[PAmedic]

Landis in at QB, nice run by Lawrence for a gain of 5 up to midfield.

[PAmedic]

GAME OVER, LU 31-7!

Brock finishes 11/16, 112 yds

Zach finishes 1/1, 35 yds

Jennings: 15/161, 3 TDs

Rushing totals: 34/275, 4 TD's

[El Scorcho]

I enjoyed tonight's game very much. If for no other reason, just because it was fun to hear the older folks around me sound surprised at the atmosphere in the stadium. It's really hard not to be sitting on the student side sometimes, though.

As for improvements: We had a lot of high snaps tonight. Maybe it was just me, but I feel like I saw too man that cost Brock some time. We obviously got burned on long passes several times. I'm not sure where the hole in the coverage is, but something was amiss. The O-line also seemed to lose their hole-making ability at some point in the second half. Hopefully they were just comfortable with their lead.

I was able to catch some of Rocco's post-game comments for WRVL, and I have to say...this guy is too awesome. As soon as he was done with his analysis of tonight, he started talking about getting into the office tomorrow night to get ready for Towson. He was still on the field and he's already talking about getting back to work! Good grief. I love it.

[A.G.]

It appeared tha the left side of the defensive secondary was vulnerable tonite.

[SuperJon]

Start of the 3rd- we kick off- lots of crowd noise- incl HORNS!

suhweet: 11, 423 is the total on the crowd!!

Still reading the rest of the thread, but I went through 4 air horns today.

[SuperJon]

Thoughts from a student:

Students were out at 4pm tailgating. Lower P1 had a ton of people down there with grills, football, food, drinks, etc. It was nice to see. However, upper P1 (the $250 lot) didn't fill up until after I left for the stadium (6:15).

Stevie Ray's dad is awesome. I had heard they were tailgating the right way so I went up there with a buddy to talk to him. We talked football, he said SR is loving Liberty. We talked about some other stuff. He offered us as much food as we wanted. Then he said he thinks we should take buses to Towson next week (at least I'm not the only one). Then he said something funny: he said he was gonna sit on the student side because the home side was too boring for him. They got onto him for standing up last week.

The students were packed. We had a great time. People were painted, we had some guys come dressed in kilts. One guy even brought a bagpipe and played it.

On a negative note: people (cheerleaders, some students) need to realize to shutup when we have the ball.

Rashad Jennings not only will run you over, but he will catch a check down pass, and then run you over as well.

Wynton Jackson is incredible as a return man.

We didn't miss a field goal. We didn't miss a single field goal.




Now, for something I feel extremely strong about:

We NEED to take at least one bus to Towson next week. We had at least 6000 students (maybe more if the crowd was almost 12,000 - we were more filled than the home side) and that was on the same day as Penn St/ND and at the SAME TIME as OSU/Texas. We now have a 4 week layoff until our next home game. If we don't do something to keep these students involved in the games, they're going to lose interest. A month without going to a game will make some of these kids forget it's football season. I know it's expensive, but this is something that we MUST do for next week. At least provide SOME type of OPPORTUNITY for these kids to get to the game.

[TallyW]

Wow... Great attendance numbers. With a winning program it wouldn't take much to get the Bowl Division requirement of 15k per year for 2 seasons. If we put a winning product on the field and with our AD busting tail to keep fans into the game... the mountain can/will get to that number on a regular basis.

It's an exciting time to be an LU fan.

[SuperJon]

Bowl Division is the last thing on anyone's mind. We've beaten two DIIs. Let's go out and have the same results against some I-AAs and then we'll talk.


Also, a thing I forgot to add, Barber came down to Lower P1 today and went to ever group of students that were tailgating and thanked them for coming out.


Another thing, if you haven't seen the new football posters, they are, to steal from the Medic, suh-weet.

[TallyW]

"Bowl Division is the last thing on anyone's mind."

I beg to differ. That is THE reason so much has happened on the mountain over this past year. Gutting an entire atheletic department and bringing in the quality men we now have is specifically for our Bowl Division asperations. The goal is within 10 years. We are well on our way.

With the turnaround we've seen in just 8-10 months there is plenty of reason to be extremely optomistic about the changes that could take place in 8-10 years.

[El Scorcho]

I'm just trying to be optimistic about the level of understanding that the fans who have attended these games have about the program right now. We have a really tough road schedule coming up, and I don't want to see support lost if it doesn't go well. My fingers are crossed. There's so much potential right now.

[SuperJon]

Like I've said, we have to do something to get kids to Towson and Wake. We have a month before our next home game. We can't lose this excitement.

[TallyW]

What odds are we getting with Towson and Sav. St.? I'd suspect we have a good shot to get W's here and then play Wake closer than expected (within 10pts at least) and come into homecoming at 4-1 and ride a wave of emotion to pull out a W over W&M. We'd be riding pretty high before hitting conference foes.

I agree with SJ about travel. Some calls should be put in tomorrow to Ed over at Student Life. He and Barber should at least offer something to the students. Is it possible to get the Wake Game on TV and broadcast it into the Vines?

[SuperJon]

Sav St should be just as ugly as these past two games.

[SuperJon]

Yo, Manger, where were you at? I didn't see ya.

[Chris Lang]

Some quick thoughts:

* The passing yards were a concern, Rocco conceded afterward. But Liberty was playing a lot of pressure zone defense, and Glenville's quarterback did a nice job of getting the ball away a split second before defenders could take him down. A couple of the long plays were on short passes that were aided by missed tackles. Greiser missed one in the first quarter at the line of scrimmage that led to a huge gain. Zone defenses open up the middle, and Glenville got a lot of yards on short routes (bubble screens, etc.) and intermediate stuff when tight ends got open over the middle when linebackers were blitzing.

