The Liberty Flames (4-2) welcome the Maine Black Bears (2-4) into Lynchburg for a homecoming showdown Saturday night in Williams Stadium at 6 p.m. This will be the second ever meeting between the programs, with Maine getting the best of the first matchup on their home field, 42-20, in 1992.

The Black Bears are coming off its best season in school history, finishing 10-4, winning the CAA, and advancing to the FCS Semifinals. Their 2018 season included a 31-28 win at FBS Western Kentucky. Following a successful three year stint at Maine, head coach Joe Harasymiak left Maine to become the defensive backs coach at Minnesota during the offseason. Offensive coordinator Nick Charlton was promoted to head  coach in December after serving as an assistant at Maine since 2015.

Maine was a preseason top 10 FCS team as they returned most of the firepower from their 2018 campaign, and they began the year looking like it would be a very similar season as they crushed Sacred Heart, 42-14, and played FBS Georgia Southern to a one score game, 26-18. Things have not gone as well for the Black Bears since then though, as they have lost three straight conference games to open CAA play at 0-3 with a non-conference win at Colgate sandwiched in between.

“That is a scary team to me,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said of the Black Bears. “They know how to win, final four team last year in the FCS ranks, return their offensive coordinator and head coach Nick Charlton who is one of the bright young minds in football. Just a scary team, every game they have been right there. They are right in every game, those are the kind that just scare you. They know what they are doing. They are extremely well coached.”

Quarterback Chris Ferguson is back after starting 12 games a season ago when he threw for 2,372 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.  Through the team’s first six games this season, he has completed over 57% of his passes for 1,655 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. He sprained his right foot in Maine’s last game against Richmond and did not return to the game. Ferguson did not practice Tuesday or Wednesday this week, and his status is up in the air.

“We’re a little uncertain what’s going to happen at the quarterback spot,” Freeze said. “We’ve now got to prepare for two different type quarterbacks. Number 12 came in, was more of a dual threat type guy. We’re a little uncertain what to do there.”

If Ferguson is unable to go, true freshman Joe Fagnano will get the start. Against the Spiders, Fagnano completed 10-of-16 passes for 157 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception.

Earnest Edwards is Maine’s most dynamic athlete on offense. He leads the team with 473 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. He has recorded at least one touchdown in 11 of his last 12 games including all five games he has played this season. Edwards missed the Richmond game with a broken nose, but he is expected to return to action this week. He has 19 total touchdowns during his current hot streak over the past 12 contests – 12 receiving, 4 kick return, 2 passing, and 1 rushing.

In Maine’s win at Colgate earlier this season, Edwards set a school record with 198 return yards, breaking his own record of 188 he set in 2018. He had two kicks returned for touchdown in the game and has six in his career.

“81 Edwards is extremely impressive,” Freeze said. “He’s their most talented receiver that we have to be aware of and know where he’s at at all times.”

Jaquan Blair is an experienced receiver, seeing playing time in 39 games during his career. He leads the Black Bears with 36 receptions and is second on the team with 460 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns.

Redshirt-senior Joe Fitzpatrick leads the way rushing with 301 yards and 3 touchdowns this season. Fellow redshirt-senior Emmanuel Reed shares the carries, as he has 56 rushes compared to Fitzpatrick’s 60. Reed has 241 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.

“Fitzpatrick is an extremely physical runner,” said Freeze. “You have to gang tackle him. We’ve got to do a great job against him.”

“They are very multiple offensively,” Freeze said of the Black Bears. “They have a good scheme. They do a good job of making you defend everything.”

Defensive lineman Kayon Whitaker has 20.5 sacks for his career, including 2.5 this season. Charles Mitchell is also a very talented defensive tackle who has 6 TFLs to his credit.

“Mitchell I think’s one of the better tackles we’ve faced all year,” Freeze said. “He can play for anyone. He’s that talented.”

Maine enters the contest with the CAA’s top ranked pass defense, allowing just 175 pass yards per game. Their secondary is highlighted by preseason All-American and Buck Buchanan Watch List selection Manny Patterson. He has 55 career pass deflections and has recorded at least one in 16 of Maine’s last 19 games.

“Being there for two years, defense is what they pride themselves on,” Liberty running back Joshua Mack said. “They call themselves the Black Line. The defense is everything, especially the front four.”

NOTABLES

  • Liberty is looking for its first five-game winning streak since 2016 and first 5-2 start to a season since 2010 when the Flames began 7-2.
  • The Flames are 3-24 all-time against CAA opponents, just 2-10 at Williams Stadium.
  • Saturday’s game will mark Liberty’s 500th game in program history.
  • Liberty currently ranks 7th in the country in red zone defense and dead last at 130 in red zone offense.
  • Maine has scored on its first offensive drive in five of their first six games.
  • The Flames are 18th in the country in turnover margin.

QUOTABLES

Freeze on Maine – “We respect Maine. They can beat us Saturday right here. They’re good enough and well coached enough to beat you.”

Freeze on this week’s game – “Our challenge is for our kids to take whatever season 1 brought to us – the good and bad – and forget all of it and get ready for season number 2. It starts with a home game that is very very critical for us in the season because of the stretch of games we have after it on the road. This is a critical game in our season, in my mind, and it’s the only one that I look at. I really want to get after it and set the tone for this season.”

QB Buckshot Calvert – “We want all the students to come out and support us. We know how electrifying the crowd can get. It’s a lot of fun for us. The support we get on homecoming night encourages us and we want to play better.”

DE Jessie Lemonier – “We feel like we could beat anybody, any day. That’s how confident we are.”

LB Solomon Ajayi – “We’re very confident. We think the sky is the limit for us. We control our future, it’s just a matter of not getting too confident, not getting ahead of ourselves, keeping that one game focus, just focusing on that next game. Maine is our next game. We’re not looking past that, we’re just focusing on this one now.”

PREDICTION

Liberty 40, Maine 14

The Flames will continue its win streak with its 5th straight and 2nd over an FCS team this season. Unfortunately, this win doesn’t help towards bowl eligibility.