Liberty notes: Flames welcome bye week

When Liberty was trying to put together its football schedule last winter, the original plan was to schedule a game for Sept. 29 and leave Oct. 20 as an open date, giving the Flames a bye week in the middle of their conference schedule.

Athletics director Jeff Barber struggled to find a taker for a Sept. 29 home game, though, and eventually, the school scheduled Division II Concord on Oct. 20 and moved the open date to the end of September.

After the four-week gauntlet Liberty has faced out of the gates, featuring an FBS opponent, three teams ranked in the various FCS polls and a 2,300-mile road trip to Montana, the schedule change could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

I think so, Liberty coach Turner Gill said. It works out pretty well.

Both the Flames and Gardner-Webb, Libertys opponent for its Big South opener on Oct. 6, will have next week off after facing an extremely difficult four-game non-league stretch. GWU opened with games against Wofford, Richmond, Samford and Pittsburgh.

Its going to work out well for us, Gill said. Every team has bumps and bruises, and its going to be a good time for us to regroup after this ballgame and be ready to go in conference play.

Hall of Fame

Liberty inducted its fourth Athletics Hall of Fame class this weekend, and the five members of the 2012 class were honored at halftime of the Flames game with Lehigh.

This years class:

* Jesse Castro, who wrestled at Liberty from 1977-81 and resurrected the schools dormant wrestling program, coaching it from 2006-10. Under Castro, 24 individual wrestlers qualified for the NCAA championships.

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Liberty notes: Flames welcome bye week