Liberty suffered defeat on Saturday evening at FIU, falling 34-27, in overtime. The Flames are now 4-6 on the season and 3-3 in conference play. Here’s how we have the team graded out for this game.

Quarterbacks: D

  • Ethan Vasko completed 17 of 31 passes for 218 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He also rushed 8 times for 11 yards. Not a terrible game statistically speaking, but he did have a couple of bad mistakes that either don’t show up in the stat sheet or only go down as an incompletion.

Running Backs: C

  • Evan Dickens continues to be the bell cow at running back, matching his career  high with 28 carries (was set last week) as he surpassed the 100-yard mark for a third straight game with 106 yards and a touchdown. Vaughn Blue had 3 carries for 23 yards and 1 touchdown while also hauling in one pass for 36 yards. Jaylon Coleman added 2 rushes for 20 yards. A solid performance, but there were opportunities the group could have perhaps picked up a few extra yards here and there, especially in crunch time, to make the third and fourth down calls shorter and easier.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: C+

  • Donte Lee continues to solidify himself as the team’s go-to receiver, finishing the day with 5 catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, bringing in the majority of his six targets. Jamari Person had 3 catches for 31 yards.

Offensive Line: D+

  • Liberty rushed for 3.9 yards per carry while the offensive line allowed three sacks. The group also had a really bad false start penalty at the end of the first half that took a 53-yard field goal from Jay Billingsley off the board.

Run Defense: C+

  • The Panthers rushed for 169 yards rushing on 4.3 yards per carry against the Flames. FIU entered the game as the second best rushing offense in CUSA, only trailing Jacksonville State.

Pass Defense: D

  • FIU backup QB Joe Pesanksy threw for over 200 yards with 2 touchdowns while completing over 70% of his passes while not being sacked all night.

Special Teams: B-

  • Jay Billingsley continues to be special, flying under the radar some with how good his year has been due to the team’s overall struggles. The fire drill at the end was also perfectly executed, though the team didn’t have to do it that way and could have simply spiked the ball to set up the final kick after the clock stopped due to the first down.