Unable to overcome slow start, No. 19 Liberty falls at UConn, 36-33

For the first time in nearly two months, Liberty finds itself on the losing end of the scoreboard, falling at UConn, 36-33. The loss ends the team’s six-game win streak and helps UConn become bowl eligible.

“Congratulations to Jim Mora and his team, they wanted it today a little worse than we did, it appeared,” said head coach Hugh Freeze. “They played a solid football game. It’s frustrating, we didn’t play our best or coach our best. We win and lose together, but congratulations to them on getting bowl eligible. We’ve come a long way in our program to have people get this excited and storm the field when they upset you. They deserve it, congratulations to them.”

The Huskies took advantage of a short field after a nice kick return on the opening possession, scoring a touchdown to grab the early 7-0 lead. The Flames would respond with a Nick Brown field goal. Later in the first quarter, after Johnathan Bennett went to the sideline injured, Kaidon Salter was sacked, fumbled, and the Huskies picked it up and returned it 31 yards to extend the lead to 14-3.

Coming off two big wins over BYU and Arkansas, the Flames fought against this being a trap game all week long. The team’s slow start in the first quarter will be pointed to as evidence of that fact.

“I tried as hard as I could,” Freeze said of ensuring his team would not come out flat. “They are still young men. I don’t think that they didn’t think it was going to be hard. We’ve had some exciting two weeks. You go back on the road, it’s hard to be emotional. I think we started flat and gave them confidence. I say all the time, it’s hard to win college football games. When a team gets confidence and you turn it over a few times, look out, you’re in for a 60 minute battle and that’s what it was. They made more plays than we did.”

It appeared Liberty woke up after that, as the Flames would outscore the Huskies, 24-7 over the second and third periods. It would allow the team to gain its first lead of the game in third quarter and enter the final period with a 27-21 lead.

Liberty dominated the first 11 minutes of the third quarter and looked as though they would take control of the game. The Flames out-gained UConn 144-6 during the opening minutes of the third period and held a 8:33-1:57 edge in time of possession.

It initially appeared as though the Flames had forced a second three and out for UConn to begin the second half. Javon Scruggs broke up the UConn pass on 3rd and 5, but Durrell Johnson was called for illegal hands to the face. The 15-yard penalty led to a first down. Three plays later, Liberty forced the Huskies’ punt team on to the field after tackling the receiver three yards short of the first down near midfield. Before the ball was snapped for the punt, the officials blew the played dead and called for a review. After the review, Liberty linebacker Ahmad Walker was called for targeting, giving the Huskies another first down and moving the ball into the Flames’ territory.

Just a couple plays later, on the first play of the fourth quarter, UConn completed a 27 yard touchdown pass as the receiver got behind Liberty corner Kobe Singleton. This allowed the Huskies to regain the lead at 28-27.

“They were very key,” Freeze said of the penalties. “I didn’t see the targeting, they were getting ready to punt, that was a big time in the game. Hands to the face, can’t remember some of the others, lineman down the field hurt, don’t know. I’ll have to look at that too and see, but certainly we were more penalized today than we have been the last few weeks. That hurt, along with the turnovers including one that led to a touchdown. That’s critical when that happens.”

On the first play of Liberty’s ensuing possession, Bennett handed the ball off to wide receiver Demario Douglas who took the ball around the left side of the line and took it to 75 yards for a touchdown. Douglas had a career day, finishing with 105 rushing yards and the score on just two carries. He also led the team with 7 receptions for 70 yards.

Liberty’s defense would force a punt on the next drive. The Flames would regain possession and hoped to put the game away. A completion to Noah Frith picked up one first down and moved the ball to 36. A 14-yard pass to Douglas followed, putting the Flames at 2nd and 1.

With an RPO play called, Bennett pulled the ball and elected to attempt to throw the ball. The pass, intended for CJ Yarbrough was incomplete. On 3rd and 1, Malik Caper was stuffed for no gain. Following a timeout, Freeze elected to keep his offense on the field. The play call was for Caper to get a screen pass, but he was tackled for a loss of four yards and Liberty turned it over on downs.

“Well, we were struggling to stop them,” Freeze said of the decision to go for it on 4th down. “You’ve got one yard that you think you can possibly put the game away with another score. Then, hopefully, if you don’t get it, you hold them to a field goal and you still have the opportunity to go score. Analytics said go for it. Is it the right call? Who knows. We shouldn’t have been in that situation. 2nd and 1 and we throw a fade. He didn’t recognize the down and distance. We practice that over and over again. You hand it off twice and we get the first down.”

Once again, UConn would take advantage of the short field, scoring the go ahead and eventual winning touchdown just a few plays later with just 5:43 remaining in the game.

The Flames would have two drives in the closing minutes, but neither would move past the UConn 49-yard line. With less than a minute to play, Bennett’s pass on 4th and 13, intended for Caleb Snead, would fall short. The Huskis would take one snap, kneel on the ball, and secure the win.