Willis’ Inspired Performance Silences ODU

The Liberty football team displayed its dominance once again as it thrashed Old Dominion 45-17 Sept. 18 and rose one more step up in the AP Top 25 to No. 27.

Entering a game in which Liberty was favored by 27.5 points, most of the crowd in Williams Stadium probably had little doubt about who would emerge victorious. Quarterback Malik Willis was instrumental in sealing the victory with his six total touchdowns on the day. Willis did it all during the game, scrambling and throwing lasers to put points on the scoreboard for the Flames. 

After losing the coin toss and starting the game with the football, Liberty’s offense marched down the field. In just a short nine plays, Willis found receiver CJ Daniels in the end zone for the opening score. 

Following the score, ODU began its opening drive eager to replicate the success of its opponent. The Monarchs’ drive stalled, however, after they picked up only one first down, and the team was forced to punt the ball. 

Liberty’s second drive did not begin as successfully as the first drive, and after three plays, Head Coach Hugh Freeze sent out Aidan Alves to punt. ODU fared no better and punted after a quick three-and-out. 

Liberty fixed the errors of the previous drive and found itself in the end zone again after six plays. The highlights for this drive included two sensational quarterback keepers from Willis, one for 56 yards and the other for 17 yards, as Willis showed his best Lamar Jackson impression. The latter quarterback run served as the scoring play for the Flames. 

ODU continued to struggle the following drive and once again lined up to punt the ball away. But disaster struck for the Flames when return man Demario Douglas muffed the punt return at Liberty’s 30-yard line. Fortunately for Douglas, the defense refused to budge for the Monarchs’ offense, forcing ODU to settle for a field goal. 

Liberty responded with another successful drive, finishing with Willis’ pass to Daniels for another touchdown. 

The next two drives resulted in little ground gained for either side and both ended in punts. The third threatened to be more of the same until a roughing the kicker penalty against Liberty provided ODU with a fresh set of downs. This turn of events electrified the Monarchs’ offense, and they capped off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run by Elijah Davis. 

Willis continued to demonstrate his prowess by responding with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Shaa. 

Quarterback DJ Mack for the Monarchs logged his only touchdown of the contest with a nice pass to Zach Kuntz in the final stages of the first half. Liberty entered the half leading 28-17.

ODU labored to extend the opening drive of the second half, but they ultimately had to punt after only three plays. Willis gladly accepted the chance to demonstrate why he is considered one of the top quarterbacks in college football and led a five-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard touchdown reception by Kevin Shaa.

ODU once again failed to produce on offense, and another short drive returned the ball to the Flames. Willis took the ball to the house after another long and impressive drive to score his second rushing touchdown and sixth total touchdown of the night. 

Relatively little happened after this drive for both teams, and the third quarter ended with Liberty leading 42-17.The fourth quarter proved to be less exciting than the others with the only score coming from an Alves field goal. The Flames’ defense also notched its only turnover in the contest when Carl Poole intercepted DJ Mack at ODU’s 47-yard line with about two minutes left in the game.

While the Flames played well throughout the whole game, the defense shined in the second half, forcing a shutout of the Monarch’s offense in the last two quarters.

Willis finished the game with 242 passing yards and four passing touchdowns along with 77 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Freeze seemed pleased with the play of his quarterback and suggested that this may have been one of the best games of Willis’ career.

Extra motivation for Willis may have arisen from comments made by ODU safety Harrell Blackmon questioning Willis’ ability to throw the ball. After the game, Willis responded to a question about whether that comment fueled his play. 

“I mean I heard about [the comment], but like I always say, I don’t play for him [Blackmon]. I play for the glory of God,” Willis said. “I plan to go out there and use this ability I’m blessed with, and I just plan to go out there and glorify His name.”

Willis’ teammate Shaa also addressed the comment after the game. 

“[I’m] not supposed to really pay attention to the media, but when I heard about [Blackmon’s comment], I was like, ‘I don’t know about that man.’” Shaa said. “I know if Malik heard it, he probably had a chip on his shoulder, but I know he doesn’t let the media get to him, but me I was like, ‘We’re going to see about that.’”

Liberty’s offense was complemented well by strong defensive play, headlined by the five sacks recorded by the team. Even more impressively, three of those sacks came from the same player— defensive end Kendy Charles. 

“I have a great coach and a great D-line coach,” Charles said. “Coach Aldridge does an amazing job telling us exactly what we want to do. Going into the game, we knew what we were going to get. He put us in the best position to make plays, and all you have to do is go out there and do it. For me today, I didn’t think I had the best game, but him putting me in those positions helps a lot because all I had to do was come off and make the tackle.”

Freeze held high praise for both the offense and the defense, while also noting that the special teams did not perform to standard. 

The Flames look to increase their win streak on the season to four when they travel to Syracuse to battle it out against the Orange Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. This will be the teams’ first meeting since the Flames beat the Orange 38-21 last season. 

Shields is the asst. sports editor. Find him on Facebook.