Coastal Carolina relies on a Pee Dee running back, matches a football program record

By halftime Saturday night, Alex James of Florence found himself the focus of the Coastal Carolina running game against Texas State.

Starting tailback Osharmar Abercrombie left with an injury with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, and the Chanticleers did not dress junior Boston College transfer Marcus Outlow, who injured a hip last week at Appalachian State.

That left a pair of redshirt freshmen – James and Jacqez Hairston of Martinsville, Va. – as the Chants’ featured running backs.

“From that point on I kind of told myself, ‘This is what you’ve been working for, this is your time, just prepare yourself to go out there and do and handle whatever you can,’ ” James said.

Unfortunately for James, the CCU running game was stagnant all night, gaining just 34 yards on 20 carries in a 27-7 loss. Abercrombie had 5 yards on four carries before his exit.

“We’ve had some injuries there all year. We were just trying to use what we had,” CCU offensive coordinator and interim head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “I thought our young guys did a nice job. I thought Alex did a nice job, Jacqez had to play some tonight and did some decent things as well, so we have to continue to develop those guys.

“I think it was more on me. I need to put our guys in better plays and better positions. They’re executing to the best of their ability what I’m calling, I just need to call better stuff for them.”

James, a 5-foot-11, 205-pound graduate of Florence Christian School, gained 4 yards on five carries and added two receptions for 33 yards, including a 28-yard gain in the fourth quarter, though he also dropped a pass.

He had two carries for no yards and a catch for 5 yards in the first half and started the second half with a pair of 4-yard runs before losing 4 yards on his final rushing attempt.

“As a running back in games like this where it’s just short gain after short gain after short gain, you try to remain patient and wait for that one seam to open up so you can make a seam,” James said. “It’s frustrating to feel like we kind of beat ourselves tonight, just not executing, not doing the things we should have done, not executing blocks like we should have, not hitting the hole as fast as I could have. I know sometimes I may have danced around a little bit too much instead of just hitting the hole. Little things like that are going to pile up and that’s what stalls the drives.”

Hairston had two rushes for 4 yards and one catch for 11 yards and recovered his own fumble.

James entered the game with 25 carries for 156 yards on the season for a 6.2 yard-per-rush average, while Hairston had just eight carries for 67 yards.

Seven players ran the ball for the Chants on Saturday, but two were quarterbacks in Tyler Keane and Kilton Anderson and two were wide receivers in Ky’Jon Tyler and Malcolm Williams.

A leg workout

Evan Rabon tied a school record Saturday that his teammates and coaches would have preferred not been challenged.

Rabon punted nine times to match the program record for the most in a game.

He was effective, at least, averaging 45.2 yards per punt while landing three inside the Texas State 20-yard line without having one reach the end zone for a touchback.

He accounted for 407 yards of punts to more than double CCU’s 183 total yards of offense.

Flag frenzy

The Chants nearly matched another ignominious school record.

They were assessed 14 penalties to come within one of the team’s all-time high of 15, which was set twice in wins over Jacksonville in 2004 and Elon in 2013.

CCU’s 123 yards in penalties are the sixth most in school history, the most being 161 in the 2004 Jacksonville game.

“You can’t win a football game versus anybody in this area, let alone an FBS football team with 14 penalties,” Chadwell said. “You just can’t do it. That’s just a lack of discipline. It’s a lack of focus. It’s not that our guys don’t want to win, sometimes you try so hard you don’t do the little things.”

Penalties took away some decent gains on offense, and calls for pass interference, unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing the passer helped Texas State’s offense extend drives.

In the fourth quarter, an ineligible lineman down field call negated the conversion of a fourth-and-9 at the Texas State 46 on a 15-yard Chris Jones reception and led to a CCU punt.

Turning the page

Coastal entered Saturday’s game with just four forced turnovers in the first seven games of the year and won the turnover battle against Texas State 2-1.

The Chants recovered their fourth fumble of the season while forcing two Saturday, and Fitz Wattley recorded his and the team’s second interception of 2017, snagging a Damian Williams pass in the end zone.

“I feel we’re making pretty good strides [on turnovers],” Wattley said. “We’ve been focusing in practice trying to get more turnovers – ripping at the ball, playing more zone so we can pick the ball off reading the quarterback. I feel like we’re doing better in that.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2017 at 1:50 AM with the headline "Coastal Carolina relies on a Pee Dee running back, matches a football program record."