Anything and everything about Liberty Flames football. Your comments on games, recruiting and the direction of the program as we move into new era.

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By jbock13
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#664020
It just amazes me how awful our team plays and some of you just want to constantly blame the refs for it. As Coach would say, Liberty was beating Liberty last night. We got lucky.
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By prototype
Registration Days Posts
#664021
jbock13 wrote: October 9th, 2024, 2:57 pm It just amazes me how awful our team plays and some of you just want to constantly blame the refs for it. As Coach would say, Liberty was beating Liberty last night. We got lucky.
I didn't say we played well last night, or blamed the refs for us barely winning... I was simply commenting how bad the refs were last night. They made the game harder, that's for sure, but they didn't fumble, they didn't overthrow anyone, they didn't blow coverage, etc...

Did you agree with all calls last night?
By ballah09
Registration Days Posts
#664022
prototype wrote: October 9th, 2024, 7:34 am
ballah09 wrote: October 8th, 2024, 10:37 pm I haven’t seen any improvements. The penalties, defense not adjusting, play calling and KSalt over throwing his WRs.
I get that we haven't been perfect, but we are 5-0. And before you say that's easy, because we haven't played anyone good - there are a only few undefeated teams left and many teams with a lose or two that didn't have the hardest schedule either. It's hard to win all your games. And maybe... Conference USA is getting better and some of these teams aren't as bad as everyone thought they would be. FIU didn't look terrible to me - they had some pretty good athletes on both sides of the ball.

They played on 17 days rest - yes Salter overthrew 2 balls (that I can remember) - OK... He also ran for 2 TDs and did a pretty good job managing game last night.

Penalties... They get a pass last night - the refs were awful... Many of those calls were completely wrong and we had 9 called against us and only 3 against them, when there were many times you could clearly see FIU holding, and their coach should have been hit with a flag at least twice for running on field and getting in refs face for over a minute each time. That blindside hit was one of the worst calls I have seen all year.
We struggled against easily the worst teams. FIU and UTEP all have an FCS loss. NMSU only has one win and ECU just lost to Charlotte by 31 same with Campbell to NCCU. Yes the top half of the CUSA improved but we haven’t faced them yet and at this rate, SHSU and WKU are going to beat our jerk like a drum. Jamey said since week one he’s going to fix the discipline and cut down on the penalties, and it’s not working.
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By aredd33
Registration Days Posts
#664023
ballah09 wrote: October 9th, 2024, 3:24 pm
prototype wrote: October 9th, 2024, 7:34 am
ballah09 wrote: October 8th, 2024, 10:37 pm I haven’t seen any improvements. The penalties, defense not adjusting, play calling and KSalt over throwing his WRs.
I get that we haven't been perfect, but we are 5-0. And before you say that's easy, because we haven't played anyone good - there are a only few undefeated teams left and many teams with a lose or two that didn't have the hardest schedule either. It's hard to win all your games. And maybe... Conference USA is getting better and some of these teams aren't as bad as everyone thought they would be. FIU didn't look terrible to me - they had some pretty good athletes on both sides of the ball.

They played on 17 days rest - yes Salter overthrew 2 balls (that I can remember) - OK... He also ran for 2 TDs and did a pretty good job managing game last night.

Penalties... They get a pass last night - the refs were awful... Many of those calls were completely wrong and we had 9 called against us and only 3 against them, when there were many times you could clearly see FIU holding, and their coach should have been hit with a flag at least twice for running on field and getting in refs face for over a minute each time. That blindside hit was one of the worst calls I have seen all year.
We struggled against easily the worst teams. FIU and UTEP all have an FCS loss. NMSU only has one win and ECU just lost to Charlotte by 31 same with Campbell to NCCU. Yes the top half of the CUSA improved but we haven’t faced them yet and at this rate, SHSU and WKU are going to beat our jerk like a drum. Jamey said since week one he’s going to fix the discipline and cut down on the penalties, and it’s not working.
Don’t forget that one NMSU win is an FCS game. As of right now I’m not sure we can beat JSU, SHSU, or WKU. I’m sure we’ll improve as I don’t think the long lay-off we just had or the one coming up will help matters but I’m hoping once we get back to games once a week we will improve.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#664025
I wonder why we got bad refs? There’s no other games on a weeknight, should be able to schedule the best refs in the country!
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By Ill flame
Posts
#664028
The officiating was so bad that even on the reddit game thread where the vast majority hate Liberty with a passion a lot of people were commenting on how one sided the officiating was. It was kind of funny watching the progression from people hating on Liberty while wanting the underdog to win toward the beginning of the game to people gradually starting to root for liberty by the end because the refs were so obviously biased.
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By Kricket
Registration Days Posts
#664029
That “blindside” block call was especially infuriating to any neutral observer.
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By Kricket
Registration Days Posts
#664030
I will say this, some of you underestimate how hard it is to be undefeated even if playing inferior teams.

