#137 ASA PLAY ON 8* Liberty -3.5 over Old Dominion, Saturday at 6 PM ET - There may be some remnants of Hurricane Ian for this game with possible wind and rain. That heavily favors the team that can run the ball better and that is absolutely Liberty in this one. The Flames average just under 200 YPG rushing and they’ll be facing an ODU defense that ranks 112th nationally at stopping the run allowing 188 YPG. On the other side of the ball, the Monarchs can’t run at all and have consistently been beaten in the trenches this year. They have not topped 2.5 YPC in any game this season and they are averaging only 63 YPG rushing on 25 carries. They have been outrushed by a whopping 500 yards in 4 games this season and their YPC differential is -1.7. ODU steps into this game with a 2-2 record but they could easily be 0-4. Their two wins both came by 3 points and they had a defensive TD in each of those 2 wins. The ODU offense just isn’t very good. They rank 110th or lower in PPG, total YPG, and rushing YPG. While passing is the key to their offense, they only rank 76th in passing YPG. Liberty’s pass defense has been solid allowing 211 YPG and just 6.8 yards per attempt and that includes a game vs one of the top offenses in the nation, Wake Forest. Speaking of that game, the Flames outplayed Wake on the road in that game, outgaining the Demon Deacons by almost 100 yards, but lost by a single point. This number is a bit lower than it should be because Liberty laid an egg last week beating a bad Akron team by just 9 points. First of all it was a letdown spot after they nearly beat WF a week earlier and Liberty played their 3rd string QB last week due to injuries. The starting QB Salter is back this week along with 2 starting offensive linemen who sat out vs Akron. The 3-1 Flames have outgained every opponent they’ve faced this season while ODU has been outgained by every opponent they’ve faced. When these teams faced off last year Liberty was favored by 26 points and won the game 45-17. Now they are laying only around a FG this season? This should be a mismatch in the trenches and we’ll side with Liberty to win by more than a FG in this game.