Liberty somehow escaped with a win Tuesday night at Williams Stadium, 30-27, over New Mexico State as the team improved its record to 3-4 on the season and 2-1 in CUSA play. Here’s how we have the team graded out for this game.

Quarterbacks: D

  • Ethan Vasko completed 20 of 30 passes for 179 yards while rushing 8 times for 19 yards. Not bad on paper. But he also accounted for 3 turnovers – 2 interceptions and a sack fumble. He avoids a failing grade by engineering a 92-yard game winning touchdown drive in the closing minutes when he was 7 for 7 passing.

Running Backs: C

  • Evan Dickens finished with 13 rushes for 50 yards and 2 touchdowns, his second being the game winner. Juju Gray had 3 carries for 26 yards and 3 catches for 41 yards while Vaughn Blue rushed 4 times for 19 yards and had 3 catches for 12 yards. Jaylon Coleman also caught two passes for 10 yards. All in all, not a terrible game for the running backs, but nobody was able to chew up the yardage on the ground.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: C

  • Donte Lee had a really good final drive with 5 catches as he finished with 6 receptions for 55 yards. Casey Cain had 2 catches for 20 yards but no other receiver or tight end had more than one catch.

Offensive Line: D

  • Liberty rushed for 3.8 yards per carry while the offensive line allowed 5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks (including one that resulted in a lost fumble. It’s clear this offensive line isn’t quite at the level the Flames were at on this unit in prior years.

Run Defense: D

  • In most games, holding your opponent to 146 rushing yards and 3.8 yards per carry is a pretty solid performance. Well, this wasn’t most nights as NMSU entered the game as the worst rushing offense in the country and had not surpassed 100 yards on the ground all season.

Pass Defense: C

  • Against a team that threw the ball 37 times, the Flames were solid against the pass. The Aggies completed just over 50% of their passes for 242 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Liberty defense did allow too many conversions on 3rd and long.

Special Teams: A+

  • Hard to find much to fault for the special teams units who has put together two very strong performances in a row. Juju Gray had a 96-yard kick return for a touchdown, Jay Billingsley made all three of his field goals and all three of his extra points, the Flames recovered two muffed punts, and Max Morgan was solid in the punting and kickoff game (including a kickoff from his own 20 after a penalty that resulted in a touchback at the end of the game).