Malik Willis didn’t have his best game of the season against Virginia Tech, fumbling the ball four times and losing it twice, but he did come through in the clutch as Liberty upset the Hokies 38-35 in Lane Stadium.
In the end, Willis threw for 217 yards on 20-of-30 passing and three touchdowns while also rushing for 108 yards and a score.
“He’s our guy,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said after the game. “We’ve talked to him about ball security. He didn’t make the right decisions today, and then he tries to do crazy things with the ball sometimes. I thought we did a great job of managing the clock in the second quarter. I thought we got some really good plays to call down there if we can ever get down there and I thought we were going to run the clock out and go in there at the half up. Obviously that didn’t work out because we turned it over. I told these kids all week long, we’re going to climb this cliff today and not worry about the scoreboard until the clock was on 0:00. Malik played like that and he played a solid second half, and he made plays for us when he had to.”
After the Hokies had driven down the field to tie the game with less than a minute left, Willis and the Flames offense went to work, going 42 yards in less than 50 seconds to set up the game-winning field goal attempt. The first attempt was blocked by the Hokies and returned for a touchdown but Tech coach Justin Fuente had called a timeout.
This is where Liberty and Freeze took advantage of a soft Hokie defense.
With eight second left, Willis threw a short eight-yard completion to CJ Yarbrough to cut the yardage of the next field goal attempt to 51 yards. Alex Barbir did not miss, nailing it straight through the uprights to make the Flames 7-0.
Asked if he was surprised and how well Willis, an Auburn transfer, has been playing so far this season, Freeze responded no.
“No, I’m not surprised,” Freeze said. “I think quarterbacks enjoy playing in our system. We fit Malik’s skill set very well and obviously he knew my offense in the SEC. I think that’s why he chose us because he saw it first hand in that league and he was a part of it.”
Through seven games, Willis has thrown for 1,339 yards and 12 touchdowns while rushing for 603 yards and seven more scores.
“Malik knows this about me, while I will yell and scream some, he knows that I have the ability to put the ball back in his hands and trust him,” Freeze said. “He’s our guy.”
