Virginia Tech starts the season facing off against my Alma Mater, the Flames of Liberty University. Since I've been following Flames football to some degree for more than a decade (though I still had to do a bit of googling in the process of writing this), I wanted to provide a bit of an insider preview of what to expect from the Flames who have slowly been building into a power house at the FCS Level.
The School was founded in 1971 as Lynchburg Baptist College, later renamed to Liberty Baptist College, and eventually to Liberty University. The Football team first took the field 2 years later in 1973.
Notable former head coaches include Sam Rutigliano (Cleaveland Browns HC 1978-1984), Danny Rocco (Al Groh's LB coach at LOLUVA 2001-2005, current HC at Richmond, was the coach for most of my time at LU), and Ken Karcher (2000-2005) I suffered through his 1-10 season my first year at Liberty but everyone here probably knows him more as the coach at East Central Community College in connection with Henri Murphy transferring in.
Former players currently in NFL
Rashad Jennings (RB-NYG)
Mike Brown (WR-Car) note: played both WR and QB at Liberty focusing mainly on QB later in his career.
Signed Free Agent contracts this year
John Lunsford (K-SF)
Darrin Peterson (WR-CHI)
Josh Woodrum (QB-NYG)
Head Coach Turner Gill
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Alma Mater: Nebraska
Playing History: Took over as Starting QB midway through his sophomore season and compiled a 28-2 record as a starter. The first of his two losses came in a controversial 27-24 game against the eventual national champion at Penn State as a junior. The other loss was a 31-30 loss to Miami in the Orange Bowl in which Coach Tom Osborne gave up an almost certain National championship by going for 2 and the win instead of kicking a PAT for a tie. Gill was a 2 time Honorable Mention All American, was selected as a 2nd team All American, 3 times as first team All Big 8, and finished 3rd in the voting for the 1984 Heisman Trophy that was won by the guy he was handing the football to, Nebraska RB Mike Rozier. He also did this against Oklahoma:
After college he played in the CFL with the Montreal Concordes for two years, before suffering multiple concussions that ended his football career. He then spent three years playing AA and AAA baseball in the Cleveland Indians' organization before returning to football as a coach.
Coaching History
1989 Nebraska (GA)
1990 North Texas
1991 SMU
1992-2004 Nebraska
2005 Green Bay Packers (Director of Player Development)
2006-2009 Buffalo (Head Coach) 20-30 record with a 2008 MAC Championship
2010-2011 Kansas (Head Coach) 5-19 record
2012-Present Liberty (Replaced Danny Rocco, the uncle of former UVA QB Michael Rocco, as Head Coach when he went to Richmond to replace Time Cop.) 29-19 record, shared Big South Championship in 2012, 2013, & 2014, made it to second round of FCS playoffs in 2014, winning first round at JMU.
Biggest Shoes to Fill
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Offense: QB Josh Woodrum played well enough to earn a free agent look with the New York Giants, earned the starting spot early as a Sophomore and only relinquished it for a few games in 2014 when out with an injury
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Defense: DE Chima Uzowihe Finished his senior season with the Liberty and Big South Conference career records for sacks at 25.0. He was also 2nd in program history for TFLs at 44.0, and had 150 career tackles (84 solo, 66 assisted), 10 pass breakups, five forced fumbles, four blocked kicks and two fumble recoveries.
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Special Teams: K John Lunsford had the leg and long distance accuracy to consistently hit from 50+ yards including this 60 yard kick to take Richmond to OT
Players to Watch
Offense
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R-Junior QB Stephon Masha is expected to be the starter at QB for the Flames this year. He started 3 games as a R-Freshman for the injured Josh Woodrum and has been too dynamic of an athlete to keep off the field, seeing playing time in 18 games, mostly away from the QB spot. His first start, a 38-36 home loss to Charleston Southern was followed up by impressive road wins over FCS no. 1 Costal Carolina 15-14 and FCS no. 15 JMU in the first round of the FCS playoffs 26-21.
Edit: Just realized that Josh Woodrum was back for the win over JMU
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R-Junior RB Todd Macon finished the season second in the RB stats with 316 yards and 7 TDs on 73 carries, splitting time with two seniors.
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R-Sophomore WR BJ Farrow edges out two rising senior WRs who had a similar impact last year for my final Offensive Player to watch. He had 448 yards and two TDs on 32 catches last year.
Defense
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Senior LB Nick Newman led the Flames with 74 tackles (49 Solo 25 Assisted) and added 5.5 TFLs and a Sack.
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Sophomore CB Chris Turner had 4 interceptions and 6 Passes defended as a freshman last year. He also added 24 Tackles (20 Solo 4 assisted) and 2 TFLs.
