Concord Postmortem

[Sly Fox]

Here is Chris' story from the fishwrap:

[glow=red,2,300]Crouch takes one for the team[/glow]

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
September 4, 2005

No one can say Noah Crouch doesn’t know how to take one for the team. With Liberty University’s offense sputtering late into the third quarter at Williams Stadium Saturday night, it was Crouch who gave the Flames a burst of energy.
And all he had to do was lie there.
Concord’s Torrince Ruth was called for roughing the kicker on a fourth-and-20 with his team up a touchdown, and the penalty gave the Flames a first down to set up LU’s first touchdown in a surprisingly difficult 17-6 win over the Division II Mountain Lions.
“He hit me good,” Crouch said, massaging a bruise on his Achilles tendon after the game.
The hit seemed to snap Liberty to life. The Flames trailed 6-0 late into the third quarter, and their streak of 17 straight wins against non-Division I competition was very much in jeopardy.
But the Flames responded with a touchdown when Brock Farrel hit Marcus Hamilton on a slip screen for a 47-yard score to put LU up 7-6 with 1:40 left in the third quarter.
“That was a great call by coach Karcher and a great run by Marcus,” said Farrel, who went 9-for-22 with 147 yards against the blitz-happy Mountain Lions. “The right call at the right time, I guess.”
After the score, LU’s defense made a terrific stand, forcing a three-and-out to get the ball right back. On third-and-1 from the Concord 29, Flames linebacker Brandon Duke delivered a punishing hit to Nate Jackson in the backfield, forcing a punt.
“Everyone filled their gap and made them bounce it outside,” Duke said. “I was able to lay a hit on him and Manny (Rojas) finished him off. The whole defense did what it was supposed to do.”
Two plays later, the Flames put the game away. Farrel hit Lauren Williams with a 41-yard pass on a post pattern, and Hamilton scampered in from 17 yards out to give LU a 14-6 lead and some breathing room, which wasn’t easy to come by against the scrappy Mountain Lions.
Concord (0-2) took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter when Dustin Greenwood made a diving grab of a Ryan Pimentel pass for a 3-yard TD.
The score remained that way for the next two-plus quarters.
“I never imagined (being held scoreless for that long),” LU coach Ken Karcher said.
Hamilton rushed for a career-best 138 yards, but the Flames still struggled to move the chains.
Missed opportunities were a big part of that. LU got the ball at the Concord 10 in the first quarter after a CU fumble, but the Mountain Lions pushed the Flames back 2 yards before Zac Kolegue missed a 29-yard field goal, one of two Flames misses.
“You move the ball all the way down the field, you get turnovers, you get good field position, and then you don’t score,” Hamilton said. “It’s hard not to get into a little lull and feel down on yourselves.”
Liberty (1-0) was caught off guard by Concord’s blitzing. Karcher said the Mountain Lions had shown very little tendency to blitz on the limited film he had seen, and LU’s offensive line had trouble adjusting.
Farrel, who improved to 5-0 as a starter, wouldn’t put the blame on the big guys, though.
“Part of it was my problem,” Farrel said. “There was one time I should have thrown hot, and I didn’t, so I got hit in the mouth. I should have. That was my fault.”
Liberty’s defense, which was the major question mark heading into Saturday, was solid after Concord scored its only TD.
Even though it held a nearly 10-minute advantage in time of possession, Concord managed just 226 yards of total offense, with 73 coming on the TD drive.
With a host of new players, Karcher knew his Flames might struggle a bit Saturday. It took much longer than he thought for the team to start to play steady football.
“First game, with 35 new guys, at this level of competition, anything’s possible,” Karcher said. “I’m just glad these guys hung in there. They just kept pulling away and they pulled it out.”

Liberty 17, Concord 6
Concord 6 0 0 0 - 6
Liberty 0 0 7 10 - 17

First quarter
C - Greenwood 3 pass from Pimentel (kick blocked), 5:28. Drive: 11 plays, 73 yards, 6:05. Key play: Pimental finds a wide-open Ruth on the left side for a 43-yard gain.

Third quarter
L - Hamilton 47 pass from Farrel (Kolegue kick), 1:40. Drive: 8 plays, 60 yards, 4:37. Key play: Concord’s Ruth is called for roughing LU punter Crouch on 4th and 20 from LU’s 30, extending the drive.

