A few quick hit notes following Liberty’s 49-21 win over New Mexico State:

  • With the win Liberty becomes bowl eligible for the first time in school history! Now, we wait and see where the Flames could end up. Cure Bowl Executive Director Alan Gooch was on hand to watch the game tonight.
  • One of the big storylines of the first half was the New Mexico State coaches’ headsets not working. Just prior to kickoff, NMSU’s Doug Martin and Liberty’s Hugh Freeze met on the field to discuss. Both coaches went without headsets in the first quarter as the coaches that are normally in the press box came to the sidelines. By the start of the second quarter, the headsets were fixed so both coaches could begin using them again. Most coaches returned to the press box at that time. There’s typically two channels used on the headsets – one for the offense and one for the defense. Only one channel was working once they got them fixed.
  • Frankie Hickson had a terrific night on senior day as he moved into the top 5 of Liberty’s career rushing list and to number 2 on the career all-purpose yardage leaders. Frankie would finish the night with a career high 196 rushing yards and a career high 4 touchdowns on a career high 29 carries.
  • Joshua Mack also had a great afternoon as he rushed for over 100 yards as well, finishing with 120 and a touchdown. That’s the first time this season Liberty has had two running backs rush for over 100 yards. The Flames did so in last season’s finale against Norfolk State.
  • Liberty finished with a season high in rushing yards with 317.
  • Mason Wolk recorded his first career interception as his pick set up Frankie Hickson’s fourth quarter touchdown to make it 42-21 and virtually put the game out of reach. It was the first Liberty defensive lineman since Daryl Robertson on October 24, 2009 to record an interception.
  • The 17 seniors were honored prior to the game. The class, highlighted by Buckshot Calvert and Antonio Gandy-Golden, will always be remembered for what Coach Freeze has called the Christopher Columbus’ of Liberty by getting the program to bowl eligibility for the first time ever.
  • AGG had difficulty getting much action most of the game as New Mexico State defenders resorted to holding him several times he was targeted. He finished the game with 4 receptions for 29 yards.
  • Elijah Benton had a terrific game on senior night for the LCA product. He had three pass breakups, 1 sack, and a team high 7 tackles.
  • Kei’Trel Clark had his best game in awhile despite slipping and getting beat for a touchdown on one play. He had several great plays where he had terrific coverage. He also blocked a New Mexico State field goal at the end of the first half.
  • Buckshot threw for a season low 169 yards as the Flames went to the rushing attack, but he still had enough yards to set the program’s single-season passing yard mark, as he has thrown for 3,393 yards this year. It breaks his own mark of 3,363 that was set in 2017.
  • Announced attendance was 18,674, the third highest of the season, that includes all tickets sold. Actual attendance as far as butts in the seats was much closer to 7-10,000.
  • This is Liberty’s 17th season in school history with seven or more wins, but the first since going 9-5 and making the FCS Playoffs in 2014.
  • Now, we wait. We will keep you updated as how the rest of the games go today that affect Liberty’s bowl chances. We won’t have an official notification until next Sunday, but we will know by the end of the day’s action if there are enough bowl eligible teams to fill all 78 bowl slots. If there’s 78 or less bowl eligible teams att the end of the day, Liberty will make a bowl game, the destination would be the only question. We will find out officially on December 8th.