Bowling Green kicks off their 2023 season on Saturday, Sept. 2 with a road matchup against the Conference-USA’s newest member: the Liberty Flames.
“Lot of excitement, we’ve been waiting a long time for this. That bowl game loss last year definitely hurt and we’ve been really working hard this offseason to come back and start this season off strong,” Linebacker Darren Anders, who was named one of three defensive captains for the 2023 season, said Monday. “We’re excited to get down to Liberty and play.”
After an 8-5 finish and a Boca Raton Bowl berth in 2022, Liberty Head Coach Hugh Freeze took off for greener pastures in the form of the SEC’s Auburn Tigers.
“I think they’re super talented. I put their talent equivalent to a MAC championship type of team,” head coach Scot Loeffler said during Monday’s press conference. “That’s why the game came right down to the wire last year with Toledo and Liberty. We’re going to have to go and play a game like we played against Toledo.”
In steps Jamey Chadwell, who was formerly the head coach of Coastal Carolina (2019-22). He did some very impressive things down in Conway, SC, winning just about every Coach of the Year award following the 2020 season, where he turned around a 5-7 (2-6 Sun Belt) Chanticleers team, leading them to an 11-1 (8-0 SBC) record and a Cure Bowl berth, where they ironically lost to Hugh Freeze’s Liberty team. Chadwell went 39-22 (24-16 SBC) in his four seasons at Coastal and took his team to the Sun Belt Championship twice, winning once.
“I know Jamey Chadwell coming from Coastal Carolina is going to do a great job at that at Liberty, great scheme, fun to watch on tape,” Loeffler said. “We are super excited to go down and really be in a game equivalent to, probably the best talent that we’re going to see in our conference.”
Last season, Liberty was right around the middle of college football in scoring offense. They put up 27.5 points per contest, ranking them 71st out of 131 FBS teams. Last season’s team relied more on the run game, ranking 88th in passing yards per game and 51st in rushing yards. Coach Chadwell will bring a more balanced offensive attack (60th in RYPG, 53rd in PYPG).
“Their offensive scheme is interesting, it’s good. They were really successful with it at Coastal Carolina. We don’t know exactly how Liberty is going to use it, new team, playmakers,” Anders said. “We know they’re going to be really well coached, really disciplined, and they’re going to run their scheme really well.”
Defense was their strong suit in 2022, ranking just outside the top 50 in scoring defense at 24.6 ppg (53rd out of 131). Their specialty was shutting teams down through the air, ranking 25th in passing yards allowed/game at just under 200 passing yards per game.
“Their defense flies around, they have some really talented guys on defense that can do a lot of good things,” wide receiver Odieu Hiliare said. “Just ready to go out there and compete.”
This Flames team has something to play for and will come out swinging Saturday, where they will likely honor freshman offensive lineman Tajh Boyd, who passed away over the summer.
Flames to watch:
- Quarterback Jonathan Bennett – Like Bowling Green, Liberty hasn’t announced their starter for Saturday’s game, but don’t be surprised if Bennett is the one who starts the game for the Flames. He’s been with the team the longest, led the team in passing last season, and is looked at as a leader by the team. Jon Manson of aseaofred.com, a website dedicated to covering Liberty athletics, projects Bennett to be under center for the first snap of Week one.
- Wide Receiver Noah Frith – With last year’s leading receiver, Demario Douglas, now in the NFL, look for Frith to be a key player for Liberty. He was second in receiving yards in 2022 with 444 yards on 25 receptions.
- The running back room – Expect Liberty to feature a running back-by-committee look for Week 1. It looked for a minute like 2022’s leading rusher, Dae Dae Hunter, would be back for 2023 after he pulled his name out of the transfer portal back in January. In April, just three months later, he was back in the portal, where he still sits now. Shedro Louis, who finished second on the team, left for Tulane. The player with the most rushing yards last season that’s still rostered? That would be Senior Malik Caper, who ran 18 times for 32 yards and a touchdown. They did add some help through the portal in Wake Forest transfer Quinton Cooley, who ran for 246 yards and three touchdowns on 51 carries. The only other upperclassman in the running back room is Junior Russian Williams, who only has one career carry for three yards from 2021.
Falcon History vs Liberty
BGSU leads series 1-0
Last meeting: 9/13/2003, BGSU won 62-3
Line: Liberty -9.5
Over/Under: 50
*As of 9/28/23
Stats via Sports-reference.com/cfb/
Matchup history via Winsipedia.com
