Liberty Solidifies Top 25 Ranking With Thrilling Win Over In-State Rival Virginia Tech

A collective gasp rolled across the press box at Lane Stadium Saturday afternoon as Virginia Tech blocked an absurd 59-yard field goal attempt by Liberty’s Alex Barbir with 11 seconds left in the game and ran it back into the endzone.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the head official came over the loudspeaker in the stadium – VT Head Coach Justin Fuente had called a timeout moments before the snap. That decision would cost the Hokies.

“It’s pretty crushing,” Fuente said. “I’ll never get over it. I wish I never called timeout.”

Two plays later, Barbir knocked a 51-yard attempt through the uprights, leaving only one second left on the clock and giving Liberty a 38-35 lead. The Flames rushed the field in celebration, their second ACC triumph under their belts, and history was made. 

Flames Head Coach Hugh Freeze knows the feeling of an underdog win – coming up with two victories over national powerhouse Alabama during his time at Ole Miss – but Saturday’s thriller is one he will not soon forget.

“It’s hard to quantify wins that you’ve had that are like that,” Freeze said. “I know, I said it here today, that there’s none bigger. There’s none bigger for our kids, our program and our administration. The vision that Dr. Falwell had many years ago, to not just come up here and play the JV team, but to play the big boy team and have a chance to compete. I couldn’t be prouder of the way our kids competed and didn’t worry about the scoreboard and played the next play.”

The thrilling ending came after a back-and-forth final two minutes, which saw 17 points in the final 1:41 and exemplified the hard-fought contest between the in-state opponents.

Playing in front of a desolate 1,000-fan crowd at Lane Stadium – which had crowd noise piped in to sound fuller – Liberty received the opening kickoff and jumped out to an early lead. On the opening drive, the Flames went 75 yards on nine plays, including a fourth-down conversion in Hokies territory, and capped it off with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Malik Willis to C.J. Yarbrough.

Halfway through the first quarter, Virginia Tech announced that starting RB (and the national all-purpose yards leader coming into the day) Khalil Herbert injured his hamstring on the opening kickoff and would not play the remainder of the game.

The Flames held the Hokies to a field goal and then struck again to start the second quarter. On another fourth-down play around midfield, Willis spun away from a VT defender and found Kevin Shaa running wide open down the sideline, who made a toe-tap catch. 

One play later, Willis found TE Jerome Jackson for a 2-yard touchdown, moving the LU lead to 14-3. That play finished off a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive that ran 7:25 seconds off the clock.

Eighteen minutes into the game, the Flames were executing their game plan, running the football to take time off the clock and holding the Hokies to field goal attempts. The offensive line continued to be a strength for Liberty, allowing the Flames rushing game to pace the game.

“We just trusted our big boys up front,” running back Joshua Mack said.

Virginia Tech would respond, however, thanks to dual-threat QB Hendon Hooker and the defense, which capitalized on some key mistakes made by the Flames.

An unnecessary roughness call on LU linebacker Aaron Pierre and a Willis fumble later, Liberty was down 17-14, and the game’s momentum seemed to be shifting. And things only got worse for the Flames as the first half rolled to a close.

“I thought we were going to run the clock down and go into half up,” Freeze said. “Obviously, that didn’t work out because we turned it over.”

A 23-yard Willis run on the next drive moved the ball across midfield and sparked another scoring opportunity as the Flames looked to answer back. Several plays later, on first-and-goal from the 4-yard-line, Willis tried to throw the ball away, but instead fumbled once again to give the Hokies possession.

Virginia Tech quickly marched down the field, getting all the way to the Liberty 1-yard-line before they ran out of time and kicked an 18-yard field goal as time expired, leaving the score 20-14 at the half.

After the mistakes in the second quarter, Willis kept his poise and responded.

“I had to show that I could face that adversity,” Willis said. “That’s how you show your leadership.”

On their first possession of the second half, the Flames received the ball at their own 5-yard-line and drove 95 yards into the endzone, finished off by a 19-yard touchdown scamper from Willis. 

The Flames retook the lead 21-20, but the real momentum swing came early in the fourth quarter.

After another Willis fumble that LU was able to recover, the Flames were forced to punt. Trying to return the punt, Hokies return man Tayvion Robinson muffed the catch and LU safety Benjamin Alexander recovered. Willis found redshirt senior Johnny Huntley for a 5-yard touchdown on the next play, increasing the Liberty lead to 28-20 with 10:29 remaining.

The Hokies responded again, methodically moving the ball down the field to the LU 9-yard-line, where they faced another huge fourth down. Hooker found wide receiver Kaleb Smith for a TD and running back Raheem Blackshear on the two-point conversion try, and with that, the score stood knotted at 28-all with 5:46 remaining, giving Liberty the chance for a game-winning drive.

But as the clock wound down, both teams exchanged touchdowns, and once again, the game was tied up, this time 35-35. Fifty-two seconds remained and the Flames possessed two timeouts, plenty of time for Willis.

Liberty moved the ball down to the VT 41 with 11 seconds remaining, where it used its final timeout after an incomplete pass.

Facing fourth-and-six, Freeze sent out Barbir for a 59-yard attempt that was blocked by VT and returned into the endzone by corner back Jermaine Waller, only to be blown dead before the snap thanks to the Fuente timeout.

Despite the confusion on the field, Barbir remained calm.

“I knew (the referee) had called (the timeout),” Barbir said. “That’s why I was very confused when everyone was running the ball back and the refs let it play. Because … I clearly heard a whistle blow … If you see the replays of me on the screen, I am just shaking my head (and) I am like, ‘He blew the whistle obviously.’ So, I was kind of confused.”

Freeze said his team had three options after the timeout – 1) throw a Hail Mary to the endzone, 2) let Willis run around for 11 seconds to send the game to overtime or 3) throw a short pass to the sideline and then attempt a shorter field goal.

The Flames went with option three, and the rest is history.

With the victory, Liberty – now ranked No. 22 in both the AP Top 25 and the Amway Coaches poll – moved to 7-0, while Virginia Tech fell to 4-3. The Flames will take on FCS opponent Western Carolina at home Saturday, Nov. 14, at noon with coverage on ESPN3.

Christian Weaner is the Asst. Sports Reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @christianweaner.