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Wednesday, October 30
Lynchburg, Va.
7:00 PM ET
Liberty University
5-2 , 3-2
21
vs
31
Jacksonville State
5-3 , 4-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Jacksonville St.
7
7
10
7
31
Liberty
7
7
0
7
21
Jax State Halts Flames Home Win Streak
10/30/2024 11:40:00 PM | Football
LYNCHBURG, Va. - A fourth-down stop midway through the fourth quarter allowed Jacksonville State to secure a hard-fought 31-21 Conference USA victory over Liberty, Wednesday evening, at Williams Stadium.
The 10-point setback halts Liberty's 12-game home winning streak, which was the fourth-longest active FBS win streak in the country coming into the evening.
Jacksonville State, winners of five in a row, moves to 5-3 on the year and stays tied atop the CUSA standings with a 4-0 league record. The Gamecocks are tied with Western Kentucky (6-2, 4-0 CUSA), who knocked off Kennesaw State, 31-14, earlier this evening.
The Flames fall to 5-2 on the year and 3-2 in CUSA action after dropping their first game at Williams Stadium since the 2022 season.
In a game played mostly on the ground all evening, the No. 5 ranked rushing attack of Jacksonville State won the ground game.
The Gamecocks, who were averaging 256.3 yards per contest coming into the night, finish the game with 363 rushing yards thanks to the stellar play of running back Tre Stewart. He rushed 27 times for 232 yards and four touchdowns.
The Flames had their third best rushing performance of 2024, finishing the game with 273 yards on the ground. Quinton Cooley recorded his 12th career 100-yard game, leading Liberty with 27 carries for 133 yards and a touchdown.
Kaidon Salter finished the night completing 12-of-25 passing attempts for 147 yards and threw his third interception of the year late in the fourth quarter when Liberty was attempting to move the ball downfield with under two minutes to play.
Joseph Carter and CJ Bazile, Jr., tied for team-high tackling honors. The pair recorded 10 stops, marking a new career high for Bazile.
Box Score Highlights:
Final Score: 31-21 (Jax State wins)
Liberty (5-2, 3-2 CUSA)
Jacksonville State (5-3, 4-0 CUSA)
Location: Williams Stadium (Lynchburg, Va.)
Attendance: 18,069
Play-By-Play Breakdown:
First Quarter
After flipping the calendar to the month of November, the Flames will return to weekend football games when they square off against Middle Tennessee (2-6, 1-3 CUSA) on Saturday, November 9.
The first of back-to-back road games for Liberty will be played at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tenn. and will be Liberty's first day game of the 2024 season.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium)
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: LFSN Radio (Flagship Station: The Journey 88.3 FM Lynchburg)
Kickoff: 1 p.m. (EST)
The 10-point setback halts Liberty's 12-game home winning streak, which was the fourth-longest active FBS win streak in the country coming into the evening.
Jacksonville State, winners of five in a row, moves to 5-3 on the year and stays tied atop the CUSA standings with a 4-0 league record. The Gamecocks are tied with Western Kentucky (6-2, 4-0 CUSA), who knocked off Kennesaw State, 31-14, earlier this evening.
The Flames fall to 5-2 on the year and 3-2 in CUSA action after dropping their first game at Williams Stadium since the 2022 season.
In a game played mostly on the ground all evening, the No. 5 ranked rushing attack of Jacksonville State won the ground game.
The Gamecocks, who were averaging 256.3 yards per contest coming into the night, finish the game with 363 rushing yards thanks to the stellar play of running back Tre Stewart. He rushed 27 times for 232 yards and four touchdowns.
The Flames had their third best rushing performance of 2024, finishing the game with 273 yards on the ground. Quinton Cooley recorded his 12th career 100-yard game, leading Liberty with 27 carries for 133 yards and a touchdown.
Kaidon Salter finished the night completing 12-of-25 passing attempts for 147 yards and threw his third interception of the year late in the fourth quarter when Liberty was attempting to move the ball downfield with under two minutes to play.
Joseph Carter and CJ Bazile, Jr., tied for team-high tackling honors. The pair recorded 10 stops, marking a new career high for Bazile.
Box Score Highlights:
Final Score: 31-21 (Jax State wins)
Liberty (5-2, 3-2 CUSA)
Jacksonville State (5-3, 4-0 CUSA)
Location: Williams Stadium (Lynchburg, Va.)
