Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina vs. Charleston Southern

Last meeting

Charleston Southern won 33-25 on Oct. 31, 2015

Series record

The Chanticleers lead 8-5

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Strong running game and defense.

Weakness: Inexperience, lack of depth at quarterback.

Charleston Southern

Strength: Strong running game and defense.

Weakness: Inexperience, lack of depth at quarterback.

Key matchup

Mike Holloway and CSU’s other talented running backs vs. Coastal’s defensive line and linebackers: The Buccaneers run an option offense out of a shotgun formation, often with two backs alongside redshirt freshman quarterback Steve Bucenell, who is as much of a runner as a passer. Holloway is the most dangerous of the backs, with 345 yards and five touchdowns on just 24 attempts this year. Linebackers Alex Scearce and Shane Johnson will play crucial roles in stopping CSU’s rushing attack. “They’re just so aggressive. We just have to stick to our keys and do what we do,” Johnson said. “We’ve got our basics down. We know how to track pullers and read . . . flow, we just have to do it.”

Players to watch

Coastal Carolina

Senior running back De’Angelo Henderson: He looks to extend his NCAA Division I record for touchdowns scored in consecutive games to 31, and is coming off a career-high 185 yards rushing last week. Henderson needs just 2 yards rushing to become the fifth active player in Division I with 4,000 career rushing yards.

Junior quarterback Tyler Keane: He’ll likely be pressured by Charleston Southern’s aggressive defense and was an efficient 9 of 14 for 130 yards and two TDs in his first collegiate start last week.

Junior linebacker Shane Johnson: After missing nearly three full games, he returned to the field last week and led the team with eight tackles while adding a pass break-up.

Charleston Southern

Senior running back Mike Holloway: He set the CSU record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 12 last year. He is averaging 14.4 yards per carry this season and sits 114 yards shy of breaking Christian Reyes’ (2013-14) all-time program mark of 2,200 yards.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Steve Bucenell: He is starting because redshirt junior Kyle Copeland suffered a season-ending injury in the Bucs’ second game against Kentucky State. Last week, Bucenell passed for 98 yards and a touchdown and added 73 yards on the ground against Monmouth.

Junior defensive end Anthony Ellis and sophomore linebacker Solomon Brown: Ellis and Brown combined for 5.5 tackles for loss last week and have a combined 10 of CSU’s 29 tackles for loss this season.

He said it

“Over the span of the last three years they have beaten us twice, and each time they have beaten us over the past three years we have been undefeated and ranked (in the top three) in the nation, and they took that away from us. When they did it three years ago it cost us a No. 1 seed. So that’s a big deal. When they beat us last year the impact that had was our undefeated season ends up going away, our No. 1 ranking ends up going away, and we don’t end up winning the conference championship, which we done three years in a row.” – CCU head coach Joe Moglia.

Scouting report

With each team fielding backup quarterbacks because of injuries against stout defenses, the game figures to be played predominantly on the ground and could be fairly low scoring. Both teams have recorded more than 400 yards of total offense in each of the last three games in the series, but those teams were more explosive. Both teams will likely try to make their opponents beat them through the air. Charleston Southern will look to stop De’Angelo Henderson, while the Chants will look to stop the Bucs’ balanced rushing attack. Of CSU’s rushing defense, Henderson said, “They’re good. I mean, I don’t think they’re the ‘85 Bears.”

Notes

▪ Coastal has revenge as a motivation Saturday. The 2013 meeting between CSU and CCU was the first in Big South history between two ranked conference foes, with No. 16 CSU claiming a 31-26 win over No. 3 Coastal. Last year’s game saw No. 19 CSU topple No. 1 Coastal 33-25 in front of a national TV audience on ASN.

▪ CSU’s defense leads the Big South and ranks eighth nationally with 14 sacks (3.5 per game), and recorded nine tackles for loss in last week’s 35-7 win at Monmouth.

▪ The athletic departments between the two schools are working to continue the rivalry after this season, though no future meetings have been determined.

Prediction

Coastal Carolina 24, Charleston Southern 20. Chants coach Joe Moglia believes CCU is coming off perhaps its most thorough performance during his tenure with last week’s 41-21 win over Furman, and they’ll need a similar effort to knock off a legitimate FCS national championship contender Saturday. “They’re not as talented as Jacksonville State is, but they are every bit if not more physical,” Moglia said.

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina vs. Charleston Southern."