Liberty athletic director Ian McCaw announced Tuesday that Josh Aldridge would be the interim head coach since Hugh Freeze was announced head coach at Auburn.

Freeze led Liberty through its FBS transition and first ever Bowl game appearance and win.

Three key takeaways from the state’s football scene this weekend.

Liberty Football added 17 new members to its team today with the announcement of the Flames’ December signees.

Liberty finished the regular season with a 9-1 record and is currently ranked No. 23 in the final regular season Associated Press and Amway Coaches national top-25 polls. Coastal Carolina replaced Liberty with undefeated BYU and handed the Cougars their first defeat. So there’s just a lot of excitement and energy and positive vibes that is around this building right here that we’re going to take with us down to Orlando,” Liberty safety Javon Scruggs says. The Cure Bowl is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night from Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The 22nd-ranked Liberty Flames rolled up a season-high 633 yards of total offense on the way to a 58-14 victory over Western Carolina on Saturday at Williams Stadium. Liberty’s Malik Willis passed for 306 yards on 14-of-19 attempts with three touchdowns passes, while adding a team-high 97 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns. Liberty outgained WCU 633-282 for the game, while the Flames totaled a season-high 379 yards passing and 254 yards rushing. Liberty scored on big plays, with six out of the Flames' touchdowns were scored from 34 or more yards out. Liberty scored 13 points off of WCU’s three turnovers, while the Catamounts scored seven points off of the Flames' two turnovers.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – “If you don’t humble yourself you will be humbled so, we’re taking that approach,” said Flames Safety, Ben Alexander. Despite riding high on “Cloud 9” at 7-0 with two ACC victories, they aim to remain true to themselves. “You talk about 2020 being strange, we’re playing our 8th football game and facing an opponent that hasn’t had a game. Now, that’s strange and uncomfortable and not quite sure what to prepare for,” said head coach Hugh Freeze. Lining up in hopes of not letting up when they kickoff at Noon Saturday--as they aim to win their 10th consecutive home game.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – While the Flames imprved to 3-0 last week with a win over North Alabama, Coach Hugh Freeze was honest with his team in his evaluation. “I told them I thought we did not pass the test Saturday. We got the win which was good but didn’t pass the test,” Freeze said. They trust us, we trust them,” said Flames running back Peytton Pickett. That’s pretty much going to be the standard for the game,” said Flames defensive end Jayod Sanders.

While the Flames defense has dialed up 6 sacks and eleven tackles for loss this season, there have been some dropped calls, that is, explosive plays and missed tackles. We’ve played good defense at times and we can see we’ve got a chance to be really good,” said Liberty defensive coordinator Scott Symons. “A bit of a challenge since they haven’t played and they have a few transfers. “They’re not overly fast but good football players. Just solid football players,” said Flames linebacker Anthony Butler.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty racked up more than 500 yards of offense in the 36-34 victory over FIU. For the second consecutive game, running back Joshua Mack rushed for over 100 yards while dual-threat quarterback Malik Willis passed for 285 yards and 2 touchdowns. DJ Stubbs was the Flames top receiver, hauling in 8 receptions for 119 yards including a one-handed snag in the second half. #TougherTogether #RiseWithUs pic.twitter.com/I005yYe9Jo — Liberty Football (@LibertyFootball) September 26, 2020Despite the win, Liberty did lose quarterback Malik Willis in the fourth quarter to an apparent arm injury. The Flames move to 2-0 on the season and will now prepare for North Alabama next week.