There's more at stake today for LU than just a victory

Simply put, Liberty’s matchup with West Virginia Wesleyan College today at Williams Stadium is “a weird game,” Flames coach Danny Rocco said.

The question isn’t if Liberty will win. Even the worst Liberty teams have routinely handled Division II teams with ease, and the Flames have won their last 23 games against D-II teams, dating to a 1993 home loss to Indiana (Pa.).

So there’s a 99.9 percent chance that the Flames will run their record to 3-2 today, with the .1 percent being reserved for the chance that Liberty gets lost on the way to the stadium and has to forfeit. Not only is WVWC a D-II team, it’s a bad D-II team, one that’s lost 13 of its last 15 games and went 1-10 last season. The Bobcats (1-3) rank in the bottom 20 in Division II in rush defense, total defense and pass efficiency defense.

There’s little in the statistical story to make one think this will be much of a competitive game.

And therein lies the worry for Rocco, whose team is coming off an emotional, rain-soaked loss to perennial FCS power James Madison. The hype leading into that game made it feel like a playoff contest. This week? Well, let’s just say the motivation isn’t as clear cut.

“My concerns are always bigger than just that,” he said. “It’s not always about winning a game. It’s about improving your football team. What’ll happen (today) is that if we win the game and we don’t improve our football team, I won’t be very happy.

“Are we going to get better, and make improvements, so we can make a push, a run in the second half of the season?”

And there is plenty to improve upon, starting with the run game, which has yet to gain traction this season. Neither of Liberty’s top two tailbacks — B.J. Hayes nor Aldreakis Allen — are averaging 50 yards per game on the ground. In reality, Liberty has run the ball well out of the backfield in just one of eight halves this season, the second half against North Carolina Central in which the Flames outscored the Eagles 28-0, mostly because they established their power run game.

“B.J. and I, we need to run with a chip on our shoulders,” Allen said.

Rocco also wants to see improvement on both lines, as JMU manhandled the Flames up front last week. And for the first time since the opener against West Virginia, Liberty will get a chance to see how its two-quarterback system will work, as Tommy Beecher is fully recovered from an assortment of head and jaw injuries suffered in recent games.

“I’ve gotten pretty unlucky as far as the hits go this year,” Beecher said. “But I’ll stay back there and take them if I have to.”

West Virginia Wesleyan was a late replacement on the schedule for Iona, which dropped its football program after last season.

After today, Liberty will have a week off before opening the season’s final six weeks with six Big South games, beginning with Coastal Carolina’s Oct. 17 visit to Williams Stadium. Against JMU, Liberty had its second lowest total offensive output of the Rocco era, so the coaching staff wants to see positive progress from the offense heading into the open date.

Said Beecher: “I think our offense is going to keep getting better throughout the year. I’m excited about what we’re doing this week, and hopefully we can get the ball moving a little bit better.”