LIBERTY REPORT: Western Carolina pregame

First off, you have to really want to get to Cullowhee to get to Cullowhee. You're not just going to stumble on this place while driving down I-40. Once you get here, you're treated to one of the best press-box views you'll find in the country. The Smoky Mountains rise behind the visiting stands, offering a stunning backdrop for football.

(Speaking of stunning backdrops, Charleston Southern is up 27-24 on Miami of Ohio late in the third quarter. If the Bucs win, it would be the Big South's first win against an FBS opponent.)

Some nuggets for your reading pleasure:

* Liberty linebacker Nick Hursky didn't look good at all Thursday. He limped off the practice field at Williams Stadium with ice on his right knee. He's dressed and performing in warmups here, so I'd expect he'll be a go tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if Doncel Bolt still gets the start, and Hursky is used as necessary.

* There is no understating how big of a game this is for Liberty. If the Flames lose this game, they'll have to run the table the rest of the way to have any shot of the playoffs. Right now, Liberty is a curiosity among FCS football fans. No one really believes the Flames are worthy of being considered among the nation's top 20 teams, and the Flames would give the pundits plenty of fodder by losing to the team that finished dead last in the Southern Conference last season. If the top Big South team can't beat the worst SoCon team, does the Big South really deserve any respect? I guarantee you that's what the feeling will be around FCS football if Liberty loses this game.

* And Danny Rocco is well aware of this. In my four years covering this team, I've never seen Rocco as salty as he was at the end of Thursday's practice. Instead of ending with the usual mid-field huddle, Rocco kicked his team off the field and addressed it in the locker room. I won't repeat what was said, because what is said behind closed doors is generally considered off the record material, but he was all sorts of fired up, as far as I could tell from standing in the hall at the Williams Football Operations Center. The one thing I will repeat (because I've heard him say it before) is that this team has an opportunity to write its own story, and that a lack of early-season focus will not be tolerated this season.

* I'm amused by anyone who is picking this to be a low-scoring game in which Liberty fails to break 17 or 20 points. First off, the Flames have scored 31 or more in each of their last eight games, and Western Carolina allowed 461.4 yards and 45.8 points per game in 2007. New coaching staff or not, you don't improve enough on defense in one summer and two games to slow down an offensive juggernaut like the Flames. Teams averaged 245.1 yards per game on the ground last year against WCU, a stat that doesn't bode well considering Liberty has a rested Rashad Jennings and a shifty Zach Terrell on offense.

* John Fogerty's "Centerfield" just came on at the stadium. I feel like I'm at a Hillcats game.

* And Miami of Ohio just rallied to take a 31-27 lead. Should be a wild finish in Oxford.

* Twenty-five minutes before gametime and the stadium is about 80 percent empty.

* That's all for now. I'll check in at halftime with some thoughts on the first two quarters.