Following the team’s loss to Virginia Tech, 23-22, on Saturday, Liberty has seen its record drop to 8-3. The Flames will conclude its regular season on Saturday against New Mexico State in a noon kick in a game that will be streamed on ESPN+. Liberty opened as a 24-point favorite over the 4-6 Aggies. 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:

“Glad that we could put that one behind us. I had to fight yesterday for joy. I don’t like feeling that way. Certainly, most of our players concur. We’ve let two games slide that we could have won. It’s hard to win, I’ve said that. I think we lead the nation in one possession games, decided by one possession. I think we are 3-3 in those. Those 3 sting when you don’t get it done. There’s a myriad of reasons why. At the end of the day, it still doesn’t make you feel any better.”

“I’m proud of the way our kids responded today in our meeting times, walk-through on the field. I think Coach Dom says their attitude has been good. I think they will respond in the right way even though that was extremely disappointing.”

“I’ve watched the film over a couple times. You take the fake field goal that resulted in not 3 points but 7, and then the 12 men on the field resulted in 7 and not 3. That’s 14-6 swing, so 8 points. Those two things, combined with our inconsistency on offense and the two turnovers, particularly the one when we are driving, already almost in field goal range and fumble. You can’t make those mistakes and win a close game. We did and we haven’t done that most of the year. That’s where the truth lies.”

“It’s frustrating, but I was really happy to put in the trash this morning and challenge our kids to let’s finish strong and win 9 games in the regular season which I think is an incredible accomplishment with the schedule we’ve had and the injuries we’ve faced. Excited to see how they respond this week, particularly with it being number one Thanksgiving Week. We have so much to be thankful for here on The Mountain, the many blessings we have that we hope to share. Every position room adopts a family that is less fortunate. We will get to deliver those things tomorrow and Wednesday, that will be exciting.”

“Obviously, we have our Thanksgiving meal together Thursday after practice. Then, into the game week where we get to honor Military Appreciation Day. Hopefully one of the traits that have developed in our program is an appreciation, a respect, an honor for those that serve our country and provide us protection and freedom and those in the past and in the present and in the future that will do that. It’s an honor to honor them.”

“Then, obviously, the 20 or so seniors that we have walking Saturday, it will be really bitter sweet because some of those were here when I arrived and helped us take this thing from FCS to four straight bowl games and a lot of great wins and a lot of great close losses. Who would have thought we would be playing ACC teams as well as we were in Year 4 or 3 or 2, whatever it’s been. The credit goes to those guys that decided they wanted to be the core and leadership of this team and demand that we chase a certain standard. I’m going to have to say goodbye to a lot of those guys this Saturday, that will be extremely sad. Hopefully everyone is on the same page of how they deserve to be sent out.”

IS SENIOR DAY A LITTLE MORE EMOTIONAL IN YEAR 4 THAN YEAR 1?

“Yeah, of course, of course. You spend as much time as we do together, we try to run this as a family. I take pride in the relationships I have with our players. Over a four year span, as opposed to year one or year two, there’s going to be some emotional goodbyes. Not goodbyes, yet, but you know it’s the last game some of them are going to play for you in Williams Stadium anyway. We will get to enjoy a bowl game, but it will be some emotional involved, I’m sure, for them and for me.”

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE QUICK CHANGE OF BEING THE TOAST OF THE TOWN TO FACING CRITICISM?

“I told our team this morning. I said let me take you back. I took them to the end of the BYU game and the field celebration and then the ending of the Arkansas game, obviously they are a really good team. To win in Razorback Stadium is pretty dang special, and all the pictures that were taken. From that point, after that game, to the point we stand today, what is the difference? We’ve got to acknowledge what the difference is. What is the truth of it? Is it that we just didn’t play well enough in critical moments or the turnovers or the penalties or we didn’t stop the run at UConn, had a lot of injuries. Is it as simple as that? That’s the question I think a coach has to answer. I go through it all in my mind because nobody feels the sting more than I or wants responsibility more than I. Is it that simple or is there something else? Are we unmotivated? We’re the toast of the town and I’ve said before you have to handle successes and failures equally the same. They both can be your enemy. I said, we’ve got to find out. It’s as simple as saying, let’s go to work and play better Saturday, but if there’s something else that is causing us to be under-motivated or less passionate about competing for 60 minutes, then we’ve got to address that.”

