Liberty Football Notes: Chip on shoulder, midweek success, injury report

CHIP ON THE SHOULDER

Liberty suffered its first loss in conference play last week as a member of the CUSA at Kennesaw State. This also ended a streak of 17 straight regular season wins, the longest in the country.

While few expected it would be a loss to the previously winless Owls, given the way the Flames have played all season, a loss wasn't a complete shock to many. Liberty has been inconsistent all season and has failed to play a complete game. Last week it finally bit her.

The biggest question now is how the team reacts.

“It will be easier to give up right now,” said Liberty tight end and team captain Bentley Hanshaw. “Our expectations for this great season, to give that up, are natural. I think what a man would do and what a team like the team we want to be would do is keep pushing forward and hitting the rock.”

This loss certainly dampens the College Football Playoff conversation and also wipes out the chance for back-to-back undefeated regular seasons, but the Flames are still in control of their CUSA title destiny.

“We didn’t play like we had a chip on our shoulders,” Hanshaw continued. “Now I think we have a chip on our shoulder.”

Dealing with a setback

This week marked the first time the Flames had to prepare for a different opponent while suffering a loss under this coaching staff. Of course, the only other loss came against Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, but there was no other game to prepare for either.

Additionally, the Flames also suffer their first CUSA setback after winning their first 11 conference games as a member of the league – something no CUSA team had ever achieved before. Wednesday night's game against Jacksonville State, which is 3-0 in the league, marks the first time since Nov. 19, 2015 against Coastal Carolina that Liberty will host a conference game in which the Flames enter with a worse league record than their opponent.

The Flames were also listed as slight underdogs in some sportsbooks, depending on where you look. This week's game against Jax State will clearly be a different situation that we have faced this Liberty football team in a long time.

SUCCESSFUL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

As we all know, CUSA switched to a midweek soccer tournament last October to give its teams more national exposure. Two of last season's CUSA freshmen, Jax State and Liberty, had tremendous success in midweek competition during that span.

The Flames are 5-1 in midweek contests over the last two years, with their only loss coming last week against Kennesaw State. The Gamecocks are 6-1 during the week, with their only loss coming against Liberty last year.

UNIFORM REPORT

This week against Jax State, Liberty will wear blue helmets with red jerseys and red pants. The Flames are 2-0 in this jersey combination since moving to the FBS and wore it in wins against New Mexico State in the 2023 CUSA Championship Game and Old Dominion in Week 3 of 2021.

Earlier this season, the Flames wore all navy blue against Campbell, the new light blue jerseys and pants with dark blue helmets against New Mexico State, all red against UTEP, light blue jerseys with white pants and white helmets against East Carolina, and red jerseys with white against East Carolina Pants and white helmets with the Sparky logo against FIU, and last week against Kennesaw the Flames wore blue helmets and pants with white jerseys.

INJURY REPORT

With virtually no media access this week, including Jamey Chadwell's weekly press conference, it was difficult to get a good look at the team's injuries. Here's an update on Liberty's current injury situation based on what we know:

• WR Reese Smith did not play at Kennesaw State last week. He suffered an injury three weeks ago against FIU and Chadwell gave Smith two to four weeks' notice, so there's a chance he could play against the Gamecocks.
• WR Treon Sibley left the Kennesaw game with an injury. Chadwell said it was a hamstring injury and his timetable for return was unknown.
• DT Jay Hardy was injured in the first quarter at New Mexico State. He finally returned to action last week at Kennesaw State, but was injured again early in the game against the Owls. Chadwell said it was a serious ankle injury immediately after the game and that he is expected to be out about three to five weeks. So don't expect to see Hardy again this week.
• S Christian Bodnar was unable to make the trip to Kennesaw State due to illness. There is no information about how he is doing.