We’ll start today with the usual promos and links:

—Follow the blog on Twitter.

—My game advance from today’s News & Advance.

—Josh Hoke’s story on Liberty’s resurgence in today’s Myrtle Beach Sun News.

—Hoke’s breakdown of the game.

—Hoke’s notebook.

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Just wanted to empty the notebook a bit with some extra stuff from the Chris Rocco feature that appeared in Thursday’s News & Advance. I wanted to explore the dynamic between Chris and his uncle, Danny, the Flames’ head football coach. I’ve never sensed any sort of favoritism from Danny toward his nephew, but it’s understandable that the question would be there considering Chris was one of the key signees of Danny’s first recruiting class at the school.

Danny wouldn’t allow his objectivity to be compromised on the matter, instead leaving the decision of whether or not to offer Chris up to his assistant coaches. They unanimously encouraged Danny to sign Chris, and that proved to be a smart decision. Chris was an all-Big South preseason selection this year and has started for three seasons at Liberty. He’s one of the most book-smart players on the team, and he’s a film rat, the sort of player who will look for any way possible to better himself. Naturally, those qualities show up in his leadership, and players and coaches alike look up to Chris.

Now this doesn’t mean Danny is some sort of unfeeling automaton. When I was in his office Wednesday night talking to him about Chris, he rifled through his desk drawer and pulled out a pile of old family photos. Chris was prominently featured, as was Danny’s son David, who plays for Danny’s brother (and Chris’ father) Frank, Jr., at LCA.

(One amusing photo featured Danny as a college player with his parents, sporting a crucial near-mullet and mustache. “That’s why I don’t get on these kids about long hair,“ Danny joked.)

Danny, though, did what was best for his football program by excluding himself from the conversation about Chris when he was at LCA, trying to form the most objective opinion possible.

Another interesting note from this conversation: When Danny worked for Tom Coughlin at Boston College, Coughlin came up with a player-grading system that they used to evaluate personnel at the end of each season. The top grade was a 7.0, for elite, all-conference, all-American type players. (Rashad Jennings fits into this category.) As you go down the list, a 6.9-6.8 type player is an all-conference player with a notable deficiency. A 6.8-6.7 is a three-year starter with all-conference potential, a 6.7-6.6 is perhaps a two-year starter with major deficiencies in his game. To win consistently in the Big South, you need to have a base of 6.8-6.7 guys and several above average players, with the occasional 7.0 thrown in.

Well, when Chris Rocco arrived at Liberty, he was a 6.6.-6.5 type player, which meant he had several glaring holes in his game. Upon hearing the evaluation, Chris wasn’t stung. He was intrigued. What were the deficiencies, and what could he do to improve upon them?

“What he has done is that he has made himself a very talented safety, by doing the things that are the hardest things to do,“ Danny said. “It’s like the basketball analogy. Who doesn’t like to hang out there and shoot 3s? I go to the gym and shoots 3s. But who goes under the hoops and throws it off the backboard and sticks it back in? You’ve got to work on the things you’re deficient at. And that what makes this kid special. He spends every moment of his down time doing extra work on the things that he needed work on. You tell a kid, if you work on your flexibility, it’s really going to help you. It usually goes in one ear and out the other. Here’s Chris Rocco. What kind of flexibility? Hamstring? Knee? Ankle? Well, hip flexibility. Well, how can I work on that? He’s down there with Dave Williams for like a year and a half, working on that stuff. How can I increase my vertical jump? So you say, do this, this, this and that. And you see him down there working on that stuff, you know. So there is an element there that is rare with this kid, in terms of his desire to succeed and maximize his God-given ability. It’s a neat thing. It’s a special thing. I don’t think there’s any doubt in his mind that he wants this to be a special year for this football program.“

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Now, some thoughts on this game and FCS football around the country, in numerical form:

1. Delaware State is an embarrassment to FCS football. It’s a total farce that a team would forfeit a conference game to collect a paycheck, like the Hornets are doing today in Ann Arbor. They’re down 49-3 at halftime. I hope they lose 100-3. They deserve it.

2. Hate to beat on a dead horse here, but Liberty’s run game better get it going today, because the Flames aren’t going to be able to pick apart this Coastal secondary. The Chanticleers are loaded a cornerback and the Flames will have to fight for yardage on the perimeter. If Liberty can’t control the ball on the ground, it’s going to be a long day.

3. Talked to some people Thursday at practice and the lack of a noticeable buzz around this game is palpable. The cold, rainy weather this week might have had something to do with it, but there was little buzz on campus for Homecoming itself or the football game. Look for a crowd today closer to 12-13,000 rather than 15-16,000.

4. Liberty owns the longest Big South win streak in league history, having taken 11 straight conference games. (Note, no asterisk for the Presbyterian game last year. PC was not in the conference. It was not a league game, no matter how some people want to spin it.) Coastal Carolina’s eight-game streak between Nov. 22, 2003 and Oct. 29, 2005 is the second longest win streak in Big South history.

4a. The teams with longer league winning streaks in FCS football—Albany (16 games, Northeast), Applachian State (14 games, Southern), South Carolina State (13 games, MEAC).

5. Liberty has scored a rushing touchdown in 34 straight games.

6. Liberty has won its last two Big South openers by a combined 93-48.

That’s it for now. Keep up with the Twitter feed for in-game updates.