[thepostman]

Liberty loses 24-0

Not exactly what we wanted but the defense looks much improved which is good to see.

[FLAMEfromBAMA]

I can firmly say the most disappointing thing to me tonight was the attendance. Obviously I want our O to perform better and for us to take advantage of a few opportunities and so on, but having so many recruits on campus I genuinely would’ve liked a sell out which I thought was more realistic than winning the game.

[thepostman]

It is insane that we didn't sell the place out. I figured we'd at least come close. To draw more fans for Montana and Charleston Southern than we did for a 22nd ranked team from the ACC is extremely disappointing to say the least.

I expected us to lose. I didn't expect such a crappy showing.

[gerb]

Glad we didn’t build out the horseshoe. Stadium is the right size at this stage.

Bennett looked good but he didn’t get sacked 8 times prior to mess with his confidence. That might be the best defense we ever see. They had guys behind our o-line in no time. Curious to see how Buck handles things moving forward. If he continues to get rattled, will Bennet share reps?

[Jonathan Carone]

So let’s clear things up:

1) We didn’t actually have more people there for Montana and CSU. Those numbers were inflated.

2) This was our largest actual crowd ever but it’s still massively disappointing we didn’t sell out this game.

[thepostman]

Quick notes from Manson

https://www.aseaofred.com/quick-hit-notes-syracuse/

[thepostman]

So let’s clear things up:

1) We didn’t actually have more people there for Montana and CSU. Those numbers were inflated.

2) It’s still massively disappointing we didn’t sell out this game.

That is a great point. I keep forgetting about how much those numbers were inflated back in those days.

Still disappointing but good perspective.

[ballcoach15]

Syracuse did not bring many fans, considering size of school, and a ranked team.

Our defense played well enough to win, if offense had put some points on board.

We had too many turn overs.

I feel that Bennett should have entered game in 3rd quarter after first turnover in the quarter.

We had no running game.

[FlamesHighontheTide]

Even though we didn't sell out or even eclipse 22,000 (which is what I was hoping for) I still think we break the overall attendance record for the year with our 5 remaining home games. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a similar number for homecoming as that is normally our biggest draw.

It easily should've been 24-10 at the worst, but it was 24-0. I loved how our D never gave up even when it seemed like they were gassed at a few points. It goes without saying with this group, but I for one was so excited to see how well we tackled with great fundamentals and how we ran to the ball.

Side note: There were only 2 games last year(FBS teams only) where we gave up less total yards than tonight and both of those were at home and wins (ODU and Troy games) and Syracuse would smack both of them.

[Purple Haize]

- Got to meet a couple of SoR folks today
- I will echo the shock at not selling out. It does not bode well for the future. No reason not to. Too 25 opponent. Veteran home team with a supposed high power offense. New big name coach. Tons spent on advertising. But still can’t sell the place out. HOWEVER super kudos to the students. That section was packed till the end. That was a good sign
- Concessions are an absolute joke. Long slow lines and running out of food.
- Defense apparently learned how to tackle
- Not sure why you wouldn’t put Bennett in to start the 4th. Had you been down 17 it might have given you a shot in the arm. Cause the offense needed something. Being down 24 it would have given him some game speed snaps under the lights. But I’m not getting paid millions to make those decisions
- Javon Scruggs is a difference maker on defense. I noticed they kept going away from him
- Buckshot looked like he was confused out there. Seemed. Like the team would zig and he would zag.
- too tired to type names but 11 17 and 7 are the best receivers. Buckshot needs to channel his inner Obama and spread the wealth around

[Logic]

I am shocked by the attendance and stand corrected from the prediction thread. I am at a loss. Top-25 program and first ever P5 visiting Williams and we draw 21k? Inflated numbers or not, we should have had a lot more for this game.

[Purple Haize]

Side not Did anyone notice the medical helicopter take off and do a fly by late in the 4th? We were joking Freeze had enough and they were taking him back to the hospital

[Chippy]

I am shocked by the attendance and stand corrected from the prediction thread. I am at a loss. Top-25 program and first ever P5 visiting Williams and we draw 21k? Inflated numbers or not, we should have had a lot more for this game.

I wonder if the cost of tickets kept some folks away ($40-$45)? Hard to bring a family . . . didn't seem to be as many kids as I'm use to seeing.

[ballcoach15]

If we had played a P5 school that was closer to Lynchburg than Syracuse, I think attendance would have been a lot better. Syracuse doesn't travel well, and there are very few Syracuse fans in the area.

[thepostman]

Cost is a good point, especially when people are use to discounted tickets. Maybe that went a little too high? I don't know though, the prices were still low for FBS standards.

[LUOrange]

The biggest difference to me was not really having Coach Freeze. The game would've been much different if he didn't get sick and was on the sidelines. The game also would've been much different had he at least been able to sit in the coach's box and actually watch the game, head set and all. That said and more importantly, I pray he's getting better and that his condition isn't worse than is being advertised.

