leading all wide receivers were Shaa and Daniels who somehow accounted for 233 of Liberty’s passing yards even though they both only caught 4 passes! Shaa caught 2 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown which included an 83 yard TD pass which surpassed Louis’ record for Liberty’s longest play from scrimmage this season. Daniels had 2 receptions for 96 yards and 2 TDs which included a 56 yard TD run after catch on a pass from Chris Ferguson. An additional boost for Willis was the TEs which have heavily featured in Freeze’s creative offense this year. Liberty saw 3 TEs catch passes Saturday for a total of 85 yards, led by Johnny Huntley who had 65 yards receiving including a 44 yard TD reception. Willis will have a much tougher defense to dissect next week, but for now, he has 1,645 yards passing with 15 TDs and only 1 pick as well as 700 yards rushing and 9 TDs to put him in the top 20 nationally in rushing yards (leading all QBs).
While the focus may have been once again on Willis and the passing game, the running game continued to be strong for LU. When this season started, I thought the reason Liberty was using multiple backs was because they were struggling to find a consistent starter, but I now realize it’s because all three backs in Mack, Pickett and Louis are really just that good! Freeze is a genius in the rotation he has going with his backfield. Each back has a different skill set and gives the defense a very different look. Mack is a good cutter who can juke and spin his way for yardage and keep the defenders on their toes. Pickett is a real power back who can grind out tough yards up the middle and punish tacklers with his frame and running style. Louis is a true speed back who can stretch the field laterally and break big plays if he gets to the second level. By constantly rotating a different back in almost every drive, Liberty forces the defense to readjust their game plan while contending with fresh legs all game long. Mack led the rushing game Saturday with 15 carries for 68 yards and a TD but it could just as easily be Pickett or Louis any other given week as all three backs for LU have 100-yard rushing games this season.
DEFENSE: A+
Liberty’s defense held an opponent to under 20 points for the first time in 3 games after facing challenging offense in Syracuse, So Miss and VT. With zero game film to study in practice from this season for WCU, Liberty did a good job of adjusting on the fly and holding both of WCU’s QBs to under 75 yards passing individually. Liberty allowed a field goal attempt (which was missed) on the first drive for WCU but tightened up on the subsequent drives forcing 2 straight punts which led to WCU going to their second QB (Will Jones) who led a 75-yard touchdown effort on his first drive. However, Liberty’s D adjusted again and forced the next 5 drives for Jones to end in punts or turnovers. Overall, Liberty’s defense did an exceptional job of adjusting to what they saw on the field and correcting mistakes to hold WCU to 2 scores and only 282 yards of offense.
The most impressive part of the defensive effort for the Flames was the turnovers as Liberty forced 2 picks and a fumble to create the first multi-turnover game for the Flames D in the last 4 games. DE Durrell Johnson snagged the first interception of his career on what was in essence a one-handed grab. Equally impressive was LB Carl Poole, who not only found the first interception of his young freshman career but also forced and recovered the first fumble of his career.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B-
This was a hard performance to grade. On the plus side, Liberty’s kick off coverage held WCU to an average of 15 yards per return, Shedro Louis had a 51-yard kickoff return which almost went for a TD, and Barbir kicked a second 50+ yard field goal (this time from 54). On the downside, Barbir missed a 45-yard field goal wide left and LU’s back up kicker (true freshman Jason Stricker) missed a PAT. Punting was a non-factor today as for the first time this season, Liberty did not punt the ball on any of its 13 drives.
