Liberty vs Gardner-Webb 10/15/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Liberty Flames and Gardner-Webb Bulldogs clash Saturday in a week 7 college football game from Williams Stadium.

The Gardner-Webb Bulldogs will be out to build on their 48-0 win over Robert Morris last time out. Bailey Fisher threw for 243 yards and 3 touchdowns on 20 of 24 passing while Narii Gaither had a team-high 106 rushing yards on 11 carries and Jayden Brown had 85 rushing yards with a pair of touchdowns. Fisher and Matthew Caldwell each had a rushing score as well in the win. T.J. Luther added 6 grabs for 124 receiving yards and a TD while Cutrell Haywood and Deland Thomas each had a touchdown grab as well in the win. Raequan Ousley and AJ Thomas each contributed an INT for the Gardner-Webb defense as well in the win.

The Liberty Flames will try to build on their current three-game win streak after a 42-24 win over UMass to improve to 5-1 on the year. Kaidon Salter has thrown for 776 yards, 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions on 54.9% passing while Johnathan Bennett has thrown for 470 yards, 5 touchdowns and 4 picks on 48% passing this season. Dae Dae Hunter has a team-high 532 rushing yards with 6 touchdowns while Salter and Shedro Louis have combined for 489 rushing yards and 6 scores as well this season. Demario Douglas leads Liberty’s receiving group with 26 grabs for 459 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. On defense, Mike Smith Jr. has a team-high 43 total tackles while three different Liberty players have a team-high 4 sacks as part of Liberty’s 23 sacks as a team this season.

I get the case to be made for Gardner-Webb here as this doesn’t feel like the same Liberty team from past seasons, but Hugh Freeze can coach them up and I don’t see Gardner-Webb being able to keep up. This is still a Liberty team that can run over anyone and I don’t expect Gardner-Webb to put up much of a fight here. Give me Liberty by 30+ here