Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina vs. Monmouth

Last meeting

Coastal Carolina won 23-20 on Oct. 24, 2015

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Opportunistic defense, strong offensive line

Weakness: Lack of depth at quarterback and running back

Monmouth

Strength: Efficient offense

Weakness: Shaky defense

Key matchup

Coastal Carolina’s defense vs. Monmouth’s offense: The Chanticleers have been steadily improving on the defensive side of the ball all season and have a big task ahead.

Players to watch

Senior receiver Bruce Mapp: With two catches in last week’s victory over Presbyterian, Mapp passed Jerome Simpson for second on the program’s all-time receptions list. Mapp has also caught a pass in 18 straight games and has TD receptions in eight of his past 12 games.

Senior linebacker Alex Scearce: The leader of the CCU defense, Scearce leads the team with 55 tackles, 4.5 sacks, five interceptions and two forced fumbles this season.

Freshman running back Jah-Maine Martin: The former Conway High standout, in his second game, rushed for a game-high 120 yards on 12 carries (10 yards per carry) with two touchdowns and may see more significant playing time with star running back De’Angelo Henderson and backup Osharmar Abercrombie expected to miss Saturday’s contest.

Monmouth

Senior running back Lavon Chaney: Starting eight of nine games this season, Chaney has racked up 602 rushing yards on 113 carries (5.3 yards per carry) and has caught 13 passes for 158 yards.

Junior wide receiver Reggie White Jr.: Although no relation to the late great former NFL star Reggie White, the wide receiver leads the team in receiving yards (639) and touchdowns (five).

He said it

“We really have to look out for their offensive weapons and contain them, because if we don’t we’re in for a long day. I feel good about our offense – we’re coming off a 300-yard performance on the group – and despite the injuries, we just need to go out and play our game. But they’re a well-coached team and we have to be ready for them.” – CCU head coach Joe Moglia

“They run kind of a similar defense to [Presbyterian]; they have a middle linebacker [who’s] like 250 [pounds] and can move pretty well so we need to keep our eyes open for him. Their DBs are really the same, they’ll tackle but they don’t want to tackle. They got a big D-line, but [we’ll be OK] if we follow our O-line. – CCU running back Jah-Maine Martin

Notes

▪ Coastal leads the all-time series against Monmouth 4-0 and are 2-0 at home against the Hawks.

▪ The Chants rushed for a season-high 322 yards last week against Presbyterian and have run for over 200 in seven of their eight games this season.

▪ The Coastal Carolina offense could feature an all-Grand Strand backfield at times in the game with quarterback Tyler Keane of Myrtle Beach and Martin of Conway at halfback as he looks to get more playing time.

Prediction

Coastal Carolina 31, Monmouth 17: The Chants’ defense should contain the Hawks as the Coastal Carolina offense plans to roll.

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina vs. Monmouth."