LIBERTY REPORT: Liberty-Lafayette game blog

For the first time this year, it feels like football weather. The ol' Stratus told me it was 59 on the drive up to Williams Stadium. There's a slight breeze. A chill in the air. Makes me want to go out and throw the pigskin myself.

A couple of topics to tackle here today:

First, some quick hitters:

* Punter Mike Larsson isn't dressed and won't go. Kicker Matt Bevins is dressed and he's down on the 22-yard line stretching. So I assume he'll try to go. If he can't, Ben Shipps will handle kickoffs and field goals. No idea who will punt if Bevins is out. Shipps, with his physical limitations, can't do it. Wes Cheek maybe? The outside linebacker punted in the spring, and he's taking some warm-up kicks today. Brock Smith? The quarterback punted in high school, but I doubt he'd punt today. We'll see. My guess is that Bevins plays and it's a moot point.

* Lafayette players who are out: TB Maurice White (toe), TE Michael Conte (back), LB Neil Goldsmith (concussion).

* Britt Stone will start at left guard for the Flames. Alex Stadler will still get plenty of snaps.

* Zach Davis will be in the mix at left tackle, but he may not start. Justin Vargas goes in his place if Davis doesn't start. The two have been splitting series evenly anyhow.

* Liberty TE Will Quarles, a key special teams player, is a game-time decision. He hurt a knee last week against Stony Brook.

* I have a sneaking suspicion that receiver Chris Summers will make a big play today.

On to some other business:

Thursday at practice, I talked with Kevin Keys, Liberty's associate AD for external operations, about the gameday atmosphere at Williams Stadium. Anyone who attended the Stony Brook game last week could attest to the fact that this place was dead. You can only hear so much from inside the press box thanks to the thick glass windows, but I talked to several people who were outside and said it was just kind of dull.

I asked LU linebacker Nick Hursky about it after the game, and he was pretty diplomatic about it. That's understandable. You don't want to start bashing your fan base. But he acknowledged that the place had little in the way of atmosphere. But there were a couple of issues:

* The first drive was a snoozer. Liberty rattled off a 19-play drive (17 plays if you take out the two penalties), and the plays were almost all runs or short passes to someone coming out of the flat. That's not exciting. That's also not Danny Rocco's concern. He wants to win football games, not wow the crowd. And Liberty's best built to run out of the power-I. It's not always thrilling, but it moves the chains.

* After about 10 minutes, it was clear Stony Brook didn't come to play. So the crowd kind of checked out. By halftime, most of the crowd had checked out. By the fourth quarter, the student side was mostly empty. That's why Rocco attended convo Friday and asked the students to "come early and stay late."

* Keys said the sound crew was working on getting third-down music together. The student side does a nice job with the organized first-down chants. Most schools do something to rile up the crowd when the defense can get a stop on third down. My personal favorite is AC/DC's "Hell's Bells," but I understand that song probably won't fly at Liberty. Wake Forest uses NFL Films theme music. East Carolina uses the entrance music for the wrestler The Undertaker since Vince McMahon went to school at ECU. Great stuff there. I was partial to Liberty using the siren on third down. Ties in with the whole Flames theme. At any rate, I'd expect to see a bit rowdier crowd here today.

Again, readers, if you have any comments or questions, hit me at clang@newsadvance.com or drop a comment in the comments section. I'll be back as the game goes along.

UPDATE: Lafayette 28, Liberty 14 (halftime)

The Flames are in a world of trouble here. Last week's defensive showing against Stony Brook looks like it had more to do with the Seawolves' ineptitude than it did with any sort of Liberty dominance. Lafayette's season high in points coming into this game was 28 at Marist. The Leopards have already matched that.

Stats worth noting:

* Lafayette is 8 of 11 on third downs. When you can't get off the field on third down, you can't win games. Simple as that.

* Take away Rashad Jennings' 58-yard touchdown run, and he has 10 yards on six carries. The Leopards have neutralized him, and Liberty has been forced to throw the ball. Brock Smith has not looked sharp. He's throwing high and behind receivers.

* Liberty's special teams have been awful. Dominic Bolden's boneheaded play on the Flames' first punt returned opened the door for Lafayette's first touchdown, and though he's made up for it with his efforts receiving (6 catches, 114 yards, touchdown), I think that play completely changed the tone of the game. If Liberty forces a punt and scores and takes an early lead, I think Lafayette plays with a lot less confidence in the first half. Instead, Lafayette grabbed the momentum, and save for Liberty's two big plays, the Leopards have controlled every aspect of the game.

* The Leopards are down to their third- and fourth-string tailbacks in Tyrell Coon and Jerome Rudolph. DeAndre' Morrow left with an ankle injury and isn't likely to return.

UPDATE: Lafayette 35, Liberty 21, 4th quarter

* So you're saying there's a chance? Liberty has the ball down 14 as the defense has found a way to at least slow Lafayette. The offense has hit a stride. Brock Smith is throwing the ball well. But Liberty has backed itself into a corner to a point where it pretty much has to score a TD every time it touches the ball.

More later ...