Game Day: Kennesaw State

Liberty (5-0, 3-0 CUSA) will look to achieve bowl eligibility when it hits the road to face CUSA newcomer Kennesaw State (0-6, 0-2 CUSA), Wednesday night.

"4 Downs" with Kennesaw State

#1 Liberty is one of 11 unbeaten teams in FBS football, while Kennesaw State is one of three winless squads. Wednesday's contest will mark the final scheduled contest this season between an unbeaten team and a winless team. Jamey Chadwell (18-1) will coach his 20th game at Liberty on Wednesday. Hugh Freeze (15-5) previously owned the Flames' top record through 20 games.

#2 Liberty is playing its second road game of the season and its first in 46 days. The Flames have won their last six road contests spanning the last two seasons, matching the program record for road winning streak (Liberty went 6-0 on the road in 1997). Kennesaw State will attempt to join Oregon as the only teams to boast a 100-yard rusher against the Flames since the start of 2023. The Owls average 352.3 rushing yards/game all-time against Liberty.

#3 Liberty's Jamey Chadwell (2013, 2015 and 2016) and Kennesaw State's Brian Bohannon (2017, 2018 and 2021) are both three-time Big South Coaches of the Year. The three previous Liberty-KSU clashes (2015-17) came when both teams were Big South members. The Liberty-KSU victor went on to win at least a share of the Big South title two of those years (2016 and 2017).

#4 Quinton Cooley has notched four 100-yard rushing games this season, reaching the century mark vs. Campbell, New Mexico State, East Carolina and FIU. Meanwhile, Billy Lucas did so vs. UTEP. This is the first time since 2008 Liberty has had a 100-yard rusher in each of a season's first five contests.

A LIBERTY WIN WOULD...

Make the Flames bowl eligible for the sixth consecutive season.
Extend the Flames' program-record regular-season winning streak to 18, the longest active streak in FBS football.
Enable the Flames to set a new program record with their seventh straight road victory.
Give the Flames a 6-0 start to the season for the second straight year and the fifth time in program history.
Push the Flames' all-time record in CUSA games to 12-0.
Enable the Flames to join Southern Miss (1996-97) as the only CUSA newcomers to start each of their first two conference seasons at 4-0.
Improve the Flames' record to 22-1 all-time when facing CUSA opponents (at time of meeting) with their 21st consecutive win in such contests.
Represent the Flames' 12th straight victory in October and their 18th triumph in the last 19 October tilts, dating back to 2020.

Quite A Difference
Last year, Liberty played four games in a 20-day span during October, going 4-0 from Oct. 5 through Oct. 24.

This year, due to a prescheduled bye week and a game cancellation, Liberty played one game in a 32-day span (Sept. 22 through Oct. 22).

Regular Season Roll
Liberty carries a program-record 17-game regular-season winning streak into Wednesday's matchup.

The Flames hold the longest active regular-season winning streak in FBS football, followed by Oregon and Texas at 12 each and Army at 10.

CUSA Success
Liberty went 8-0 in conference play last year, its first season in Conference USA. The Flames are the first CUSA team to win their first 11 regular-season Conference USA games as conference members.

Overall, Liberty is 21-1 all-time against teams who were members of CUSA at time of meeting. Liberty's only loss to a CUSA team was a 47-7 setback to North Texas, Sept. 22, 2018 in Lynchburg.

Down To Georgia
Liberty is 6-8 all-time against teams from Georgia, including 6-3 as an NCAA Division I school and 1-0 as an FBS program.

The Flames defeated Georgia Southern 23-16 in the 2019 FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl.

Liberty last regular-season game in Georgia was a 36-21 win at Kennesaw State on Oct. 15, 2016, a game which featured a program-record 99-yard kickoff return by Frankie Hickson.

The Flames have won each of their last three games in Georgia, including at Savannah State (2006), Georgia State (2015) and Kennesaw State (2016).

Wednesday Week
This week's game between Liberty and Kennesaw State will be the first Wednesday game in program history.

The Flames are 5-0 so far during midweek Conference USA games the last two seasons, including 1-0 on Thursday and 4-0 on Tuesday.

Schedule

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Quinton Cooley

Billy Lucas