Monmouth Revisited: News & Notes
11/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Flames remained unbeaten in Big South play on Saturday, using two fourth quarter scores to move ahead of and defeat visiting Monmouth, 34-24, during Military Appreciation Day.
Included with today's news and notes are video highlights from yesterday's 10-point victory over the Hawks, Liberty's third Big South win of the season.
Throughout the season, LibertyFlames.com will run a similar feature online each Sunday, spotlighting the notable accomplishments and numbers from the previous day's gridiron battle.
Series with Monmouth:
• Liberty leads the overall series with Monmouth, 2-0
• Liberty has faced Monmouth the last two years, defeating the Hawks, 45-15, last year
• Both contests have taken place in Williams Stadium with yesterday's marking the first-ever matchup between the two teams as conference foes
• Liberty scored 36 unanswered points during last year's matchup to open up an early tight contest against the Hawks
Attendance Numbers:
• Following the contest, Liberty now ranks No. 5 in average home attendance (17,947), No. 7 in total home attendance (89,736) and No. 11 in filling stadium capacity (93.48 percent)
• Liberty enters next week's Big South game against Charleston Southern needing an attendance figure above 10,263 fans to surpass 100,000 in total home attendance for the second season year in a row
• Should Liberty finish the regular season with a total home attendance figure above 100,000, Liberty would break its all-time record for average home attendance (16,419 in 2011 over six games)
Team Talking Points:
• Liberty's win over Monmouth pushes the Flames record to 9-0 in the month of November under Flames Head Coach Turner Gill
• Liberty has won 22 of its last 23 Big South contests at Williams Stadium, outscoring opponents by 22.35 points per game during this stretch of games (dating back to 2006)
• Liberty has won seven Big South contests in a row, which is tied for the third-longest active FCS conference winning streak in the country
• For the sixth time this year, Liberty finished a game with 400 or more total offensive yards (404) and now ranks second in the Big South and No. 29 in the country in total offense (428.3 average yards per game)
• For the fourth game in a row and the sixth time this year, Liberty scored on its opening drive of the game against Monmouth
• The Flames made wise use of their possessions, scoring six times on their 10 drives during the game
• Liberty finished the game with a season-high 14 first downs by rushing plays and have posted 10 or more rushing first downs in each Big South game this season (five times overall in 2014)
• Liberty finished the game with 201 rushing yards on 52 carries, its highest number of rushing attempts since finishing with 54 rushing attempts against Concord in 2012
• Liberty posted its fifth game in a row with two or more rushing touchdowns (eighth time overall in 2014), allowing Liberty to rank No. 2 in the Big South in total rushing touchdowns (24)
• Liberty is averaging 208.0 passing yards per game in Big South contests (five passing touchdowns) as compared to a 271.4 passing yards per game average in non-conference games this year (14 passing touchdowns)
• Liberty finished the game converting on 8-of-14 third-down plays (57.1 percent), its second highest conversion percentage of the year (season best was 58.8 percent against Appalachian State/10-of-17)
• Liberty allowed Monmouth to sack quarterback Josh Woodrum twice, snapping a string of three games in a row without allowing a sack (ranks No. 9 nationally in fewest sacks allowed per game/0.90)
• Liberty posted its highest time of possession advantage of the year against Monmouth at 15:46 (37:53 to 22:07), its best since its season finale at Charleston Southern last year (18:02 TOP edge)
• Liberty limited Monmouth to a combined negative four total offensive yards during the fourth quarter, while finishing the final 15 minutes of play with 110 total offensive yards
• Monmouth finished the game with 52 total offensive plays, the lowest total for a Flames' opponent this season
• Liberty finished the game with four penalties for 45 yards, its third-lowest penalty total in a game this season
• Liberty recorded four sacks in the game, its third-highest total of the season and gives the Flames nine sacks in three Big South games this year
• Monmouth finished the game with 15 total first downs, 12 by passing plays to mark the fifth time this year the Flames have allowed 10 or more first downs by passing plays in a game
Notable Player Points:
• RB D.J. Abnar finished the game with a career-high 39 carries for a career-best 164 yards, while recording two rushing touchdowns
• RB D.J. Abnar's 39 carries were the most by a Flames' running back since Eugene Goodman carried the ball 40 times against Hofstra in 2003
• RB D.J. Abnar's posted his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season and the sixth of his career
• With his yardage in the game, RB D.J. Abnar became the 10th different running back in program history with 1,000 career rushing yards (1,004)
• Following the game, RB D.J. Abnar leads Liberty with 78 points and ranks third in the Big South and No. 37 in the country in points per game (7.8)
• QB Josh Woodrum finished the game with 11 carries, the second time this season he has had 10 or more rushing attempts in a game
• QB Josh Woodrum finished the game with 203 passing yards, his fourth game in a row with 200 or more yards (eighth this season)
• With his passing yardage in the game, QB Josh Woodrum became the fourth quarterback in program and Big South history with 7,000 career passing yards (7,068)
• QB Josh Woodrum finished the game with two passing touchdowns and is now tied with Paul Johnson (1985-89) for third on Liberty's all-time career passing touchdowns list (49)
• For the second game in a row, WR Gabe Henderson finished a game with a touchdown reception, while leading the Flames with four receptions for 52 yards
• WR Darrin Peterson's lone reception of the game was a 31-yard touchdown pass, his eighth of the year which ties him for No. 17 in the country in touchdown receptions
• WR Darrin Peterson is now tied for fifth in single-season program history with eight touchdown receptions (tied with Fred Banks/1984, Kelvin Edwards/1983, James McKnight/1983 and L.G. Parrish/1990)
• P Trey Turner averaged a season-best 51.5 yards per punt, aided by a career-long 59 yards punt
• Both of P Trey Turner's punts pinned Monmouth inside its 20-yard line, including one at the two-yard line
• K John Lunsford finished the game with four extra points and two field goals and is tied for No. 6 in the country in scoring per game by a kicker (8.4)
• RS Alpha Jalloh finished the game with kickoff returns of 31 and 32 yards, giving the Flames their second and third kickoff returns of 30 or more yards this season
• S Jacob Hagen led the Flames and posted his third double-digit tackle effort of the year with 10 stops against Monmouth
• DL Chima Uzowihe finished the games with three tackles, including two tackles for a loss and a sack
• DL Chima Uzowihe recorded his seventh sack of the year and now ranks fifth in program history with 16 career sacks
• DL Toby Onyechi recorded two sacks in the game, both on Monmouth's final drive, and he now ranks second in the Big South with 6.5 sacks (behind teammate Chima Uzowihe with 7.0)
• LB Nick Newman finished the game with two solo tackles and his second fumble recovery of the year
