When: Saturday August 31 6:00 pm
Where: Williams Stadium Lynchburg, Virginia
How to watch: ESPN Plus
Notes:
This is the first time that the two teams will meet in football
Liberty is making its FBS debut Saturday
Hugh Freeze is making his head coaching debut at Liberty
Syracuse is entering the season as a preseason top 25 team for the first time since 1998
Liberty has never beaten an FBS opponent
Syracuse is the first Power 5 team to play at Williams Stadium
Liberty has not had a losing season since 2005.
What to watch for:
Tommy DeVito is making his first start as QB1 on the depth chart for Syracuse after the departure of Eric Dungey. DeVito has garnered a lot of preseason hype as a potential breakthrough star, and is the key to an offense that head coach Dino Babers said was going to go through some growing pains early due to some key losses.
Stephen “Buckshot” Calvert returns at quarterback for Liberty for his senior season. Calvert threw for over 3,000 yards and 21 touchdowns last season but also threw 18 interceptions. Limiting the turnovers against a Syracuse defense that returns 7 starters is going to be key for the Flames.
Mo Neal topped Abdul Adams on the depth chart released earlier this week. Adams is an Oklahoma transfer that has potential, but Babers went with Neal who rushed for 869 yards and 5 touchdowns for the Orange last season. I am curious to see how Babers uses the running back duo with both backs having the potential to be difference makers.
Antonio Gandy-Golden has had back to back 1,000 yard receiving seasons for the Flames and is as reliable as they get at the wide out position. The matchup between Gandy-Golden vs. the Orange secondary will be one to watch.
Frankie Hickson and Peyton Pickett topped the Liberty depth chart at the running back position. Hickson rushed for over 1,000 yards last year and Pickett added close to 500 yards and 9 touchdowns. Joshua Mack is a transfer from FCS Maine that sat out last year per NCAA rules. As a freshman at Maine, Mack led the FCS in rushing and was a freshman All-American. They have plenty of depth at the position.
The defense at Liberty gave up 36.8 points per game last year. With a young Syracuse offense that will have the potential to be great, Liberty must be strong on the defensive end if they want to be able to hang with the Orange.
I will be at Williams Stadium covering this game so I am not going to make a prediction, but I have seen a wide array of predictions about this game. Some think Syracuse will take care of business early, and some believe Liberty has the offense to be able to hang with Syracuse throughout. It is an interesting game with Hugh Freeze taking over the helm at Liberty, and Syracuse coming in with a lot of hype. A lot of talk about Clemson coming to the Dome in week 3, and hopefully the players stay focused on week 1 because a road game to open the season is never an easy task no matter the opponent.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @Johnathan_K_
Make you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
Leave a Reply