How Coastal Carolina came just short of the biggest victory in school history

Coastal Carolina almost took a lot more than a big check from Arkansas on Saturday.

The Chanticleers, who received $1.5 million to be Arkansas’ Homecoming opponent, nearly ended their program-record losing streak in shocking fashion at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.

Arkansas scored the final 14 points of the game in the final 10 minutes, including the game-winning touchdown with less than 2 minutes to play, to pull out a 39-38 win over the Chants, who lost their eighth consecutive game to fall to 1-8 on the season.

“We told our team this is the one time probably the country has to know about Coastal Carolina and not judge us by our record, because when you see 1-7 you think you’re a lousy team,” Coastal interim head coach Jamey Chadwell said on WRNN FM radio following the loss. “We talked to our team about your character is going to show tonight with what you do. I thought our kids gave everything.”

Coastal held a lead over its Southeastern Conference opponent through much of the game with backup quarterback Kilton Anderson playing most of the contest and an offensive line that featured four freshmen and a sophomore due to some injuries.

Coastal had played schools from Power Five Conferences five times in its history and had lost all five by at least 31 points, with four coming by 46 points or more. CCU had also lost by a combined 119 points in its only two previous games against SEC teams, falling to South Carolina 70-10 in 2013 and Georgia 59-0 in 2011.

But Arkansas (4-5), which is 1-4 in the SEC and entered the game as a 24-point favorite, struggled against the Chants (2-7), who were coming off a 20-point home loss to a 1-6 Texas State team to fall to 0-5 in the Sun Belt Conference in their first season at the Football Bowl Subdivision level.

“It’s not fun to lose, but you can say you went toe to toe with an SEC opponent, that’s always something you’ve got to boast about,” CCU sophomore tackle Ethan Howard said. “But you just to keep in the back of your mind that you can play with anyone, I think that’s what we’ll try to build off of.”

Anderson replaced CCU senior starter Tyler Keane of Myrtle Beach in the second quarter after Keane hit a helmet on a follow-through and injured the thumb on his left throwing hand.

Keane got off to an exceptional start, completing 9 of 11 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown at the time of the injury, and helped the Chants take a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. Anderson finished 6 of 17 for 115 yards and two touchdowns and also gained 37 yards no seven rushes. The Chants did not commit a turnover.

“I think I came in and almost did what we needed to do,” Anderson said. “There were some mistakes here and there that I wish we could have back. But our guys played with a lot of heart tonight. I don’t think we’ve seen that this season yet. We just competed with an SEC team so I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to. … I think as we go forward it’s going to be a different team.”

Coastal took a 38-25 lead with 13 minutes remaining on a 10-yard Chris Jones TD reception.

But a T.J. Hammonds 88-yard touchdown run pulled Arkansas within six points with 10 minutes to play, and after forcing a CCU punt, the Razorbacks converted a daring fourth-and-2 at their own 32 with 6 minutes remaining to continue the game-winning TD drive.

Amir Howard forced a fumble at the CCU 2 on a run but it was recovered by an Arkansas lineman at the 1 and quarterback Cole Kelley scored a go-ahead TD on a 1-yard run on the next play with 1:55 remaining.

Arkansas forced four Anderson incompletions on CCU’s final possession to avoid an embarrassing loss.

“We’ve just got to make some plays right there,” said Anderson, a junior and former Fresno State starting QB who had played in just two games this year. “You’ve got to get some contested balls, you’ve got to make some better throws. It’s tough. Those are tough downs right there, a lot of pressure, but we’ve got to come through in times like that.”

Chadwell said he considered running an offensive play on a fourth-and-1 at the CCU 34 after the Chants failed to convert a third-and-2 prior to Arkansas’ game-winning touchdown drive. The offense lined up, but the Chants took a timeout and sent out Evan Rabon to punt.

