EVERY WEEK IS CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK

Under third-year head coach Jamey Chadwell, Liberty has competed for (or won) the CUSA championship in each of its first two seasons. In 2023, the Flames went unblemished throughout the regular season on the way to the program’s first ever Conference USA crown and Fiesta Bowl appearance. Last year, Liberty stumbled to two losses along the way, but entered the final week of the regular season needing a win to get back to the championship game before falling at Sam Houston.

This year, Chadwell and the Flames hope to get back to the CUSA championship for a second time in three years, but, after losing in Week 2 in the team’s CUSA opener at Jacksonville State, Liberty has been attempting to dig out of that hole ever since. That loss put Liberty’s back to the wall, knowing another setback in conference play could eliminate the team from championship contention.

Once the calendar flipped to October, conference play heated up as the Flames will play seven straight league games to close out the regular season. So far, Liberty has won its first three of those, entering this week against Missouri State. Chadwell says he and the team are playing a championship game every week with no room for error as the Flames seek to stay alive in the race that currently sees Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State sitting atop the league standings with unblemished conference records.

“We are playing a championship every week,” said Chadwell. “When you have one loss in the league, you can’t play bad anymore. We’ve got to play our best every week. I think our guys understand that.”

UNLIKELY OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION

Entering this past week’s game, Liberty was ranked as the 118th scoring offense in the country, averaging just 19.1 points per game. In a four-game stretch earlier this season, the Flames combined to score 52 points and had not surpassed the 30-point mark all year. That changed in a drastic way against Delaware this past week as Liberty had the most unlikely offensive explosion.

The Flames finished the game with a season-high 561 total offensive yards and scored their most points in a game under third-year head coach Jamey Chadwell with 59. Liberty also returned to what has led to Chadwell’s success on the field – running the football. The Flames rushed for a season-high 282 yards (the first time eclipsing 200 yards this season) and scored six times on the ground. Chadwell-coached teams have now rushed for 200 or more yards in 103 of 190 games (54.2%) all-time with him on the sidelines as a head coach. It certainly seems like the Flames took advantage of its 17-day layoff between games to correct some issues the offense had in the first half of the year.

“We’ve not been very good consistently,” Chadwell said of his offense this season. “I think we were able to pinpoint why we weren’t.  You really try to figure out some of those things. I’m not telling you we are going to score 59 points the rest of the year, that’s not happening, but I think we were able to really hone in on some things that we really needed to fix to be able to consistently put points on the board.”

The offense will be challenged this week going up against a Missouri State defense that has not allowed an opponent to score 30 points in a game this season except for USC in the season opener. Since that game, the Bears are holding opponents to 20.4 points per game.

EVAN DICKENS BREAKOUT

Liberty is hoping what it saw from running back Evan Dickens this past Saturday against Delaware is a sign of things to come. The Georgia Tech transfer rushed for a career-high 22 carries, 217 yards, and 4 touchdowns in the Flames’ win. He matched a Williams Stadium record with his four scores and set a new mark for the Flames as an FBS program and against an FBS opponent in rushing yards with the most yards on the ground by a Liberty player since Rashad Jennings rushed for 220 yards in a 2008 win at Youngstown State

Dickens entered the season as Liberty’s third running back before emerging as the top back early in the season. Still, prior to Saturday, he had only eclipsed the 100-yard mark on the ground once and his 217 rushing yards were more than he had rushed for in the previous three games combined. Could this be the start of a breakout and next star Liberty running back?

“As a running back, you have to continue to trust the guys up front, trust the guys on the perimeter, that they will do what they need to do,” Chadwell said of Dickens’ big day. “When you have big, long runs, that’s everyone on the perimeter, that’s everyone doing their job. (In the bye week), we were trying to figure out how to get the offense going. Everybody is affected by that. Every time he’s got his opportunity, he’s performed consistently at a high level, no matter what the circumstances are. He’s playing at a different level than most, from a speed standpoint, from a physicality standpoint. Hopefully, we are all gelling at the right time.”

UNIFORM REVEAL

For Saturday’s game against Missouri State, the Flames will be wearing blue helmets, blue jerseys and white pants. It is Military Appreciation Day, so the helmets have special decals with Sparky holding an American flag. This will be the fifth time the Flames have worn blue helmets, blue jerseys, and white pants at the FBS level, winning all four of the previous matchups in this combo. The most recent time wearing the combo was in 2023 at Jacksonville State.

INJURY REPORT

Here’s an update on Liberty’s current injury situation:

  • LB Deuce Spurlock got hurt in the game against Delaware last week. No word on his availability for this week.
  • RB Juju Gray has been injured and listed as questionable each of the last few games, but he has continued to see the field. During Tuesday’s practice, Gray did not participate as he was on the sidelines with a boot on his right foot while leaning on a crutch.
  • CB Elijah Hopkins has missed the last two games due to injury.
  • LB Joe Carter left the game against New Mexico State with an injury, and he will miss the rest of the season.
  • DL DJ Jackson has played in each of the first seven games, but he exited the game against NMSU with an injury that will force him to miss the rest of the season.
  • Defensive back and special teams’ player Tre Lawing will miss the rest of the season due to an injury suffered against NMSU.
  • Backup QB Ryan Burger is done for the season as he is medically retiring due to repeated concussions.
  • Backup C Cal Grubbs suffered an injury late during training camp and is out for the season.