Attendance: 18,069
Play-By-Play Breakdown:
First Quarter
- The Flames went to their ground attack to take the game's first lead on a 25-yard rushing touchdown by Vaughn Blue at 10:43. Liberty ran the ball five-straight times on the 62-yard drive that staked Liberty to a 7-0 lead.
- However, the Gamecocks answered on their next offensive play to knot the score a 7-7 13 seconds later. Tre Stewart took a handoff and found space on the left side of the field, scoring on a 75-yard rushing touchdown at 10:30.
- The two teams traded possession back and forth until Jacksonville State took its first lead of the game on another lengthy touchdown run by Stewart. The running back broke a few attempted tackles to score from 28 yards out and give the visitors at 14-7 edge with 10:53 left before halftime.
- The Flames answered right back on the next drive, tying the game at 14-14 with 4:16 left to play in the quarter. Quinton Cooley capped a 75-yard scoring drive, which consisted of 12 carries, scoring from two yards out to record his seventh rushing touchdown of the year.
- Jacksonville State's second lead of the game looked like it was going to be seven points on the Gamecock's first possession of the half after a Sean Brown reception at the two-yard line. However, a holding penalty and a defensive stop by the Flames forced the visitors to settle for a 25-yard Garrison Rippa field goal at 9:22.
- The Gamecocks pushed their lead to 10, 24-14, at the 2:35 mark on Stewart's third rushing touchdown of the night, this one for one yard. The 11-play, 87-yard drive was kept alive by a Flames' holding penalty on what would have been a third-down stop near midfield.
- Liberty pulled back within three points, 24-21, on a four-yard touchdown pass from Kaidon Salter to Jacob Jenkins at 12:29. Liberty converted on two third-down plays and a fourth-down 22-yard pass from Salter to keep the 13-play, 78-yard drive alive.
- Later in the quarter, the Flames drove deep into Jacksonville State territory and elected to try to run a play on a short fourth-and-one situation from the 17-yard line. However, the snap was mishandled, allowing the visitors to get a key stop.
- After forcing the Gamecocks to punt the ball way, Liberty was pinned at its own six-yard line with under four minutes to play. On the third play, Salter tried to find Elijah Canion on the outside, but Jacksonville State's Geimere Latimer stepped in front of the pass and returned the interception to the one-yard line.
- Two plays later, Stewart scored his fourth and final touchdown to give the visitors the final 10-point margin with 1:57 left to play in the game.
After flipping the calendar to the month of November, the Flames will return to weekend football games when they square off against Middle Tennessee (2-6, 1-3 CUSA) on Saturday, November 9.
The first of back-to-back road games for Liberty will be played at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tenn. and will be Liberty's first day game of the 2024 season.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium)
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: LFSN Radio (Flagship Station: The Journey 88.3 FM Lynchburg)
Kickoff: 1 p.m. (EST)
Team Stats
JSU
LU
Total Yards
458
420
Pass Yards
95
147
Rushing Yards
363
273
Penalty Yards
115
61
1st Downs
21
27
3rd Downs
3
6
4th Downs
0
1
TOP
23:46
36:14
1st Quarter
JSU 0, LU 7
LU - Blue,Vaughn 25 yd run (Karhu,Colin kick), 5 plays, 62 yards, TOP 02:32
JSU 7, LU 7
JSU - Stewart,Tre 75 yd run (Rippa,Garrison kick), 1 plays, 75 yards, TOP 00:13
2nd Quarter
JSU 14, LU 7
JSU - Stewart,Tre 28 yd run (Rippa,Garrison kick), 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:39
JSU 14, LU 14
LU - Cooley,Quinton 2 yd run (Karhu,Colin kick), 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 06:37
3rd Quarter
JSU 17, LU 14
JSU - Rippa,Garrison 25 yd field goal 10 plays, 71 yards, TOP 04:20
JSU 24, LU 14
JSU - Stewart,Tre 1 yd run (Rippa,Garrison kick), 11 plays, 87 yards, TOP 04:20
4th Quarter
JSU 24, LU 21
LU - Jenkins,Jacob 4 yd pass from Salter,Kaidon (Karhu,Colin kick) 13 plays, 78 yards, TOP 05:05
JSU 31, LU 21
JSU - Stewart,Tre 1 yd run (Rippa,Garrison kick), 2 plays, 1 yards, TOP 00:37
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
12
TD
1
YDS
147
INT
1
Players Mentioned
DE
/ Football
RB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
RB
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TE
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