[Rooster Cogburn]

Man they have zero faith in their QB. If we slow down the run game and make them pass it could indeed be a great day!

[bsuforlife]

I think most want our current quaterback to do well but as of yet he really hasnt shown us much of anything. Like I said in the earlier post there might be a quaterback change mid game. If so the game is a toss up if the freshman is half as good as we have heard he is bsu might turn into a much tougher opponent.

[Chris Lang]

You guys are breaking the stats up so they don't look as bad. They had a RB get 5 yards a pop. That's not good. It's not like they were running reverses and draws.

Sorry, I'm agreeing with SJ here. Harbridge's first three carries went for 16, 5 and 38 yards. That's 19.6 yards per carry.

The rest of the game, his carries were: 4, 4, -1, 2, 0, 2, 2, 11, 3, 3, 2, 6, 1, -1, 10, 0, 1, 5, 10, 3, 6, 1, -1, 5.

So he had three plus runs after that first drive. St. Francis came out in an empty set -- a look they had not shown at any point on film -- then switched into a power-set on an audible. Liberty didn't have time to counter on that first play, and the safeties were way back in pass coverage, meaning Harbridge only had to get past the front seven to pick up a huge gain, which he did. Once the defense figured out the patterns, adjustments were made and the Flash were taken out of their preferred mode of offense.

Not to mention in college -- the only level where you play no inter-squad scrimmages or exhibitions -- the first quarter of the first game is notoriously sloppy all around. The greatest improvements you'll see in a team are from week 1 to week 2 because the athletes have gotten used to live action and gotten used to playing with each other. This is especially true for LU, which had very little live tackling in practice. It's hard to just turn that switch on after nine months away.

[LUaddict]

If anyone has been reading the Liberty Predivton thread the BSU fans have, they seem to be pretty afraid of the outcome of saturdays game. They are very nonconfrontational and very respectfukl from the comments that I have read. Should be a great game. I will be watching it online and checking the score on my Iphone from ESPN. I will be watching the my brother play at the Cal Poly and #1 ranked Montana on saturday.

[phoenix]

And we did control SFs offense after the initial flurry. It's about finding what works.

I think this one thing is what makes me so excited about the Ball State game -- we can adjust. When we see what isn't working, we change it. We've got a coaching staff that can adjust the gameplan on the fly. I think that kind of flexibility is what we're going to need Saturday, AND in the playoffs this year.

[LUnpretty11]

I will be watching the my brother play at the Cal Poly and #1 ranked Montana on saturday.

Best of luck to our brother.

[kuntryboimike]

TSN Predicts LU wins over Ball State:

NO. 19 LIBERTY (1-0) AT BALL STATE (1-0)

Kickoff: 7 p.m.

Series record: First meeting

What to know: Liberty quarterback Mike Brown was named the Big South Offensive Player of the Week for his hand in a 52-7 shellacking of St. Francis. Brown threw for career highs in yards (338) and touchdown passes (four).

Liberty will face a Ball State squad that defeated Southeast Missouri State, 27-10. Ball State relied heavily on the running attack, as sophomore quarterback Kelly Page completed just 10-of-17 passes for 85 yards and one interception.

If Liberty can control the line of scrimmage, Brown should again be able to take control of the game.

Prediction: Liberty, 25-20

[Rooster Cogburn]

2 things:

That is soo cool beyond words

I hope our players don't read it

[Keenan]

Let's not forget the fact that Liberty is a 7.5 point underdog in this game folks... However, we did cover the spread last year against WVU which I believe went off with us a 33 point underdog. Not that I would ever condone gambling...

[Cider Jim]

Our coach (parrish) has always been a pass first kinda guy but with page struggling and the fact that we have 3 really good backs our strength is deffinatley the run game.

I was a grad student and teaching assistant at Marshall in the mid-'80s when Stan Parrish was there. Quality guy, but I hope he gets out-coached on Saturday.

[01LUGrad]

I'm not going to take the time to register over at bsufans, but I'll say it here because I know a bunch of them are lurking. I am very impressed with you guys. You all stick to the football facts and don't take the usual cheap-shots that pretty much everyone else takes at us. I have a cousin who is a soph there and because of you fine folks, I'll go easy on the gloating if LU pulls it out on Saturday.

