[jcmanson]

Great atmosphere last night! My only complaint on that is my season tickets are surrounded by senior citizens, and when I get up and yell they look at me funny!!! The Lloyds are right behind me though so it's all good.

As everyone else has already mentioned, the defense played great and Vince is just simply a beast. Special teams were good. The kicking game is improved you can already tell, but we can't let people block our kicks so much. On the punts, it seemed like they always got so close to blocking them every time. Kolegue did do a great job punting. Rashad will help the offense because that will allow Zach to get the ball much more on the wing. Brock just needs to be confident. We have seen that he has what it takes, it's just a matter of him doing it consistently. He and the receivers just seemed off. Hopefully it was just first game jitters.

[FlamingChick]

This was my first time at an LU game and it was a great atmosphere! I must say that I was very impressed by the energy and support of the student body. The students were pumped and looked awesome in their white shirts and red ties . I really hope that this type of enthusiasm from both the students and other fans continue throughout the season.

The defense looked really good! The ENTIRE "D" was SHARP considering that this was the first game. For a minute there, I thought they were going to outscore our offense...Vince Redd did a nice job in his LU debut as did his counterparts, Nick H. and Stevie Ray. The TC QB run up the middle a couple of times, and there were a couple of undefended short passes, but overall it was a good night to be on the flames defense.

I was not as impressed by the offense as the defense, but I think that Zach T. looked pretty good carrying the ball, as did Wes Cheek. Greenbaum also did a nice job on the kicking game. Had some good work from a couple of our receivers as well. Other than that, I think that the offense needs a lot of work over the next 2 weeks b/c they CAN NOT go to Williamsburg playing like they did last night. If so, that will be a LONG ride back to Lynchburg. I'm hoping that what we saw from the QB was just first game jitters and he snaps into it next week vs. Shippensburg. Definitely need to work on his passing accuracy and better decision making, as well as being able to throw on the run. A couple of times it also looked like there was a bit of miscommunication between the QB and Receivers, so something else for those guys to work on. BUT this was the first game, so we'll give our guys a break .

I think the Flames have the potential for a stellar season once we get the offense in gear. I have no doubts that Rocco will do just that.

[Sly Fox]

From Chris in the fishwrap ...

Despite lopsided win, LU coach sees room for improvement

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
September 2, 2007

Liberty could have easily reveled in its 38-14 season-opening victory over Tusculum Saturday night at Williams Stadium, but that's not really Danny Rocco's style.

Click Here for Full Story

[HenryGale]

Vince Redd was a freak last night. He was fun to watch. White shirts with ties looked great (especially some of the people wearing them )

Why was the band wearing Coastal Carolina colors?

[KaplanKrazies]

Where was Jennings?

[01LUGrad]

Rashad was suspended.

http://www.flamefans.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5646

By the way, what I meant about Rashad being needed to open up the offense was that he will allow Zach to do different things instead of being the primary RB. Rashad can run it down their throats and Zach can do all of the other crazy stuff he likes to do.

[Cider Jim]

Maybe this topic deserves its own thead & poll, but what player were you most impressed by last night?

For me, the answer is a no brainer--Vince Redd. His 6'6' presence on the field reminded me of Eric Green--but on the other side of scrimmage. Coach Sam once made the comment that it should be illegal to have Eric Green playing IAA; I pretty much feel the same about Vince Redd, after only one game.

Here was Lang's stats on Redd:
8 tackles
4 tackles for loss
2 QB sacks

And he sat about much of the 4th quarter.

[Rocketfan]

Vince Redd was a freak last night. He was fun to watch. White shirts with ties looked great (especially some of the people wearing them )

Why was the band wearing Coastal Carolina colors?

This was a complete joke and i hope barber addresses it with the band director.

[BJWilliams]

Id like to also say that I enjoyed meeting FR down on the field last night while I was pushing the new drum majors podium into place (Im not sure if that was during pregame or halftime when I met him though)

[SuperJon]

That doesn't even include the times where he threw backs who were trying to block him off to the side or the way he just changed the game.


Here's the thing I love about Vince Redd: he's a great kid. He has every reason in the world to close himself off, think he's too good for this, etc. However, after the game, he stood there signing autographs for every single kid that asked him for one until they were all gone, even before he went to talk to his friends.

[Fumblerooskies]

Id like to also say that I enjoyed meeting FR down on the field last night while I was pushing the new drum majors podium into place (Im not sure if that was during pregame or halftime when I met him though)

Pregame. Nice meeting you, too, BJ.

[jimflamesfan]

OK. If we're talking band then I'll talk. I'm normally a band apologist as well. The band was back for the 3rd quarter. They did leave about 5 minutes before the half, to get ready for halftime, which is about normal.

However, those 5 minutes seemed to last an eternity b/c of flags and no one being able to complete a pass...so it just SEEMED like they were gone for a long time, but they really weren't.

As far as the blue shirts under the uniforms - not real crazy about that - I'm guessing they were themed shirts that said "Rythms of the World" (the name of the show) or something...a lot of bands do that...but to make them teal/blue is a little weird, especially since Coastal is teal. Not crazy about it, but it doesn't bother me that much.