The gap between Bama and Vandy is huge. Winning every week is not easy but on that day, Vandy executed better.

Do we want to be better? Of course. But I can’t knock a 5-0 team too much regardless of what the fan expectations are. The other teams are giving us their best shot week after week. We are the Bama to their Vandy.
By Humble_Opinion
Registration Days Posts
#664032
Kricket wrote:I will say this, some of you underestimate how hard it is to be undefeated even if playing inferior teams.

The gap between Bama and Vandy is huge. Winning every week is not easy but on that day, Vandy executed better.

Do we want to be better? Of course. But I can’t knock a 5-0 team too much regardless of what the fan expectations are. The other teams are giving us their best shot week after week. We are the Bama to their Vandy.
This is fair and also true. We ARE the top dogs in CUSA. You can bet that the teams on our schedule spent extra time scheming our offense from last year to figure out ways to attack us and slow us down. This is part of the reason that the triple option hasn't been as effective this year. Other teams are also taking their most athletic linebacker and having him watch KSalt on drop backs. #6 for FIU stopped several plays and was VERY decisive in his movements to attack KSalt as soon as he broke from the pocket.

That is all true. At the same time, we can be frustrated from the lack of progress that the offense has shown. The defense has been pretty solid all year and continues to show marked improvement from last year. I think we are narrowing down the issues on offense, but we're not there yet because we're a bit one-dimensional at times relying too much on Cooley. Our offensive line seems to be playing better with the return of JPF and I suspect that trend to continue the further the year goes on, provided everyone stays healthy. Where we are struggling most is in the passing game. We have seen flashes at various points this season, like in the ECU game, but we've been very inconsistent. We have talent at the position... Mobley seems to catch everything thrown at him, Reese is sure-handed, reliable and a great route runner. Canion has flashed at times, but I have yet to see us use him downfield and give him a chance to use his size and frame to make a play. That is part of what made CJ Daniels great last year, and from a size perspective, Canion is even bigger. IMO this is what needs to get figured out over the next two weeks. Hopefully Reese Smith is okay... if not that really stings.
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By Ill flame
Posts
#664033
Humble_Opinion wrote: October 10th, 2024, 8:49 am
Kricket wrote:I will say this, some of you underestimate how hard it is to be undefeated even if playing inferior teams.

The gap between Bama and Vandy is huge. Winning every week is not easy but on that day, Vandy executed better.

Do we want to be better? Of course. But I can’t knock a 5-0 team too much regardless of what the fan expectations are. The other teams are giving us their best shot week after week. We are the Bama to their Vandy.
This is fair and also true. We ARE the top dogs in CUSA. You can bet that the teams on our schedule spent extra time scheming our offense from last year to figure out ways to attack us and slow us down. This is part of the reason that the triple option hasn't been as effective this year. Other teams are also taking their most athletic linebacker and having him watch KSalt on drop backs. #6 for FIU stopped several plays and was VERY decisive in his movements to attack KSalt as soon as he broke from the pocket.

That is all true. At the same time, we can be frustrated from the lack of progress that the offense has shown. The defense has been pretty solid all year and continues to show marked improvement from last year. I think we are narrowing down the issues on offense, but we're not there yet because we're a bit one-dimensional at times relying too much on Cooley. Our offensive line seems to be playing better with the return of JPF and I suspect that trend to continue the further the year goes on, provided everyone stays healthy. Where we are struggling most is in the passing game. We have seen flashes at various points this season, like in the ECU game, but we've been very inconsistent. We have talent at the position... Mobley seems to catch everything thrown at him, Reese is sure-handed, reliable and a great route runner. Canion has flashed at times, but I have yet to see us use him downfield and give him a chance to use his size and frame to make a play. That is part of what made CJ Daniels great last year, and from a size perspective, Canion is even bigger. IMO this is what needs to get figured out over the next two weeks. Hopefully Reese Smith is okay... if not that really stings.
It doesnt make sense to take a lot of shots down field because the offensive line isn't giving the receivers enough time to get open before Salter is running for his life and as you mentioned teams are doing a great job spying him. As long as we are averaging over 5 yards a carry idk why being one dimensional is a bad thing. It seems like when the coaching staff tried to get cute with the passing game is when drives stall. We are actually running less and passing more this year believe it or not.

