Anything and everything about Liberty Flames football. Your comments on games, recruiting and the direction of the program as we move into new era.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, Class of 20Something

By Rocketfan
Registration Days Posts
#36610
General thoughts:

Some may have already been said and others will add something to the conversations:
My vantage point was from the sidelines, so it may be different from others:

-GMTM and myself witnessed some weird behavior by the referees on the field on the chop block that was called and then the flag was picked up. Official right in front of me throws the flag ( and i saw the clear penalty as well ) then other official walks over says something in his ear. That guy basically overrules him and tells the head referee and then laughs or smiles back to our sideline. I guess you had to be there but the behavior wasn't professional and looked very shady.

- Coach Rocco getting all up in Pinigis's face for seemingly taking a play off was inspiring as well since you never know how a big 1-A transfer will be treated. I am glad he isn't afraid to call anyone out.

- After our defense lets up 50 yards passing on one drive and we step up and block one pass.... the celebrating needs to stop. When you are getting whooped like that you need to save the emotion for the next play not act like you just stopped a 4 and 1 to win the game. At least i wasn't impressed by that very much

- In weeks past we have been able to pressure the quarterback and i have seen a variety of blitzes. One sack isn't going to cut it, that guy had all kinds of time when he needed it and had 9 ints coming into the game. What weren't we able to do that all those other teams did? I mean i think he threw 3 picks against Glenville st., i just wish i could get the thoughts from the defensive coordinator on why no bump coverage until the last drive, where were the blitzes, shouldn't we pinch our safties up to help on the short routes until thet attempt to throw deep etc?

- Once Rashad is healthy, our 3rd or 4th string RB's should never see the field. Terrel should be the guy who gets all other carries and then lets let him take kickoffs with Wynton in my opinion. He also needs to line up as a WR now and than, as has been said on here before he is a freak athlete and we need to FIND A WAY to get the ball in his hands.

- This is a random thought but, why not totally throw the other team for a loop by lining up Terrell as the RB and running sweep to the right. This gives him the option to run or throw and provides constant unpredictability. He has to roll out to throw anyway due to his height so i think it would not allow LB and DB to think run everytime and really keep them guessing. Some may think that is nuts but i think it just might work two or thee times a game.

Well i guess thats enough for now...its dinner time for me on this Sunday night.
By SuperJon
Registration Days Posts
#36611
I like the halfback option pass you're talking about. I've wanted to see it all year.


Ryan Greiser looked awesome on that one kick return he had. He looks good back there.

Once Rashad's healthy, it's the Jennings and Terrell show in the backfield, no doubt about it. The only thing that would change that is if they did a play to throw a hitch in the defense and put Zach at QB in shotgun with Lawrence and Jennings next to him for a play or two (kind of like Leak and Teabow). I like that formation just because you have no clue what's going to happen.
By krh44
Registration Days Posts
#36614
I don't think many expected us to go 10-1 this year but I think a lot of us are frustrated becasue these are games that we should have won not could have won. We have to take the home games especially when we are playing a young team like GW.

Obvisously Terrell needs more touches. Hopefully we will keep the attendance figures up somewhat but I doubt but they will be back next year
We have a young team that will only get better as will the coaching staff. Hopefully they will stick with Terrell one the biggest 3rd down of the game and not Cheek. That didn't make sense at all.
By krh44
Registration Days Posts
#36616
SJ - nice face paint job by the way
By SuperJon
Registration Days Posts
#36619
Where'd you see me? I honestly have no clue who you are so I wouldn't have known it was you even if I talked to you.

Note: I posted this before I changed signatures.
By auntieann
Registration Days Posts
#36622
I am really impressed by Greiser, I really think he is doing an awesome job, and Ok I am a little biased because he is Brock's roomie, but he is really standing out, he had like 12 tackles on Saturday. Go PA. boys....
By TIMSCAR20
Registration Days Posts
#36629
Some quick thoughts. We couldn't cover man to man that is why we played zone. I do think we left 4 LB's on the field too long and that we should have had some complete sell out blitzes on occassion. Not saying it would have worked or not but I would have tried it. Also the 3rd down run with Cheek was a bad call plain and simple. I am going with Zach on the biggest play of the game because he is a big time running back period. I don't mind Zach playing QB but Brock did play really well yesterday. As far as going for it on 4th down early in the game, that would be just plain stupid. If you don't get it, then you leave points on the table and you guys would crucify him for gambling too much. As far as going for 2 point conversion in the 3rd quarter last week, that wouldn't be smart when you are winning. You don't need to go for 2 when you are winning. If you don't get it, you left another point on the table. Rocco is conservative but he is not a dummy. They are making the right decisions for the most part. The execution has not been there at the most key moments. Way too soon to abandon this season or be down on this team. I strong finish is needed to keep this fan base and get a great recruiting class. I am frustrated with the 2 losses the past 2 weeks but Liberty football has never, ever been this fun to watch with the exception of Eric Green's senior year. The atmosphere is electric and I hope everyone continues to tailgate, and support this team. Great things are in store I am positive about that!
By Baldspot
Registration Days Posts
#36637
Good points Scar except regarding last week's decision to go for 2 pt conversion. Most coach's have a point system which dictates when they go for two points. Today for instance, the Colts were up 33-14 on the Skins and they went for two points, because they were up 19 and needed to get to 21 points to force the Skins into a 4 score game.

