[ToTheLeft]

8-3 (5-1)

Conference Champs

No Playoffs

I said this in the Spring. A lot of people shared this sentiment, or something similar. And honestly, like basketball last and sorta this year, we may have gotten a little overly excited about the guys on the team, and early season results.

We return a ton of talent. We may gain a transfer or two. We lose a lot of guys who already have backups in place who played or started this year. We have CSU, GW, and SBU at home next year, who are all our biggest threats.

We won the Big South, 3 in a row. We are set up well for the future. As long as Rocco stays, and the young guys continue to step up, we'll be just fine.

But bring your thoughts about the SEASON (*not just the SBU game*) and next season. Ball State is only months away!

[BJWilliams]

This has been a very up and down season. The offense certainly is there as we have shown at time. but what is lacking is cosistency. The biggest liability that we have is on the defense and special teams. we gave up big plays in the return game and as today showed we have problems against very good running teams. That is something that will have to be addressed for next year.

[rueful]

I think our defense was our biggest area of concern all year. We gave up a lot of big plays, hoping the secondary gets better between now and then.

[Sivart]

So what kind of schedule do we have next year? I would move over to Basketball, but that's a loss... Man I can not wait to Baseball...

[coastalfan1]

ccu owns baseball so thats a lot as well

[bigsmooth]

this is what we have so far. from Lang's comments on another thread, the NCCU game may not happen. so i guess this leave us with one game to fill the schedule it it's an eleven game schedule. correct away if im wrong.

Ball State: Away
JMU: Home
NCCU: Home
St Francis: Home
CCU: Away
G-W: Home
SBU: Home
VMI: Away
CSU: Home
PC: Away

[ToTheLeft]

We will probably need to add two games to the schedule. We need to add at least one.

[SuperJon]

As of now, JMU is at JMU.

[LUaddict]

I am really bummed that LU did not win the Big South Championship outright. I feel that Stony Brook played their heart and obviously wanted it more than we did and now we share it. BLAH! It leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I say it. I agree with some of you guys there is just enough consistency on defense and we just game up to many big plays. Seems like there were a lot of mental mistakes on on both sides of the ball. We never could get our running game going with AA. There is one thing that we can walk away from this experience is just take it as learning experience and don't make stupid mistakes. Like just putting up three points instead of going for it on first down and going for a two point conversion when just going for the PAT all these things and other mistakes were the death of us as well as Stony Brook playing their heart.
Welcome to the off season and at least we have a stadium being built on our campus. We may be able to recruit new young talent to replace those that members of the most winningest class in LU history. We have a lot to look forward to. We have a lot to play for and we have to put motivation and action behind so we may be able to achieve it like Rocco has said before this game. This next season helps to give some maturity to this young team that we have. Hopefully we can muster up some motivation and get the autobid for the big south and make it to the playoffs.

LUaddict

[jcmanson]

After having the night and morning to decompress, I can say I'm proud of what we accomplished this year. We have continued to raise the bar; sure sometimes as fans we think we should rise faster than we have. But we've gone from 1-10 and an after thought to having 8+ wins in 3 years. That's pretty good. Someone sitting in front of me at the game yesterday said "you know you've come a long ways as a program when the other team's fans rush the field when they beat Liberty." You couldn't have said that 3 years ago, you couldn't have said that a year and a half ago. This is 2 years in a row where we've been mentioned as one of the few teams remaining with a chance for a playoff bid going into the last game.

As fans we get so emotional and caught up in each individual game that we fail to see the big picture. I'm as guilty of this as any out there. Let's hope that loss yesterday inspires our team and coaches to work their arse off this offseason to ensure we win the conference outright next season and get our first ever playoff bid.

Liberty Flames, congrats on a terrific 2009 season and for continuing to raise the bar on our program!

