The Liberty Flames and Hugh Freeze lost o Syracuse Friday night 24-21 on a last second field goal. The Flames were a touchdown favorite entering the game.

Freeze’s Flames were expected to make some noise this year led by former Auburn QB Malik Willis; however, the loss to the Orange certainly hurts that perception.

With the game tied at 21-21, Liberty fumbled with just over 3 minutes left in the game at their own 27 yard-line, giving the ball back to Syracuse. At that point, Liberty had 2 timeouts left and had enough time to get a stop or allow a field goal and get the ball back.

Freeze called timeout with 2:42 left. Syracuse then got a first down and drained the clock. However, Freeze apparently forgot he had a timeout left, because instead of using it earlier in the drive with 25 seconds left, he waited until 1 second left to ice the kicker with it. That didn’t work. The Orange made the field goal and won the game as time expired.

Freeze’s late game management, namely timeout management, was being called out by many following Liberty’s loss to Syracuse: