Dante Shells is listed as questionable

Dante Shells will not play against Monmouth

Injury report
Todd Macon and Jimmy O’Grady continue to be out. The big question mark following the PC game was Dante Shells’ status with the receiver seen on crutches at the end of the game. Coach Gill labeled him as questionable earlier in the week, but on Thursday ruled Shells out for the Monmouth game. Jaquan Glover will start in place of Shells. Defensive back Wesley Scott is also questionable, but should play Saturday.

Gill 8-0 in November
Head Coach Turner Gill is 8-0 in the month of November during his 2+ seasons at Liberty. If he improves that mark to 11-0, the Flames will advance to the FCS playoffs for the first time in school history. Here’s a look at those 8 wins:

11/3/12: Liberty 26, Charleston Southern 12
11/10/12: Liberty 28, #6 Stony Brook 14
11/17/12: Liberty 33, VMI 14
11/2/13: Liberty 17, VMI 7
11/9/13: Liberty 35, Presbyterian 14
11/16/13: Liberty 59, Brevard 21
11/23/13: Liberty 56, #16 Charleston Southern 14
11/1/14: Liberty 28, Presbyterian 7

Flames’ defense on fire
Since entering conference play, Liberty’s defense has been downright stingy. In conference games, the Flames lead the Big South in scoring defense, total defense, pass defense, and rushing defense. This comes on the heels of holding Gardner-Webb and Presbyterian to 7 combined points in LU’s first 2 conference games. The Flames are holding their Big South opponents to less than 200 yards of total offense, that is more than 100 yards better than the 2nd best defense in the conference in Charleston Southern. Defensive coordinator Robert Wimberly has to be praised for the job he has done with this defense coming out of the bye week.

Get off to a fast start
We’ve all heard the cliché from coaches, “we need to get off to a fast start!” Liberty has done that the majority of the time this season having scored on their first offensive possession in 5 of 9 games this year. More impressively, Liberty is 5-0 in games they score on their first possession this season. Something to watch as we enter the stretch run.

Uniform combo
For Military Appreciation Day, the Flames will rock these new helmets!


GPI update

Joe Moglia is 28-8 at CCU

Liberty continues to creep up the GPI rankings as they check in at #20 this week, up from #23 last week. Here’s where the rest of the Flames’ opponents rank:

  • #5 Coastal Carolina
  • #9 Indiana State
  • #11 Richmond
  • #27 Bryant
  • #43 Charleston Southern
  • #66 Monmouth
  • #55 Presbyterian
  • #82 Gardner-Webb
  • #93 Norfolk State

2015 schedule nearly complete
Liberty’s 2015 football schedule is nearly complete after James Madison released their schedule this week. The Flames will host JMU on 9/26, just a week after hosting Montana. LU’s nonconference schedule also includes trips to West Virginia and Georgia State. There’s still 1 game left to be scheduled which will be the 2015 season opener.

FlamesNation podcast
Be sure to give our most recent FlamesNation podcast episode a listen. We discuss the Presbyterian and Monmouth games as well as giving a recruiting update and look at Liberty’s playoff chances. We’re also joined by Liberty offensive coordinator Aaron Stamn.

Other sports update
Your weekly non-football Fall sports update:

  • The men’s soccer team beat Presbyterian and Campbell this week to improve to 5-3 in Big South play. The Flames conclude their regular season Saturday when they host High Point at 1pm.
  • The women’s soccer team beat 8 seed Radford to open Big South tournament play. The #1-seeded Lady Flames now head to Greensboro for the semifinals where they will play #4 Campbell this afternoon at 4:30.
  • The women’s volleyball team lost their first Big South match when they fell to Radford last weekend. The Lady Flames face High Point and Campbell this weekend.
  • The women’s field hockey team start NorPac Conference tournament play later today with a semifinals match.
  • The swimming & diving team beat Richmond in their lone home meet of the season. The Flames are 6-2 on the season.

FlameFans thread of the week
Do you like the NBA? Do you like the Charlotte Hornets? Check out this week’s FlameFans thread of the week, Hornets Opening Night.