Rocco seeks help for road woes

By Chris Lang
Sports writer
Published: September 12, 2008

The history is not kind to Liberty, and Danny Rocco recognizes that. He knows that since joining the Big South Conference in 2002, the Flames have won only two non-conference road games in 20 tries, in 2004 at Chattanooga and in 2006 at Savannah State.
He also realizes that if Liberty wants to capitalize on the respect it has gained by entering The Sports Network Top 25, it can ill afford a loss tonight at Western Carolina.
The Flames won twice on the road last season, at Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb. But in an attempt to get his team in the right mindset for road games in the early part of the 2008 season, Rocco turned to an old friend, New York Giants running backs coach Jerald Ingram.
Rocco and Ingram were on Tom Coughlin’s staff at Boston College from 1991-93, and the two have kept in touch. New York won 11 of its 12 games away from Giants Stadium during its run to the Super Bowl XLII title, and Rocco wanted to pick Ingram’s brain to find the secrets to the Giants’ road success.
Rocco found that successful road teams excel in several critical areas. They win the turnover battle. They control momentum by making more big plays than the home team, thus quieting the crowd. They’re good in converting in the red zone on offense and making key stops in the red zone on defense.
Compare Liberty’s two road wins with its three road losses last season, and those numbers bear out.
In the Flames’ two victories, they were plus-6 in turnover margin and converted 13 of 16 red-zone chances. Defensively, Liberty allowed just two red-zone chances and one score in the two games.
In the road losses, Liberty was minus-4 in turnover margin. The Flames converted 15 of 17 red-zone chances, but their opponents converted all 14 of their red-zone opportunities. Bend and break.
Rocco also talked to his old boss at Virginia, Al Groh, about what it takes to survive on the road. The Cavaliers went 4-2 on the road last season, winning three of those games by two points or less.
“We talked about leadership and character,” Rocco said of his chats with Groh and Ingram. “It takes guys like Michael Strahan. There was a whole video that came out after the Super Bowl about his role in leading their team, and his resiliency. So that’s what you need. You need guys who are resilient. You’ve got to be willing to fight for 60 minutes, but that’s what you usually have to do on the road.”
Rocco conceded there are similarities between the schedules the Flames have played since his arrival in 2006. Liberty has opened each year with two Division II teams at home and lost its road opener against its first Division I opponent.
The same scenario is in place in 2008. But Rocco noted there are major differences between 2008 and the previous two seasons.
In 2006, Liberty was a year removed from a 1-10 season and still learning to play with confidence. Quarterback Brock Smith and Rashad Jennings were sophomores, and the opponent (Towson) was considered a strong playoff contender. Last season at William & Mary, Jennings was playing in his first game after being suspended for the first two games. The Flames were still breaking in a slew of transfers, especially on defense.
“In many ways, we had a team that still hadn’t found its identity,” Rocco said. “I see this year as being totally different. This football team is a lot more confident and a lot more experienced. I think this program is further along.”
Many in FCS football are wondering just how much further along, and they will use tonight’s game at E.J. Whitmire Stadium as a measuring stick. Western Carolina is similar to the 2006 Flames in many ways. The Catamounts are coming off a 1-10 season and have a new coaching staff, led by former Nebraska offensive line coach Dennis Wagner. Western beat NAIA Shorter in its opener, 35-0, and took a 69-0 beating last week at Florida State.
The 25th-ranked Flames, who broke into TSN’s poll for the first time since 1998, are 13-point favorites according to the Web site Pointspread.com. So there’s no disputing the devastating effect a loss tonight would have on Liberty’s drive for the playoffs.
If Western Carolina wins, the Flames will plummet deep into the “others receiving votes” portion of the two major polls, and the rest of FCS football will have reason to continue to believe that the Big South has no place in a discussion of the best FCS conferences.
Plenty is at stake, which is why Rocco went to such exhaustive lengths to make sure his team was prepared on the road and win early in the season. As last season showed, Big South teams don’t get mulligans when it comes to the playoffs.