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PROVO — Around 9 p.m. MT Wednesday, the big rig known holding the keys to BYU football's season pulled out of the parking lot next to the Student Athlete Building on BYU's campus.
"Just a Taco Bell run," the BYU football equipment staff tweeted in jest.
The reality, though, was the crew charged with arming BYU football's team for game day was in a race against time. Every hour counted as athletic director Tom Holmoe raced to finalize a game with only 72 hours notice, a game that featured two top-20 teams in the No. 8-ranked Cougars (No. 13 College Football Playoff rankings) and 14th-ranked Coastal Carolina (No. 18 CFP).
By Thursday morning, when Liberty athletic director Ian McCaw was calling Holmoe to congratulate the Cougars and wish them luck against the undefeated Chanticleers, the truck with all of BYU's equipment was nearing a fuel stop in Kearney, Nebraska. After a wild 24 hours where BYU was looking to pick up a game and the Flames were struggling to fill a spot opposite ESPN's "College GameDay" in South Carolina, a Plan B was hatched.
BYU was set to play Coastal Carolina — and the Cougars' delivery crew was well on its way before Saturday's 3:30 p.m. MT kickoff (ESPNU). By late Thursday night, just over 24 hours after departing Provo, the crew had arrived in Nashville — only 582 miles from their overall destination.
While stopping for gas, they even found a few BYU fans.
🚨 TRUCK TRACKER 🚨 "Here we are fueling in Nashville. 582 miles to go about 10 hours time. A little rain. All is well." pic.twitter.com/T5BFG8yZUo
— BYU Equipment (@byuequipment) December 4, 2020
Holmoe joked that he considered joining the trucking crew sponsored by Provo-based Bailey's Moving and Storage, but for one small complication.
"They didn't have a seat for me," Holmoe quipped in jest with a reporter. "I don't have that kind of driver's license."
So instead, following an evening loading the truck with the school's student managers, Hal Morrell and Fili Taufa set out on the cross-country trek, a race against the sun to try to be ready for arguably the biggest game of BYU's football season. The two drivers, who have been driving the BYU rig together for nearly a decade, set out on the 40-hour, 2,200-mile journey for Conway, South Carolina.
BLESSED to have some of the best student managers in the world! This crew had less then 6 hours to get the truck on the road. I know this is past due, but I am so GRATEFUL for this group of unsung heroes. I couldn't do it without them! #givethankspic.twitter.com/GzlnASyVfC
— BYU Equipment (@byuequipment) December 3, 2020
The truth is, the Cougars have already been accused — right or wrong, and everyone has an opinion on the matter — of "ducking" opponents en route to a 9-0 season, a season that had all but two games cancel on them this summer before Holmoe rebuilt BYU's schedule on the fly in the face of a global pandemic.
When Washington reached out to BYU to schedule the Cougars as a backup plan following the Huskies' Apple Cup cancelation with nearby Washington State, the Cougars hesitated. They knew that game could be canceled, and barring a contractual guarantee for the game (something Washington could not offer, per Pac-12 regulations), they didn't want to be dropped by a West Coast team as the Pac-12 played on and left BYU alone.
Utah ended up playing Washington that week, a 24-21 win for the Huskies that dropped the Utes to 0-2 on the season. So when the opportunity to play Coastal arose on short notice, the Cougars pounced on it.
No ducking this time.
"I can't control what people are going to think. We just have a team that really wants to play, and I know our team," Holmoe said. "I don't know all those other people. They're just people. But I know our team, and they said, 'let's go.'
"We were gone yesterday. We sent our truck out on the road, and if it had to turn around and come back, then we'll turn it around. We were not going to go and not play because we don't have our equipment."
There was no time to delay, no room to hesitate.
BYU had to go.
"There is no room for error," Billy Dixon, BYU's 31-year-old football equipment manager, told Sports Illustrated. "It's the tightest window I've ever been a part of. They're professional drivers, but this .... this is pushing them."
As the team hit sunset Thursday evening while passing through Columbia, Missouri, they also reach the halfway point of the trek. On the other side is meeting with the team charter flight, outfitting each player with helmet, shoulder pads and jerseys, and keeping the game balls fresh and ready to play.
All for the biggest game of the year.
