The Liberty football team suffered a devastating defeat to Syracuse Sept. 24, severely impacting its top 25 hopes and ending an outside shot at a Big 6 Bowl Game.
The Flames were 3-0 coming into the Carrier Dome, which hosted its first night game with fans since renovations were made. Despite the stadium only being a little over half full, the immense noise of the crowd got to the Flames.
While the Flames marched down the field quickly on their first offensive drive, a missed field goal killed the team’s momentum.
Miscommunication between the O-line and quarterback Malik Willis was evident in the first half. Syracuse sacked Willis twice in the second quarter, and they were able to get six on the night.
Liberty did not have time to throw the ball, with Willis only attempting two passes in the first quarter (both incompletions). The Flames had to lean heavily on their running game, which struggled to produce.
Quarterback Garrett Shrader, who made his first start for Syracuse in place of the benched Tommy DeVito, was able to leap into the end-zone to put the Orange up 7-0. But the true star of the game was Syracuse running back Sean Tucker.
Tucker was physically dominant, rushing for 169 yards, part of that coming on a 27-yard touchdown run to extend the Orange lead to 14.
The Flames were able to keep it within one score going into half thanks to a Willis touchdown pass to Shedro Louis.
After half, the Orange jumped out to grab a 21-7 lead thanks to another Shrader touchdown run, but then the tide started to turn.
Toward the end of the third quarter, Willis was able to find CJ Daniels for a 23-yard score, and the Flames were able to tie the game 21-21 just as the fourth quarter began with a 33-yard touchdown to DeMario Douglas.
As the Flames finally took control, it seemed a win was inevitable, but on fourth and goal, Liberty chose to go for it rather than kicking the go-ahead field goal. This decision would prove costly, with the Flames being stopped on the quarterback keeper.
Head Coach Hugh Freeze explained his decision to go for it on fourth down.
“Yeah, analytics said go for sure,” Freeze said. “Obviously, I’d like to have the call over again when it doesn’t work. I felt like we’d get it in our best players hand, and they probably knew that too.”
Kicker Alex Barbir has been inconsistent to start the season, and Freeze said that came into play with their decision to go for it. For the game against UAB, true freshman Brayden Beck will start, though Freeze said Barbir will still get long distance attempts.
Syracuse could not do anything with its next drive, but its defense came up big on Liberty’s next possession. The Orange swarmed Willis, stripping him of the ball on what would be Liberty’s first offensive turnover of the season.
And that was it. Syracuse ran out the clock with Freeze opting to ice the kicker, but it was in vain as Andre Szmyt hit the ball through the uprights as time expired to get the Orange a 24-21 win.
The loss had brutal consequences for the Flames. Their 56AP votes the week before the game completely vanished just a few days later.
Now, the Flames travel to Birmingham, Alabama, to take on the UAB Blazers. Liberty is listed as a slight underdog against the Blazers, the first time this season that the Flames have not been favored to win.
UAB has a strong squad, with its highlight win coming against a Tulane team that almost upset Oklahoma. The team’s only loss came against Georgia, who are currently ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll.
The crowd will likely be an issue again as well. Since UAB’s football program was disbanded in 2014 and reformed two years later, the Blazers have worked on finding a new stadium. That comes in the form of the brand-new Protective Stadium, which will officially open its doors for the game 7 p.m. tonight.
If the Flames want to get back into top-25 contention, they have to win. And win big.
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