LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty rallied from 7 points down in the first quarter to score 21 consecutive points and outlast the UAB Blazers for a win in their home opener, 21-14. The Flames forced four turnovers in keeping the Blazers frustrated in the red zone. In addition to the four fumble recoveries, Liberty’s defense recorded 4 sacks and 10 tackles for loss in dominating the game with a slew of disruptive plays.
Kaidon Salter made his first career start at quarterback and finished with 202 passing yards, 79 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. The Flames are 2-0 to start the season for the third year in a row. Liberty head Coach Hugh Freeze is 8-0 against Conference USA as the Flames’ head coach.
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I feel like I’ve been in a 15-round fistfight. Our kids have a lot of grit, a lot of fight. Certainly, it’s not always pretty right now, and that drives me crazy. I’ve got to get us improved. Our coaches and players are just going to fight and battle for 60 minutes and try to figure out a way to create enough plays to win the game. I felt like we should have won it by two scores. We’ve got to clean up the four-minute offense a bit. Kaidon (Salter) made a lot of good plays and made some that hurt us. That’s going to come with some growing pains. I’ve got to coach him better. Our defense got turnovers. They played with such heart. That’s a really good offensive line and really good running backs. I thought we limited the explosive pass plays. They got theirs in the run game. We sure bowed our neck when we needed to. I couldn’t be prouder of our coaches and our kids. What a great atmosphere on the mountain tonight
Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze
Liberty now heads to Wake Forest to take on the Demon Deacons on Sept. 17.