[Cider Jim]

LU's mid-season report card very good, and very bad
By Chris Lang
Six games into the season, Liberty is probably exactly where most expected the Flames to be, sitting at 4-2 heading into the stretch run of Big South Conference games.

Not exactly Dean's List material, as Lang gave the team an A, B, C+, D+, & F. And some folks might even be screaming "grade inflation" on the grade he gave our running game.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2010 ... ar-562169/

[rogers3]

I think the report puts many fans thoughts into words. Can anybody explain the special teams play? This has always seemed to be one of our stronger aspects, but this year, things seem to be pretty bad- even our All-American candidate kicker has looked bad.

[BigAl57]

join the rest of us enquiring minds. i think even the coaches are puzzled by the performance of the special teams

[sheppard]

dont think the special teams is a F , a little tough on Bevins 5 50+ field goals 2 blocked , new long snapper , any way the whole special team could improve a lot but a F Come on lang and fans be real ( dont jump on band wagon when things turn around)

[Kolzilla41]

I would definitely give our ST an F. Block punt for TD. Blocked FG in JMU game. Missed extra point versus CSU. All very uncharacteristic problems this team has faced this year hence the F.

[Chris Lang]

sheppard ... based that grade on the amount of times Rocco has offered unsolicited post-game criticism of the unit, and the general unhappiness I can sense out of the coaching staff with the unit at practice. Had there been some success this year with the unit, you could argue for a higher rating and to say that the unit has been up and down. But it's nearly been all negative, save for a couple of decent Hayes punt returns. Still plenty of time to improve though, and I think it will today. Just a hunch.

[R i]

Lang, no way its an F.

To see a failing special teams, just go back to Karcher's Last year, and Rocco's first. That was some pathetic Kicking. What he have now is below average, but not Failing.

[olldflame]

It's not just the place kicking. I think Rocco messed that up early by having TOO MUCH confidence in Bevans (and not enough in his offense) and trying all those 50+ yarders. I think for a kicker, a miss is a miss, and missing those long kicks seems to have robbed Matt of his confidence on the shorter ones which were automatic last year.

It's blocked punts and kicks. It's missed tackles on coverage. It's muffed punts and an overall lack of explosiveness in our return game and it's weak punting. I may be the least negative person on this board, but I have to agree with Lang's grade for special teams.

Having said that, I know Bevans and Larson are both highly skilled, we have several athletes who have the capability of taking a punt or kickoff to the house, and enough team speed to cover kicks as well as anyone. We are underachieving, and need to step it up.

[flamehunter]

I agree with Lang completely. The Special Teams have not even measured up to the least of expectations I think we all ( and the coaches for that matter) had for them. Are they as bad as the Karcher teams, no. Are they as bad as a lot of other school's teams, no. But given the talent this team had returning and the expectations for them, they definitely deserve a failing grade. You have to grade them against their potential based on past performances and known abilities, not against other teams, past or present.

[Chris Lang]

R i: I wasn't grading just the kicking or the punting. The coverage teams have been off all year, and yes, I'm probably being a little more harsh because of how good the coverage teams have been historically under Rocco. I suppose I could see ticking the grade up to a D or D-, but not more than that. Special teams overall have been well below average this season, and the fact that Rocco brings it up without being asked after every game tells me something in that regard.

I think Bevins will get better. He has to. He has too much talent. He has a mental hurdle to overcome right now in terms of his accuracy. The leg strength is there. He just needs to string together two or three in a row in game situations and he'll be fine. I think there was some alarm last week because the FG he missed was not a long one, and because of the missed PAT.

[Kolzilla41]

One more thing I've noticed about Bevins is last year he always got the ball into the endzone. This year. It maybe goes to the 10 yd line. Does he have some sort of strain that is preventing him from getting it into the endzone? I've watched all 6 games and there has been maybe 2 touchbacks.

[LUnpretty11]

One more thing I've noticed about Bevins is last year he always got the ball into the endzone. This year. It maybe goes to the 10 yd line. Does he have some sort of strain that is preventing him from getting it into the endzone? I've watched all 6 games and there has been maybe 2 touchbacks.

That is not true. He's getting it down to the 5 or further every other kick. First kick against JMU he booted through the back of the endzone. He still has the capabilities, but sometimes a line drive kick deep isn't as good as a high shorter kick (5-10 yd line). He's fine in terms of kicking power.

[Kolzilla41]

I notated that he has hit a few into the endzone but if you look at his stats, he's had 4 touch backs this year versus 12 last year. Maybe the difficulties he's had this year just make it appear worse than it is. He is looking at an average of less than 1 per game versus more than 1 per game last year.

[LUnpretty11]

That makes sense, but you also have to take into consideration strategy. It probably isn't Rocco's intent to have a touchback every single kick. Sometimes your kick coverage can be good enough to pin the opposition inside the 20. Bevins still has the capabilities of booting through the back of the endzone, but it just might not be the intent of the coaching staff to accomplish that every time.

[LUnpretty11]

3 touchbacks so far today... I'd say he is still plenty capable of kicking the crap out of the ball.

[sheppard]

ST teams looked much better not bad for a F Larson,Bevins looked pretty good , keep it up and totheleft wheres the love after good game?