Liberty Football: BYU holds off Flames, wins 31-24

BYU held on against for a 31-24 win over Liberty Saturday evening at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

When Dr. Jerry Falwell founded Liberty University in 1971, the school’s founder famously stated that his goal was to create an athletics department for Christian student-athletes like Catholics find at Notre Dame and Mormons have at BYU.

In the first-ever matchup between the two programs and in Liberty’s first full season at the FSB level, the Flames proved they belonged on the same playing field as the more established FBS independent program.

The game came down to the final drive and the two teams finished with similar numbers. BYU outgained Liberty, 471-431, including a slight 306 to 303 advantage in the passing game.

During the contest, Liberty quarterback Stephen Calvert and wide receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden continued their efforts to rewrite the Flames’ record book.

Golden-Golden finished the contest with 10 receptions, making him the program’s all-time career leader in receptions (225). Gandy-Golden came into the game having already set the program’s career receiving yards (3,662) and touchdown receptions (31) records.

Calvert finished the night completing 27-of-45 passing attempts for 303 yards. With his 27 completions, the senior became the program’s all-time leader in completions (848).

Like Gandy-Golden, Calvert came into the contest with a handful of records already in his possessions. The quarterback is the program’s all-time leader in career passing yards (11,303) and touchdown passes (88).