Liberty Flames (3-3, 0-1 Big South) at Monmouth Hawks (5-1, 0-0 Big South)
Saturday, October 21, 2017; 1:05 p.m.
Kessler Stadium, West Long Branch, N.J.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
ESPN3 - http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3175695/liberty-vs-monmouth-football
Matt Harmon (Play by Play); Eddy Occhipinti (Color Analyst)

Watch Monmouth's 25 Years of Football Video

HD STREAMING INFORMATION
Watch ESPN App

DIRECTIONS TO KESSLER STADIUM
Directions to Monmouth University and Kessler Stadium can be found here:

TICKET INFO:
For tickets call 732-263-5735 or visit MonmouthHawks.com for online sales
Day of game tickets can be purchased at the Austin Family Box Office 

A LOOK AT TODAY'S GAME
- Monmouth is looking to win its fourth straight game today after coming out of the bye week. The Hawks, currently 5-1 on the season, are 0-3 all-time in Big South openers
- Liberty is looking to avoid a four-game slide after dropping its third consecutive contest against Kennesaw St. in its 2017 Big South opener. The Flames started the season 3-0, with wins over FBS opponent Baylor and a ranked Indiana State team
- The Flames won the last outing against the Hawks, racking up 681 yards (most MU has ever allowed) of offense and 52 points in last year's game in Lynchburg
- The last time (and only time) Liberty was in WLB, Monmouth upended the No. 22 Flames on a 35 yard Matt White OT field goal.
- Monmouth has received votes in the STATS FCS Media poll for five consecutive weeks and the Coaches poll for three weeks
- Today's game can be on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN App, with Matt Harmon (pxp) and Eddy Occhipinti (analyst) on the call

THE COACHING MATCHUP
Kevin Callahan is in his 25th season at Monmouth as the Hawks' head coach. Callahan owns a    140-116 career coaching record, all with Monmouth. Coming into the season, Callahan's 135 victories ranked him 11th among active coaches in the Football Championship Subdivision. The only coach in Monmouth history, he has led the Blue & White to five conference championships, in 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006. Callahan has earned conference coach of the year accolades in 1998, 2003 and 2006. Prior to arriving in West Long Branch, Callahan served as defensive coordinator at Colgate for eight seasons and at Wagner for three years. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Albany (1977-79) and Syracuse (1980) before becoming a Seahawk assistant in 1981.
Liberty is led by sixth-year head coach Turner Gill, who owns a 38-28 record with the Flames. Gill has led Liberty to four conference titles, giving the program eight titles in the last ten years. He also guided Liberty into uncharted waters in 2014, as he led the program to its first-ever trip to the NCAA FCS Playoffs. Prior to joining Liberty, Gill spent time as the head coach at the University of Buffalo and the University of Kansas. His longest coaching stint, however, came at Nebraska, where he was the quarterbacks coach from 1992-2003 and the wide receivers coach in 2004. Gill played quarterback for the Cornhuskers from 1980-83, leading them to three consecutive Orange Bowl appearances.
 
INSIDE THE LIBERTY SERIES
Fifth Overall Meeting
Overall Record: Liberty 3-1
            West Long Branch: MU 1-0
            Lynchburg, VA: LU 3-0
First Meeting: Sept. 7, 2013
Last Meeting: Oct. 22, 2017
Longest MU Win Streak: 1 game
Longest LU Win Streak: 2 gms
Largest MU W Margin: 3 points
Largest HC W Margin: 24 points
Smallest MU W Margin: 3 points
Smallest HC W Margin: 10 pts
Shutouts: ---
Overtime Games: MU 1-0

MONMOUTH AGAINST THE BIG SOUTH
Monmouth owns a 9-10 record against current Patriot League members. Last season MU opened up with a 23-21 win over Lehigh at Goodman Stadium then defeated Fordham in overtime in the fifth game of the season.  Monmouth has won two straight against Lehigh with the Hawks owning a winning a record against Georgetown and is 2-1 against Fordham. The Hawks will play four of the seven Patriot League teams this season. Colgate (3-1), Lehigh (5-2) and Lafayette (1-0) all own winning records against Monmouth. 

BASILE TACKLES ANOTHER RECORD
· Safety Mike Basile set another tackle record against Holy Cross, becoming the Big South's new all-time leader in solo tackles. Coming into the contest Basile needed 17 to move past former CCU linebacker Quinn Backus
· Basile earned Defensive Player of the Week after setting a new career mark of 19 tackles, 17 of which were solo stops
· Against Bucknell, Basile surpassed Aaron Edwards' Monmouth record of 353 career tackles, which stood up for 16 years. Edwards, who also played safety, starred for the Hawks from 1997 to 2001
· Edwards set the record in 43 career games while it took Basile just 38 to surpass the mark
· Mike Basile's 6.44 solo tackles per game leads all-active players in the NCAA for career solo stops
· With his 11.3 tackles per game in 2017, he is on pace to become just the fourth Big South player with 400 career tackles (He currently has 376)
· Basile has recorded double digit tackles in 19 of his 39 career games

DID YOU KNOW?
Monmouth's offense is averaging 34 points per game in 2017, which ranks first in the conference and 23rd nationally. The Hawks have scored at least 30 points in all five victories, the most since the 2008 season. Monmouth's redzone offense is converting trips into points at 92.3 percent clip- good enough for eighth in the country.

Social Media Links:
Follow the Hawks all season long on twitter (@MUHawksFB)
Facebook (facebook.com/MUFootball)  
Monmouth's YouTube page (YouTube.com/monmouthhawks)