Also, had our skil players not been so sloppy on our first 2-3 drives, and we put at least 10 points on the board, we have a different game. But Babers was able to make the adjustments with his defense before we could gain any momentum and confidence. Obviously, with their D-line rattling Buckshot and shutting our our running game. That was what our offense was lacking with Freeze in a hospital bed. AGG looked awesome, and I was very impressed with our D, who just naturally wore down. But their performance against the #22 Team was great.

I also thought Bennett looked smooth and confident in his lone series. It kind of reminded me of our series opener 4 years ago against Tech, where the team looked so much better with Buckshot than Masha. However, 8 sacks would rattle most QB's.

As far as attendance goes, I think that LU should abandon the reserved GA seat for a little while. It appears to me that since they implemented the reserved seating for GA tickets that attendance, especially on the Baptist side, has dropped off. I, also think that jacking the ticket prices against Suracuse was a big mistake. I think we need to be building brand loyalty, and we do that by putting butts in the seats. I just think that even with us being FBS, local fans are not ready to pay ACC prices for LU games yet. Even for my Orangemen, I don't think locals were willing to pay extra to watch what many believed was going to be a SU beatdown of LU. In hindsight, I think we blew a chance to have a great crowd in a decent game (despite the score) which may have helped encourage people to return. We don't have a marquee home game until 2022 with BYU and Tech, so we need to focus on selling our brand. On top of that we need to try and drop 1 or both of our FCS opponents the next 2 years. People still perceive us FCS, and we need to try and distance ourselves from that perception as much as possibly Hopefully, we can drop 1 of those games for UCONN the next couple of years. But once we've had a few years of winning and winning bowl games, I think we could relook at reserved GA seats and higher ticket prices.

[ballcoach15]

We should only play 1 FCS school: Hampton, or some other HBCU and have them bring their band.

[gerb]

Why are we (LU Athletics) not live streaming post game pressers? Had to watch it sideways from a periscope stream from aseaofred (which is better than nothing). Syracuse has theirs out and they’re on the road. Media production FBS ready?

[Class of 20Something]

Uhh our defense held them to 24 points and under 400 yards.

Syracuse is not going to have a good season. They're not going to do well against ACC teams.

[LUAlum1215]

Side not Did anyone notice the medical helicopter take off and do a fly by late in the 4th? We were joking Freeze had enough and they were taking him back to the hospital

Wasn’t a medical helicopter. That was JLFJR. Came in around 520, landed on the soccer field, and left at the start of the 4th.

[thepostman]

Why are we (LU Athletics) not live streaming post game pressers? Had to watch it sideways from a periscope stream from aseaofred (which is better than nothing). Syracuse has theirs out and they’re on the road. Media production FBS ready?

I think it was on Facebook live on the athletics Facebook page.

Side not Did anyone notice the medical helicopter take off and do a fly by late in the 4th? We were joking Freeze had enough and they were taking him back to the hospital

Wasn’t a medical helicopter. That was JLFJR. Came in around 520, landed on the soccer field, and left at the start of the 4th.

That's the kind of support from the top I like to see!!

[Purple Haize]

Side not Did anyone notice the medical helicopter take off and do a fly by late in the 4th? We were joking Freeze had enough and they were taking him back to the hospital

Wasn’t a medical helicopter. That was JLFJR. Came in around 520, landed on the soccer field, and left at the start of the 4th.

Interesting choice of conveyance

[CCWMichael]

Leaving 10 points on the field early......... at least 6.
Once their pro D front (ends especially) got going it was tough sledding.
I hope we look better later in the year with UVA, BYU, and the likes.

[LU 57]

Buckshot’s QBR was 9.2.

[jinxy]

Not having freeze last couple weeks hurt and prices are too high too quick. Still the crowd was awesome and easily the most people weve had. I think until we start winning and making bowls 22k is not bad honestly. As others have said syracuse didnt bring as many as we might have thought. Maybe 1000? There was one cluster in upper student side and rest were spread out. Concessions were an atrocity and so was trying to get into purple parking lots. They have too many areas sealed off too early. I was there at 3 and our entire 20 person group had trouble getting in.

Game wise

I came away super impressed with the defense. Given the tempo pedigree and returning talent i thought the defense gets an A minus tonight. We got hurt in the screen game and had a couple penalties that were killers but man they held their own and then some

Special teams was also much improved. Still some work to do there though. Stubbs scares me to death on punts and probert has to be more consistent but kick coverage and punts were much better


Offense - dont even know where to start but outside AGG its hard to find any positives. We really need yarborough and frith back asap. We have no size on the outside and nobody won on the outside but Agg consistently. Buckshot and the line both were dreadful. You knew the line would have its hands full so you hoped buck would step up. Hes just a 1 read qb and really misdiagnosed the rpo several times. It seems like he does the opposite of what he needs to do in the pocket. I thought he would show improvement this year but not tonight. Macks fumble was a killer and rbs as a whole struggled both running and blocking.

With lack of size outside we need more from tight ends like huntley and barrett and the rbs. Buck has to get them the ball too though.