Everything you need to know for Saturday’s No. 13 BYU at No. 18 Coastal Carolina game

Saturday’s game

Who: No. 13 BYU (9-0) at No. 18 Coastal Carolina (9-0)

When: 5:30 p.m.

Where: Brooks Stadium, Conway, SC

Occasion: Senior Day

Broadcast: ESPNU

Radio: WRNN 99.5 FM

Online audio: https://goccusports.com/watch/

Live stats: Through www.Coastal.statbroadcast.com and GameTracker

Last meeting

First meeting

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Defensive front seven

Weakness: Receiver depth

BYU

Strength: Quarterback

Weakness: Outside pass rush

Key matchup

Coastal Carolina’s defensive front seven vs. BYU’s offensive line: The fear for the Chants would be not being able to hold up physically on defense for the game’s duration against a big and strong BYU offensive line. Every BYU offensive lineman is at least 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds and has been in the program a minimum of three years. In addition, starting tight end Isaac Rex is 6-6, 250. It’s customary for an offensive line to be larger than a defensive front, but the difference is fairly drastic in this case. Along Coastal’s defensive front, redshirt sophomore nose tackle Jerrod Clark is 6-4, 335, but C.J. Brewer is 280 pounds and both defensive end Tarron Jackson and outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter are 260. That front has been able to rush the passer effectively all season, however.

“We’ve not seen anybody up to this point with the size they have. That’s the biggest challenge,” CCU head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “We can have the best scheme and all but can we hold up to their physical size? That’s what we’re going to have to do. That’s going to be in my opinion the biggest challenge we face Saturday is the size they have and the athletes they have.”

Players to watch

Coastal Carolina

Junior tight end Isaiah Likely (6-4, 245): In the past two games he has seven receptions for 191 yards and a score, giving him 17 receptions for 423 yards and four TDs in eight games this season.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall (6-3, 200): The first-year starter has completed 117 of 174 passes (67.2 percent) for 1,747 yards and 20 touchdowns with just one interception, and has rushed for 365 yards and five scores on 74 carries.

Senior defensive end Tarron Jackson (6-2, 260): He earned his third Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year Award last week against Texas State with six total tackles, five of which were solo stops, 2.5 sacks, and 3.0 tackles-for-loss.

BYU

Junior quarterback Zach Wilson (6-3, 210): The Heisman Trophy candidate has completed 176 of 237 passes for 2,724 yards and 26 touchdowns with two interceptions to average 302.7 passing yards and 323.9 total yards of offense per game.

Junior receiver Dax Milne (6-1, 190): He has 49 catches for 906 yards and six touchdowns to average 18.5 yards per catch and more than 100 receiving yards per game.

Senior nose tackle Khyiris Tonga (6-4, 321): An NFL player in waiting, Tonga takes on double teams and has 23 tackles, 2.5 sacks, three pass breakups, three QB hurries and a forced fumble in eight games.

He said it

“Our team is resilient. I know they were excited about playing Liberty and I know they’re going to be excited about playing BYU. We have a great mindset, we’ll play whoever, wherever. So we’ll go out and play the way we’re capable of playing and hopefully we’ll be prepared enough to go out there and find a way to win the game. . . . If you look at our players’ social media I think they’re pretty excited about it.”– Chadwell

“You’re working hard right now to try to catch up and do some things to get yourself prepared so you don’t look just terrible when you’re out there. So there’s going to be a lot between [Thursday], Friday and Saturday going through with the game being at 5:30 to make sure you give your team the best opportunity to go out and play their best.” – Chadwell

“Early in the season I just knew this team had something going, they could really be special, and who knew? It’s just kind of been fun watching them as they go and play. They’re having fun. . . . They’re pushing me to go get the games. It’s like my job is to go see what’s out there. I don’t do this by myself. We’ve got a lot of people who are trying to get games and they’re helping, helping. I get a lot of help from Cougar nation. They know where all the games are. It’s just kind of motivation from the players and the coaches.”” – BYU AD Tom Holmoe

Scouting report

You could call it Mormons vs. Mullets, but whatever you call it, it’s a marquee matchup of top 20 teams put together on short notice when Liberty was forced to back out of the game due to coronavirus concerns, and ESPN College GameDay is on site. Both teams have New Year’s Six bowl game aspirations.

