More games like BYU vs. Coastal Carolina needed
College football needs moregameslikeBYU-Coastal Carolina.
The eighth-ranked Cougars and No. 14 Chanticleers put onanintense and chippy showSaturday with a thrilling end reminiscent of the Titans-Rams Super Bowl in 2000.
The result was a wild celebration in Conway, South Carolina, after the 22-17 victory, an end to the BYUhype andmaybeanoutsidechance for Coastal Carolina to sneak into a New Year’s Six game.
But what if the lasting legacy of this showdown of unbeatens thrown together on aWednesday is a willingness in college football to try something like it again?
Maybe not to such an extreme. The BYU-Coastal Carolina game became official 56 hours before kickoff. But creating some flexibility in schedules to create big games would be a tremendous addition to college football. Especially for the nonPower Five teams that could use a late-season boost to a resume to improve their chancestoreachamajorbowl — or even crack the playoff, as unlikely that is.
There is a chance that if No. 7 Cincinnatiwasn’t recovering froman COVID-19 outbreak, BYUwould have been in Ohio thisweekend, unable to take Coastal’s call when No. 25 Liberty had to pull out because of its own issues with the virus.
Thereareplentyof reasons why holding open dates late in the season for the football equivalent of college basketball bracket busters would be difficult to do. It’s hard to sell tickets in advance to games listed as TBD.
Maybe the more realistic goal would be simply persuading programs big and small to not schedule so far out. In college basketball, teams that are confident they’re going to be good frequently makematchups for more significant early season nonconference games in the preceding offseason.
Collegefootball is notquick toembrace change, but figuring out away to recreate the BYU-Coastal Carolina experience would be good for a sport looking for ways to make more regular-season
games meaningful.
Book’s case
Hard to believe the quarterbackof anunbeatenNotre Dameteamcould playaswell as Ian Book has and still be far from a lock to even be a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Book is deserving of consideration for sure and he is closing strong, but it’s a tough field for him to break into.
The fifth-year senior appears to be competing against four quarterbacks: Florida’s Kyle Trask, Alabama’s Mac Jones, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
BYU’s Zach Wilson goes to the back of the line after losing to Coastal Carolina. And maybe Alabama’s real Heisman candidate should be receiver DeVonta Smith, whocaught threeTDsagainst LSU, but it’s a quarterback’s award now.
Coming into Saturday, when Book put up 348 total yards and accounted for five touchdownsagainstSyracuse, thosefourQBsrankedamong the top 10 in the nation in passerefficiencyrating. Book was 33rd at 148.89.
Around the country
Maybe the most stunning result of the season: Rice 20, No. 15Marshall0. Fewteams havehadamoredifficulttime just getting on the field this year than Rice. The Owls were playing their fourth gameandbeat a rankedteam for the first time since 1997 ... If you think you know who is really good in the Pac-12, give it a week and it’ll likely change. ... Colorado, with breakout star Jarek Broussard, is quickly becoming one of the biggest surprises in the country under new coach Karl Dorrell. ... Blowing out Kansas State, as Texas did, probably won’t be what determines whether the Longhorns keep coach TomHerman. It should come down to whether Urban Meyer wants to be the next coach. If not, Texas is probably better off saving the $24 million it would take to get rid of Herman and his staff and give it another year. ... Akron broke its 21-game losing streak, the longest in major college football, with a 31-3 victory over Bowling Green, which has lost eight straight.