Let’s talk about Alex Barbir for a minute. Barbir is having the craziest season I have ever seen from a kicker. Inside of 29 yards, he is 100% making 5/5, yet between 30 and 49 he is only 2/7. However, outside of 50, he is once again 100% with 2/2 field goals made! What this seems to speak to is mind games. Inside of 30, it’s an easy kick and Barbir doesn’t think about it. Outside of 50, it looks like an impossible kick so if he misses it nobody is going to blame him. Between 29-45, it’s a kick that people expect him to make but it’s no longer a guaranteed kick, so it appears he begins to overthink it. Remember, Barbir was one of the highest-rated kickers coming out of high school, but he has been out of the game for a long time due to injuries suffered early in his collegiate career. He has the natural skills, but he isn’t used to the pressure. When he gets out of his own head and just lets his natural athleticism take over he’s automatic, but when he starts to really think about the kick he ends up pushing it wide. Barbir has the potential with his leg strength to be one of the best kickers of all time at Liberty if he can just get more consistent from midrange. Remember, all players get an extra year of eligibility due to Covid, so even though Barbir is a senior he could still come back next season. With a whole off-season to work on his consistency and a full 12 games under his belt to settle him down, Barbir could be a very dangerous weapon for Liberty moving forward.
HOW DID LIBERTY FULFIL MY KEYS TO THE GAME?
1. DON’T GET COMPLACENT: B+
Liberty looked a little soft on D to start this one and the Offense didn’t look like they were playing with as much drive and passion as they usually do, at least in the first quarter. However, Liberty managed to turn things around from the second quarter on and put up an eye-popping performance which should hopefully catch the attention of Top 25 voters (especially considering the fact that Liberty’s last opponent (VT) was within 1 point of knocking off #9 Miami today).
2. DON’T REVEAL TOO MUCH: A
Liberty scored a lot of points, but they did it by just running their normal offense. Liberty didn’t mix in any razzle-dazzle or plays out of the norm and should provide a nice, routine, tape to NC State as they try to prepare for the unbeaten Flames next week in Raleigh.
3. TEST OUT BENNETT: F
The coaches must be seeing something different in practice that is causing them to be bursting with confidence in Chris Ferguson and to lose faith in Johnathan Bennett. Ferguson had a decent game with 4/5 passes for 73 yards and a TD (56 of those yards came on one play with a long run after catch from Daniels after a short slant pass). However, although Ferguson looked ok against WCU (his passes were a little off target and didn’t seem to come out all that clean), that’s not the point.
Ferguson has already had his audition game against UNA and he didn’t look great. Although he obviously is a very talented QB, his style just doesn’t mesh with Freeze’s current offensive game plan. Saturday would have been a perfect opportunity to test out Bennett when there was meaningful time left on the clock to see if he has more success running the offense. However, Liberty deferred to Ferguson after retiring Willis for the day up 42-7 with 9:20 left in the third. Liberty didn’t go to Bennett until the fourth quarter and then called run on every play of the 2 drives he led except for one play on third and long where he ended up getting sacked before he could get the pass off. Bennett was then replaced by the fourth-string QB, Sean Brown, for the final drive of the game, leaving Liberty fans and coaches none the wiser as to Bennett’s true potential or abilities. Willis has gotten much better at avoiding situations and hits were he could get injured, and with three games left Flames fans can be hopeful that Willis will get through the rest of the season unscathed, but if Willis does miss time for some reason Liberty’s coaches may regret missing out on the opportunity to give Bennett a real test of his ability to lead the Liberty offense.
SUMMARY:
Liberty picked up a solid win in a manner worthy of a Top 25 team. Liberty’s dominant performance meant that they were able to rest their starters early and barring anything happening in practice, should come into next week with a full and well-rested squad ready to take on NC State. The Wolf Pack also managed a nice win Saturday over Florida State to improve to 5-3. After beating Syracuse and VT, there is no chance that NC State is going to sleep on the Flames so Liberty is going to need to double down in practice this week as it builds off the momentum from Saturday’s big win. I expect #22 Liberty to move up a few slots in the polls to #20 this week after the dominant win by the Flames and the close loss by Virginia Tech against #9 Miami as well as the fact that #19 SMU lost to unranked Tulsa, #20 USC won a very close game to unranked Arizona and #21 Texas was inactive. Either way, Liberty has achieved the unprecedented by getting to 8-0 for the first time in its young FBS history and has a chance next week to achieve what in the pre-season seemed impossible, beat 3 ACC teams in one season.
Written by Mr. Exclamation Point
