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 Touchdownmaker
Posts
#586926
Cider Jim wrote: October 27th, 2019, 6:58 am
Touchdownmaker wrote: October 26th, 2019, 9:38 pm we are decades away from the big time
With all due respect, define BIG TIME.

Are you talking about making bowl games every year Big Time, or being in the SEC and playing in Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl Big Time? :dontgetit
“Big Time” is subjective......top 25 nearly every year? Top 5 occasionally? Go to a New Years Day Bowl?
I will retract my decades statement, and change to “many years”.
We are meeting or even exceeding expectations, but I think we have a big hill to climb and it gets steeper the farther you climb.
By Touchdownmaker
Posts
#586927
tyndal23 wrote: October 26th, 2019, 11:49 pm
Touchdownmaker wrote: October 26th, 2019, 9:38 pm We were exposed for what we are.....a lower tier FBS team.....could not hang with arguably the worst P5 team in America.
We have to remember this is our first true year of FBS. We would be a top 5 FCS program.... but we are not ready for serious P5 competition....not even close.
Keep the course..... but, we are decades away from the big time......Ian knows this, and so does Hugh Freeze.
I give Hugh one more year......he’s gone as soon as somebody comes knocking....but he’s good for our program as long as we can keep him.
So it’s going to take decades to find a couple of d tackles and build up FBS roster depth? I agree that it will take decades if we follow that logic
Decades was stated out of my own frustration....but, it did take nearly 50 years to get to here? We needed a few D tackles and depth to beat an awful Rutgers.....what do we need to beat a top 10 team?
We are getting there....just being realistic.
By willflop
Posts
#586929
I broke it down in the game thread, but we scored on 6/9 possessions, 67% (excluding when they punted to us with 16 seconds left in first half). If you don't count the special teams fumble, we were 75% on 8 actual offensive series. This is only worse than Michigan, ties Minnesota, and was more efficient than the other 4 BIG teams and UMASS. Calvert didn't have his best game completion percentage wise, either.

There's always coach speak, but I think we all agree that Freeze has less than the previous staff. When he says our defense is thin and RU has a B10 OL, I think he means it..at least relative to Liberty. Just like the UL game, we were missing two key players, one of which was Benton, and they gashed us on the run. This week, we were missing Tillmon and some others, and had people playing with injuries. Who knows the net impact of one missing player, but if it was just a matter of locking up stops on two of the 3rd and longs they converted, that changes the entire game. We have no margin of error in being healthy on defense, and even then you could point out how we are starting at least 3 true freshman and the FCS level recruits.

Stars may not matter in isolation, but in the aggregate they are accurate guides. We aren't even in the same ballpark when you compare composite scores on 247.

Additionally, it wasn't that RU had not won a game recently, they had hardly scored. I think once they scored, and then threw a TD, they smelled blood in the water and were invigorated. The mentally defeated team issue, that was supposed to work in our favor, worked against us. They seemed energized to beat us.
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By jinxy
Registration Days Posts
#586930
Talent is the talent. Thought our scheme on d was poor and slow to adjust. Its just one week. Every matchup is different. Every week is different.
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By alabama24
Registration Days Posts
#586937
Two thoughts:

1) I am amazed at how many saw something in the team that would lead to a “W” against Rutgers.

2) Our team has shown good improvement, but we are still towards the bottom. Hopefully next year we will be better still. It is ok to know that we are not very good but realize we are headed in the right direction. No reason to jump ship.
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By TH Spangler
Registration Days Posts
#586938
alabama24 wrote: October 27th, 2019, 3:12 pm Two thoughts:

1) I am amazed at how many saw something in the team that would lead to a “W” against Rutgers.

