LIberty, Liberty, Liberty

 What is their body of work?

Liberty has only been FBS since 2018. Turner Gill coached the first season, and than Hugh Freeze the next 4.  All 4 were bowl games and they were 34-16 and ranked in two of those years.  Freeze went to Auburn.  Their new coach is Jamey Chadwell, who coached Coastal Carolina to a 31-6 record over the last 3 years.  They had only been in FBS for four years.

Liberty is in a conference for the first time, in FBS football, playing in the C-USA.  They were picked #2 by the media pre-season and they were #4 in Phil Steele.

BG has played them once--during the FCS era, with BG easily winning.  They are 5-10 against the MAC, including Marshall and UCF.

How experienced are they?

They have 21 juniors and above on the roster, which is a little low.  BG has 37.  Liberty is #119 on the Phil Steele experience score and BG is #71.

Who are their pre-season all-conference players? (Phil Steele)

First team:

Kendy Charles, DT

Second team:

Quinton Cooley, RB

Quinton Reese, S

Third team:

X'Zauvea Gadlin, OT

Fourth team:

Noah Frith, WR

Bentley Hanshaw, TE

Jay Hardy, DT

Tyren Dupree, LB

Brandon Bishop, Nickel

Kobe Singleton, CB

What is their turnover ratio? 

They were +3.

Offense

How is their QB play? 

Good question.  Neither coach has revealed their starter, in a cagey battle of nerves and wit between two criminal masterminds.  They have 3 potentials.  Johnathan Bennett played most of the snaps last year was was effective, completing 59%. Kaidon Salter also played quite a bit, had about the same rating and maybe runs a little better.  Both had ratings about where Orth was last year. Also, Trey Lowe is in the mix, after playing at WVU and Southern Mississippi.

What is their scoring and yards per play

Last year they scored 27.5 a game and had 5.7 yards per play.  Would have placed them 8th and 3rd in the MAC.

Can they run the ball?

Almost a completely new set of RBs this year.   Quinton Cooley had 402 yards on 96 carries at Wake Forest last year. James Jointer was highly recruited but carried once for Arkansas last year.  Billy Lucas was the conference offensive rookie of the year.  Victor Venn was highly recruited out of HS, went to Colorado and then had baggage, I guess.  Vaughn Blue is a FR who went to prep school, two-time all-state.  

Who knows?

Do they pass the ball?

They were average last year, as mentioned above.  Their #2 WR is back. (Frith). CJ Daniels was with them last year, but injured. They also have transfers from UT-Martin and Louisiana.  

How is their run/pass balance?

FWIW, Coastal Carolina was heavily run-focused. Their offensive line has one proven player, two little used transfers (WVU and Akron), a guy who played 60% of the snaps last year and a guy seeing his first action.

Do they convert on 3rd Down, in red zone, protect the QB????

New Coach.  New players.  Who knows?

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play

There's a lot more stability on the defense, which has no players on the top line who transferred in.  Some are new to their roles. They allow 24.6 PPG and 5.0 yards per play, which would have put them 4th and 3rd in the MAC.

Do they defend the run effectively?

They were pretty good, allowing 3.7 yards per rush.  Obviously meshes with "hell or high water" running.

Can they be passed on?

They were pretty good.  #23 in the nation.

Do they get off the field on 3rd down?

Very good, at 32%

Do they defend in the red zone?

They were #56 on straight percentages

Do they pressure the QB?

They got a lot of pressure last year, at 10.3% sacks per passing attempt.  Normal is about 6%

Special Teams:

Punting?

Their punter is not back, so no idea.

Punt Return?

The guy is gone, so who knows.

Placekicking? 

Nick Brown is back.  He was 11-19 last year, long of 49, blocked once and 8-12 under 40.

Kickoff? 

The punting is doing kickoffs for the first time, so no clue.

Kickoff Return?

The guy is gone, so who knows.

Intangible Miscellany

Liberty's OL is coached by Bill Durkin who was a Clawson-era OL coach at BG.

So, the spread is 9.5.  Look, this isn't an incredible team.  They are good, they are at home.  Coach says they would be a championship MAC team...well, that's who we are supposed to be and the players say it's championship or bust.  This is a great opportunity to see if the program-wide growth that would need to happen to bring this team from relevant to title contenders has happened.  

There are reasons it is a bad matchup.  Liberty may not end up great on offense, but their defense looks really solid, and that's usually not a great sign for us.  But, we are going to need to beat teams with good defenses, so let's hope everyone is ready to go.

Last thing, Coach mentioned being banged up, especially on the o-line.  WHO exactly gets out there will be important to watch at kickoff tomorrow.

Openers have always been crap shoots.  It's even more so this year, with a new coach and tons of new players on both sides.  Let's hope we roll a 7.