Liberty responds from 3 consecutive losses on the road and gets a bit of revenge from an earlier season loss to New Mexico State by defeating the Aggies 28-21 in a cold, rainy day in Lynchburg.
Throughout every game, there are several moments or plays that go unnoticed, or could be overlooked. Still, they play a huge role in the eventual outcome.
Let’s look at five plays that changed the direction of this game:
Ajayi gets a pick-6 – Solomon Ajayi was able to step in front of a Josh Adkins pass and scampered into the end zone from 26 yards out to give Liberty a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.
Aggies respond with a kick return for TD – Just as it seemed like Liberty was about to seize control of the game and run away with it, Jason Huntley returned Alex Probert’s kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to cut into Liberty’s lead at 17-7. It was the 2nd kick return for a score that the Flames have allowed in the past 3 weeks, and it came following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Buckshot Calvert for coming on to the field to celebrate the Ajayi pick-6.
NMSU unable to convert on 4th and 1 in 2nd quarter – For some reason, the Aggies decided to go for it on 4th and 1 at the Liberty 38 yard line with just 2 minutes left in the first half. The Flames’ defense came up strong, giving the offense a short field. Buckshot and company capitalized and scored just before the halftime break to push the lead to 28-14.
Another 4th down try, another stop – New Mexico State drove to the Liberty 20 yard line with 10 minutes left in the game, still trailing 28-14. They faced a 4th and 5 and again elected to go for it, and Liberty’s defense again got the stop and turnover on downs.
AGG recovers onside kick to clinch the Liberty win – NMSU finally got on the board with the offense’s first and only points of the afternoon with a touchdown to bring the score within 7 at 28-21 with less than 2 minutes to play. Since they had no timeouts, the Aggies were forced to try an onside kick that was recovered by Antonio Gandy-Golden. He was able to leap and snag the ball out of the air, if it went over his head, it could have easily been recovered by NMSU.
