Liberty got back in the win column on Black Friday with a 45-0 shutout of UMass. Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze met with the media following the win. Here’s everything he said:

FIRST SHUTOUT IN 4 YEARS, YOU LIKE MAKING HISTORY.

“Yeah, it’s really, you know we didn’t play great, particularly on third down. I thought when we needed to really rise up and play good to get stops we did that. We got to play a lot of kids on that side of the ball too which is good. To shut them out, you can’t complain a whole lot. To have zeros on the board means they functioned pretty well.

 WHAT WAS THE PLAN COMING IN TODAY?

“I don’t know if I’ve coached in a game that had eight men already rolled down in the box pre-snap as much as I saw today. Some of that, I’m not saying that to make light, they’ve had their issues of not being able to have team meetings, you have only three practices here, whatever issues there are, you are doing whatever gives your kids the best chance to try to compete, but that did give us some matchups that we thought we could win in some one on ones. I was really proud of how we ran the ball especially with those fronts. You don’t have enough people to block and we still found a way to have some successful run gains.”

MALIK WILLIS BOUNCED BACK WELL

“We’re proud to get that taste out, go undefeated at home, that’s huge, that’s big. You hold serve at home and then bounce back and play in a fashion that we did today to give us this longer weekend to where we feel a little better about going into play a top 15 opponent next week. That’s going to make us feel better, for sure.”

YOU WERE WITHOUT 7 PLAYERS, HOW DO YOU FEEL THE DEFENSE DID WITHOUT SOME OF THOSE GUYS?

“Definitely an adjustment period. It was Carl (Poole’s) first real start, they throw a formation at you that you haven’t seen, and he’s trying to make calls, that hurt us a little bit in some of their unbalanced early on. I thought after that those younger guys settled in and played pretty steady. I don’t think they were a huge issue. The explosive plays we gave up more in the passing game after he scrambled a round a little bit. I thought everybody settled in, the young kids and played solid.”

IF YOU HAD A CHECKLIST FOR WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO TODAY, DO YOU THINK YOU GOT EVERYTHING CHECKED OFF?

“I do. Shutout at home, rush for over 300 yards, consistent on third down other than at the end. At halftime, I think we were 5 of 6 or something and had the game in control. Other than maybe giving up the explosive plays, we took care of the ball on offense, we took it away on defense. I think we checked about every box. I think we stayed healthy. Pretty pleased.”

THE DEFENSIVE LINE APPLIED PRESSURE ALL GAME, HOW MUCH OF THAT WAS UMASS AND HOW MUCH YOUR TEAM?

“If you consistently win first down and put teams in 2nd and long, you can make some calls where it turns your d-line loose to be athletic. I don’t think we got many sacks today, but I know that we put pressure on him with those guys. It was good to see, and we’re playing a bunch of young kids there too. So, it was really good.”

OPPOSING TEAMS ARE 3/10 ON FIELD GOALS THIS YEAR, IS THAT SOMETHING YOUR TEAM IS DOING TO BE SUCCESSFUL THERE?

“That’s the first time in 27 years I’ve been asked that one. I don’t have a clue. I would have to look at each field goal and see. We’ll say it’s great coaching, but I don’t really think that’s the truth either. I don’t know, that’s interesting. I don’t think we’ve put enormous pressure on field goal teams. I really don’t know how to answer that one.”

THANKS COACH, ENJOY YOUR BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING

“No shopping. I don’t do shopping period. Thanks guys, Happy Thanksgiving weekend.”