CONWAY, S.C. — One yard.
That was the difference between Coastal Carolina's magical season continuing as an undefeated team with aspirations of playing in one of college football's six biggest bowls, and Brigham Young bolstering its undefeated resume at the expense of Coastal's wildest dreams Saturday at Brooks Stadium.
BYU quarterback Zach Wilson hit Dax Milne with a 14-yard pass at the 4-yard line on the last play of the game. Milne was hit at the 1-yard line by a host of Chanticleers, and backup safety Mateo Sudipo pulled Milne away from the goal line to save CCU's historic 22-17 win over the Cougars.
The eyes of the football nation were watching, as the CCU-BYU matchup was one of just two on Saturday featuring teams ranked in the CFP top 25, along with No. 12 Indiana at No. 16 Wisconsin, and the ESPN College GameDay show was broadcast from the stadium Saturday morning.
The game received extra attention during the week when BYU replaced Liberty just two days before its scheduled game with the Chants when the Flames backed out due to coronavirus cases within their program.
Coastal Carolina answered the doubts that were loudly discussed nationally of whether it would be able to withstand the physical play of BYU.
The answer came in the form of a 17- play, 94-yard drive that took 9 minutes and 5 seconds in the first quarter.
The touchdown drive established that the Chants weren't going to be bullied, and the they continued their brute play — sometimes crossing the line of accepted football decency — and earned the biggest win to this point in program history.
Coastal rushed for 281 yards on 54 carries, including 132 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries by senior C.J. Marable, and defeated the Cougars in the first non-bowl meeting of undefeated teams in December since 2009.
Marable scored the go-ahead touchdown with 11:30 to play and the Chants barely held on, as BYU drove 81 yards in seven plays in the final minute.
Wilson, a Heisman candidate, completed 19 of 30 passes for 240 yards with a TD and interception. Grayson McCall completed 10 of 15 passes for 85 yards and rushed for 68.
Coastal took a pair of leads in the first half, the first after what would have been a 91-yard touchdown reception by BYU receiver Neil Pau'u was called back because of a holding call against tight end Isaac Rex on CCU outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter.
Coastal's first scoring drive was capped by a 6-yard touchdown run up the middle by C.J. Marable.
BYU answered quickly on a 42-yard scoring run by Tyler Allgeier, needing only four plays to drive 76 yards in 1:15.
A 20-yard Marable run moved CCU into Cougars' territory on the ensuing drive, but McCall fumbled while pulling the ball from Marable's arms on an option run and the ball was recovered at the BYU 42 by Isaiah Kaufusi.
BYU was faced with a fourth-and-1 near midfield and failed on a trick play to turn the ball over on downs. Wilson pitched to running back Lopini Katoa moving to his right, who threw a lateral back to the left to Wilson, who in turn opted to ignore open tight end Isaac Rex about 15 yards downfield and threw 30 yards to Gunnar Romney down the left sideline and the throw was broken up by CCU cornerback D'Jordan Strong.
Coastal took advantage of the short field, driving 51 yards in 11 plays to score on a 1-yard Reese White run up the middle on fourth down to take a 13-7 lead.
Just after CCU's initial score, BYU answered quickly. A penalty on the kickoff return set the Cougars back to their own 6, but they covered 94 yards in six plays including a 17-yard run by Wilson followed by a 41-yard touchdown reception by Milne, who caught the pass near the left sideline and was pushed but was able to remain in bounds for the score with 1:45 to play.
Down 14-13 with a possession starting at its 25 with two timeouts remaining, Coastal played conservative with three runs and a holding penalty on an attempted pass on second down and punted with 45 seconds left in the half.
CCU linebackers Teddy Gallagher and Jeffrey Gunter took some liberties with star Wilson during the return of a Derrick Bush interception from the goal line on a Hail Mary attempt.
They double-teamed Wilson on a block, driving him to the ground on two occasions, the first time forcefully driving his head into the teal turf and the second was similar to a wrestling suplex by Gunter.
That led to a melee that involved just about every player on both teams at the location of Wilson's mugging, which didn't lead to any known penalties or ejections.
BYU took a 17-13 lead on a 29-yard field goal by Jake Oldroyd following a tackle on a third-down Wilson run by C.J. Brewer. The 56-yard scoring drive included a 15-yard penalty on Gunter for a late hit on Wilson after a scramble.
Gunter forced a fumble on a Tyler Algeier run that was recovered by Silas Kelly on the BYU 29, but the Cougars defense held three runs to 7 yards and CCU settled for a 41-yard Massimo Biscardi field goal to pull within a point with 6:32 to play.
The first sack of cornerback Derick Bush's career for a loss of 12 yards to midfield led to a punt, and Coastal embarked on another long TD drive, going 85 yards in 13 plays in just over 6 minutes for a 2-yard Marable run.
A loss of 16 yards on a catch by BYU's Chris Jackson, who gave ground while trying to reverse field and was tackled by Enock Makonzo, led to a Cougars punt with 9 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Following a CCU punt, senior linebackers Silas Kelly and Teddy Gallagher tackled Allgeier for a loss of 3 yards on third-and-2 at midfield to force a BYU punt with 5 minutes remaining.
