LYNCHBURG, Va. – Kobe Singleton broke up two passes in the end zone as Keegan Shoemaker threw four incompletions from the the three-yard line in the closing seconds and Liberty held on for a 21-16 win over Sam Houston State on Thursday night.
The Bearkats took the ball from their 1 with 3:36 to play and made it to the Flames' 3 with 22 seconds to go. After a Shoemaker spike, Singleton had pass breakups on second and fourth down. Noah Smith couldn't haul in a low pass on third down but had he made a shoestring catch at the one the last 11 seconds probably would have likely ran out.
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Kaidon Salter threw for a touchdown and ran for another and CJ Daniels had five receptions for a career-high 157 yards for the Flames (5-0, 3-0 Conference USA). Quinton Cooley had 106 yards, matching his career-best and a touchdown on 17 carries for the Liberty.
Shoemaker was 27 of 41 for 255 yards and two touchdowns with an interception for the Bearkats (0-5, 0-2). Smith had a career-best 13 catches for 97 yards, which matched his career high. Al'Vonte Woodard had both touchdown catches.
Liberty piled up 276 yards in the first half as Salter was 9 of 12 for 182 yards. He opened the scoring with a 10-yard run on the first drive of the game and added a 51-yard rainbow to wide-open Daniels for a touchdown just before halftime that made it 21-10.
After the Bearkats went 80 yards on their first drive, tying the game on a seven-yard pass from Shoemaker to Woodward, but only had 37 yards after that. Sam Houston went for a 2-point conversion after Woodward's 20-yard score but they had two punts before coming up just short at the end.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll