Well, Liberty University football has officially won their first game as an FBS school, and their performance, as a team, was one of the most dominant in recent history. Playing in the newly renovated Williams Stadium, the Flames defeated in-state FBS foe, Old Dominion, 52-10.

A few takeaways from Saturday’s game:

  1. Buckshot and AGG pick up where they left off. One year after throwing for a program-record 447 yards and five touchdowns in last year’s season-opening win at Baylor, Buckshot went 25-36, throwing for 345 yards and four touchdowns. Also, in only his third year with the Liberty program, Buckshot passed former QB and current Liberty assistant coach Mike Brown (2008-11) moving into fifth place in program history with 48 career touchdown passes. Calvert’s calm command of the game proved vital to the Flames early success, and opened up space for Liberty running backs late in the game. Returning from a minor injury this summer, Antonio Gandy-Golden continued his commanding play on Saturday, hauling in 6 catches, 3 of which were TD’s. AGG continues to be Calvert’s favorite target in the red-zone, and Flames fans should expect Buckshot and AGG to continue connecting throughout the season.
  2. Liberty’s running game shows improvement and signs of hope. The Flames struggled to run to ball last season, and with the loss of starter Carrington Mosley and veteran Todd Macon, the Flames were left with many question marks. However, not to be outdone, RS-senior Kentory Matthews proved his worth, recording his second career 100-yard rushing game, with 101 rushing yards, including a career-long touchdown rush of 57 yards. Another bright spot for the Flames running game is JUCO transfer, Peytton Pickett, who finished with 87 yards and 2 TD’s. Pickett could be a nice 3rd down back for the Flames, and will be called upon in short yardage situations.
  3. Improved Defensive Line. Despite only recording 1 sack on the night, the Liberty defensive line showed great improvement from last year, holding ODU to only 129 yards rushing, and 301 total yards of offense for the game. Two brights spots for the Flames are true Freshman and 3-star recruit, Austin Lewis, recorded the lone sack for the Flames, and Senior DE, Juwan Wells, only played in the second half due to violation on team rules.
  4. Room for Improvement. Despite the superb play from the defensive line, the Liberty secondary struggled, allowing ODU receivers to get behind them on a few plays. Fortunately, ODU had 1 TD overturned as an incomplete pass, and the Monarchs failed to capitalize on the other opportunities. Liberty’s next opponent, Army is predominately a running team, but the secondary and defense, as a whole, must wrap up on tackles and win the battle upfront, to control the line.

Liberty will play Army (0-1) on September 8th, at 12:02 pm. The Black Knights are coming off a 34-14 season-opening loss to Duke.

Radio: LFSN Radio (The Journey 88.3 FM Lynchburg)
TV: CBS Sports Network