No. 18 Coastal Carolina will face No. 13 BYU after Liberty cancels due to COVID-19 issues
Coastal Carolina is swapping out top 25 opponents on Saturday.
The Chants’ game against Liberty, which is ranked 25th in the AP Top 25 Poll, has been canceled as a result of COVID-19 protocols and precautions within the Liberty program.
Coastal (9-0, 7-0 Sun Belt Conference), which is ranked 14th in the AP Poll, will now host No. 8 BYU (9-0) in a battle of undefeated teams that are both ranked among the top 20 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings – CCU is No. 18 and BYU is No. 13.
Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. and the game will air on ESPNU, though CCU said in a release that the game time and broadcast are subject to change. The Liberty game was scheduled for 2 p.m.
ESPN College GameDay will broadcast live from Coastal Carolina and Brooks Stadium prior to the game from 9 a.m. to noon on ESPN.
“Obviously we know the brand that BYU has, a tremendous amount of success and respect that we have for them as an institution throughout the years,” said CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue during a Thursday afternoon Zoom call along with head coach Jamey Chadwell. “People know that brand name very well. For us to have an opportunity to play against them here in our stadium and be able to showcase to the nation what we feel about our program, that our program is a rising brand within college athletics as well on so many levels, and Jamey and his staff and players have certainly contributed to that success. It’s tremendous to have that opportunity and play on this stage.”
Liberty acknowledged Wednesday it was “having some COVID-19 concerns” within its football program, and Hogue said Liberty alerted CCU on Wednesday morning that it might have an issue.
“We obviously have a lot invested in this weekend so we wanted to start exploring what opportunities might be out there,” Hogue said. “I don’t think there was ever any intent to land in a certain place. But we just started having conversations with our conference office about what opportunities may be afforded with other games. Unfortunately in the environment we’re in you have to always kind of be working simultaneously on contingencies when these situations occur.”
CCU Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Kevin Davis said both programs tested for the coronavirus on Wednesday, per Sun Belt testing protocols, and expected results Thursday that would determine what players would be eligible for Saturday’s game
Liberty (9-1) has suspended all football activities on the advice of its medical staff to conclude its regular season and now awaits a possible bowl invitation.
Coastal and BYU are among three teams in the country that are undefeated through nine games. No. 2 Notre Dame is the other.
BYU was off last week and has one game remaining on its existing schedule next week against San Diego State. CCU has a game at Troy (4-5, 2-3 SBC) at 3 p.m. next Saturday followed by the Sun Belt championship game against Louisiana (8-1, 6-1) at noon Dec. 19 at Brooks Stadium.
BYU is led by junior quarterback Zach Wilson, who has been phenomenal this season with 2,724 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and just two interceptions, and the Chants will have little time to prepare for him and the rest of the Cougars.
“At the end of the day when it’s this short of a time frame and we already were preparing for Liberty all week, you’ve got to go back to the things you hope you can do well and try to see if it will hold up against a really quality opponent that’s coming in here,” Chadwell said.
The Chants and Cougars have one common opponent this season in Texas State. BYU defeated the Bobcats 52-14 at home on Oct. 24 and CCU defeated them 49-14 on the road this past Saturday. BYU beat Troy 48-7 in its second game of the season on Sept. 26.
Liberty said in a release that the CCU game would be rescheduled in a future season. The teams are already scheduled to meet five more times this decade in 2023-24 and 2027-29, and Hogue said would like to account for the lost home game in the upcoming series.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 9:46 AM.