[olldflame]

After having the night and morning to decompress, I can say I'm proud of what we accomplished this year. We have continued to raise the bar; sure sometimes as fans we think we should rise faster than we have. But we've gone from 1-10 and an after thought to having 8+ wins in 3 years. That's pretty good. Someone sitting in front of me at the game yesterday said "you know you've come a long ways as a program when the other team's fans rush the field when they beat Liberty." You couldn't have said that 3 years ago, you couldn't have said that a year and a half ago. This is 2 years in a row where we've been mentioned as one of the few teams remaining with a chance for a playoff bid going into the last game.

As fans we get so emotional and caught up in each individual game that we fail to see the big picture. I'm as guilty of this as any out there. Let's hope that loss yesterday inspires our team and coaches to work their arse off this offseason to ensure we win the conference outright next season and get our first ever playoff bid.

Liberty Flames, congrats on a terrific 2009 season and for continuing to raise the bar on our program!

Well said manson.

[BJWilliams]

Seeing as I came in with manson I share a lot of the same sentiments about this team. 2005 was probably the lowest we had been as a program. I went to the season finale that year in Norfolk (since it was not far from my house) and I was embarrassed to say I went to Liberty at that game. fast forward to now, we have won 8 or more games 3 of Danny Rocco's 4 years, won back to back outright conference titles, scored more points, and beaten two ranked teams in one season (2008). In this season of thanksgiving we certainly have plenty to be thankful for this year and in the years to come. Im circling September 4 on my 2010 calendar and Im looking forward to being in Williams Stadium painted up and ready to cheer the Flames on to even better things.

[Stevev]

After watching LU play 3 conference games on TV and watching the JMU game in person I believe there is a big disparity in the talent level for JMU vs what I see in the Big South teams. Here is what I see for next year.

1. The area I think that we need to improve in the most to get to the next level is improvement on the offensive line. Sure we can push Big South defenses around but when it comes to matching up against the JMU's of the world this is where we fall short. Bill Gillespie can only do so much to bulk these guys up for game time but we need more talent up there if we are to compete against the elite of 1AA. We are losing 3 starters from this year but all three were Ken Karcher's recruits which can be seen as a positive. We could certainly use some 1A transfers and an influx of solid recruits here.

2. Our skill position player are young and talented. Brown, Summers, Alllen, Holloway, and for next year Cory Davis and Chase Barnett all have potential and are all underclassmen. We should be okay for next year and years to come.

3. For the defense I am not sure where to start. Our defensive line should be okay. We lose Jacobs but Adams should more than cover for him. For Linebacker and seconard positions we have plenty of freshmen and sophomores with some upside to compete for starting postions when the seniors graduate. No need for a complete overhaul but need to bring up what we have. More of a need to change philosophies and strategies rather than a change in personnel.

4. Schedule upgrade - With the Big South getting the auto bid we need to play more teams in IAA power conference such as the Colonial or Southern to prepare us for the playoffs. North Carolina Central and WV Westlyn are not going to cut it.

[PAmedic]

posted this in the other thread but after reading some of the comments above, it seems appropriate here:

Finally a chance for me to mouth off.

Thx to SJ for the text updates all afternoon- I was tied up at a family function where I had to sit quietly, and went back and forth- from nauseous to elated- every time I got the scores.

I really thought Danny would work his "halftime magic" in the locker room, but it was not to be. Again, I didn't see or hear ANY of the game, but could tell from the rapid score changes that our "D" was just getting hammered.

Our secondary has made me nervous for the last 3 years, even with the great #24 back there, so thats really nothing out of the ordinary. We do tend to give up yardage- and the better teams always seem to be able to gameplan us. Usually the coaching staff has an answer, but it seems every year we have a game like this.

All that said, congrats to the seniors and thanks for 4 great years. I remember a season not too long ago where UConn smoked us 59-zip and we won all of 1 game all year (vs. a DII). There are a couple thousand kids at LU who have NEVER SAT THRU A LOSING SEASON! For us oldhags, that's an amazing thought. You just can't say enough about what Coach Rocco has done for the culture of FB here at LU. To go into every game EXPECTING to win is just incredible. To go into each season EXPECTING to compete for, if not WIN, a league title, is more so.