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Sophomore S Corbin Jackson finished the season with 47 tackles (31 Solo 16 Asssisted), 6.5 TFLs, 0.5 sacks, 2 QB Hurries, and a Pass defended
Special Teams
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Senior WR Zac Parker returned 11 punts for 114 yards last year including a 71 yarder for a TD.
Style of Play to Expect
On Offense the Flames are going through a similar transition to the Hokies moving from the pro-style offense they have run throughout Gill's tenure to more of an up tempo spread following the promotion of QB Coach Joe Dailey to Offensive Coordinator. This will likely be to the advantage of Stephon Masha, who is a much more mobile QB than departed starter Josh Woodrum.
On Defense the Flames run a 4-2-5 scheme that can be adapted to a 4-3 depending on the opponent being played. The Hokies will likely see more of their nickle corner look than the look with a Spur safety/linebacker hybrid. In the secondary, the Flames mostly run cover 4 looks.
On Special teams the Flames allowed 8 blocked kicks and 3 blocked punts in 2015. Rising sophomore punter Trey Turner was slow to get the ball away last year and at one point Gill had him intentionally take a safety during a game where the Flames were leading to avoid the risk of a blocked punt. Coach Gill had tremendous confidence in departed kicker John Lunsford and wasn't afraid to let him kick from 60 yards into the wind with the game on the line as the video above demonstrates. The lower angle on these long kicks probably contributed to the flames problems allowing blocked kicks. The flames will have a freshman kicker in Alex Probert who will be playing his first collegiate game in a very hostile environment. If the Flames haven't improved their protection, the Hokies could very well end up blocking multiple kicks.
Prediction
If this game had happened last year, I would have predicted a 2-3 touchdown win for the Hokies after the Flames keep it close for 2 -3 quarters. Liberty has beaten FBS teams before and managed to play close games against P5 schools WVU in 2009 and Wake Forest in 2012. They also hung around until the 2nd half against NC State in 2011 and UNC in 2014 before the talent gap caught up with them. With the Flames adjusting to a new offense, the Hokies having bigger faster players, and the fact that it's Fuente's first game I'm not as hopeful for Liberty's chances to keep it close through the first half. Add in that Liberty will have a freshman kicker that won't have the range and accuracy to put the ball between the pipes from 50+ and I'm left predicting that Virginia Tech will have a comfortable lead at half time.
VT 45
LU 13
This'll be my first time watching either team live since I graduated from LU following the 2007 season. I'm still planning out my attire to show my divided loyalty, though it will probably include my red LU Alumni hat, red tennis shoes, maroon VT athletic shorts, and a white t-shirt, either the "Flames Fanatic" Shirt I caught out of a T-Shirt cannon at an LU Basketball game or the "I Bleed Maroon and Orange" shirt I got from my local blood bank one of the times that I donated last fall.
Comments
A+ write up man.... Thanks for the information.
Great work.
Solid work.
Damn fine write up.
This is a better write up than most VT sites will give the LU game.
As a JMU alum who fell in love with Blacksburg long before heading to Harrisonburg lemme tell ya. An upset will send you into a vortex of inner conflict that will irk you for years.
Wow, I did not know there was that much information available about cupcakes, well done!
You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention
It ended up being a good decision, Liberty won the game. I think that we'd already had a punt and a fg blocked that game but had a lead where the 2 points weren't likely to matter. I'm posting from memory though so I could have some details wrong.
I just came across the play in question, it was against then FCS #7 Montana last year. Montana had already blocked 2 of Turner's Punts, so with a 12 point lead and 18 seconds left in the game at their own 11 yard line, Gill had Turner intentionally take a safety, rather than risk a blocked punt for a TD that would have given Montana a chance to recover an onside kick and throw a Hail Mary for the win. I couldn't find video of the game, but here's a write up of the game and espn's play by play:
http://missoulian.com/news/local/montana-football-griz-burned-by-mistake...
http://www.espn.com/college-football/playbyplay?gameId=400795519
so if this is your halftime score what do you think the final score will be?
:p
I notice the game will be broadcast on ACCN and ESPN3. My question is...what is ACCN and where can I find it?
It's the local channel in your area that has been labeled the ACC network for games. For me it's the CW here in Myrtle Beach.
WHVL channel 29 in Central PA
Does anyone know which station it usually is for Hampton Roads?
Just looked it up thanks to above posters. I live nearby and get my Direct TV local feeds from Hampton Roads. We should be able to receive the game on WGNT, which is channel 27 on my Direct TV package.
Raycom has a list of channels by state. It's usually WJXT in NEFL
Thank God that Jville area gets games on TV.
you pulled the trigger on the move yet?
Not yet. It won't happen until at least August 2017.
I'm starting to get a little nervous for this season, with Dish Network and their dispute. I haven't had WGNT (Raycom) for about 3 months now.
