Liberty Almost Blows Bowl Game in the Dumbest Way, a breakdown

Dec 30, 2020 1.4M views 4:22

What Happened

In the December 26, 2020 FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl, Liberty led Coastal Carolina by eight late in the fourth quarter before Coastal scored a touchdown and tacked on a two-point conversion to tie it. Liberty then drove into field goal range with a chance to win in regulation. On a run to the goal line, the Liberty ballcarrier deliberately tried to stay out of the end zone to keep the clock running, but the ball came loose and Coastal Carolina recovered the fumble. The game went to overtime, where Liberty kicked a field goal and then blocked Coastal's 42-yard attempt to win it.

Why This Matters

This is a textbook lesson in why coaches teach players to just take the touchdown. The Liberty back was so worried about leaving Coastal too much time that he planted his feet short of the goal line and pulled the ball backward, then coughed it up. The math doesn't support that fear: a go-ahead score with three minutes left still leaves you with a big win probability edge, and you avoid the exact disaster that unfolded. Liberty got bailed out anyway. They forced overtime, knocked through the field goal that should have ended things in regulation, and James (No. 55) got a hand on Coastal's 42-yard tying attempt to seal it. Hugh Freeze's first bowl game at Liberty ended 37-34 in his favor, which beats the alternative headline by a mile.

At 1.4M views this one cracked the top 11.6% of Jomboy's 1,583 breakdowns, proof that a near self-inflicted bowl loss travels even on a baseball channel.

Key Moments

Who / What Is Involved

Players: Mac.

this happened a couple days ago but it's

so crazy it's worthy of a breakdown and

it got a ton of requests for it liberty

is

dancing dancing dancing on the sidelines

because they're up by

eight with three minutes to go and they

think they got it

locked up but coastal carolina

quarterback is gonna slip

past that guy throw the touchdown for

six

and then the coastal carolina

quarterback is gonna

run for two tie game how about that

liberty

they're not dancing anymore but what

they do do is they take the ball

and they just move it down field

fbc mortgage cure bowl style

so shout out to fbc mortgage cure they

knew they were getting a doozy of a game

here

they get themselves into kicking range

of the

kicker alex barbier we saw him earlier

in a breakdown this season he gets

warmed up

they put him a little closer even the

little play to the flat gets them to the

two yard line

and now all they got to do is waste some

time run out the clock don't score a

touchdown

definitely don't score a touchdown

because that would be bad because you

give them too much time to score a

touchdown of their own so there's

killing clock

kicker's getting ready hugh freeze the

coach he's like this is brilliant this

is the best plan ever we're about to win

this dang ol game

coastal carolina's like all right you

you don't want to score we want you to

score they try to drag him into the end

zone he fumbles it

and now it's crazy did he get across the

line did he not get across the line did

he fumble who recovered

dog pile everyone's baited breath trying

to figure out what's gonna happen here

and finally the ref sees everything he

looks he says

i got coastal carolina having this ball

wait double check double check yeah bam

huge zero on liberty going crazy let's

go

glass is off whoa

una bomber in the stands so this dude

didn't want to score a touchdown so bad

because he didn't want to hand the ball

over with too much clock that he

planted his feet on the goal line kept

the ball

purposely behind his body and then i

mean i think he drops it accidentally

but look his feet are planted to not

cross the goal line and then he moves

the ball

backwards to not cross the goal line

it's like dude it's the ga it's a go

ahead

touchdown still it's still the go-ahead

touchdown there's no reason to fight

like you don't lose the game if you

score your odds of winning still

increase a ton

so he's over on the sideline just

shaking his head to himself this

that girl gives him a nice pat says it's

okay he freezes about the die inside

just thinking about what the headlines

are gonna say what an embarrassment this

is like the most embarrassing loss ever

can't really get over it ref says

something to him he says yeah yeah okay

yeah yeah just kind of dealing with some

stuff he falls in love with the wall

so mack and hugh are just having an

awful time but go to overtime

liberty gets the ball first fourth and

eleven they kick the field goal that

should have won them the game at the end

of regulation

now it gives them the lead in overtime

coastal has a 42-yard

field goal attempt to tie this and go

into second overtime

fourth and ten here we go drama is high

mortgage cure bowl doing what we all

knew it would

and blocked blocked and liberty wins

number 20

number 55 on liberty james here gets a

hand on it i think it might have hit him

in the wrist

and hugh freeze is relieved headphones

come off

dancing his way to the center field just

this guy comes up says coach look at my

fingers look at my

fingers i don't know what that means

just give me a hug and be normal

okay sure thing coach and number eight

Mac he goes swimming

in his field of lucky pennies just

backstroke

snow angels whatever he's doing hugh

freeze

says what's up to the other coach says

good job turns around says where's my

girls at

three daughters big ol hug

james gets dapped up for making the play

this coach comes up gives him a hug

punches the other dude in the face

as celebration which kind of sucks for

that dude because he was just you know

trying to witness a really nice hug

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