VMI game story

[bigsmooth]

well i wanted to witness the team live, and convinced farrel is not the man. he locks into one receiver..which caused the INT'S and though our kicker has not had much practice, you have to make chip shot FG's. i was on the field and let me tell you brock farrel is not 6'0 maybe 5'8 or 5'9. he can barely see over the line. bottom line..farrel did not make plays. when we get that close to the end zone, he choked. period. the offensive play calling was horrible...i really think it is coaching here. hopefully scoring will give us some momentum for next week.

Flames find the end zone, but the TD goes for naught
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
Sunday, October 2, 2005


Everything about Zac Kolegue’s 28-yard field goal attempt was seemingly right. The snap was perfect, the hold solid, the kick was dead on …

… Until the last second, when the ball made a dramatic shift to the left. Then, for the people on the Liberty University sideline, there was that sickening sound: THUNK!

And any chance for Liberty to send a tight game to overtime vanished.

The ball hit the goalpost and bounced into the end zone, and VMI had survived, beating the Flames 10-7 in front of 11,263 stunned fans on homecoming at Williams Stadium.

“It felt good coming off,” Kolegue said. “It just didn’t go through.”

It was the sort of break VMI never caught during its winless 2004 season, but the Keydets benefited Saturday. Had it gone through, the kick would have likely sent the game to OT.

Instead, it sent Liberty to its fourth head-scratching loss in a row. This year, it’s the Flames catching all of those bad breaks.

“I told coach (Cal) McCombs after the game that breaks come from hard work and hustle,” VMI linebacker Todd Baldwin said. “The defense for 75 plays today just hustled and hustled and hustled. And it paid off in the end.”

The Flames finally broke through for a touchdown after going 227 minutes, 6 seconds without a point when Marcus Hamilton slipped into the end zone untouched from three yards out in the third quarter.

Liberty looked poised to strike again in the fourth after the Flames’ defense clamped down on VMI quarterback Jonathan Wilson and the Keydets running game.

LU quarterback Brock Farrel, who threw for a career-best 209 yards but tossed two costly interceptions, moved the ball with ease on the Flames’ final drive, which started with 5:17 left.

He completed a passes of 15 and 28 yards to Gretna grad Brandon Turner and threw a 23 yarder to Wynton Jackson to help LU move to the VMI 9.

The Keydets had one last stand in them, though.

They pushed LU back to the 18 and forced Kolegue to try the kick from the 12. When the kick hit the post, the spirits on the LU sideline sunk.

“For that ball to hit the goal post, that’s pretty hard to do,” Liberty coach Ken Karcher said. “But it hit it square.”

The Flames played a solid defensive game, holding the Keydets to 245 yards, 34 coming on Wilson’s TD run in the second quarter.

LU linebacker Kenneth Kemp appeared to have Wilson beat in the backfield, but the junior ducked under the flying Kemp and found open space for his scamper into the end zone.

VMI (2-3, 1-0 Big South) scored again after driving 60 yards in 11 plays, setting up Barrett Way’s 33-yard field goal.

Liberty’s defense was staunch after that. VMI drove no further than the Liberty 43 in the second half, giving the Flames plenty of offensive opportunities.

But as has been the story all season, Liberty (1-4, 0-1) could not punch it in.

Farrel called his performance “poor,” mostly because of bad reads that led to interceptions.

The first pick came with LU threatening at the VMI 9. Farrel was looking for Turner in the end zone, but VMI lineman Justin Huggard stalked the play in zone coverage. He stepped in front of the ball and picked it cleanly.

The second interception was on a jump ball for Turner on a post route, and VMI’s Marcus Brown outleaped Turner for the ball.

“The two interceptions should have been two touchdowns,” Farrel said. “I’ve got to make them. It definitely would have been a different game if I did.”

In the end, VMI’s defense was just stout enough to secure the victory, the Keydets’ first on the road since a Nov. 2003 game at Coastal Carolina.

With its next two Big South games at home, the Keydets could play the darkhorse role in the conference race.

“I knew coming over here, it was going to be just like this,” McCombs said. “I knew Liberty was just as hungry as we were for a win. It wasn’t pretty, but our defense kept stepping up and making plays

[lufbfan3]

It was a game Brock actually looked better in. To be honest, I was just glad they didn't rotate the QB's this game. Brock is small, I talked about that from the beginning of the season but it was argued that small QB's can deliver... I think Brock has lost a lot of confidence and although he is a very smart guy-great with knowledge of the plays-I just don't think that's enough. It has to be a good balance of knowledge and ability to make things happen (AND cough cough COACHING) and I think it's pretty obvious that there is not a good balance. I feel bad, because I'm sure the season is a disappointment for him as well-but I do think that coaching has a lot to do with it.

Zac's kick was just insane. I don't even know how that happened.

Once again, the punting game was the highlight. Surprise surprise. At least we got one score...

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for posting Chris' story, bigsmooth.

As for Brock's stature, as someone no one would ever accuse opf being a giant I actually enjoy having a little guy back there slinging it. You don't have to be big to be successul. When I was covering Texas, they had a QB named Major Applewhite who they listed as eithe 6'1" or 6'2" in media guide. I was there on NFL timing day when he measured 5'10" and he handled the job just fine. I covered Drew Brees in high school and he's 6-flat if he's lucky. It's what you do with the size you have that matters. Brock has proven in the classroom how intelligent he is and I am inclined to give the job every opportunity to succeed. As long as he's the only one moving the ball, I say keep sending him out there. He's certainly paid his dues.

All that said, Terrell and Smith need to get some rotations in there whenever possible.

[lufbfan3]

I agree-I don't want to come off as critical of Brock-I think he's definitely been the only one to prove anything--and even if all he's proven is that he's willing to work his butt off-it's still a good testimony to his character. I just don't think he's a natural QB, regardless of his size. I think it hinders him.

I do think the younger guys should get some playing time--since noone has a redshirt, they might as well get some game-time experience, but I will say that Brock held his own yesterday. None of it was pretty, QB or not-don't get me wrong, but I don't think he was awful either.

[youcantsaythat]

It's time to put in the freshman Brock Smith for the remainder of the season. Not taking anything away from Farrell, but LU is not going to win the Big South and will not have a winning record at the rate they are going. Put the freshman in now and let him make his mistakes this year as opposed to the start of next season.

[PAmedic]

I can tell you, it was obvious from my hard metal bleacher seat on the 20 yd line that the INTs were easy to see coming. We tend to telegraph the throw to begin w/ (locking in to the intended reciever and looking it in all the way), and the last one was such a floater I actually turned to the beautiful Mrs. PAmedic-to-be and said "this is gonna be a pick". Honestly, you had 3 seconds to watch it develop. BAD EXECUTION.
Farrell did have a beautiful throw over the middle for 15-20 yrds on the final drive. Excellent timing, pinpoint accuracy- but there were plenty of ducks out there.

[dtbclass69]

excellant recap of the game. we were lucky, lucky to win. This sight is really first class, good luck in the future.

[PAmedic]

thanks for the kind words DTB, best of luck to you guys as well- MUCH improvement in your team this year: the Lehigh game really impressed me.