BYU has been dominant this season. A 27-20 win over Texas-San Antonio on Oct. 10 is the Cougars’ only win by fewer than 17 points. The Cougars have outscored opponents 428-125.

They are balanced and explosive on offense, averaging 202 yards per game rushing and 333 yards passing, while allowing only 89 yards rushing and 204 passing per game.

Wilson is in the top three in the nation in points responsible for (208, No. 1), passing touchdowns (26, No. 3), passing efficiency (205.3, No. 3), passing yards per attempt (11.5, No. 3) and completion percentage (.743, No. 3).

“They go out and dominate people,” Chadwell said. “Their quarterback is a Heisman guy, they’re really good and balanced, and then defensively they’re shutting people down because they’re huge, they’re big and they’re really physical.”

BYU is an FBS independent, and without a conference to play in the Cougars have done an amazing job of building a schedule as the year has progressed, though they lost five games against Power Five schools and did not play one this season. The Cougars were scheduled to play Utah, Michigan State, Arizona State, Minnesota and Missouri among their first six games.

“We’ve said from the beginning we’ve been wanting to play,” BYU junior center James Empey said. “. . . We’re just super excited for this game really and how it came together such short notice. When they told the team everybody was stoked and ready to go. We’re just excited to have a game this week. It’s just been a whole lot of excitement.

“You hear the news and you get to play this great opponent, and it’s exciting and it’s fun.”

BYU nearly had a game with Washington scheduled but it fell through, and its final scheduled game of the regular season is next week against San Diego State so the Cougars were preparing for that this week. They began preparing for CCU on Wednesday when rumors of a possible game surfaced.

“These last few days we’ve been practicing and trying to get better. That’s kind of been our focus,” Empey said. “When you don’t know who you’re playing you’re just trying to get as good as you can. Then all of a sudden you know who you’re playing and you can focus in on it.”

BYU is ranked eighth in both the AP Top 25 and Amway Coaches polls, but isn’t getting as much respect from the College Football Playoff committee, coming in at Nos. 14 and 13 in the first two CFP rankings. CCU is getting the same treatment at No. 14 in both the AP and coaches polls.

“We’ll let everyone else worry about that kind of stuff,” Empey said. “We just want to play ball and prove everything out on the field. We have a great opportunity to play some ball this weekend and that’s all we’re focused on.”

The Chants may be able to score early against the Cougars, who have been susceptible defensively early in games. Texas State, for instance, drove 75 yards in nine plays for a TD on the opening drive of its 52-14 loss to the Cougars. The Bobcats are a common opponent. CCU beat them 49-14 last week.

Notes

▪BYU often has grown men on the field since its players sometimes go on missions for up to two years and receive religious exemptions to retain eligibility. Starting linebacker Kavika Fonua and safety Jared Kapisi, for instance, first joined the team in 2014.

▪BYU has a trio of brothers from Fort Mill, SC and Nation Ford High on the roster in Ben, Hank and Petey Tuipulotu. They are the sons of a former BYU player.

▪Coastal is trying to go 10-0 for just the second time in program history, joining the 2014 team, which started 11-0, and has won 10 straight going back to last year’s season-ending win over Texas State.

▪CCU is looking to extend its Sun Belt record for the best start in conference history, which it set by improving to 8-0 with its win over Appalachian State, the team that set the mark last year at 7-0.

▪CCU senior running back C.J. Marable has caught a pass in 28 straight games, while junior receiver Jaivon Heiligh has at least one reception in 23 straight.

▪The scheduled ESPNU broadcast gives CCU nine nationally broadcast games this season on either FoxSports1, ESPN, ESPNU or ESPN.

▪According to ESPN’s Chris Fallica, this will be the sixth pre-bowl December meeting between undefeated teams. The others were the 2009 SEC Title Game between Alabama vs. Florida, 1969 Texas vs. Arkansas, 1947 Notre Dame vs. USC, 1945 Army vs. Navy, and 1939 USC vs UCLA

Line

BYU -10

Prediction

BYU 34, Coastal Carolina 31: The line for Liberty was going to be CCU -7. Did the Chants bite off more than they can chew in the exchange of opponents?

This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Everything you need to know for Saturday’s No. 13 BYU at No. 18 Coastal Carolina game."