Following the team’s loss at UConn, 36-33, on Saturday, Liberty dropped out of the top 25 polls this week. The Flames will return home for the final two games of the regular season, beginning with Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech in a noon kick in a game that will be streamed on ESPN+. Liberty opened as an 8-point favorite over the 2-8 Hokies. On Monday, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze held his weekly press conference, here’s everything he had to say, including audio of his press conference:

“Before I talk about the game, from our Liberty family and Liberty football family and administration and staff to the UVA family and staff and players, their entire campus, can’t imagine what they are feeling, going through, this morning. That’s nothing that a coach and administrators are really prepared for and teammates. They are in our prayers. We stand with them in any way to get through this very difficult time. Specifically praying for Coach Elliott as he leads through that because that’s got to be very, very challenging for him to do. From our Liberty family to theirs, you are in our prayers.”

“To our game Saturday, it’s hard to win college football games, I say it all the time. We’ve been fortunate this year to win most of our shares of those toss up games that come down to one position here, one position there. We did not get that done this week. Give credit to UConn, Coach Mora. They have done a really nice job there. The kids are playing extremely hungry and well. Outplayed us, out-coached us, Saturday. That’s difficult for me to say and accept, but it is, the film doesn’t lie. We just had too many critical downs where we did not execute. I had two calls that I wish I had over. Then, the other calls that were good calls offensively and defensively, we just seemed to struggle to execute.”

“Obviously, the Arkansas and BYU game took its toll on us in some ways. Being shorthanded at tailback really hurt. TJ, I thought, ran well, but didn’t have any gas in the fourth quarter to get first downs where first downs were available there. Put us in some tough spots on some third and shorts, fourth and shirts. Linebacker wise we were really short. Lost Mike, obviously didn’t play. Then, Quinton Reese gets hurt in pre-game, and then the ejection of Ahmad for targeting. Tyren has played really well for us this year, but he’s really our third down guy. He’s not a box-fitter. We struggled. We struggled to fit the run, to stop the run. Then, when we did, we had two critical third down penalties that gave them extended drives that they scored on.”

“Add to that the fact that we gave them a score on a turnover, which is crippling. There was a lot of positives too. We ran for 267 yards, were balanced, 5 for 5 in the red zone. Our tempo was good, but we had five penalties and were 1 for 3 in those critical downs. That really is kinda the ball game. If you could sum it up, if you take five or six plays and say, whether it was a long run. We missed 18 tackles, poorest we’ve tackled. We tackled poorly at Arkansas for the 4th quarter and then this entire game.”

“It’s disappointing, but you’ve got to put it in the trash today and get ready for a big in-state game against another Power Five opponent who I know will be hungry to come in and defend being a Power Five team in the state. I think they are playing at a real high level. I know what their record is, but I think they are playing at a real high level on defense, only giving up 350 yards a game. Lot of multiple looks, lot of multiple pressures. They have two defensive ends that really get after the passer. Their secondary is really good. I think it’s one of the better defenses we’ve faced. Between Coach Pry and Coach Marve, they are doing a really nice job on that side.”

“Offensively, they have struggled some even though I am impressed with their quarterback. They have a lot of plus one runs that you’ve got to get prepared for. They run counter every type of way you can imagine. Tight ends are a threat. They break the formation in 12, make you have to defend the 10 pictures, then have some bigger guys to really go 12 personnel runs. Offensive line is really big, well coached. #80 is a really, really talented receiver. Running backs are good. To be 180 pound guy, #23 runs bigger than that. Kind of reminds me of Dae Dae some.”

“Obviously, their record, people look at that and say what they want, but I know that we’ve got our hands full. I think our team will respond after the disappointing loss. We better because you’re playing a Power Five team that has a Power Five roster. Their games have been very close for the most part, it could have gone either way on these one or two possessions.”

“It will be fun. I know we need our crowd there. We’ve been undefeated at home this year, I would like to keep that streak up. We need all 25,000 people here and make it very difficult for them to play in and give us a little extra juice at this point in the season. Excited to see our students stay around and obviously our normal fans to come and let’s make it a very exciting place this Saturday at noon.”

THE STRUGGLES ON DEFENSE, WAS THAT DUE TO PERSONNEL?

“Well, we didn’t have any new calls. We ran the same defense we’ve been running most of the year. They were smart. They stayed in those heavy, jumbo sets for the most part, extra tackles, extra tight ends, which creates an extra gap. That takes Aakil out of the linebacker run fit because now he has to get attached on the line. That’s the way we’ve played all year which we’re asking other linebackers to play a lot. Between them and the safeties, we did not tackle well at all. I think our scheme is good, it’s proven to be good throughout the year, but we’ve got to make plays. We just didn’t, whether it’s the fact of us not being locked in totally or just physically didn’t make them, it’s probably some of both. They had a good plan for us, for the situation we are in right now.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE AN IN-STATE POWER FIVE TEAM TO COME HERE?

“I think it’s very significant and I think it’s becoming quickly obsolete, it appears in a lot of ways. Congratulations to Ian, Mickey, and those guys. I’m not sure exactly how it came about. I don’t know if it was a 2 for 1, but I think it’s great. I think it’s awesome. I think it’s good for our town, our city, our fans, our University to have that type of excitement. Kudos to Ian and those guys for being able to pull it off.”

