Flames goal for 2008: playoffs

By Chris Lang
Sports writer
Published: August 19, 2008

No matter how many times someone told them they had no shot of making the 16-team NCAA FCS playoff field last November, members of Liberty’s football team refused to believe it to be true.

A day after the Flames routed Gardner-Webb 31-0 to win their sixth straight game and their first Big South championship, players gathered in the lounge at the Williams Football Operations Center. As each name was unveiled, hearts sunk a little bit more. First it was New Hampshire, which won just seven games. Then it was Eastern Illinois, the second-place team from the lightly regarded Ohio Valley Conference.

The 16th school was revealed. Liberty was not in the field. National followers of FCS football were not in the least surprised. Liberty had really done little to merit national attention. There were no victories against teams from auto-bid conferences and only six victories against Division I teams.

Still, the Flames took the news hard.

“If you could have seen the looks on the faces around us once we found out we didn’t get in,” Flames linebacker Nick Hursky recalled, shaking his head. “Everyone was heartbroken.”

Thus a mantra took form. It first appeared on white copy paper taped to walls in the football offices: “Unfinished business.” Eventually, those words became the official slogan for the 2008 Liberty football season. In 2007, Liberty wanted to prove to the Big South that it had arrived as a respected football program. In 2008, the Flames want to prove the same fact to the rest of the nation.

“We’ve positioned ourselves in such a way that the expectations are that we’re going to be a legitimate contender,” LU coach Danny Rocco said. “Not only to win our conference again, but to also have a chance to take that next step, and that would be to go to the playoffs.”

That’s easier said than done, of course. Since 2000, only three teams from non-auto bid conferences have qualified for the postseason: Coastal Carolina in 2006, Cal Poly in 2005 and Florida Atlantic in 2003. All three had special resumes. Coastal Carolina went 3-2 that year in games against teams from auto-bid leagues, beating Wofford and Furman from the Southern and South Carolina State from the MEAC.

Like Liberty, Cal Poly was 8-3, but the Mustangs had quality victories to showcase to the tournament committee. They went 4-1 against the Big Sky, with the only loss coming at powerhouse Montana.

Florida Atlantic, which was a third-year I-AA program in 2003, went 9-2, beat I-A Middle Tennessee State, lost by four at I-A Central Florida and beat quality I-AA programs in Youngstown State, Illinois State, Texas State (then named Southwest Texas State) and Nicholls State.

Though Liberty went 8-3 in what was a bit of a down year in the subdivision as a whole (seven-win teams like New Hampshire rarely earn at-large bids), the Flames just didn’t do enough to merit serious consideration for the 16-team playoff field.

Liberty lost to William & Mary and Toledo on the road by a combined eight points. Had it won either of those games?

“I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,” Rocco said. “If we’re 9-2, we’re in. That’s the reality of it.”

Another reality, which can be tough to temper in the “one-day-at-a-time” world of college football is this: Liberty can win another Big South championship, but if doesn’t make an impression on the nation with a statement victory against a team from an auto-bid conference, it can forget about extending its season past Nov. 22.

The Flames play four games this season against teams from auto-bid leagues. They travel to Western Carolina and Youngstown State and host Elon and Lafayette. Liberty will probably have to win three of those games and win the Big South title to have a shot of earning their first FCS playoff berth.

Liberty is 1-9 in its last 10 games against teams from auto-bid leagues, with the only win coming at home against a 2-9 Western Carolina team in 2006.

On those four Saturdays, Liberty will have the attention of observers from outside the region. Youngstown State and Elon are both ranked in most national polls, so if Liberty wants to make an impression, it needs to do so on those stages.

“I definitely think it would put this school on the map,” Flames quarterback Brock Smith said. “Beating a team like Youngstown would be huge. We played them my freshman year and got stomped (a 42-0 loss at home). That’s all they remember. So to go up there and play that team, and play them well, it would bring glory to this school.”

The national polls, usually a meaningless indicator for FCS teams, will become especially important this season for schools from non-auto bid leagues. The NCAA will expand the FCS playoffs to 20 teams beginning in 2010, but until then, the Big South champion can earn automatic inclusion into the 16-team field by meeting three criteria:

- Earn eight wins against Division I opponents

- Win two non-conference games against teams from auto-bid leagues

- Be ranked 16th or higher in an average of The Sports Network Top 25, the coaches poll and the Gridiron Power Index.

So for LU, the math is simple in 2008. The Flames can go no worse than 10-2 (assuming two wins against the Division II teams on the schedule), they must win two of their four games against teams from auto-bid leagues and make up ground in the national polls.

In other words, if they want respect, they’ll have to earn it on the field.

“Coach Rocco said it best,” Hursky said. “He brought some things up. When was the last time we went on the road and beat a really good team? When was the last time we beat a non-conference team on the road? It was an eye opener. For all the good things we do, there’s always a next level. We can never be satisfied.”