Fourth quarter
L - Hamilton 17 run (Kolegue kick), 14:28. Drive: 2 plays, 58 yards, 0:32. Key play: Farrel hits Williams on a post pattern for a 41-yard gain on the first play of the drive.
L - Kolegue 27 FG, 12:23. Drive: 4 plays, 2 yards, 0:49. Key play: Fluellen blocks Concord punt, giving LU the ball at the Concord 11.
CU LU
First downs 13 17
Rushes-yards 43-104 35-167
Passing 122 147
Comp-Att-Int 10-24-0 9-22-0
Return Yards 10 -2
Punts-Avg. 1-10 3-0
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 4-50 5-48
Time of Possession 34:20 25:40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Concord, Tunstalle 19-53, Jackson 8-21, Pimentel 10-19, Richmond 2-6, Ruth 3-3, Bates 1-2. Liberty, Hamilton 19-138, Toah 10-46, Terrell 1-0, Team 1-(minus 2), Farrel 4-(minus 15).
PASSING-Concord, Pimentel 10-24-0-122. Liberty, Farrel 9-22-0-147.
RECEIVING-Concord, Patterson 3-24, Ruth 2-49, Yancey 1-17, Harker 1-16, Windley 1-7, Bates 1-6, Greenwood 1-3. Liberty, Williams 3-54, Jackson 3-21, Hamilton 1-47, Turner 1-17, Stokes 1-8.

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And here is the official word from the SID:

[glow=red,2,300]
Flames Overcome Slow Start To Down Mountain Lions In Season Opener[/glow]

September 3, 2005 · Lynchburg, Va.

It took the Flames almost three full quarters to get their offense started, but the last 17 minutes was good enough to lead Liberty to a 17-6 season-opening victory over Concord, Saturday evening, at Williams Stadium.

Liberty (1-0) attempted to get on the scoreboard on its opening possession of the season as the Flames managed to get to the Mountain Lion’s 27-yard line; however, Ben Beasley’s (Jr., K, Laurel, Miss.) 44 yard field goal sailed wide left to leave the game scoreless.

Concord (0-2) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as the Mountain Lions marched down the field on their opening possession and capped off an 11-play, 73-yard drive as quarterback Ryan Pimentel found Dustin Greenwood open on a pass in the back of the endzone for a touchdown.

However, Liberty’s special teams unit continued their tradition of making their presence known as Jason Horn (Jr., DL, Phoenix, Ariz.) was able to come up the middle and block Matt Baker’s extra point, leaving the score at 6-0 with 5:28 left to play in the first half.

The remainder of the half proved to be a defensive struggle as both teams combined for just 154 yards of total offense, with Zacry Kolegue’s (So., K, Naples, Fla.) 29-yard field goal drifting wide right on the second late play of the first quarter in the only other true scoring opportunity of the half.

The momentum continued with the Mountain Lions as Concord looked like they had prime field position after a Noah Crouch (r-Sr., P, Madison Height, Va.) punt gave Concord the ball on the Flames’ 45 yard line; however, the Mountain Lions were whistled for a roughing the kicker penalty, giving Liberty a new set of downs.

And the Flames made the most of the Mountain Lion’s miscue as five consecutive rushing plays, with four by Marcus Hamilton (r-Sr., RB, Knoxville, Tenn.) and one by Brock Farrel (Sr., QB, San Marcos, Calif.), set up a screen pass from Farrel to Hamilton which the running back caught and then evaded several defenders en route to a 47-yard scoring strike with 1:40 left to play in the third quarter, giving Liberty a 7-6 edge.

After forcing the Mountain Lions to turn the ball over on a three-and-out series, the Flames quickly padded their lead as Lauren Williams took advantage of his height difference over a Concord defensive back as the 6-3 wideout was able to leap over the defender and pull down a 41-yard reception, which set up Hamilton on the next play to find the endzone on a sweeping play to the right side of the field on an 18-yard touchdown run just 32 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Liberty’s special teams unit made its second key effort of the contest on the following drive as after another three-and-out series Rod Fluellen (Fr., RB, Columbia, S.C.) was able to block a Chris Harker punt, giving the Flames the ball back on the Concord 11-yard line.

However, the Mountain Lions were able to keep the damage to a minimum as Liberty was only able to advance the ball two yards and had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Kolegue, pushing the score to its final margin of 17-6 with 12:39 left in the contest.

Hamilton led the Flames’ rushing attack with his second career 100-yard game as the senior rushed for a game high 138 yards on 19 carries (averaging 7.3 yards per rushing attempt) with a touchdown, while Rajive Otah (Jr., RB, San Diego, Callif.), in his first game in a Liberty uniform, added 46 yards on 10 touches. James Tunstalle led Concord with 53 yards rushing on 19 carries.

Farrel led the Flames to their fifth-straight victory with him under center as the quarterback completed 9-of-22 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown, while his counterpart Ryan Pimentel finished the game by completing 10-of-24 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.