2) Our team has shown good improvement, but we are still towards the bottom. Hopefully next year we will be better still. It is ok to know that we are not very good but realize we are headed in the right direction. No reason to jump ship.
A FBS team 1 or 2 years ahead us just busted the top 20 in the coaches poll.
By PAFlame
Posts
#586939
Purple Haize wrote: October 26th, 2019, 8:12 pm Rutgers May be the worst B1G team
Syracuse May be the worst ACC team
Both teams handled LU pretty easily
Can we please stop with the P5 talk now for awhile? LU is certainly not the worst FBS team, which is a good thing. But they aren’t a competitive P5 team either
LU isn’t even bad, but we sure aren’t great or even good by FBS standards at this point. I’d have a hard time believing the team right now could compete for the top of the worst G5 conferences.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#586941
Dalegarz1 wrote: October 27th, 2019, 4:59 am RU was constantly ahead of the chains and dominated the line of scrimmage. They killed us all day with the QB runs. It definitely demonstrated how difficult it is to defend the read option when your QB is an effective runner. (Malik next year)
As far as PH saying "Jersey sucks"- consider the source.
I’m glad you agree with me. I’m a great source reference
Even news organizations agree with me
https://abc7ny.com/society/9-nj-cities- ... s/5595210/

https://www.nj.com/essex/2018/09/get_of ... r_cit.html
Last edited by Purple Haize on October 27th, 2019, 6:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Jonathan Carone
Posts
#586951
In logistics of a move up App might only be a couple years ahead.

In pedigree, program, recruiting base, depth, and fan base they are a solid 10-15 years ahead if not more.
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By TH Spangler
Registration Days Posts
#586952
Jonathan Carone wrote: October 27th, 2019, 7:19 pm In logistics of a move up App might only be a couple years ahead.

In pedigree, program, recruiting base, depth, and fan base they are a solid 10-15 years ahead if not more.
I don't think so. HF said he is pleasantly surprised how he's able to recruit at Liberty. App's attendance is like ours. Our facilities are better. We beat them in Boone last time we played them. We are scheduling more P5's.
By rogers3
Registration Days Posts
#586953
Jonathan Carone wrote: October 27th, 2019, 7:19 pm In logistics of a move up App might only be a couple years ahead.

In pedigree, program, recruiting base, depth, and fan base they are a solid 10-15 years ahead if not more.
True- Appy was competing at a G5 level for a while as an FCS team. We did win at their place as they transitioned and that should be a reminder that transition years don't indicate future success.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#586960
Jonathan Carone wrote: October 27th, 2019, 7:19 pm In logistics of a move up App might only be a couple years ahead.

In pedigree, program, recruiting base, depth, and fan base they are a solid 10-15 years ahead if not more.
Appy St is also currently a Top 25 team. LU can’t beat bottom feeding P5 teams
By Touchdownmaker
Posts
#586961
alabama24 wrote: October 27th, 2019, 7:57 pm
TH Spangler wrote: October 27th, 2019, 4:04 pm A FBS team 1 or 2 years ahead us just busted the top 20 in the coaches poll.
So? What does that have to do with OUR team?
They may only be a few years ahead of us in FBS, but their program started in 1928......hardly “busted” into the top 20!
We are doing amazing, just know it takes time.
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By thepostman
Registration Days Posts
#586965
Hugh Freeze may speed up the process a little bit but if you can't see how far ahead App State is compared to us on the field, i don't know what to tell you.
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By Jonathan Carone
Posts
#586968
thepostman wrote: October 27th, 2019, 8:44 pm Hugh Freeze may speed up the process a little bit but if you can't see how far ahead App State is compared to us on the field, i don't know what to tell you.
It's not just on the field either. It's across the board. Their fan support is amazing. They're averaging almost 27,000 per game in a location that is more than an hour away from the majority of their fans in a state with six other FBS programs.
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By TH Spangler
Registration Days Posts
#586977
tyndal23 wrote: October 27th, 2019, 11:32 pm Hmmmm. I wonder what path we could take as an Independent to separate us from App State...
:dontgetit Maybe hire the best coaches. Build the best facilities. Gradually schedule more P5 games than App. Ink a bunch of bowl tie-ins. Get basketball and baseball into postseason tournaments. Create a top notch sports network.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#586981
TH Spangler wrote: October 28th, 2019, 6:10 am
tyndal23 wrote: October 27th, 2019, 11:32 pm Hmmmm. I wonder what path we could take as an Independent to separate us from App State...
:dontgetit Maybe hire the best coaches. Build the best facilities. Gradually schedule more P5 games than App. Ink a bunch of bowl tie-ins. Get basketball and baseball into postseason tournaments. Create a top notch sports network.
Scheduling P5’s and beating P5’s are two different things
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