The biggest question for the #22 Liberty Flames entering Saturday’s contest against the FCS Western Carolina Catmounts, where the Flames were 37 point favorites, was if the team would come out inspired after the biggest win in program history over Virginia Tech a week ago. The Flames would answer that in a resounding way, as Liberty (8-0) rolled to a 58-14 win over WCU.
“Excited to be 8-0,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said following the game. “Obviously, it wasn’t pretty at all times. We probably could have done a lot of things better. I did think that they prepared this week, coming off an emotional, big win last week to this and executed enough to win handily. Excited to be 8-0, thankful.”
Led by quarterback Malik Willis, Liberty took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, a lead that would grow to 28-7 at halftime, and 42-7 five minutes into the third quarter. The Flames would not look back as Liberty dominated on both sides of the ball throughout the afternoon.
Willis continues to make a case to be included in the Heisman Trophy conversation as long as Liberty continues to win and he continues to play at this level. The former Auburn quarterback exited the game following the second offensive possession of the second half, and he would finish the game 14 of 19 passing for 306 yards and 3 touchdowns. He would add 97 yards and two additional touchdowns on the ground.
“He had a few drops too,” Freeze said of Willis’ play against the Catamounts. “He had Demario (Douglas) open on a double move down the field. He played solid. You get to where you expect so much out of him on every play. I have to temper my emotions sometimes and probably not expect him to be perfect on every play, that’s just not reality. I thought he was really solid. He took care of the ball, that’s the biggest thing, he didn’t turn it over.”
As has been the case for much of the season, Willis utilized a plethora of receiving targets, connecting with eight different receivers on the afternoon. That’s the sixth time this season, Liberty has had eight or more receivers catch a pass in a game. Kevin Shaa led the way with 137 receiving yards and a touchdown, his first career 100-yard receiving game. True freshman CJ Daniels would add 96 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
After Willis checked out of the game early in the third quarter, the Flames turned to three additional quarterbacks during the game. Chris Ferguson was the first to check in, as the former Maine quarterback led the offense for two drives, ending in one touchdown. He finished the game 4 of 5 passing for 73 yards and 1 touchdown. Bennett was in for two drives, leading the Flames on scoring drives both times, one for a touchdown and one a field goal. Sean Brown had one drive, ending in a Troy Henderson fumble at the goal line.
The Flames eclipsed 600 yards in total offense for the first time since last year’s 63-21 win over UMass on Nov. 2, 2019 when Liberty had 730 yards of total offense in Amherst. Liberty finished with a season high in yards (633) and points (58) on the afternoon.
On defense, Liberty held Western Carolina to 282 total yards of offense, with the yards being evenly split between the rushing (142) and passing (140) game for the Catamounts. The defense did force two interceptions and one fumble. Durrell Johnson made a very athletic, one-handed pick in the first half while Carl Poole registered both an interception and a fumble recovery in the second half. Poole missed last week’s game at Virginia Tech after testing positive for COVID, he revealed following the game.
“I thought we were just average at stopping the run,” said Freeze. “That’s something we take pride on. It’s very difficult for a defense to plan for a team you haven’t seen play in a year, that’s difficult. We were solid enough to get the job done.”
The Flames have now on 10 consecutive games overall, the second longest streak in the country, trailing only Notre Dame, and 10 straight at home. The 8-0 start to the season is the best in school history.
“I’ve been in this long enough to know you celebrate wins,” said Freeze. “I’m a realist. I didn’t expect us to be very emotional today, and I’m ok with that. I won’t be ok with that in a few games we have coming up, but I’m ok with that as long as they prepare well and then execute to a standard that gives us success. I think the kids did what they needed to do to get to 8-0.”
Liberty will put its national ranking and undefeated record on the line once again next Saturday for the team’s third and final scheduled game this season against an ACC opponent when the Flames travel to Raleigh, North Carolina to take on the NC State Wolfpack.
