Keys to the game: liberty looks to unlock its offense against gardner-webb
(Picture taken by Riley Clingman of The Light Radio)
Liberty’s season opener did little to ease the concerns of Flames Faithful. The offense struggled to establish the running game, costly penalties continued to plague the Flames, and the play-calling remained conservative for much of the afternoon. Those issues ultimately contributed to a 20–13 loss to James Madison.
Liberty (0–1, 0–0) will kick off against the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs (0–2, 0–0) at 6 p.m. Sept. 12 at Williams Stadium. Saturday will mark the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ third consecutive game, following losses to Austin Peay (FCS), 35–17, and Wofford, 17–13.
On paper, this should be a relatively easy win for the Flames, but the challenge is ensuring that the Flames don’t shoot themselves in the foot.
Here are the following “Keys To The Game” for a Flames victory on Saturday night @ 6:00 PM:
Establish the Run Game
(Picture taken by Riley Clingman of The Light Radio)
This is the area I’ll be watching very closely, as the Flames had a tough time getting anything going against the Dukes.
Liberty’s passing attack became dangerous in the second half once Head Coach Jamey Chadwell started opening up the playbook, something he hasn’t had to do since 2021 during his time as the head coach at Coastal Carolina. However, the running game never really got going. Kam Davis finished with just 51 yards on 16 carries, while the Flames’ rushing attack totaled 91 yards on 38 carries throughout the afternoon.
“I was surprised that we were never able to bust one and get some bigger chunk plays,” Chadwell said. “I wanted to make sure that we didn’t put it all on the quarterback, so I was going to be consistent with still trying to control it. We just couldn’t average a lot of yards per carry; I think we were under three, which hardly ever happens to us. We never could be consistent there.”
Gardner-Webb’s defense could provide a great opportunity for Liberty to put the “we don’t have a run game” narrative to bed. Through two games this season, the Runnin’ Bulldogs have allowed an average of 131.5 rushing yards per game. Austin Peay and Wofford combined for 263 rushing yards against Gardner-Webb, averaging more than 3 yards per carry.
Liberty still needs to prove they can move the football consistently through the air and on the ground. This could be the perfect opportunity to use the run to set up the pass, especially after the Flames did the complete opposite against the Dukes last week when the running game was shut down in the first half. If Gardner-Webb stacks the box, it will be important to see how Liberty junior quarterback Deshawn Purdie and Chadwell adjust.
I’d also like to see the offensive line build more chemistry and take control early. This unit returns four starters from last season while adding four transfers, giving the Flames plenty of experience and new talent up front to continue their success in the running game.
Play Clean, Disciplined Football
(Picture taken by Riley Clingman of The Light Radio)
A glaring issue that hurt the Flames throughout the 2025 season was their inability to stay disciplined. Pre-snap penalties, getting a little too extra after the whistle, and other unforced errors repeatedly put Liberty in difficult situations and, in some cases, took touchdowns off the board. After the season, Liberty had to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of what went wrong, and committing 74 penalties for 667 yards — an average of 55.6 penalty yards per game — was certainly an area that needed to be addressed.
Unfortunately for the Flames, some of those same issues followed them to Harrisonburg against James Madison. Liberty continued to commit pre-snap penalties and was also hit with an occasional holding call. Those are things a coach can probably live with in Week 1, especially when playing on the road in a hostile environment. However, the penalties after the play are where the concern starts to grow, especially after unsportsmanlike conduct and unnecessary roughness penalties became a recurring problem toward the end of the 2025 season.
“When you have the self-inflicted stuff … why?” Chadwell said. “We obviously had false start penalties, (but) was it because of the crowd noise, was it because of the people that did it, was it because of the quarterback (not being set). There’s a lot of things that you go through, and I think those are the ones that you lose some sleep over.”
Liberty finished with 12 penalties for 82 yards against the Dukes, which became a crucial factor in keeping the Flames behind the sticks throughout much of the game. One holding penalty proved particularly costly, as a 34-yard touchdown reception by Makai Jackson was wiped off the board because of a penalty.
That is the kind of mistake Liberty cannot afford to continue making. The Flames showed last season that self-inflicted mistakes can completely change the momentum of a game, and they saw it happen again in Week 1. With Gardner-Webb coming to Williams Stadium, Liberty has another chance to show that the discipline issues that plagued the team in 2025 have been addressed.
Open Up The Playbook, Let Deshawn Purdie Do What He Does
(Picture Take by Riley Clingman of The Light Radio)
This one is pretty simple: Let Deshawn Purdie play football.
Purdie finished the season opener 17-for-27 passing for 230 yards and a touchdown, but those numbers don’t tell the entire story of what could have been for the Liberty offense. The Flames leaned heavily on the running game in the first half, attempting to establish something that simply wasn’t there. Liberty finished the afternoon with 38 rushing attempts for just 91 yards, averaging 2.4 yards per carry.
As the game progressed, the passing attack began to open up, and Purdie looked more comfortable as the Flames leaned on his arm. Liberty found more success through the air in the second half, giving a glimpse of what the offense can look like when Purdie is given more opportunities to make plays.
For Chadwell, the season opener also marked his first time calling plays since 2021, when he was the head coach at Coastal Carolina. With that in mind, there were positives to take away from his first game back in the play-calling role, but there were also decisions he would like to have back.
“It’s my first time doing it since ’21,” Chadwell said. “So, there’s some things that I felt good about our rhythm, and then there’s some others like, ‘Man, I shouldn’t have done that.’ There are some things that I have to continue to improve on to help put our players in the best chance to be successful.”
That self-evaluation could be important moving forward. Chadwell has already acknowledged that there are things he needs to improve on, and the second half against James Madison showed that the offense can be more effective when the passing game is allowed to develop.
The running game still needs to be part of the equation. Liberty cannot abandon it after one difficult afternoon, especially with four returning starters along the offensive line. But when the run game is struggling to gain traction, the Flames need to be willing to adjust rather than continue forcing something that is not working.
Purdie showed he can make plays when given the opportunity. Now, Liberty needs to find the right balance between establishing the run and allowing its quarterback to make plays through the air. Against Gardner-Webb, the biggest question may not be whether Liberty can run the football — it will be whether Chadwell and the Flames can recognize what is working early and adjust accordingly.