* Stevie Ray Lloyd and Manny Rojas were both excellent tonight, all over the field.

* Passing game still needs work. Brock even admitted that. He's still developing some touch on the long routes. Brandon Turner slipped a couple of times tonight on the turf on what would have been sure receptions.

* I still know absolutely nothing about this team, other than the fact that Liberty can handle a couple of DII tomato cans at home. I can't wait until next Saturday to get a real idea of how far Rocco's bunch has come. I think the coaching staff feels the same way. That Towson game should be an excellent test. The Tigers run a solid offense, some spread formations, some two-tight end sets.

[Libertine]

Start of the 3rd- we kick off- lots of crowd noise- incl HORNS!

suhweet: 11, 423 is the total on the crowd!!

Still reading the rest of the thread, but I went through 4 air horns today.

How did I know that was you?

[SuperJon]

I was one of em. There were a few people throughout the stands that had them. I spent about 30 bucks on face paint and air horns.

We also had a kid with a megaphone that was a ton of fun. It had some music programmed into it that we used. We even sang Take Me Out To The Ballgame in the 4th quarter, along with Victory in Jesus and Amazing Grace. We were going to sing Country Road but no one knew it.

[thepostman]

yet again i was blown away by the crowd....my 4th year at LU and this is the first time i feel like the students care...this all goes back to the administration knowing they need to get our interest and the rest of lynchburg will follow slowly...the crowd tonight has been about the size of the homecoming crowds...i hope we can win our next 2....if we could go into the W&M game 4-1 with a juiced up homecoming crowd we could pull of a win and debut in the top 25 somewhere....

i have to keep reminding myself these 2 teams we beat are DII schools....but its so hard when its been crap year in and year out....even on the season we went 6-5 i wasn't so excited....the guys were poorly coached and the coaches seemed to care little about the student body....

anyways i wish i could make it to Towson, I am dirt poor....very dirt poor....so it won't be happening....but i am already excited for that game...i plan on listening some one the radio...

i am curious....i have heard some people say it, but how loud does the student section sound on the other side???

ok long post...goodnight

[Thelaxman]

I think this is all good and some real exciting times for LU Football. The issue here is we still have not beat anyone that is a quality program. Let's see how we do against the likes of William and Mary, Chuck South, Coastal, Towson , Western Carolina and Wake Forest before we start talking Bowl games and so on.

All the best,

Thelaxman

[El Scorcho]

i am curious....i have heard some people say it, but how loud does the student section sound on the other side???

Loud enough. I like it. The problem now is getting the baptists on the other side to break out of their shell and be as loud right back at you guys. When the team was getting ready to come out of the tunnel I was definitely the only person in my section on my feet. It was a packed house with no applause and no standing bodies until half of the team was on the field. I'm certainly not going to complain too much with attendance we've been having, but a little hootin' and hollerin' would be nice.

[FlamingYalieWahoo]

Just a comment about fan participation - Rocco studied under the head coach master of fan participation - Al Groh. Coach Groh came in when things were in the duldroms here at the Carl Smith Center at Scott Stadium home of Harrison Field - otherwise known as the home of the the Cavaliers and made a huge difference in the fan base. He even re-shaped the UVA male students' traditional dress of blue button-down, blue and orange tie, and khakis to that of a more - shall we say - normal undergraduate game day dress. So I expect that D.R. will keep it up and will hopefully put the pressure on the powers that be to have students at the away games as well.

Maybe some head coaches think they have better things to do with their time - but the same crowd that loves you one minute will be writing newspaper editorials demanding your head the very next. So its best to stay engaged with the fan base. Pete Gillen was another great one at engaging fan support - after the UVA basketball team unexpectedly made it to the NCAA tournament his first year here - he and the team held a free hot dog and tee shirt give away one afternoon in the middle of Grounds (for the more educated that would be "campus"- Jefferson didn't like using Latin terms for things university-related; it smacked of elitism - so in a more equalitarian spirit he chose more vernacular terms.) Anyway, there was Pete grilling hot dogs and slapping them on buns, passing them out to students and slapping students on the back thanking them profusely for their support. I really hate things went south for him because he truly is a great human being!

[thesportscritic]

I think this is all good and some real exciting times for LU Football. The issue here is we still have not beat anyone that is a quality program. Let's see how we do against the likes of William and Mary, Chuck South, Coastal, Towson , Western Carolina and Wake Forest before we start talking Bowl games and so on.

All the best,

Thelaxman

I agree 100% with thelaxman. we need to see how we measure up against the better D1 teams. It is nice to get two wins to build confidence, which is something that was definitely lacking last year.

[TallyW]

I think you'd have to be living under a rock to not realize that our true tests are ahead... but in the meantime I think it's very healthy for this fanbase to celebrate these baby steps. Let's not be so eager to point to the sky falling. Lets celebrate each step along the way. This turnaround afterall will be a journey, not a sprint.

[SuperJon]

He even re-shaped the UVA male students' traditional dress of blue button-down, blue and orange tie, and khakis to that of a more - shall we say - normal undergraduate game day dress.

We've got a group that wears white shirts and red ties to games. It's their thing that they're pushing others to do.

[ATrain]

And I refuse to join them SJ...but if this somehow brings out more people, then more power to them. However, I will still wear my red t-shirt with khaki or camo shorts (even if its Novemeber and snowing, LOL).