The thing that DOES BOTHER ME is the colorguard. Do we have a paid guard instructor on staff? LU definately needs one! They could teach dance classes or something in the music department to fill out a 40 hour week, because we need to have a full time person. I'm guessing that they don't from the looks of the colorguard. That's the thing that bother's me the most. The drill has looked great the last couple of years, and the music is great...but the colorguard execution is sloppy....that makes the whole band look bad.

All you really need is someone with dance/colorguard experience that has a college degree. They're are a lot of drum corps people out there...just get one willing to do the work as a guard instructor, have him/her work towards a free masters in education while here, and have them teach some dance classes in the music department in the spring semester so he/she could be full time...you wouldn't have to pay him/her that much (comparitively speaking...a lot of drum corps people would love to teach for not that much money, just because they love band stuff).

Please don't take this wrong...I love the band and I respect the work they do...and I like the guard...but if we're pointing out problems with the band, I think the guard is more of a problem than the color of uniforms. (That being said I respect the time they put into the band, and I respect them as people, and I know this was the first game, and I don't mean anything bad, and I love the colorguard and respect the work that they do....)

[01LUGrad]

Id like to also say that I enjoyed meeting FR down on the field last night while I was pushing the new drum majors podium into place (Im not sure if that was during pregame or halftime when I met him though)

HA! I thought that was you! Don't ask me how I knew, I just did.

[01LUGrad]

I won't bust on the band. I think they are making great improvements. The shirts are the wrong color, but that won't matter in a few weeks when it is too cool outside to take the jackets off during the game. Next year they should go with red though. But, whatever. I do wish they would allow the band to play more during timeouts instead of running "Who let the (Vick's) dog's out" over the PA. They have the numbers to actually make noise now...let them do it!

[Cider Jim]

Do we have a paid guard instructor on staff? LU definately needs one! They could teach dance classes...All you really need is someone with dance/colorguard experience that has a college degree.

'Sounds like a job for Prof. Linda Cooper. Does anybody have her on speed dial?

[SuperJon]

The thing that disappointed me about them is they barely played. It seems like they don't know any songs besides the Fight Song and Hey Baby. Learn some stand tunes. Watch a game on tv and look at how much the band plays.

[BJWilliams]

Do we have a paid guard instructor on staff? LU definately needs one! They could teach dance classes...All you really need is someone with dance/colorguard experience that has a college degree.

'Sounds like a job for Prof. Linda Cooper. Does anybody have her on speed dial?

Why speed dial? She is just across the fine arts hall from the band office

[BJWilliams]

The thing that disappointed me about them is they barely played. It seems like they don't know any songs besides the Fight Song and Hey Baby. Learn some stand tunes. Watch a game on tv and look at how much the band plays.

Really the thing was we did a lot of shorts last night (and last year too). Id like to see more full songs as time allows (especially now that we are on TV so there will be some longer timeouts)

[Fumblerooskies]

Give the band a little slack. Things in LU athletics have moved at such a break-neck pace over the past 18 months that the band will eventually catch-up. It'll just take time.

[BJWilliams]

One thing I do personally (and I know BrysonG and JDUB saw me do this) is when the sideline percussion and the field crew go to set everything up for field entry at halftime, I will walk along the front row of the student side and high five as many people as I can (Its easier to do when we play to the baptist side because we have to walk around the field to get to the gear)

[SuperJon]

Give the band a little slack. Things in LU athletics have moved at such a break-neck pace over the past 18 months that the band will eventually catch-up. It'll just take time.

My high school played 5x as much in the stands as our band does. I learned all of those song, learned pregame, and learned the show. If I can do it in high school, there's no reason our college band can't.

[Cider Jim]

Students are posting lots of football pics on Facebook. Apparently, a few guys dropped their shirts and painted on a white shirt and tie on themselves. Now that's creative!

Did any of you on the student side see any "painted shirts & ties"?

[SuperJon]

Right next to us and right behind us. Quite a few people did it.

[Schfourteenteen]

Our dorm was gonna do that but our ra's are well they didnt want us going "against what the announcements said, especially if were gonna look like manson"

[jimflamesfan]

I'm pretty sure the band can play a lot of songs. When I was in the Spirit of the Mountain, I think there were at least 15 stand tunes...they're just not being "unleashed" to play them. I would also rather hear the band than, "Who let the dog's out".

Also, we need to break the cheerleaders into two sections and have them at both 35 yard lines for the students side. From the Baptist side, we could see one section around the 35 yard line to our left trying to do one thing...and the cheerleaders at the other 35 yard line were having their section do something else & vice versa.

The section to the left tried to do the wave...but by the time it got past center, the rest of the people didn't do it (and the Baptist side - we'll I'm a member, and we just sit there).

To try and talk about the game...I liked the shirts and ties...but hope everyone goes to red next week...I don't want to see half white/half red, we don't know what we're doing.

I hope Brock and the receivers get everthing straight next week. I think that it will happen.