Liberty defeats BYU 41-14 in Historic Win at Williams Stadium

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“24k Magic.”

That was the tweet I sent out after Liberty’s historical, mind-blowing 41-14 victory over BYU in front of a sold-out crowd at Williams Stadium…24,012 fans.

The atmosphere was absolutely amazing. The crowd was full of Flames fans, but there was a great turnout of BYU fans as well. This was the first matchup between the two schools, and it was nationally televised on ESPNU.

The Numbers

After defeating Gardner-Webb last week, the Flames have become bowl eligible for the fourth year in a row. The Flames have joined Appalachian State and Marshall as the only teams to secure bowl eligibility during each of their first four seasons after moving up from FCS to FBS football.

Additionally, Liberty ranks number one nationally in takeaways (18), number two in sacks per game (4.0), and number two in tackles for a loss per game (9.1). This past weekend’s victory was a testament to these statistics.

BYU scored the first touchdown of the game, and Liberty quickly responded with a solid running game from Dae Dae Hunter. It was hard to stop Hunter yesterday, as he rushed for 213 yards and one touchdown. Following the game, Hunter was still very “hyped” about the victory and showed a lot of enthusiasm in his post-game interview.

“The stadium was rocking. Our o-line was consistent and very good tonight, and everyone did their job.” Hunter said.

With these 213 rushing yards, Hunter has become the first Liberty running back to break the 200 rushing mark in a game. Former Liberty Flame standout and NFL player Rashad Jennings tweeted about Dae Dae’s accomplishment, saying that he hopes to see him match and break many more records. Hunter was also able to surpass the 1,500 rushing yards of his career in this outstanding victory (including his yards from Hawaii).

Improvements on Offense

Quarterback Johnathan Bennett (affectionately known as “JB”) improved to 4-0 as a starter and finished the day 24-29 passing. He threw only one interception and said that his teammates told him not to worry about it because “they had his back.” His longest completion of the game was a 48-yard pass to redshirt junior Noah Frith.

Coach Freeze had a lot of great things to say about the crowd, fans, and team on their performance. He added that he was very happy for Bennett or “J-Bizzy” (as Dae Dae Hunter calls him). Freeze told the press that it was an honor to compete against BYU and that he has a lot of respect for them as an organization. “It was an honor to compete and show the world we can be different universities,” he said.

Respectfully, other contributions from Liberty’s offense included two touchdowns from Shedro Louis and eight tackles from Kendy Charles on defense.

The Flames will travel to Arkansas next weekend for another huge matchup. The time is TBA.