Welcome to what promises to be a weird game week for Liberty’s football team as it prepares to open the season at home against St. Francis. Well, sort of at home. The team will play one game at Lynchburg City Stadium as construction finishes up on the new press tower at Williams Stadium. As I did all of last year, I’ll give a quick rundown of the week’s opponent. This week, it’s St. Francis:

ST. FRANCIS
LOCATION: Loretto, Pa.
ENROLLMENT: 2,000
FOUNDED: 1847
NICKNAME: Red Flash
COLORS: Red and White
CONFERENCE: Northeast
STADIUM: DeGol Field (3,500)
SURFACE: SportExe Artificial Turf

HEAD COACH: Chris Villarrial
RECORD: First season

2009 RECORD: 2-9 (1-7 Northeast)
POSTSEASON: None
OFFENSIVE FORMATION: Multiple sets
DEFENSIVE FORMATION: 3-4
LETTERMAN RETURNING/LOST: 70/24
STARTERS RETURNING/LOST: 17/7
OFFENSIVE/DEFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING: 9/6

2009 RESULTS (2-9)
September
5….....at (8) New Hampshire…...........L, 24-14
12…....MOREHEAD STATE…............W, 31-0
19…....at (3) Northern Iowa…..............L, 30-0
26…....at Wagner…...........................L, 56-48 (3OT)
October
3…......ALBANY…..............................L, 27-6
10…....at Sacred Heart….....................L, 29-7
17…....at Robert Morris…....................L, 28-0
24….....DUQUESNE…........................W, 31-14
November
7…......MONMOUTH….........................L, 24-10
14…....at Bryant…...............................L, 35-12
21…....CENTRAL CONNECTICUT…......L, 14-13

2010 SCHEDULE
September
4…....at (21) Liberty…..........................Noon
11…..at Morehead State…...................1 p.m.
18…..SACRED HEART….....................Noon
October
2…....ROBERT MORRIS…....................1 p.m.
9…....at Albany….................................Noon
16…...WAGNER…...............................1 p.m.
23…...at Monmouth…...........................1 p.m.
30…...at Cal Poly…..............................9:05 p.m.
November
6….....BRYANT….................................Noon
13…...at Duquesne…............................1 p.m.
20…...at Central Connecticut…..............Noon

PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB JUDE YEARWOOD
Photo credit: St. Francis University

The Red Flash’s leading returning tailback, Yearwood ran for 518 yards last season and scored four touchdowns.

LB SCOTT LEWIS
Photo credit: St. Francis University

Lewis is the heart of the Red Flash’s 3-4 defense. He racked up 118 tackles last season, including nine tackles for loss and four sacks. He also had four pass break-ups.

DB JUSTIN HARPER
(Note, I couldn’t find a photo of Harper online.)

Harper started the final six games last season as a redshirt freshman and finished with 51 tackles and three interceptions. He’s big and athletic, standing 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, and he’s known for making the big hit.

—Also, I’m disappointed to report that St. Francis has apparently changed its helmet design for the 2010 season. The old Red Flash helmet, pictured at the top of the blog, was one of the cooler ones I’ve seen in FCS football. Here’s a photo from St. Francis’ media day that shows the new design:

—Let’s get to some Monday links:

* The transition between coaching regimes at St. Francis has been a smooth one, the Altoona Mirror’s Nate Foreman writes.

* The Mirror’s Philip Cmor writes about coach Chris Villarrial’s small-college ties.

* Villarrial has faith in the local talent, Hugh Conrad of the Johnston Tribune-Democrat writes.

* Villarrial is trying develop mental toughness in his players, Conrad writes.

* St. Francis has a new look and a new attitude, the Indiana Gazette’s Carly Thomas writes.

Links from around the Big South:

* Coastal Carolina answered some questions during its training camp, but some remain, the Sun News’ Ryan Young writes.

* Young writes about Coastal tight end David Duran, who transferred to CCU from Michigan State.

* Former CCU quarterback Jamie Childers is now a tight end, Young writes.

* Young notes that three players are battling for a starting cornerback job.

* And finally, Young wrote a nice story on CCU cornerback Tarvorris Jolly, who is coping with the death of his brother.

* Quarterback is a position of strength for Charleston Southern, David Shelton writes in the Charleston Post & Courier.

* Gerald Stevenson is the Bucs’ star at receiver, but watch out this year for Kwame Kraku, Shelton writes.

* Presbyterian has a big-boy schedule this season, the Columbia (S.C.) State’s John Devlin writes.

* VMI is fine-tuning its offense, the Roanoke Times’ Katrina Waugh writes.

* Within this Richmond Times-Dispatch notebook, VMI coach Sparky Woods talks more about the shift away from the triple-option.

* The Staunton News-Leader’s Ken Bosserman writes about VMI punter Marc Ray.

* The Keydets have lofty goals this season, Bosserman writes.

* Two former Hofstra players are fitting in at Stony Brook, Steve Marcus writes in Newsday. (NOTE: This is a subscription site.)

* South Florida will be Stony Brook’s biggest test yet, Marcus writes. (Again, subscription.)