Last week we were only up 5 points, Rashad was out of the game, it was the second half and our kicking game was in the toilet. By only going for one point, we potentially put our team in a position where they may need to get a TD (with Rashad on the sideline) or rely on our field goal unit if W&M gets another TD. Which they did and the coach's decision came back to bite us big time. The 1 extra point put us up by 6 but was of no benefit to us under any conceivable outcome, ie W&M gets a safety or a field goal, we still have them beat if we miss on the two point conversion but if W&M gets a TD, we are screwed if we only go for a single point as was the case.

There was simply no downside to going for the two point conversion.
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By fsn32
Registration Days Posts
#36651
Baldspot wrote:Good points Scar except regarding last week's decision to go for 2 pt conversion. Most coach's have a point system which dictates when they go for two points. Today for instance, the Colts were up 33-14 on the Skins and they went for two points, because they were up 19 and needed to get to 21 points to force the Skins into a 4 score game.

Last week we were only up 5 points, Rashad was out of the game, it was the second half and our kicking game was in the toilet. By only going for one point, we potentially put our team in a position where they may need to get a TD (with Rashad on the sideline) or rely on our field goal unit if W&M gets another TD. Which they did and the coach's decision came back to bite us big time. The 1 extra point put us up by 6 but was of no benefit to us under any conceivable outcome, ie W&M gets a safety or a field goal, we still have them beat if we miss on the two point conversion but if W&M gets a TD, we are screwed if we only go for a single point as was the case.

There was simply no downside to going for the two point conversion.
Downside... there was plenty of time for W&M to have two possesions... if we don't get the 2 and they kick two FG's, we lose by 1... different coaches do different things in that situation but is was far from a "black and white" mistake.

Indy going for two makes sense because at that point in the game FG's were not an option for Washington... they had to score TD's and a 21 point lead was worth the risk of going for two... in our situation, either way is a gamble... Rocco took the safer bet at the time.
By TIMSCAR20
Registration Days Posts
#36652
Thanks fsn for responding for me. That was going to be my exact explanation. I am not a football coach but trust me, I am not one of the top Madden players in the world for nothing :lol: I really do study football and coaching situations and going for 2 is one of the toughest plays to make in football. You don't have a lot of space to operate, you have to get 3 yards which makes running it tough and it is basically a low percentage play. Rocco couldn't possibly know that his kickers were going to miss again last week. They were in a position to win the game. I would rather be kicking a potential game winner than hoping a team misses like we were yesterday. Unfortunately we lost out on both occassions but if the opposite had worked out for us, our season would be totally different. A fine line between winning and losing. I think we will learn how to make the plays we need to make as Rocco grows as a coach and this group matures as a team. I am pleased with the progress of this team.
By jimflamesfan
Registration Days Posts
#36653
BUT...in the 4th quarter of the GW game, there is no reason to intentionally take a delay of game penalty and punt, when the D basically hadn't stopped GW the entire second half. NO REASON NOT TO CALL A TIME OUT AND GO FOR IT THERE, NO REASON WHATSOEVER. Give your Offense a chance to win the game when the D is struggling.

If you're going to try and get them offsides like Rocco said was the plan, you have to actually line up to do that...you still need to call the timeout, then come out and try that, then take the penalty.

We were playing for the punt...the W&M game 2 point conversion, and 1st half in both W&M and G&W games you can argue about, but I don't think anyone would disagree with the disaster that happened on 4th down with the delay of game then punt.

Too conservative considering the situation.
By jimflamesfan
Registration Days Posts
#36655
Also, I think Scar is wrong about us screaming if we would of went for it when we were up 7-0 and in the redzone instead of kicking a FG.

Who would of been screaming, after the FG fiasco from last week...no FG is a given at this point in time.

I don't mind the conservative playcalling. Like LUconn said, it usually wins games.

But in the situation in the 4th quarter against GW, you have to go for it. To me that's still a coaching mistake.

I still like Rocco and think we're headed in the right direction.
By Baldspot
Registration Days Posts
#36656
I'm sure Coach Rocco has a copy of the 2 pt chart in his office. (The copies I've seen are black and white
BTW) HA. Maybe next time he will follow it and attempt to make the game a two score game instead of leaving it remain a one score game.

I saw the same growing pains back in the 80's and we got good enough to beat a top 25 I-A program back then. I think it will be fun to see the same thing happen over again. Rocco's still the man in my book. Bumps and all.
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By jcmanson
Registration Days Posts
#36715
Since, I was unable to keep up with the game on a play by play instance, it was very tough hearing the score. I kept calling 1800-555-TELL, and I heard 7-0, then 10-0, then 17-0 at halftime. I was thinking, yes we are going to win this game. Then I heard 17-7, 17-14, 21-17, and I thought no way! I kept calling every 20 seconds the last 5 minutes of the game hoping we were driving to score rather than them. Seems like it was a rough game to witness.

I hope we can keep the support up from the students. That's what has happened in the past is they ditch the teams once they start losing. I am still behind this program 100%. I believe in Rocco and co. I, for one, and many of us had our expectations too high coming into the year. We should have won these last 2 games, but we did not. They way we lost them was heartbreaking. Hopefully these guys will be able to rebound next week and the weeks following.
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