BRYSON GORDON
Lynchburg News & Advance
A trip to the Bahamas for Liberty football with the chance to punctuate the 2024 season on a high note ended with a gutted version of the team being overwhelmed by a bought-in Buffalo squad.
Bulls defenders crashed like waves all over the field against a Liberty offense saddled with optouts at key positions. Buffalo also out-earned the nation's thirdbest rushing attack with 222 yards on the ground of its own to earn a 26-7 victory over Liberty in the Bahamas Bowl.
The loss dealt the Flames a third-straight loss in a bowl game, moving the program's record alltime to 3-3.
Buffalo (9-4) never trailed Saturday, taking advantage of the wind to its back in the first quarter to connect on a pair of field goals by Upton Bellenfant. His 52-yard field goal opened the scoring, and he poured in two more to give Buffalo a 9-0 lead before Liberty (8-4) completed its first pass.
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Ryan Burger, elevated to QB1 after Kaidon Salter transferred to Colorado earlier this offseason, struggled to find any rhythm in the first half. He began 0-of-5 passing, and the Flames earned just 4 yards through their first 12 plays.
Midway through the second quarter, after Billy Lucas garnered some momentum with a 55-yard scamper into Buffalo territory, Burger fumbled while scrambling for a first down and the Bulls fell on the ball.
In what amounted to an audition for the starting job next season, Burger finished 4-of-12 passing for 40 yards, and 57 rushing yards on 11 attempts. In the fourth quarter he was replaced by Nate Hampton, who is already committed to play for Gardner-Webb next season.
"I thought he competed," coach Jamey Chadwell said of Burger. "I think if you ask him he missed some easy stuff he know he can make."
Liberty's best drive of the first 30 minutes came on its final one. Thrusted into two-minute tempo, Burger connected with Bentley Hanshaw on the run to get Liberty near field goal range.
Wind disrupted plans of kick ing and throwing for the team playing into the Bahamas' breeze at Thomas A. Robinson Stadium, but with the wind at his back, Colin Karhu missed a 49-yard attempt in the final seconds of the half. It was the first time the Flames had been shut out in the opening 30 minutes this season.
"The challenge of playing in the wind today, it was hard. And you needed to manage that and they did a better job of doing that," Chadwell said.
The missed kick proved a pivotal moment when the Bulls used nine plays to gain 75 yards and a touchdown in less than three minutes out of the half to push the lead to 16. Liberty got 57-yard burst run by Burger on the ensuing drive, but he fumbled for the second time on the day two plays later while fighting for yards inside the 10. It was his last play of the day.
"The thing [Burger] can't do is he can't turn it over," Chadwell said. "We had two opportunities there ... you can't turn it over. And those are things he has to improve tremendously as he battles for the starting job going into next year."
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