Liberty had not beaten an FBS opponent in 319 days, losing six straight before that streak came to an end Wednesday night in El Paso, Texas when the Flames defeated UTEP, 19-8. With the win, the Flames stop an overall four-game losing streak to move to 2-4 on the season and even the team’s record at 1-1 in CUSA play. Meanwhile, the Miners fell to 1-5 and 0-2.
“I was talking to a college coach, he’s going through something similar, he said, ‘It makes you appreciate the wins even more,'” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell said following the win. “When you’re in a struggle like that, sometimes in your mind, you think, is this ever going to come again? I don’t want to say relief, but man it’s a good feeling to get a victory. The coaches and players put a lot of time in to go out and perform. To be able to have a win with it, it means a lot.”
The Flames defense forced a punt on UTEP’s opening drive of the game, a sign of things to come throughout the night, while the Liberty offense responded with the team’s first opening drive touchdown of the season, taking a 7-0 lead. It marked the first time this year, the Flames took the opening lead of the contest. The scoring drive was 12 plays for 94 yards and consumed 6:32 off the game clock. Liberty picked up 60 yards on chunk plays on the first two plays of the drive – a 29-yard pass to Juju Gray and a 31-yard pass to true freshman running back Jaylon Coleman. Liberty also converted two fourth downs on the drive, as quarterback Ethan Vasko, returning to the lineup after missing the Old Dominion game with a shoulder injury, capped the scoring drive with a two-yard touchdown run.
UTEP struggled on offense as Liberty’s defense forced a three and out on five straight series. The Flames, meanwhile, got in the scoring column on each of the team’s first three drives, to take a 13-0 lead into the second quarter. The Miners would not cut the deficit to a single score the rest of the night. The Flames led wire to wire for the first time since the 2023 regular season finale at UTEP. That contest also marked the last time Liberty scored on its first three offensive possessions.
“I thought the start of the game couldn’t have went any better for us,” said Chadwell. “We did a good job defensively. We go score. The only challenge was when we got down there, we couldn’t get touchdowns. I thought our offense played clean. Having Ethan (Vasko) back just gives a complete confidence back to your whole team. You could see it in how we played. There’s obviously some areas to improve that we have to get better on, but to have him back, to play the way we did, to play a clean game, not turn the ball over, and to start fast was a positive.”
Vasko finished the game with 31 rushing yards and a touchdown on 14 attempts. He also completed 19 of 33 passes for 243 yards, completing passes to 11 different receivers. Jamari Person was his favorite target with 5 receptions for 52 yards. Gray finished the night with 3 catches for 63 yards. The Flames were just 3 of 18 on third downs but 4 of 5 on fourth downs.
The defense put up its best performance in the Jamey Chadwell and FBS eras. The Flames forced punts on UTEP’s first six drives and eight of their first nine while limiting the Miners to just 66 yards of offense through the first three quarters. UTEP would finish the game being outgained in total yards, 403-167. The Flames hadn’t held an opponent under 175 yards of offense since the 2016 season. The Flames also intercepted two UTEP passes on the night. The Miners got 65 of their 167 total offensive yards on their lone scoring drive of the game. They scored a touchdown and two-point conversion at the 11:39 mark of the fourth quarter on a drive that benefited from a 44-yard passing play, the home team’s longest play of the game.
“I think they are playing with a lot of confidence,” Chadwell said of the defense. “You go back to last week, ODU has got a fantastic quarterback. Our defense kept us in that game. I think they had a lot of confidence performing against a quarterback of that nature. So, they have a lot of confidence playing, I think it showed today. We tackled well. We caused turnovers. We didn’t give up many big plays. We were close to a shutout which would have been great. The quarterback did a nice couple of things there to keep them out of the shutout. I thought our defense played well.”
Liberty kicker Jay Billingsley entered Wednesday’s contest just 3 of 6 on his field goals this season. He would connect on his first four field goals, including one from 50-yards, the second longest of his career. He finished the night 4 of 5 on his field goals.
Vaughn Blue, returning to the lineup off an injury, led the Flames on the ground with a career high 17 carries for a career best 75 yards. Joe Carter led the defense with 11 tackles, his second-straight double-digit game.
Liberty has a short turnaround, playing again on Tuesday night back home at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Flames welcome New Mexico State for a 7 p.m. kick on CBS Sports Network. The Aggies are currently 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play, coming off a 37-10 win over Sam Houston on Oct. 2.
*photo courtesy Liberty University Athletics
