FLAMES NEED A BOUNCE-BACK

The loss to Missouri State this past week was deflating. There’s no other way to put it. For more than a month, Liberty had its eyes set on getting back in the mix of things in the Conference USA race despite a 1-4 (and 0-1 in CUSA) start to the season. The Flames went the entire month of October and the beginning of November without suffering a defeat. Three straight wins set up the chance for Liberty to get back to the CUSA Championship game for a second time in three seasons with four games remaining. Taking on a first year FBS and CUSA member at home as a touchdown favorite and coming off the team’s best performance in a long, long time, vibes were high.

Then, Missouri State came into Williams Stadium, battled back from a two-score lead, and played spoiler for the Flames as they improved to 6-3 on the season. Liberty is left trying to pick up the pieces to an incredibly disappointing season, currently sitting at 4-5.

“We had things in control and now, because of the loss, it’s out of our control,” said Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell. “You’ve got two choices – you focus on what you can control or you focus on w hat you can’t.”

Liberty has struggled coming off a loss under Chadwell, much less a loss as deflating as this one. The Flames are just 4-5 in games immediately following a loss and 1-3 this season after suffering a setback. The only win this season after a loss was a 19-8 win at UTEP early in October, the last time Liberty had a road game.

Not sure the best way to say this, but every loss for the Flames under Chadwell has led to another loss. Meaning, there has always been at least two straight losses when the Flames have suffered a setback under Chadwell rather than it being just one loss and quickly turning around and responding with a win. The lone exception to this was the 2023 Fiesta Bowl, the first loss the team suffered under Chadwell. Of course, Liberty did not play another game for several months until the start of the 2024 season following that loss.

This year, Liberty’s first loss of the season came at Jacksonville State and was followed up with three more losses in the following weeks before the streak finally came to end following an extended week with 10 days between games before ending the losing streak with the win at UTEP. Another way of looking at it, the Flames are 0-3 this season when coming off a loss on a regular 7-day week. Under Chadwell, when coming off a loss and having the typical 7-day week before another game, the Flames are 0-4, having not won a game when coming off a loss on the normal seven day game week.

“A championship mindset needs to be who you are all the time, no matter what the outcome is or what you’re chasing after if it’s not there,” said Chadwell. “It’s who you want to be and who we say we are even though the opportunity to be in a conference championship game is slim and none. The opportunity for this group, this group of seniors, we’ve not won a bowl game since ’21. There’s a lot out there. This group put up there (in the preseason), they wanted to win a bowl game. They obviously wanted to win a conference championship, so there’s still opportunities for them to go get. Now, to me, this is where you see when one of those objectives you had an opportunity to get is gone, or seems to be gone, do we have enough fortitude? Do we have enough resilience? Do we have enough character within to say we’re going to keep fighting for these other things, keep fighting for each other?”

STREAKS ON THE LINE

Liberty has a couple of very impressive streaks in jeopardy of coming to an end this season. The Flames are one of just eight Division I football programs with six or more wins every season dating back to 2006. That’s 19 consecutive years with at least six wins. The Flames have also made it to bowl eligibility every year since moving to the FBS, six straight seasons. The team must win two of its final three games to keep both of those streaks alive and Saturday against FIU may be the last time the Flames are favored this season.The Flames have also not had six losses in a season since finishing 6-6 in 2018. Just one more loss will put the Flames in that six loss category.

UNIFORM REVEAL

For Saturday’s game at FIU, the Flames will be wearing white helmets, white jerseys and red pants. This is the first time Liberty has worn this combo under Chadwell and first since a 2021 win at North Texas. Liberty is 1-2 all-time in this uniform combination at the FBS level, dropping games at BYU in 2019 and at New Mexico State in 2018.

INJURY REPORT

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

  • LB Derrell Farrar didn’t play last week against Missouri State, but he was a full participant for practice on Tuesday.
  • LB Deuce Spurlock got hurt in the game against Delaware and he missed this past week’s game against Missouri State.
  • CB Jamal Miles didn’t play in last week’s game against Missouri State.
  • CB Elijah Hopkins has missed the last three games due to injury.
  • RB Juju Gray is out for the season with a lower body 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.