Brigham Young comes within a yard of victory

Brigham Young was stranded at Coastal Carolina’s 1-yard line while the Chanticleers wildly celebrated their 22-17 wild win in Saturday’s clash of the unbeatens at Brook Stadium in Conway, S.C.

That signaled the finish of a college football match-up made Thursday morning, for when once-beaten Liberty cancelled out with coronavirus pandemic concerns, BYU was looking for a game when it received a call from Coastal Carolina athletic director MattHogue, who notified Cougars’ AD Tom Holome, who contacted his head coach Kalani Sitake, who gave a quick “Let’s do it”, and Hogue then relayed it to ESPN, which lined it up as the Game of the Day.

And so 8th-ranked BYU made the 2,500-mile flight from Provo, Utah, to where nearby Myrtle Beach was the place where now 13th-ranked Coast Carolina had celebrated its Division 1 NCAA baseball championship in 2016. Now it can celebrate its victory over Brigham Young in a tilt of 9-0 nationally-ranked team, the upstart Chanticleers and the eager Cougars. The ground attendance was limited by COPID-19 restrictions and coaches and players on the sidelines wore face masks.

But first, let’s get to the chase, the final Brigham Young possession as time whittled down in a hard-hitting tilt that also brought a scuffle at midfield just before halftime.

It came when Cougars’ junior quarterback Zach Walker was intercepted by Derrick Bol and two Coastal Carolina defenders piled on him, and when Walker complained of several late hits, he went face-to-face with tackle Alex Spillum and threw a punch that nicked Spillum in the face. One of the officials looked right at it, but didn’t call for a personal foul that could have also led to Walker being ejected.

So fortunately for the visitors, they still had Walker. And so, down by five points and time ticking away with but seven seconds showing on the scoreboard, Walker took the snap at midfield on third down and 11 and fired a strike to his roommate, Dax Milne, who gathered it in at the 8 and struggled forward as defenders Teddy Gallaher and R.J. Brewer brought him down at the 1 in what was the final play.

That was the end. In the beginning, the weather was good and the teams might not have been prepared enough, but they did come to play. There were four lead changes as the home side scored late in the opening quarter, as CJ Marable sped up the middle for 6 yards and the touchdown, but the PAT kick was wide right. That ended a drive of 17 plays engineered by freshman quarterback Grayson McCall that totaled 94 yards.

Back came Brigham Young in the second quarter to take a 7-6 lead when Tyler Allgeier carried the ball 42 yards to the end zone and Jake Oldroyu booted the point-after, with this tally led by Walker, who moved the team 76 yards in four plays.

In the same quarter, with four minutes left before halftime, the Chants went 51 yards in 11 plays and overcame two holding penalties before Reese White bolted into the end zone from a yard out and this time Massimo Biscardi managed the PAT and Coastal Carolina went up 13-7.

But the quarter that brought three touchdowns wasn’t over yet, for now it was Walker connecting on a short pass to Milne, who dashed 41 yards down the sidelines to score on a drive that went a whooping 94 yards on six plays. Again, Oldboyu converted and BYU took a 14-13 lead at the intermission.

After halftime, it upped the lead to 17-13 on a 29-yard field goal kicked by Oldroyu after a 7-play, 56-yard drive sparked by Walker in the third quarter. But later in the quarter, the Chanticleers got to within 17-16 when Biscardi kicked a 41-yard field goal to end a drive that covered 41 yards in seven plays.

In the fourth quarter, the fourth lead change became the final one. McCall took his team 85 yards in 13 plays and Marable capped it with a 2-yard run to bring a 22-17 advantage after it failed on the try for a 2-point conversion.

McCall played well. He was patient and able to avoid numerous sacks, he made some key throws, and was good for 10-of-15 passes for 85 yards, and ran for 68 yards on a dozen carries. But most of the Coast Carolina’s offense came on the ground, with Marable carrying 23 times for 132 yards, his longest at 20, and had two of the TDs. White had the other and came away with 53 yards on12 tugs. And with McCall, it totaled 278 yards along  the ground.

As for Walker, he was rushed many times, some directly up the middle, but he did manage 240 yards on 19-of-30 passes, and he mostly handed off to Allgeier, who was good for a touchdown and tugged the ball 24 times for 143 yards. BYU did have more of a mix with 403 yards to 363 for Coastal Carolina. But in the end, it was the W that counted most.

Before the game, officials from both schools spoke of a possible home-and-home between the teams, with the Chanticleers making the trip north to Provo, Utah.

And what about the polls? This was a tight tussle and Brigham Young could maybe drop to around 15th and Coastal Carolina could wind up in the top 10.