[kuntryboimike]

I'm not going to take the time to register over at bsufans, but I'll say it here because I know a bunch of them are lurking. I am very impressed with you guys. You all stick to the football facts and don't take the usual cheap-shots that pretty much everyone else takes at us. I have a cousin who is a soph there and because of you fine folks, I'll go easy on the gloating if LU pulls it out on Saturday.

Have to agree. Respect is by far one of, if not the most important things to me and these Ball St fans have tons of it. I actually did register about a week ago on bsufans.com but apparently I wasn't approved oh well. Can't wait for this great match up!

[bsuforlife]

We have lost to enough fcs schools not to take anyone lightly. We have been through alot being Ball State fans. We were a decent team, then we had the nations longest losing streak. After suffering through a long rebuilding process we go 12-0 and have a top ten national ranking. Then we lose our coach, our qb and our o line and follow up 12-0 with a 2 win season. So were rebuilding again plus Big Ten fans treat the mac like fbs schools treat fcs schools. So were kinda use too it. I hope you guys break through and knock off some bigger schools just not saturday

[Bigfoot4049]

Ball State fan here - coming over from BallStateInsider.com and OverThePylon.net.

I have been reading your posts here and thought I would add some perspective. First understand that the Mid American Conference shares a similar geographic footprint to the historically privileged Big 10 and has always been treated very poorly by the majority of their fans prior to our cross conference games - even after we beat them in their stadiums fairly frequently. Their alums are the same way in the workplace unfortunately. So to a great extent Ball State folks know what it is like to get no respect and are sensitive to it albeit we do have some zealots at a school as large as Ball State.
Secondly we have long memories and with recent losses to two schools in the FCS any reasonable fan would know not to take a solid and rising program like Liberty Univ. lightly!
To that end I guarantee the coaches and the players will be taking this game very serious and you will have had our full attention. So any notion your fans have of our team looking past yours or down on yours prior to our games at Purdue and Iowa is misguided.
Relative to the play of Kelly Page our QB I tend to disagree with some of the posters on this site and the BSUFans.com site relative to his ability. Yes Kelly has all the tools physically to play at this level and is a very smart guy in the classroom and is a student of the game. He did just fine last week and followed what Coach Parrish asked him too. He missed a couple of passes high and one wide open in the end zone which brought out the critics.
The running game was dominating the clock and Kelly was being limited by design. Keep in mind that Ball State's team in 2008 that went undefeated during the regular season and was ranked as high as 12th in the polls had four senior O-Linemen graduate and make it in the NFL. Kelly also had to follow QB Nate Davis footsteps (now also in the NFL with the 49ers) so expectations were and are high for his performance and folks I believe are way overly critical of him.
Last year Kelly was a redshirt freshman playing behind a very inexperienced O-Line that started 4 true or redshirt freshman. Needless to say Kelly got hammered and to a certain degree lost his confidence before breaking his thumb the 7th game and going out for the rest of the year.
This year is a new year and we still have a young O-Line that learned much last year - sort of baptism by fire - if you will. Those O - Lineman rededicated themselves in the off season and have improved immensely - they will only get better as the season goes on.
What excites me as a Ball State fan who has followed the Cardinals since my days as a student in the 1960's is the talent and depth at RB and in the receiving corps. We can use four RB's and virtually loose nothing. The avid LU fan should read first about MiQuale Lewis who is on the verge of being the all time leading rusher in our history. Right behind is Cory Sykes a total speedster who is followed by Williams and David Brown. We will use them all (sometime three on the field at the same time) and they are all good and we will keep fresh legs in the game.
I could honestly also say we have the most talented group of receivers I can remember - about 8 deep. Keep an eye on Orsbon, Ifft, Gibson, Fakes, Schneider and Otis Brown in particular - all talented.
So from my view offensively we will see a very different offensive play mix than what was used against SEMO. I would also tell you that Ball State definitely throttled back in the 4th Qtr. and could have easily added a couple more scores. Coach Parrish got a lot of folks game experience in that 4th Qtr.
Having said all that this is still a young Ball State team that has a lot of unrealized potential. Trying to look at things from the LU perspective let me just say this is the year to play us not 2011 and 2012. I think the key for your team will be your ability to pressure our QB and get some sacks especially early in an attempt to rattle Kelly Page. Stop the run and force us to pass in conjunction with a great pass rush will be key to your success.
Defensively we have some very good LB's and other than a couple other players on D that are tough and talented (NT Perry, Safety Baker and DE Eddins) we are nothing to write home about. So if your offense is tough and multi faceted you should be able to score points.
Last our special teams are our strength of this team and should make a decisive difference in a close game.
So all in all I am looking forward to this game and think it will be tight if LU is as good as I think you guys are - so GOOD LUCK Saturday and lets all hope for a well played and injury free game!

[Sly Fox]

I love havcing the BSU fans over hearing sharing perspective. You guys have earned a great deal of respect from our folks by the class you have shown. You guys are welcome around here anytime.

[Rooster Cogburn]

Thanks for the great break down and the info. You guys are great, but I still hope we go up there and beat your team.

[thepostman]

Its refreshing to have fans from a school we have never played before not bash on us for being a Christian school. Its so cheap and so easy to do that and for that alone I respect them...

With that said, even though I predict us losing in a close one..I hope they prove me incredibly wrong.

[Bigfoot4049]

Its refreshing to have fans from a school we have never played before not bash on us for being a Christian school. Its so cheap and so easy to do that and for that alone I respect them...

With that said, even though I predict us losing in a close one..I hope they prove me incredibly wrong.

Guys - keep in mind Ball State is a large residential university made up of midwestern and fairly conservative folks. Lots of folks with strong diverse religious convictions!

There are two outstanding Christian Universities very nearby whose students frequently come to Muncie and campus. Taylor University which is in nearby Upland, Indiana is just an outstanding school academically and as a whole. Only a few miles away in Marion, Indiana is Indiana Wesleyan.

Folks around here view Liberty as a special place where life's priorities are put in proper order,

[Sly Fox]

Taylor in particular is a likeminded school which is a great final option for many who choose to go to school at Liberty. Thanks for clarification for our fans ... many of whom are East Coasters and bring that baggage into their perspective.

[PAmedic]

You guys are breaking the stats up so they don't look as bad. They had a RB get 5 yards a pop. That's not good. It's not like they were running reverses and draws.

Sorry, I'm agreeing with SJ here. Harbridge's first three carries went for 16, 5 and 38 yards. That's 19.6 yards per carry.

The rest of the game, his carries were: 4, 4, -1, 2, 0, 2, 2, 11, 3, 3, 2, 6, 1, -1, 10, 0, 1, 5, 10, 3, 6, 1, -1, 5.

So he had three plus runs after that first drive. St. Francis came out in an empty set -- a look they had not shown at any point on film -- then switched into a power-set on an audible. Liberty didn't have time to counter on that first play, and the safeties were way back in pass coverage, meaning Harbridge only had to get past the front seven to pick up a huge gain, which he did. Once the defense figured out the patterns, adjustments were made and the Flash were taken out of their preferred mode of offense.

Not to mention in college -- the only level where you play no inter-squad scrimmages or exhibitions -- the first quarter of the first game is notoriously sloppy all around. The greatest improvements you'll see in a team are from week 1 to week 2 because the athletes have gotten used to live action and gotten used to playing with each other. This is especially true for LU, which had very little live tackling in practice. It's hard to just turn that switch on after nine months away.

I love you

[BJWilliams]

I kinda wish Ball State was FCS so we could get you guys here. You Ball State fans look like the kind of folks we could have over for dinner

[PAmedic]

Thanks for clarification for our fans ... many of whom are East Coasters and bring that baggage into their perspective.

can you see me waving at you?

(in a special way)

[SuperJon]

Chris said a lot of really good stuff here but it took up too much room so I deleted it.

I love you

What happened to me? Are you stepping out on me with Lang? I'm so (expletive) hurt.

[PAmedic]

Chris said a lot of really good stuff here but it took up too much room so I deleted it.

I love you

What happened to me? Are you stepping out on me with Lang? I'm so (expletive) hurt.

you're just so far away now...

long distance relationships rarely work out...

it's not you- really, it's me...

[SuperJon]

(Expletive) you! You (expletive) (expletive).