“The culture council did a great job of addressing that with the team after I left the room. I think we’re in a good spot of understanding where we are. Look, to win 9 games, just look around college football every Saturday. I’m sure Florida didn’t expect to get beat by Vandy or Tennessee to South Carolina, I bet you there’s 10 others we can go find. I knew Virginia Tech could beat us. They have a Power Five defensive line. They’ve had like five games decided by one possession. Their defense just hasn’t given up much, sort of like the Aggies this week, their defense hasn’t given up but like 340 yards a game, they are really good on defense.”

“It can happen, but we’ve got to understand why it happened. We’ve got to look at ourselves as coaches and say should I have called different things, did I not call enough of the right things, why are we not executing when we really have to? We addressed all that this morning, put it behind us, and hopefully are ready to have a great week and get win number nine and send these seniors out with a victory.”

DEMARIO SAID HE DOESN’T WANT TO END THE SEASON ON A 3 GAME LOSING STREAK LIKE LAST YEAR, IS THAT PART OF THE MOTIVATING FACTOR?

“I hope so. I don’t want them thinking about last year, I just want them thinking about preparing for this game and making sure that if there is anything that is external that is keeping you from being your best, we’ve got to deal with that. That’s the world we live in now in this college football, there’s a lot of junk around our players. You’ve bot to hit it head on and be very transparent, authentic with them, but I think, again, our team will respond the right way.”

HAVE YOU HAD MUCH INTERACTION WITH JERRY KILL?

“I love Jerry. Not a ton (of interaction). We were on two Nike trips together. I really like the guy. I think he’s a hard-nosed, old-school football coach and you see it in his team. I mean, his defense is playing lights out. Offensively, they are probably not where he wants them to be, but they are very smart. They are just not going to let you create any negative plays. They are just going to move the pocket, throw quick game, try to run the football, punt, and then play defense if that’s the way it works out. They are ok with that and they are playing to their strengths. It’s the personality of Jerry Kill that I’ve gotten to know. Obviously, we were at Conference USA meetings together this past spring and got to kind of reunite. I think a lot of him. He does it the right way too. He’s for the kids. He’s a great ambassador for college football.”

IS IT UNIQUE THAT YOU PLAYED THEM TWICE IN 2019 AND HAVEN’T PLAYED THEM SINCE THEN?

“And then in the future in the conference. I haven’t forgotten that. We played a home and away, that was new to me. I’ve never experienced that before. They are going to be a permanent fixture on our schedule for sure.”

WHAT HAS MICHAEL BOLLINGER MEANT TO THIS PROGRAM?

“Well, he’s been valuable to us. It was an honor to put him on scholarship. We’ve used him in a lot of different roles. He’s been a steady voice in the locker room, a guy that promotes the culture and standard that you want for your team. People follow that. I’m thrilled that he’s had the career he’s had, hopefully he has a good game Saturday.”

HOW PLEASED ARE YOU WITH THE PLAY OF NICK BROWN RECENTLY?

“I’m as confident as I’ve ever been here, probably anywhere. I think he’s swinging it really confidently and smooth right now. Has good height and distance, feel really, really comfortable calling for the field goal unit.”

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE OUT OF THE QUARTERBACKS THIS WEEK?

“Well, we’ve got to decide on one. We can play one. Then, if something happens and he doesn’t play well, we’ll obvioulsy have to go another direction, but I don’t want to approach practice like that. We’ve got to decide on one. We plan to do that by the end of Tuesday and go with that one.”

IS CHARLIE INVOLVED, HOW IS HIS HAND?

“All three are an option. They threw today. We’ve got a meeting at 1. I’ll get the report from that.”

HOW DO YOU THINK MIKE SMITH DID?

“Solid. Missed a few more tackles than is normal. I think we had another safety if he finishes that off. Played really solid, was good to have him back, for sure.”

DO YOU THINK DURRELL JOHNSON IS AN ALL-AMERICAN THIS YEAR?

“He leads the nation in tackles for loss. I think he ought to be, I don’t know how many different All-American teams there are. It’s certainly hard to compare with so many different conferences, Power Five, G5. Is there a G5 All-American team? He ought to be on something. I don’t know. How many teams are there, first, second, third? He ought to be on one of those.”