Hugh Freeze said he just wanted a chance to win it in the 4th quarter. He got his wish.
With the Flames trailing Brigham Young University by a touchdown in the waning moments of the game in Provo, Utah, Liberty’s best wide receiver and one of the best in the country, Antonio Gandy-Golden, somehow managed to get open at the first down marker on 4th-and-21.
Buckshot zipped the ball to AGG, but he was unable to secure the catch as he was knocked out of bounds. The ball fell to the field as the pass was incomplete. The Cougars took over with 28 seconds left, took one knee and the game was over, BYU wins 31-24 in front of 54,683 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium, the fourth largest crowd to ever witness a Liberty football game.
“He’s hurting in there right now,” Coach Freeze said of AGG in the locker room after the game. “Who knows what would have happened if we converted that first down, but we wouldn’t have been in it if it wasn’t for him. Right now, he feels like he didn’t complete the game like he wanted to.”
AGG finished with 10 receptions for 162 yards and 1 touchdown on the evening as he moves back into first place in the FBS in receiving yards with 1,244, surpassing Omar Bayless from Arkansas State who did not play this week.
Liberty trailed by two touchdowns midway through the fourth quarter before Calvert and Gandy-Golden marched the team into the red zone. The best quarterback-wide receiver tandem in school history connected on two passes for 33 yards setting up a first down at the 13-yard line. Buckshot was then able to find Zac Foutz in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown to bring the Flames within a score at 31-24 with 6:35 left in the game.
BYU got the ball back with intentions of running the clock out. The Cougars picked up three first downs on the drive, including a conversion on 3rd-and-11 to move into Liberty territory. BYU finished 7-of-13 on 3rd down conversions on the night.
The defense would come up with a stop after that conversion to force a BYU 47-yard field goal attempt with less than two minutes left and Liberty had no timeouts left. The Cougars tried to fake the field goal with the holder throwing the ball to the kicker, but the Flames weren’t fooled. Javon Scruggs snuffed it out to get the ball back in Buckshot and the offense’s hands.
“Really proud of our kids,” Freeze said after the game. “They fought for 60 minutes and went toe-to-toe with a good BYU team that has beaten some really good opponents this season.”
Buckshot Calvert was 27-of-45 passing for 303 yards and 3 touchdowns as his interception free streak extends one more game.
The Cougars finished the game with 471 yards of total offense, including 306 passing yards. They scored 17 points on their first three drives before the Liberty defense tightened and got stops on six of the final eight BYU possessions.
“I thought our players left it all on the field,” said Freeze, “for our University, our team, our coaches, our players, our vision from Dr. Falwell four decades ago to play in arena like this against BYU at their place.”
The Flames fall to 6-4 on the season still needing one more win to become bowl eligible for the first time in program history. Liberty has an open date next week before facing Virginia in Charlottesville in two weeks.