This Thursday: add this guy to your "I'm Thankful For..." list

[Rooster Cogburn]

But his hat is backwards!

Question: Starting with the conference auto bid next year, who gets the bid if it ends in another lame shared championship?

[olldflame]

But his hat is backwards!

Question: Starting with the conference auto bid next year, who gets the bid if it ends in another lame shared championship?

There would have to be a tiebreaker. Since all conference teams play each other every year, it would seem that all they need is the winner of the head to head. Of course, that may make too much sense for KK.

[jcmanson]

You would have to have a tie breaker rule for a 3 way tie just in case 3 teams ended up tied with 2 losses.

[olldflame]

You would have to have a tie breaker rule for a 3 way tie just in case 3 teams ended up tied with 2 losses.

True. Hadn't thought about a 3 way tie.

[WinthropEagleFan]

But his hat is backwards!

Question: Starting with the conference auto bid next year, who gets the bid if it ends in another lame shared championship?

There would have to be a tiebreaker. Since all conference teams play each other every year, it would seem that all they need is the winner of the head to head. Of course, that may make too much sense for KK.

The Big South's website has the league's 06-07 policy manual available online (not sure why they don't have any more recent versions online). Even back then, they had addressed the automatic football bid and how ties will be broken. For two teams, it will be head-to-head (and they even broke it down further in case a scenario comes up in the future where everyone doesn't play everyone else...it'll be like the other sports where you start at the top of the standings and move down the list and compare how the tied teams did against each team...if that doesn't break the tie, then it moves to points allowed in conference games, then sagarin rating). Of course this procedure could've been amended in future years, but I don't see why it would've been changed...

It's on Page 63 of the manual found here:
http://www.bigsouthsports.com/viewartic ... LID=563221

[Sly Fox]

You would have to have a tie breaker rule for a 3 way tie just in case 3 teams ended up tied with 2 losses.

True. Hadn't thought about a 3 way tie.

You guys really know how to make a Monday morning even more unpleasant for as Texan.

[firsttimecaller]

First time caller, long time listener here. Here's a few thoughts I had yesterday and just thought I'd share them...

We are the Big South Champions! Any thought that it doesn't count or doesn't mean anything is arrogant, selfish, self-serving, and self-pitying! We will fly that flag high and proud!!

Four years ago, a Co-Championship was the stuff dreams were made of! I am delighted that we are unsatisfied as it shows just how far we've come.

Just as the 6-5 2006 season was a foundation for the next step, so this season is for our next step onto National Prominence. A young team that had significant contribution from Fresh, Soph, and Juniors, and who have leanred that a co-Championship is not enough.

The season showed we have a great coaching staff who used their experience and led a team that had no clear leader to a conference championship.

We are still the best team in the league. To win a championship game you don't have to be the best team in the league, just the best team on the day. SBU spent 2 full weeks preparing for us and had to play the best game in school history just to squeek past us by 3 points.

We are preparing for a bigger day. One day soon we will lift a National Championship in front of 30,000 people at Williams Stadium, and we'll look back at November 21, 2009 as a crucial day in the history/journey of LU Football.

GO FLAMES!!

[jcmanson]

I love your optimism Good post.

Seeing Mike Brown walking off the field crying, I can't help but think he (and the rest of the team) will come back next year with a chip on their shoulder. And if we were going to lose one, I'd much rather lose it this year than the next 2 years.

[firsttimecaller]

P.S.

Was anyone else confused/ticked off at Chris Lang's "No Title" headline on Sunday? Co-Champs is not the title we wanted, but a title nontheless!!

[BJWilliams]

We have an offense that when its clicking can drop 50 points virtually on command and when you have the kind of motivation these guys have after losing on Saturday, we could be looking at a lot of those kind of games next year (especially with SBU, CSU and G-W coming to the bigger Williams Stadium next fall)

[olldflame]

While I was not in the stadium at the time (headed back to the bus to get things organized for the trip back) from what I heard over the PA, KK presented the championship trophy to Stony Brook. No mention of a co-championship that I know of, although we all know that is the case.