Lauren Williams (r-Sr., WR, Upper Marlboro, Md.) (54 yards) and Wynton Jackson (So., WR, Jacksonville, Fla.) (21 yards) each recorded three receptions for the Flames, while Hamilton recorded the decisive 47-yard touchdown reception. Concord had seven different players finish with at least one reception with LeBryan Patterson leading the pack with three catches for 24 yards.

Defensively, the Flames were paced by Brandon Duke (r-So., LB, Fort Myers, Fla.) as the linebacker tallied a career-best 12 tackles, while defensive back C.J. Moore (r-Sr., DB, Palmetto, Fla.) and fellow linebacker Manny Rojas (r-Jr., LB, Oakdale, Pa.) each added nine stops. Darryl Wilson led Concord with 11 tackles.

The Flames will take to the road for their next game as Liberty travels to East Hartford, Conn., next weekend to square off against I-A Connecticut. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Rentschler Field.

libertyflames.com/football/news.asp?news_id=2661

And finally, here are the postgame comments from Coach Karcher:

Ken Karcher Concord Postgame Quotes

September 4, 2005 · Lynchburg, Va.

Q: Did you envision not being able to put points on the board until the very end of the third quarter going into this game?
A: “No, I didn’t. However, at this level, the first game and with 35 new guys [on the team], anything is possible. I’m just proud of the way they hung in there. They didn’t panic. They just kept plugging away and they pulled it out. As I told the team, a “W” is a “W”. They found a way to get it done and the first game is behind us”.

Q: What do you think you need to improve on for Connecticut next week?
A: “I will know a little better when I see the film, but [quarterback] Brock Farrel needs to be more consistent. My eyes from the sideline told me we were high on about four or five throws, which would have helps us out. We also need to work on protection. They blitzed us all night, so when you put together them blitzing us and us in our first game and throw in a bunch of new people, there was a little bit of chaos. We will need to work through that. Obviously, we will be playing a much better opponent”.

Q: Was there a reason the offensive line had block well for the run, but had trouble with pass protection?
A: “Pass protection will definitely take longer and when you throw in a bunch of blitzes and that was something they didn’t show on film. I am sure they threw it in for us to cause chaos. For the most part in the run game, we did have some progress and in the passing game, we need to work on that and as teams continue to blitz us, it will be a challenge early on.”

Q: Is that something, you expect from Connecticut next week?
A: ”They do some from what I’ve seen of them on film. Most teams now are going to a lot of zone blitzing as we do it as well. Most people do it and we have to work on it.”

Q: What are the things from this game you are happy with and can take into the next game?
A: “We won. That’s the good one and the kids didn’t panic. As a head coach, when you look out and there’s all these new faces out on the field and you’re in a 6-0 ball game at halftime, losing to a Division II team, there could have been have been a lot of yelling and screaming and ranting and raving. We just continued to work and push the ball down the field. Once, we got a couple big plays, it spark some emotion.”

Q: Was the roughing the kicker penalty the spark that you needed?
A: “I thought it helped. Anytime you get those types of momentum changers, it is going to help you. With a young football team, sometimes you need a to help you get you over the hump”.

Q: Were your linebackers more aggressive in the second half?
A: “From the sidelines, I thought our safeties C.J. [Moore] and Shane [Lancaster] came up and made some big hits. And our backers, Manny [Rojas] and [Kenneth] Kemp did a better job as the game went on.”

Q: Marcus Hamilton seemed to have a comfort level and did a good job out of the backfield tonight.
A: “I didn’t plan on playing Marcus a lot tonight. I wanted to get [Rajive] Otah more reps and some of the younger guys some time, but when you get a game like that, I wanted to get some senior leadership with Brock and Marcus in there. We needed the senior leadership to get us through this.”

Q: As a coaching staff, are you a little relieved after that one?
A: “I’m glad that’s over. It’s a lot like Connecticut will feel next week. When a Division I-AA team plays a Division II, you are sweating bullets until you get through the game. Connecticut will be that way next week. It’s a win. We got that one behind us and now we move on.”

libertyflames.com/football/news.asp?news_id=2663

What are your thoughts looking back in retrospect?

[PAmedic]

I picked the game up just before halftime, so I missed alot, but:

1. Special teams seemed quite good (other than placekicking- quick go over to the soccer team practice and find ANYBODY) , esp punting and coverage teams; I believe 1 blocked punt and held them deep in their end on kickoffs.
2. Defense actually appeared relatively sound, though to be fair, this was against a team that has little to no offensive capabilities.
3. QB is very, very weak. Bad decision making + poor execution = LONG, DISAPPOINTING SEASON. 9 for 22 is NOT ACCEPTABLE. this better be 1st game jitters or we are in trouble.
4. O-line needs to STEP IT UP. BIG TIME. I forget off hand if this is the line starting 4 freshman or if that was the D-line, but the "35 new guys" thing overall is painfully obvious.