HOW BIG OF A WEEKEND IS THIS FOR RECRUITING?

“I’m expecting a lot of guys. We have a full staff right after this, I’ll get caught up on exactly who all is expected to be here, but I would think it would be a really good recruiting weekend. I know we have a few official visits. Obviously, you use every win in recruiting, but should we be on some Virginia kids, you probably use a win against Virginia Tech it certainly is good ammo to have if you can pull it off. They are all big for recruiting, but this one obviously could mean something more to a certain clientele.”

WHAT WERE THE TWO CALLS YOU WISHED YOU HAD BACK?

“The 2nd and 1. Kent and I should have either made sure JB understood what that scenario requires or me just handle it with the call where he knows he doesn’t have the option to throw it at that point in the game. And then the fourth down call. I wish I could redo that. For sure, those two calls.”

THE PLAY CALL OR THE DECISION?

“The decision itself and the play call. If I’m going to go for it. For our personnel, I think it was the right call, but for our personnel right then, it probably is not the right call.”

HOW GOOD WAS IT FOR TJ GREEN TO HAVE A GOOD DAY MOVING FORWARD?

“Really pleased. He doesn’t have the elusiveness of Dae Dae or the breakaway speed, but he ran for 100 yards and ran really solid. He played 58 plays, that’s too many. You get Shedro back where they split those 80 plays where we had, hopefully those two can stay healthy and then some short yardage stuff for Malik. I think that’s going to be very helpful for us where they can split those and then don’t be gassed like he was. Maybe if he had played all year he wouldn’t have been, but there’s no way you can simulate 58 plays in the game for a guy that has been injured and getting half the reps in practice. Even though Dom has been giving him extra conditioning, you can’t replicate the emotion, the adrenaline, and everything that is flowing. He just had nothing left in his tank there at the end.”

WAS SOME OF THAT THE WAY YOU USED DEMARIO IN THE RUN AND THE PASS GAME?

“Well, I like getting the ball in his hands any way I can. If we think we have a run that they might give us with him, without adding too many people in the fit, we are more than happy to carry it and try it. We’re always looking for ways to get him the ball, for sure.”

IS AHMAD OUT FOR THE FIRST HALF AGAINST VT?

“He is.”

WAS THAT A TEXTBOOK TARGETING?

“It looked like targeting. I wasn’t surprised at all that it was called.”

ARE QUENTON AND MIKE DAY TO DAY?

“Day to day. Hopefully, Mike said he felt better today, Quenton I just saw him as I was walking over here. He will try hard to get there. His is an AC joint that he sprained in warmups. It would be helpful to have both of them back for sure.”

IS THAT JUST FLUKE FOR QUENTON?

“Yeah, doing warmup drills, just a fluke thing.”

WAS IT A DOWN AND DISTANCE THING WITH WHEN TO PUT SALTER IN?

“No, we had a good package that I really liked, but he didn’t respond well at all. That was disappointing. His first throw, we had a wide open in cut and he bounced it to him. Down at the goal line, he forgets to motion a guy, which the play is no good without the motion. Obviously, the sack caused fumble where you give them 7. Just didn’t feel confident after that. I’ll say this, JB did some really good things, but missed a lot of opportunities. There at the end, even on the 4th down play, he’s got Demario, he’s just got to throw it on time. On the 3rd down play, he hung on the covered side way too long when he’s got people open on the back side. Didn’t have to leave the pocket, just give it to them. We wouldn’t have gotten the first, but it would have put it in like 4th and, in my opinion, 4th and less than 5 which is a whole different deal than 4th and 13. Missed a few throws early on, down at the goal line. We had Demario isolated one on one, he runs right by the guy, we overthrow it. All of those plays factor into us not having success on Saturday. So, quarterback, it will be interesting to see how they respond this week. We are looking for somebody to give us a spark and be consistent with the game plan, and even in practice be consistent. I’ll say, we weren’t very consistent in practice last week. That’s what I told our coaches this morning, until we have that feeling, we probably will not be real consistent on Saturdays. Kent and I have got a good work job ahead of us this week to get one to show us that you’re ready to be consistent on Saturday.”

HOW IS CHARLIE HEALTH WISE?

“I didn’t think he could throw it last week well enough. It was too many turnovers in practice. I hate it for him, the way the season has gone. Hopefully this week is different and it shows up differently.”

TECH IS ON A 7 GAME LOSING STREAK, WHAT DO YOU SEE THAT MAKES YOU THINK THEY ARE ON THE CUSP?

“The scores are relatively close. I just think they are playing good enough defense. For a Group of Five to play a Power Five, it’s not easy. We’re not as healthy as I’d like us to be. I think they are playing really good defense. Hopefully we can stop them and we can get back to playing the defense we have played all year where we feel like we have to score every possession. I don’t think we are that type of team this year that needs to have that type of pressure put on every single possession. Hopefully we will play solid defense and stop them some. Defensively though, only giving up 350 yards against all those schedules, so that’s a pretty good defense.”