“We had two drives there in the fourth quarter that we could have made some plays on, and whether you score or not you continue to work the clock, and we weren’t able to convert them and one was the third and short, and that’s what eats your craw,” Chadwell said. “I thought long and hard, especially after we gave up the long run, about, ‘Hey lets go for it again here and try to milk some more clock,’ thinking that we needed to control the ball there. I didn’t want to give it back to them. But if you don’t get it they’ve got the ball at the 34 and you’re probably putting yourself in a bad hole.”

Arkansas looked like it would control the game early, scoring on the game’s opening possession on a drive that covered 68 yards in seven plays and culminated with a Devwah Whaley 5-yard run.

But Coastal scored touchdowns on its first two possessions with long, sustained drives.

The first drive covered 75 yards in 14 plays and ended with a 9-yard Omar Black touchdown reception from Keane, and the second covered 88 yards in eight plays and culminated in a 6-yard TD run by Alex James that gave CCU a 14-7 lead.

The two drives helped Coastal hold a time of possession advantage at halftime, 16 minutes to 14 minutes, and they expanded on the edge slightly in the second half despite being outgained in the game 523 yards to 359.

Arkansas took a 17-14 lead into halftime following a 60-yard TD reception by Hammonds on a screen pass and 46-yard Connor Limpert field goal.

The CCU offense continued to be effective under Anderson, though he only attempted two passes that were both incomplete in the first half.

The Chants opened up the playbook to him in the second half, however.

Anderson completed four of five passes on the opening possession of the second half, including a 16-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Williams to regain the lead for CCU at 21-17.

He opened the second half with a 22-yard over-the-shoulder completion to Chris Jones down the left sideline, then hit Williams on a 40-yard pass down the middle in one-on-one coverage just as he was about to be hit to give CCU a first down at the Arkansas 12.

Senior safety Nicholas Clark returned a fumbled lateral 31 yards for a touchdown 2 minutes later to give CCU a 28-17 lead.

Dontay Hears blew up the lateral pass to the right sideline, running past an attempted block by receiver Deon Stewart and plowing through intended recipient Jonathan Nance to leave the ball on the ground for Clark to alertly scoop up and race down the right sideline. Clark cut inside at the 5 to avoid a pair of Arkansas offensive linemen in pursuit and reach the end zone.

“We had something to prove today and I think we proved that to a lot of people,” Clark said. “We came out here with a sense of urgency and got after that team today. I wouldn’t trade the energy, the commitment, the hard work of my teammates for the world.”

An Austin Cantrell 5-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion pulled Arkansas within three points before a Rabon 32-yard field goal and Jones’ 10-yard reception put CCU up by 13 points.

Jones’ TD was made possible by the conversion of a fourth-and-2 at the Arkansas 27 on a 2-yard Osharmar Abercrombie run. The senior broke a pair of tackles near the line of scrimmage before extending the ball for the first down.

The Chants entered the game converting just 34 percent of its third downs on the season but converted eight of its first 10 Saturday – finishing the game 8 of 15 – and the young offensive line held Arkansas to just one sack, protected both of CCU’s quarterbacks well and opened up holes for the option rushing attack that accounted for 131 yards on 38 rushes.

“It kind of started with [offensive line coach Patrick Covington] and the week of preparation,” Howard said. “He just said it’s the game of football and it’s just like every other week, so we didn’t really focus on the whole SEC part of it. We knew they were talented and respected that but we just went out and did our thing.”

Coastal has three Sun Belt games remaining to close out the season beginning at home next week against Troy, which has defeated an SEC team this season in LSU.

“I told our guys . . . whether we won or lost wasn’t the main thing,” Chadwell said. “We wanted to win, but understanding the way we did it, what we play for, playing for each other, if we bottle that and you’ll take that from this then it’s all worthwhile. If we go backwards then it’s all for naught.

“I think our team’s got a big decision to make of who they want to be going forward. If we’ll do this going forward then better days are ahead for Coastal football.”

This story was originally published November 4, 2017 at 8:04 PM with the headline "How Coastal Carolina came just short of the biggest victory in school history."