BYU Football: 3 takeaways from loss to Coastal Carolina in Week 14

BYU football was looking for an opponent who could take them to the next level. They sure found it with a thrilling game against Coastal Carolina.

Any time, any team, any place. That was the slogan BYU boldly claimed as they have been searching for ways to improve their hopes of a College Football playoff appearance.

Their wish came true when Coastal Carolina needed an opponent to step in on short notice. This led to a sudden matchup with two 9-0 teams ranked in the top 20.

According to Chris Fallica from ESPN, this game was the sixth pre-bowl December meeting between two undefeated teams. Also was just the third game of the kind since 1969.

Coastal Carolina dominated time of possession early, holding the ball for nearly 11 minutes in the first quarter and taking an early 6-0 lead. But, it did not take long for BYU to respond. Tyler Allgeier capped off a 1:15 second drive with a 42-yard dash to give BYU a 7-6 lead.

Both teams would go on to trade blows, both on the scoreboard and on the field to close out the second half.

The offensive star of the game was expected to be Zach Wilson, as he has had a tremendous 2020 season thus far. Instead, it was the senior running back for Coastal Carolina CJ Marable, who had himself an incredible outing when his team needed it most. Marable finished with 128 yards on 22 carries and had two of the three Chanticleers’ touchdowns.

After a third quarter in which both teams each put up a field goal, Coastal Carolina took over in the fourth quarter on both sides of the ball. Marable started it off with a 2-yard rushing touchdown to give Coastal the lead.

The defense stifled Wilson and the Cougars offense forcing them to punt on two of their three 4th quarter possessions. BYU had one final shot with 55 seconds left with the ball at their own 18. It was a great effort by the Cougars, as they put themselves in position to win the game with two seconds left at the Coastal 18-yard-line.

BYU came up just two yards short of remaining undefeated after Dax Milne was stuffed on this final play. 

Coastal Carolina moved to 10-0, and BYU suffered their first loss, but what else did we learn?