Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty

Series record

Liberty 7-6

Last meeting

Liberty 24-21 on Nov. 19, 2015

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Running game

Weakness: Injuries at quarterback and offensive line

Liberty

Strength: Balanced offense

Weakness: Head coach suspended

Key matchup

Coastal Carolina’s running game against Liberty’s defensive line and linebackers: With injuries to several quarterbacks, CCU has relied on its running game all season and has rushed for at least 200 yards in nine of its 10 games and is averaging 248 yards rushing per game.

Liberty has been susceptible to the run, giving up 210 yards per game and 5.3 yards per rush.

CCU may get a bit more balance in its offense with the possible return to the starting lineup of junior Tyler Keane of Myrtle Beach, who completed his only pass for 6 yards and throwing a two-point conversion pass last week against Bryant after returning from injury late in the game. Otherwise, CCU was 4-of-9 for 17 yards last week.

Players to watch

Coastal Carolina

Senior running back De’Angelo Henderson: The All-American has two games remaining to add to his multiple CCU records and should be healthier in his second game back from a shoulder injury. He has 882 yards rushing and 12 TDs on 141 carries this season, as well as 17 receptions for 143 yards and two TDs.

Senior linebacker Alex Scearce: He is the only player at the FCS level with at least 50 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 5 sacks and 5 interceptions. He leads all Division I linebackers in interceptions and has also scored 4 defensive touchdowns.

Sophomore punter Evan Rabon: He can be a weapon, as last week he averaged 44.7 yards on his three punts, and all three pinned Bryant inside the 20 at the 12-, 7- and 10-yard lines.

Liberty

Freshman quarterback Stephen Calvert: He is 5-1 in his six starts while completing 106 of 175 passes for 1,395 yards and 12 TDs, and his 1,708 passing yards on the season are third most in the country by a freshman QB.

Senior linebacker Dexter Robbins: The special teams standout has blocked two field goals this season, and the block against Gardner-Webb sealed a win in overtime.

Senior wide receiver Dante’ Shells: The Flames active leader in receptions (114), receiving yards (2,028) and receiving touchdowns (14), and has eight receiving TDs this season.

He said it

“Obviously I’m going to be watching the game, that’s for sure. Unfortunately I’m not going to be watching in a normal place on the sideline. It’s kind of unchartered waters for me so I don’t know how I’m going to be and how I’m going to act.”

– Liberty coach Turner Gill on serving a one-game suspension for a self-reported violation in his program earlier this season

“We’ve held opponents under 300 yards in the past three weeks, but we’ve done all that by having outstanding second halves. I’d like to see us do that in the first half and second half.”

_ CCU coach Joe Moglia on his team giving up 48 combined points in the first half and just 7 in the second half of the past three games

Scouting report

The Chants will have to stop a balanced offense that has thrown for 2,035 yards and rushed for 1,599 while running 58 percent of the time. Liberty running backs Carrington Mosley, Todd Macon and Frankie Hickson have each rushed for at least 445 yards.

CCU should be stronger in the defensive backfield this week with the return of senior four-year starter Richie Sampson, who has missed the past three-plus games with a knee injury. Sophomore Michael Billings and junior Nicholas Clark, who intercepted a pass last week, have received extra playing time in Sampson’s absence.

“It just kind of adds experience for all of our guys, and all of our guys know they need to be ready every single play,” Sampson said. “I went down and we’ve had safeties in the past go down, so guys have had to step up. If that were to happen again, God forbid, I think the guys would be more relaxed and more ready to play.”

Turnovers could be a factor. Both teams have forced seven turnovers in their past two games, and CCU has also been giving the ball up. After averaging just one turover per game in its first eight games, the Chants have committed three turnovers in each of the past two games.

“We’re not usually a team that fumbles, but we haven’t done a great job of that in the last couple weeks,” Moglia said. “We have to make sure we handle that. We have to do a much better job of protecting the ball.”

Notes

▪ Home field has played a big role in the series, as Coastal is 2-5 on the road and 4-2 at home vs. Liberty

▪ Liberty is 14-3 in November games under coach Turner Gill, including 2-0 against CCU

▪ Taking advantage of the national spotlight on ESPNews, Coastal will honor its 2016 NCAA Championship baseball team at halftime

▪ A fireworks show at Brooks Stadium will start approximately 10 minutes after the conclusion of the game

Prediction

Coastal Carolina 27, Liberty 24: Liberty has more to play for, but it’s difficult to quantify the motivation the Chants will take from the animosity between the teams. CCU wants badly to hand Liberty a loss in perhaps the final game between the teams.

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty."