The day before, Morrell Morrell never expected to be in the race against time.
But here it is.
It’s 2:30 a.m. Thursday and he’s sitting in the passenger seat of BYU’s huge equipment truck, heading for Nebraska. To its left, behind the wheel, is the Philly Taufa, in which a large rug is made which totals the precious cargo: invincible Cougars sport helmets, pads, jerseys, cleats, and footballs.
These two men
“Wait! “You can hold on for a second,” Morrell says politely. “I got a picture of the Missouri River!”
The phone is quiet except for less rustling of large rug motors under the I-80.
“Okay, I’m back.”
Even so, the two men are on a 40-hour, 2,200-mile journey in the second leg of the cross-country.
Goal: Deliver these valuables to Conway, SC for Saturday’s chaotic game between BYU and Coastal Carolina.
Deadline: Friday at 3 p.m.
Consequences of failure to meet deadlines: The BYU team, expected to land in South Carolina on Friday afternoon, will not supply.
Level of discomfort: high.
“There’s no room for error,” says Billy Nixon, 31, BYU’s equipment manager. Who returned to Prova, Utah on Tuesday afternoon and received regular updates from his two drivers. “It’s the hardest window I’ve ever been to. They are professional drivers, but this … this forces them. “
On one of the weirdest occasions in the history of the 2020 college ledge football season, this one – BYU and Coastal Carolina’s hasty marriage – continues.
Just hours after the game and three days into the game, both programs were ready to play on Saturday, after Coastal’s previous opponent, Liberty, experienced spots of COVID issues.
Instead of Liberty vs. Coastal, it will be against No. 18 Changels (9-0) and No. 18 Chanticlers (9-0). The deal was made around 2pm on Wednesday, but it was temporary in nature. In fact, Liberty officials were optimistic they would still be able to play until Wednesday evening. However, the result of the exam he returned on Thursday morning left him no choice – he had to cancel.
In a steep move, the BYU began preparations to go to the coast on Wednesday afternoon, sending a truckload of the equipment to Dher on Wednesday night. Half ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha?
Hale Morrell and Philly Toufa, in the background, are about a couple of days away, cross-country at BYU’s equipment truck.
Courtesy Hale Morrell
They did not stink. He is the father of two happy-go-lucky, married three.
“We need to be there before the team plane arrives because we have to meet them at the airport to load the player bags on the truck and before that, we will go to the hotel first to set up the hotel!” Says Hal Hal, 64.
In the background, 56, Philly is heard saying something. After all, he’s driving and there’s no interview while driving.
“Yeah,” said Hay Lee, “we’re bringing it kind of closer.”
But before proceeding on the road trip to Halle and Philly, you should know how this wild-affair was arranged in the first place as early as Saturday.
With ESPN College Gameday Conway, expected to originate from Liberty and Coastal Carolina, is ready for their showdown. And then COVID intervened. The results of Sunday’s test made some positive cases with Flames. According to protocol, they notified the opponent on Wednesday and Coastal Carolina, which began chasing another opponent fiercely on Wednesday morning.
At the same time, ESPN College Gameday Dry Gallagher says he also included other site options, including moving to Virginia Tech for a hockey game against Clemson. SportsDay Integration manufacturer.
In Provo, BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmo was scheduled to schedule an opponent this weekend (including a potentially un-reported game with undefeated Cincinnati that was determined due to the Bearcats ’covid problems). But then, on Wednesday morning, Holmo got a tip that Coastal might be available.
Later, an ESPN executive called him with two questions.
“Do you want to do this? Can you do this? “
The Cougars were anxious to play and without a true marquee victory on their schedule. They agreed to play if they disqualified Flames in Liberty’s final round of testing. The BYU team heard the news at the MT team meeting on Wednesday at 3 p.m. B.Y.U. The coach began preparing the chantiklers, studying the film, planning the game, and working almost all night long.
“I joked earlier in the week, ‘They can call us on Friday and we’ll be ready to play,'” he told the BYU administrator. S.I..
It almost happened. The final word came down on Thursday morning: Liberty was off, BYU was on. Liberty’s athletic director Ian McCuck even called to congratulate Holmo. If Flames can’t be in the game, he said, there’s no one else but this.
At Conway, Coastal Coach Jamie Chadwell and staff were really preparing for both opponents together on Wednesday evening before learning the official news around 8am on Thursday.
For some quick reclamation, Chadwell and his assistants called in staff members from two other Sun Belt schools where Kurges played earlier this season: Texas State and Troy, beating TY BYU by a combined 100-21.
“They’re like, ‘Hey, good luck,'” Chadwell said in an interview Thursday.
“One said, ‘Do you know where you are going?’ Another said, ‘Do the opposite of what we did.’ ”
The Cougars opened as a 10-point favorite. Despite the spread, the weakest week of the match saw the most significant form in the games. BYU is trying to break the top 12 of the College Ledge Football Playoff Committee for a shot at the New Year’s Six Bowl. Chanticklers are wielding guns for an undefeated mark. College Gameday Will emerge from Brooks Stadium. The weather is expected to be gorgeous. And ET Kickoff is set for ESPNU broadcast at 5:30 p.m.
The only thing missing, for now: BYU equipment truck.
Don’t worry, it’s moving at a good pace. Hal and Philly have marks. By Thursday night, they are already expected to pass through Kansas City and St. Louis. They left Provo at 9:11 pm local time on Wednesday, which is usually about 24 hours after they set sail for the East Coast (they’ve done a lot of time before this; Is) for nine years).
The cab they are riding in is actually a Bailey moving and storage fare in Provo. Hall owned part of the company (he is now largely retired) and Philly still works as a driver for the company. Both have been driving BYU equipment trucks since 2011. BYU lags the most miles of any college football team annually, Hawale said, in second place. He and Philly have turned to about 70 road games and have logged more than 150,000 miles into the truck, with its trailer painted in BYU’s blue and white logo.
“It’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a rock star,” he says. “We’ll take the interstate down and people will scream and rejoice or they’ll flip us over.”
This trip is still the most unusual.
At Lift At F, his GPS predicted he would arrive at 8:34 a.m. Friday. But it’s not that simple, he says.
The truck will turn off the fuel at least three times. This kid is not your Toyota Camry. A large rug tank contains about 200 gallons of fuel. Filling takes about an hour.
They change drivers every 9-11 hours. The rules of transportation allow a single driver to drive 11 hours with a 30-minute break in a 24-hour period. Factoring in everything, it’s a 40-hour trip. Which puts them in the conway with more than three hours to go until their deadline.
But before they could get the rug on the road on Wednesday night, Nixon and a team of volunteers from about 15 devices had to pack a trailer of equipment in record time. They only learned about the deal with Coastal on Wednesday at 3 p.m. And even though it’s only temporary, they want to get the truck on the road.
“We didn’t miss a game because our devices weren’t there,” Holmo said.
And so they packed. When the Cougars’ players and staff met to focus on the game plan, they were overwhelmed. When Kugar practiced on Wednesday night, they packed.
Hail and Philly could not leave before BYU’s nighttime practice was over. Why
“They practice in their sports helmets!” Hull says smiling.
Finally, after practice was over and everything was loaded into the trailer, Halle and Philly departed. He cranked it up and dragged it away when a tool manager yelled at him.
What does he want to hack? We got to go on the road!
“Wait! Wait! The manager said. “You can’t leave yet! We don’t have a game ball there! ”
.
