Coastal Carolina: Playing for nothing?

The Coastal Carolina University Chanticleers football team is going into this season with no hope for a postseason even if they win every game.

That doesn’t mean they have nothing to play for.

The team won its last game against Lamar, and the players hope they’ll win the next one as well. And every one after that. The players’ goal is going undefeated this year.

“I’m playing for my teammates, all the other seniors, the coaches, the staff, everybody on the team,” said wide receiver Devin Brown. “This season means a lot to me and all the other seniors since we aren’t competing for really anything but we have a goal that we set to be the first undefeated team in Coastal history.”

Brown said he thinks the team will achieve that goal.

“I think we got off to a great start last Saturday and hopefully have a great practice today and go on to the rest of the season,” he said.

The CCU football team is transitioning from the FCS to the FBS as they join the Sun Belt Conference. This year they’ve awarded more scholarships than the FCS allows, and are not eligible for bowl games.

Head coach Joe Moglia said the fact that they can’t play in a bowl game is “irrelevant.”

“There’s not much we can do about that,” said Moglia. “We’ve been invited to move up into the FBS so that’s sort of an honor unto itself. We can still have a great season. I said our mission is to give 100 percent 100 percent of the time and make Coastal proud of us. That hasn’t changed. We potentially could still have the best team in the history of Coastal Carolina and frankly, having a great season will be a great segue going into the FBS, so we think we’ve got an awful lot to play for.”

Moglia said that going undefeated would be great, but he hopes the team isn’t looking past the next game.

“I’d like to think nobody is looking past the following week because that’s the only thing we can control in that moment in time,” he said. “We really just have our mission, and our mission is to put a team on the field that all of Coastal is going to be proud of. That’s the expectation for the season.”

Senior linebacker Alex Scearce said the team is playing for the guys who will still be playing for the team next year.

“This year we’re independent, we’re moving to the next level,” said Scearce. “This year, we’re not technically playing for post-season stuff, but none of us are taking this year off. Some of us have dreams to get to the next level.”

Scearce said he wants the team to be recognized for its efforts this season.

“At first it may have been like ‘It kind of sucks for us seniors,’ but it’s just something that you have to live with,” he said. “People in other programs have to go through the same thing. We’re going to be that team that moves our team into that transition. The coaches are going to keep track of what we could have been if we did have some post-season stuff. Really, we’re just trying to go undefeated this year.”

Defensive tackle Dwayne Price, who describes himself as a “junior in field, senior in the classroom,” said the team is working hard every week trying to meet their goal of going undefeated.

“The post-season isn’t necessarily all we play for,” said Price. “We play for the guys who came before us and the guys who are coming after us because we are transitioning to the Sun Belt and there’s more to play for than just a ring.”

The team’s first home game is on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Florida A&M. It’s the second of a 12-game season ending with a home game against Hampton University on Nov. 26.

“You only get the opportunity to play football once a week,” said Price. “For only 13 weeks, if that. Especially with us not having a post-season, we have even less time than that. I only have 12 games I can enjoy this year, so I’m going to look forward to every one.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina: Playing for nothing?."