In summation, there was a thread on AGS that agitated everyone basically saying that D2 is NOT far removed from D1AA. Hate to say I agree in SOME respects. Quality D2 teams (not necessarily Concord) can DEFINITELY hang w/ weak AA opponents, and- well, as they say "any given saturday". Remember W. Michigan?

[PAmedic]

Concord gives D IAA Liberty a scare

I'll say they did, and I'm sure there's smack talking going on over there today. I remember a certain MBB team that lost to Gonzaga in the 1st round and became world beaters as a result - I believe "mid major power" was the quote. Guess now Concord is a D2 power.

[Chris Lang]

My thoughts, which are reflected in the report card that will be in Monday's paper.

I graded the game out overall as a C. I could have been much more harsh, but when you look back at it, there were plenty of positives. Crouch was fantastic in position punting. Beasley kicked the ball off well, but I thought he was going to clip the center with the field-goal attempt. Yikes!

LU did a terrible job adjusting its gameplan. Karcher didn't expect a lot of blitzing, but when Concord blitzed more on the first drive then they did in the entire first game, the Flames were frazzled. The O-line was solid in run blocking, terrible in pass protection.

The defense was actually quite good, aside from the one 43-yard play. Yeah, Concord was blasting up the gut with Tunstalle and picking up five yards here, four yards there, but there wasn't much in the way of big plays.

The big problems were Farrel not adjusting well to the blitz and the Flames' inability to finish drives. The game should have been 10-0 early, but weht LU missed those field goals, the offense went into a funk.

Good thing: LU's students didn't seem to realize their team should have been beating a DII team by a much larger margin. The fans seemed to be having fun. So as long as they won, they'll be back for YSU. But LU will have to play a far better game to win that one.

[bigsmooth]

well at least we won. i know it should have been by more, but a win is a win. it looks like we have a lot of work to do offensively and unfortunately we probably will not see much next week at UConn. Let's hope for a respectable game without injuries.

[flameshaw]

Chris,

Appreciate your views of the game and your coverage of LU.

[Sly Fox]

Our fans tend to have little understanding of the difference between Concord or JMU. They are all schools most of our student body have never heard of in general. So to them, a victory is a victory even if its not that impressive to anyone in the know. Ignorance is bliss.

Thanks again for your insight, Chris.

[Sly Fox]

Another look back at what went wrong from Chris:

Flames' win didn't happen the way Karcher expected

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
September 5, 2005

Liberty University football coach Ken Karcher wanted to get so much more out of this season opener.

He wanted to break in three new running backs.

He wanted to give backup quarterback Zach Terrell a few series of work.

He wanted to see his team handle a suspect Division II team early and let the youngsters develop in the second half.

None of that happened.

Instead, the Flames escaped Concord 17-6 Saturday night at Williams Stadium, leading many to wonder just how ugly things may get when LU plays Connecticut next Saturday in East Hartford.

LU trailed for nearly three quarters of the game before taking the lead with 1:41 left in the third on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Brock Farrel to Marcus Hamilton.

In a perfect world - i.e. like in most games featuring a Division I-AA team against a D-II squad - neither would have been on the field late in the third quarter. They would have been on the sideline resting for the next game.

But Hamilton had 19 carries, and Farrel played the entire night, save for one snap Terrell took in the third quarter.

“I didn’t plan on playing Marcus so much,” Karcher said. “I wanted to get (Rajive) Otah some more reps and hopefully give some of the other guys some playing time. But the game was (too close). I wanted Brock Marcus in the game. That game was so tight, that I wanted some senior leadership in there to get us through it.”

The freshmen running backs - Rod Fluellen, Ryan Greiser and Cortney Braswell - never saw the field on offense. Fluellen did make an impact on special teams, returning a punt for 13 yards and blocking a punt to set up a field goal.

If it wasn’t for Hamilton, who rushed for a career high 138 yards, the Flames may not have won.

“He’s the guy that got us going,” Farrel said.

After the game, Karcher appeared genuinely relieved that the game was over. There’s fresh game film to pore over and improvements to be made.

The week of practice between Games 1 and 2 are always critical, especially for a team with 35 newcomers like Liberty. Because of all of the new faces, there was plenty of confusion Saturday night.

“We got the win,” Karcher said. “There’s a lot to get corrected. But we’ll put this behind us and move on.”

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