LIBERTY REPORT: Liberty-Presbyterian game blog

Sunny, gorgeous day here in Clinton, S.C., which is somewhere between Columbia and Spartanburg. Of course, I drove from Rock Hill and through a national forest and just sort of happened upon the place.

The gameday atmosphere here at Presbyterian is a little different from most of the schools in the Big South. There’s a huge Greek presence here, with men and women alike dressing up for the game. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Wake Forest, and moreso of Mississippi (so I’ve heard; I’ve never been to Oxford ... maybe I should ask former N&A UVa beatnik Andy Bitter, who is in Oxford today covering the Auburn-Ole Miss game.)

Also, lots of Lil Wayne and Korn (!) playing on the P.A. Odd mix there.

First, some personnel notes:

* The kicker situation will continue to be a game-time decision for Danny Rocco. Punter Mike Larsson looked better this week at practice, but Matt Bevins may still punt. Bevins looked real shaky at practice Thursday, missing a lot of field goals to the left. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben Shipps kicks field goals today. He’s looked strong of late in practice, and his confidence is way up right now.

* No. 2 quarterback Spencer Landis has been dealing with a sore elbow. Mike Brown took a lot of the snaps with the No. 2 team in practice this week.

* The defense looks as healthy as it has all season. All hands are on deck, so to speak, save for Donald Manns, who was lost for the season in August.

Random observations:

1. Bailey Stadium is sort of a mini-version of Gardner-Webb’s Spangler Stadium, but with not as many seats on the visitor side. There’s definitely a lot of room for expansion here. Not a bad little place for a school still making the Division I transition.

1a. Speaking of Gardner-Webb, word is that the bus carrying the wives of Liberty’s coaches went to Gardner-Webb. Apparently no one told the bus driver the Flames were playing Presbyterian. Oops.

2. This is Liberty’s earliest start time in more than a year. The Flames last played a 1:30 p.m. game at Charleston Southern last October. Liberty and Elon will kick off at 1 p.m. Nov. 22.

3. Umm, so don’t pay any attention to my pick of Wofford over App State last night. Whoa. Didn’t expect that sort of whipping in Boone. Armanti Edwards looked absolutely unstoppable last night.

3a. A couple of times, I found myself screaming at the TV for the refs to call a hold on App State’s offensive linemen. Thing is, it looked bad initially. Then they would show a replay, and App State’s linemen were blocking with perfect technique. If you give Edwards time to make sound decisions, you have no chance of stopping him.

4. Great driving music: My Morning Jacket’s “Evil Urges.“ Solid album.

As always, shoot me an e-mail at if you have questions during the game, and I’ll try to address them. Be back at the end of the first quarter.

UPDATE: Liberty 14, Presbyterian 14, second quarter

* For the second time this season, Liberty has had a punt blocked. Matt Bevins just looked slow in getting the kick off, and Chetyuane Reeder came across the left side of the line for the block. PC takes over at the LU 17.

* Liberty’s defense has not been sound today. The pass rush is lacking, and Brandon Miley is getting plenty of time to make good decisions.

* As I type that, Pat Calvary bails the Flames out for the block, picking off a Brandon Miley pass in the end zone for a touchback.

* LU’s offense has been fine. The Flames have pretty much moved the ball at will, save for their last offensive possession.

HALFTIME: Liberty 14, Presbyterian 14

Thought this was going to be a 50-40 game for a while ... whew. And as much as I like a game flying by because of a lack of TV timeouts, it leaves little time between possessions to form coherent thoughts for a blog post.

* Liberty QB Brock Smith just looks a touch off so far. He isn’t dealing with a lot of heavy pressure, but he’s throwing behind receivers. And I would have expected Rashad Jennings to dominate a bit more against a PC defense that has struggled to contain the run this season. He has 72 yards at the break, but he’s jet to break a long one.

* I’m going to assume Danny Rocco won’t be very happy in the locker room. Nothing against Presbyterian, which is building a decent program, but a team with playoff aspirations needs to be better than Liberty is so far today.

* The Flames figured some things out on defense in the second quarter. They’re getting a little more pressure on Brandon Miley and containing the longer pass plays.

* I wonder if Liberty didn’t get complacent on offense after those first two possessions. The Flames moved down the field so easily that it didn’t appear that Presbyterian would ever be able to stop them. Now they’ve forced punts on three straight possessions.

* Speaking of punts, Bevins kicked a beauty at the end of the first half, placing the ball at the Presbyterian 1. The most impressive part of the kick was who downed the punt—Dan Pope. Liberty’s long snapper sprinted down the field and jumped on the ball before it could roll into the end zone. Nice hustle.