Liberty 37, Coastal Carolina 34 OT. The 10 ten things you need to know about the Liberty win over Coastal Carolina in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl.
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Liberty 37, Coastal Carolina 34 OT: FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl
10. Of course this ended on a blocked kick. In one of the wildest and weirdest college football bowl games ever, Liberty was stuffed on its overtime possession – there was a whole lot happening just before that, we’ll get there in a moment – got hit for a delay of game, and Alex Barbir calmly hit a 44-yard field goal for a 37-34 lead. Coastal Carolina was stuffed, but Massimo Biscardi’s field goal try was blocked.
HE BLOCKED IT!
LIBERTY WINS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/laQNZiYJJa
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 27, 2020
9. There were a ton of missed holding calls, some questionable replay calls, and a few other rocky moments. The two teams combined for 12 penalties, Liberty turned it over three times, Coastal Carolina once, and … oh yeah. They also combined for 958 yards and more fun plays than we’ve seen throughout the first part of the bowl season.
8. There were so many fantastic performances that will be overshadowed by the quarterbacks and the finish. Coastal Carolina WR Jaivon Heiligh caught 13 passes for 178 yards, and Liberty RB Joshua Mack ran 14 times for 105 yards – but with a BIG fumble. Coastal Carolina WR Isaiah Likely caught five passes for 84 yards and a touchdown, and yeah …
7. The quarterbacks showed up. Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall completed 21-of-32 passes for 318 yards and three scores with a pick, and he led the team with 96 rushing yards and a touchdown. But ..
6. No, the quarterbacks really showed up. Liberty’s Malik Willis was unstoppable – at least running the ball. He threw for 220 yards, but gave up two interceptions – and there should’ve been more. However, he ran 21 times for 137 yards and four touchdowns.
5. That was the fourth season of Coastal Carolina football. So what if it lost a thriller of an overtime bowl game that could’ve gone either way? The team stepped up, made a monster comeback, came up with a goal line stand for the ages, and put together a whale of a performance against a very, very good Liberty team. Remember this season for all of the amazing wins – including beating BYU – and the great comebacks. Mostly, remember this as everything the program could’ve possibly have dreamed of.
4. This is the third year of Liberty football at the FCS level, It now has two straight Cure Bowl wins and no losing seasons. The Flames tried way-hard to give this game away – more on that in a second – but they beat two ACC teams on the road, came within a blocked kick of beating a third, and it took down an unbeaten Coastal Carolina team. Hugh Freeze’s team went 10-1, lost that one game to NC State by a point, and yet all of it was about to be totally forgotten because …
3. To whiteboard this in case you didn’t see it, with the score tied at 34 in the final moments, Liberty had the ball at the Coastal Carolina 1. The Chanticleers were going to let the Flames score, but LU RB Joshua Mack wouldn’t go in and took a knee on first down. On second down – with around 45 seconds to play – it got messed up. Mack tried to bleed the clock, then he got shoved into the end zone, seemed surprised to be hit from behind, fumbled, and Coastal Carolina recovered.
This was ruled a fumble while Liberty was in the red zone: pic.twitter.com/rXCVQmVJ2b
— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2020
2. The goal line debacle at the end of regulation is on the Liberty coaching staff. If there’s a mistake, or a miscommunication, or if everyone isn’t on the same page, that’s on the multi-millionaire head football coach and not on the college kid. Don’t blame RB Joshua Mack for that fumble on the goal line debacle at the end. That was a messed up situation, Mack seemed like he tried to stop short, and it all got screwed up from there.
1. My goodness did we deserve this 2020 Cure Bowl. After a pure load of yuck over the first seven bowl games, this was everything you could possibly want out of a non-playoff bowl game. Excitement, controversy, overtime, offense, big plays, big moments, great performances – good luck beating this, remaining 2020-2021 bowl season (and let’s hope you do).
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