This was stupendous! Thanks for all your hard work and detail! Quick question: why don't you think Fuente will let it be a smaller, closer (but not too close) score so as not show all the cards and tricks in prep for the Vols?
No one in their right mind intentionally let's an opponent hang close to psyche out the opponent next up on the schedule. Vanilla offense? Maybe. But not keeping the pedal down on a cupcake is how upsets happen.
Or they just fart around in the rain expecting the opponent to quit because they are in a lower division.
the sad part is I'm not sure if you're referring to JMU or Marshall
Ouch. Painful memories. I was at both of those games, the JMU game was actually my first game as a VT season ticket holder (sophomore year), It's the only game since then I've left more than 90 seconds (game clock) before the final whistle. After that JMU game (this will be my first year since then, not having season tickets), I associating leaving early as bad luck.
I, too, was in attendance for both
It's not so much that I think Fuente will run up the score, more so that I think the players will be giving it their all because they want to keep the playing time coming. If I thought that Fuente was going to try to run it up, VT would be predicted about 2-3 more TDs.
There is no QB that Bud Foster made look worse than Joe Dailey. That 2006 game vs UNC, Dailey was an interception machine throwing into robber coverages.
Dailey is the Liberty oc/quarterbacks coach
-Where you going, Coach Joe? Stadium is that way. Can't you hear it?
-Ahh...yeah, you guys will do fine. Don't need me in there, I've taught you everything I know. I'm sure you'll do great.
[slowly turns, then sprints back to bus]
Liberty alum as well! Bravo on the great write up, almost better then you would get from Liberty's media guide. Team last year was the best I had seen since Jennings was there. This year you are spot on, too many important holes to fill. Bravo and may you steer far away from Humble Tips LU anthem!
You mean Not So Humble Tip.
Humble Tip was after my time, we had the LUPD guys when I was there though
I was there for a while since I worked there through my masters and I totally remember this group. But for all the others who just have no idea. This song is played on repeat at all LU sporting events.
Main reason I can't go see them play. SOO Many white people dancing badly and dad jokes as insults from the student section at the opposing team.
This stuff embarrasses me.
via GIPHY
Predict score will be 41-17 Hokies. Figure we can do as well as West Virginia did with them last year.
As to why I feel they'll score at all on us (as per below post) = history. There were no games last year where the opponent had 0. There were only three games where our opponent scored less than 17 points: Furman (and Liberty is a better team than Furman), Boston College (worst offense ACC has seen in years and they still got 10), and N.C. State (pleasant surprise and one of our better games last year). Facts are a nasty thing, much as I loved the years when we had multiple games in which our opponents were scoreless. That aside, I'd still vote for the Emma meme.
I'm trying to figure out why the first two predictions on here have Liberty scoring at all, let alone three times......
Five field goals and a blocked PAT return. (edit: thus accounting for the 41-17 prediction. of course that would mean at least 11 combined scoring drives, lots of bend don't break defense, and a very perplexed Joey Slye)
bold
I can see the offense committing an early turnover that liberty can score a fg on. Maybe a miscue on defense in the second qtr allows a cheap td. Then a sustained td against the third string D late in the 4th
I had them scoring 2 TDs with one XP being blocked. Foster's defenses are usually "break, but don't bend" where one person not doing their job can lead to a big gain/TD, so there's a higher chance for one of Liberty's players to take advantage of a mistake like a player being out of position or missing a tackle and score.
I think if they score, it'll be early, on a fluke, or late against the scrubs. We absolutely should own this team and other than a field goal or two, they should be in duck and cover mode all day.
Didn't we say the same about jmu?
I don't know what you said, but I wouldn't have said the same about JMU. I didn't like one thing about how that game shaped up. Losing a heartbreaker just before playing them, bad weather, poor senior leadership in dealing with disappointment, many more things that seemed to impact that game than this opener with liberty. Fuente's debut, an excited fan base, plenty of time for preparation...just a whole different slice of pie.
I definitely am looking for a sound victory BUT Liberty is not going to be in duck and cover. I think they are going to do a lot better than most are predicting.
I think it would be cool to do to Liberty what we did to App. State a couple years ago. I'm not expecting that, by any means, but it would set the tone for the season.
No they won't. Their coach even came on the radio a week ago talking about all the new faces and having a lot to learn in a short amount of time. It will be his biggest coaching challenge in a long time. I mean sure , I want them to do well at their division but I don't predict good things week 1
Like that Schewels Commercial with Turner Gill in it where he says "Great job I knew you could do it" with no pause.
Just found out I have tickets to this game 20 minutes ago. Pretty pumped
Wow a few LU grads on here. I thought I was the only one. Very cool. GREAT WRITE UP!