I am impressed by the improvement of our defense though. They are giving up a full yard less per play despite being on the field more with the offense not being as effective. The fact that we have seen a lot of growth in an area where chadwell is weakest is an encouraging sign.
By Humble_Opinion
Registration Days Posts
#664035
Ill flame wrote: It doesnt make sense to take a lot of shots down field because the offensive line isn't giving the receivers enough time to get open before Salter is running for his life and as you mentioned teams are doing a great job spying him. As long as we are averaging over 5 yards a carry idk why being one dimensional is a bad thing. It seems like when the coaching staff tried to get cute with the passing game is when drives stall. We are actually running less and passing more this year believe it or not.

I am impressed by the improvement of our defense though. They are giving up a full yard less per play despite being on the field more with the offense not being as effective. The fact that we have seen a lot of growth in an area where chadwell is weakest is an encouraging sign.
The offensive line has played much better over the course of the last 2 games. KSalt had time to deliver two deep balls against FIU, one that was caught by Reece and another that should have been caught by Sibley for a TD. The reason being one-dimensional is bad is because eventually we're going to play a team worth their mettle that can match our physicality up front (like SHSU). I think all of us would like to host the CUSA Championship this year, but I don't feel so great about the prospects of that happening right now.
By Humble_Opinion
Registration Days Posts
#664036
jbock13 wrote: October 9th, 2024, 2:57 pm It just amazes me how awful our team plays and some of you just want to constantly blame the refs for it. As Coach would say, Liberty was beating Liberty last night. We got lucky.
If refs didn't impact the game, coaches wouldn't spend time yelling at them for percieved bad calls, no? Consider the below:

1) The garbage blindside block on Cooley was on a TD and pulled 7 points off the board (we ended up punching it in later though).
2) The deep shot taken by FIU that brought them within striking distance came on a play where their WR clearly committed PI by using his hand to push off against the DBs helmet. That was a 45 yd gain and set them up for a score.
3) The 4th & 1 play near midfield that was pretty clearly short on replay allowed FIU to continue what eventually became the game tying drive. Our defense did their job and stopped them for no gain. The refs added a yard to that play with their overly generous spot.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#664038
The frustrating thing about this team is they do *just* enough to win. Thats it. They win but they don’t do what needs to be done to dominate. At this point L
U teams should dominate not just win. That’s why I thought it was a great move by the FIU coach to go to overtime instead of the win in regulation. Put LU in a stressful situation and see how they respond. We saw at the end of the game they responded poorly. Fortunately they responded bigly in OT.
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By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#664039
Humble_Opinion wrote: October 10th, 2024, 12:26 pm
jbock13 wrote: October 9th, 2024, 2:57 pm It just amazes me how awful our team plays and some of you just want to constantly blame the refs for it. As Coach would say, Liberty was beating Liberty last night. We got lucky.
If refs didn't impact the game, coaches wouldn't spend time yelling at them for percieved bad calls, no?
Ummmm, yeah. Yeah they would. Coaches will “work” officials even when they KNOW they’re wrong. It’s part of coaching.
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By Dalegarz1
Posts
#664042
Not all coaches work the refs when the call is correct. Some, (myself included) would let them know it was a “good call”.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#664047
Dalegarz1 wrote: October 11th, 2024, 11:38 am Not all coaches work the refs when the call is correct. Some, (myself included) would let them know it was a “good call”.
I’m sure they appreciated your expert opinion on the matter :roll:
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By Ill flame
Posts
#664048
I'm pretty sure I've seen chadwell yelling at the ref several times after one of our guys makes an obvious penalty. Maybe he just gets excited to tell the ref how great of a call it was.
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By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#664061
Dalegarz1 wrote: October 11th, 2024, 11:38 am Not all coaches work the refs when the call is correct. Some, (myself included) would let them know it was a “good call”.
There’s multiple schools of thought. And good coaches use them all.
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By Humble_Opinion
Registration Days Posts
#664064
My point with the refs and coaches arguing calls is that they can impact the game. To me, saying "Liberty beat Liberty" is ridiculous considering the real game changing effect that missed or terrible calls can have on a game. The decision to not even review that 4th & 1 conversion from FIU is silly. That was a terrible spot.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#664081
One could make a good case for a bad spot on almost every play.
By Humble_Opinion
Registration Days Posts
#664082
Yes, one could make that case. However, 4th & 1 with minutes to go in the game and it's an obviously close call... it should be reviewed.
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