Bye week gives 23rd-ranked Flames a chance to heal

By Chris Lang
Sports writer
Published: September 16, 2008

Liberty football coach Danny Rocco has generally been a proponent of scheduling the team’s bye week closer to the true mid-point of the season.

But he won’t complain about the timing of the off week in 2008. After beating Western Carolina last Saturday 19-16 in Cullowhee, N.C., the Flames won’t play again until Sept. 27 at Youngstown State.

Liberty (3-0) moved to No. 23 in The Sports Network Top 25 and entered the FCS Coaches Poll at No. 25 this week. By the time last week’s game ended in the Smoky Mountains, the Flames had the look of a team staggering to the finish line of the first part of the season.

The Flames have battled numerous injuries during fall training camp and the first three games, and the week off can only help the team get healthy for the next two games, which figure to be LU’s toughest remaining road tests.

On Tuesday’s Big South coaches teleconference, Rocco said he didn’t expect to get any of the players who were out Saturday back for the YSU game. But the time off will be valuable for several players who are nursing nagging injuries.

“Guys like (Jamal) Giddens, (Nick) Hursky, (Jonathan) Crawford, guys who have been sporadically playing and have been in and out of the lineup,” Rocco said. “I think what we’re going to see is some of those guys getting markedly improved with their health and their ability to play at a higher level.”

Rocco said offensive lineman Britt Stone (leg), linebacker Kyle O’Donnell (knee) and tight end Tommy Shaver (foot) are still several weeks away from playing.

Two Liberty players earned Big South player of the week honors for their performances at Western Carolina. Linebacker Chad Brown was the league’s defensive player of the week, and punter Mike Larsson earned special teams player of the week honors.

Rocco said that the close margin of victory at WCU wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for his team.

“In the long run, I think I was kind of glad it was a tight game,” Rocco said.

“Any time you go on the road and find yourself in a tight game, there’s a lot of things you can learn from that opportunity.”

Rocco said he’ll use the bye week as a chance to run an “extensive self-scout” on his team before beginning to prepare for the YSU game.

The Penguins (1-2) host No. 3 North Dakota State Saturday.