The following notes and quotes are from No. 8 BYU's 22-17 loss at No. 14 Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020, at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina.
FLAG BEARERS: Hal Morrell and Fili Taufa (BYU’s equipment truck drivers), QB Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters and TE Hank Tuipulotu.
COIN TOSS: Kyiris Tonga, BYU won the toss and deferred.
SERIES RESULTS: First meeting: 1-0 Coastal Carolina
TEAM NOTES
Time of Possession
Coastal Carolina’s first scoring drive of the game took 9:05 off the clock. It was the longest duration for a drive in program history. CCU dominated time of possession overall maintaining the ball for 37:51 compared to 22:09 for the Cougars.
Yardage
Despite having the ball nearly 10 minutes less than its average this year, BYU outgained No. 18 Coastal Carolina with 405 yards of total offense compare to 366 for CCU. BYU totaled 240 yards through the air and 165 yards on the ground. CCU’s 281 rushing yards propelled the Chanticleers to the victory.
200 Yards Passing
With 240 yards passing, the Cougars have totaled more than 200 passing yards in 25 straight games, the longest span since 26 consecutive games of 200-plus passing yards during the 2007-2009 seasons.
Point Totals
The 17 points were the fewest scored by BYU this season and marks only the second game this year that BYU hasn’t scored 40 or more points. BYU’s previous low this year was in a 27-20 win over UTSA in Provo. The last time BYU scored 17 or fewer points was at San Diego State last year in a 13-3 loss.
PLAYER NOTES
Zach Wilson
After starting the game 1-for-5, Wilson later followed up by going 4-for-4, leading a six-play, 94-yard scoring drive capped off with a 41-yard score to Dax Milne. He also drove BYU the length of the field in less than a minute with no timeouts but the attempted game-winning touchdown pass came up one-yard short, with Dax Milne being tackled just short of the goal line as the game ended. Wilson finished the game completing 19 of 30 for 240 yards and added a season-high 55 rushing yards (5.5 ypc).
Tyler Allgeier
Allgeier averaged 8.2 yards per carry and led the Cougars in rushing with 106 yards and one touchdown. He recorded his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the year while posting third straight outing with more than 100 yards. He had 123 at Boise State and a career-best 141 vs. North Alabama in BYU’s previous game. He now has 957 yards on the season to lead the Cougars.
Dax Milne
Milne led BYU in both catches (6) and yards (106), including a 41-yard touchdown grab where he eluded defenders along the sideline to reach the end zone. This was his fifth game with 100 or more yards receiving this year and his second straight. He had 101 in this last game vs. North Alabama. His career best was 184 yards at Houston in 2020.
Neil Pau’u
Pau’u equaled his career-high of 76 receiving yards on four catches, averaging 19 yards per catch. His previous game with 76 yards was at Boise State this year on six receptions.
Bracken El-Backri & Khyiris Tonga
El-Bakri led BYU with 11 tackles to set a new person best, topping the nine tackles he had in BYU’s win at Boise State this season. Tonga totaled 10 tackles, also the most of his career. His previous high was six tackles against Boise State as well but in 2018.
Jake Oldroyd
Oldroyd connected on his only field goal attempt of the game to improve to a perfect 11 for 11 on the year. His successful kick game from 29 yards.
Notable career highs/career firsts
Career-high receiving yards: Neil Pau’u (76)
Career-high tackles: Bracken El-Bakri (11), Khyiris Tonga (10), Keenan Pili (9, tied for third time this season)
POSTGAME QUOTES
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake:
Initial thoughts on the game
The game happened and we were excited to play. It was a little bit more unique than other weeks, but it was okay. We were ready to play and were looking forward to the matchup. We had the same amount of time that Coastal Carolina had.
When it comes down to it, they’re a good team. They’re undefeated for a reason. I don’t want to sit here and take away from them because they executed and did well and put themselves in a position to win it. We had to come from behind and come up with a long drive, and we were backed up with not a lot of time left, but they made the plays. I want everyone to understand that Coastal Carolina is a really good team and they showed it tonight. They outplayed us and got the win.
On defending the spread option
It was difficult. It’s just like the option, but in the shotgun. We were able to get some stops here and there but for the most part we couldn’t get them behind the chains. They were getting a lot of yards on first down and we didn’t do enough to stop the run. There are things I need to do better as a coach to get the team ready. I don’t want to take away anything from Coastal Carolina, they made plays. They had a system and it worked. We didn’t do enough to stop them.
BYU senior linebacker Isaiah Kaufusi:
On preparing for Coastal Carolina on short notice
It was definitely tough, it’s always difficult to prepare for an option team. For Navy, we had three weeks to prepare for that and were really dialed in, but at the end of the day it’s football—it just comes down to blocking, tackling, and scoring more points, and that’s where we came up short.
I’m really proud of the team though. They fought and we left it out there. That’s the one thing that I hope you guys know, we left it out there and people are going to say all sorts of things, but at the end of the day we just came up short and I’m real proud of this team.
BYU sophomore running back Tyler Allgeier
What the final drive of the game was like and his emotions
It was a rush being in on that whole drive. We just didn’t get the happy ending, but that’s just the way it went. I’m proud, I love my team. I’m proud of what we did. We just got the short end of the stick, I’d say.