Seeking its first Sun Belt victory, Coastal Carolina gets another FBS rude awakening
Coastal Carolina had what appeared to be its best chance of the season Saturday night to earn its inaugural victory in the Sun Belt Conference and end a school-record losing streak.
Instead, the Chanticleers became Texas State’s answer to its woes this season.
The Bobcats ended their six-game losing streak and earned their first Sun Belt victory of the year with a 27-7 victory at Brooks Stadium.
Texas State (2-6) held Coastal to 183 yards of offense while amassing 507 yards of its own to improve to 1-3 in the conference.
The Chants (1-7) dropped their seventh consecutive game since their win over Massachusetts in the season opener and fell to 0-5 in their new conference.
“It was disappointing in just our overall lack of execution and the way we played, there was no crispness, no efficiency,” Coastal offensive coordinator and interim head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “We just looked like a bad football team tonight.”
By the time Texas State opened up a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter, a light rain began to fall on Coastal’s Homecoming game to chase all but a smattering of the remaining spectators from the stadium.
Three of Coastal’s four losses against Sun Belt foes over the previous four weeks have been by eight or fewer points, and they followed a 42-point loss at home on Sept. 23 to Western Illinois.
“This is probably the worst game we’ve played overall in a lot of ways since probably Western Illinois, and that’s the disappointing thing,” Chadwell said. “We’ve been improving and it looked like we want backwards tonight in a lot of areas.”
Coastal struggled to move the ball on offense throughout the game, and its only touchdown came on special teams, as Anthony Chesley returned a fumbled snap on a field goal attempt 50 yards for a score in the first quarter.
The Chants had just 34 yards of offense in the second and third quarters combined – when they were outscored 13-0 – and were held to 34 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Quarterbacks Tyler Keane and Kilton Anderson combined to complete 13 of 27 passes for 149 yards.
Texas State entered the game allowing 32.3 points per game this season while scoring just 13.4 points to rank last offensively in the conference.
Texas State quarterback Damian Williams completed 27 of 38 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns with an interception, and the Bobcats employed a hurry-up offense against CCU for much of the game.
“We couldn’t get calls off fast enough,” CCU junior safety Fitz Wattley said. “They were going so fast we had to check out of a lot of stuff pretty quickly and we ended up being out of position most times.”
The game’s statistics reflect an ugly night for the Chants.
Texas State led in first downs 32-9, rushing 238-34, passing 269-149, total plays 91-47, fewer penalties 14-6, minutes possessing the ball 37-23, and third-down conversions 11-3 – the Chants were 3 of 13.
The Chants ended nine drives with punts, which tied a school record for the most in a game, and also lost a fumble.
“That was a bad football game for us tonight,” Chadwell said.
Coastal was unable to gain a first down on either of its first two possessions and Texas State scored in between on its opening drive with some trickery.
The Bobcats ran a double reverse pass, with a handoff to the running back followed by a pitch to a wide receiver followed by a pitch back to Williams, who had two deep receivers and found tight end Gabe Schrade open down the left sideline for a 54-yard touchdown pass.
Texas State’s second possession reached the Coastal 27 but the Chants forced a 44-yard field goal attempt, and a slightly high snap sailed through the hands of the holder and Chesley scooped it up at midfield and sprinted for a 50-yard fumble return touchdown to tie the game.
Anderson replaced Keane for CCU’s third possession and helped the Chants earn a pair of first downs before he fumbled on a sack and the Bobcats took over on the CCU 29 following Frankie Griffin 21-yard fumble return.
The Chants avoided surrendering points when junior safety Fitz Wattley intercepted a pass in the end zone that sailed over an intended receiver with Williams facing pressure in the pocket.
The Bobcats drove 85 yards in 14 plays to take a 14-7 lead with 4:20 to play in the second quarter. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on CCU linebacker Shane Johnson for a push after the whistle allowed the Bobcats to avoid a third-and-11 at the CCU 36 and continued a drive that culminated with a 7-yard Williams touchdown pass to Eric Luna.
Foster Hilborn tacked on a 37-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to give the Bobcats a 17-7 halftime lead and end an 11-play, 68-yard drive in the half’s final 2:09.
The Chants converted just one of six third down opportunities in the first half, while Texas State converted six of nine.
“We couldn’t make third downs, and in the first half we had all third and short,” Chadwell said. “We had three third-and-2 or less and could not get them, which is unacceptable, which leads to time of possession. We’ve got to be able to keep the ball and make those makeable third downs. That’s what led to our defense being out there a lot, more than they needed to be.”
Sometimes it’s hard to run the football. I was disappointed more so in the short yardage and some of those, you’ve got to be able to convert those, and if we convert those maybe you don’t score but you keep the ball another three plays and you never know what happens. I think that was huge in the first half. It could have given us an opportunity to maybe have the lead or put some points on the board.
CCU interim head coach Jamey Chadwell on his team’s failure to convert several short third downs
Hilborn added another 37-yard field goal in the third quarter, and an Anthony Smith 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth gave the Bobcats a 27-7 lead.
Coastal never threatened to challenge for the lead in the second half, gaining just 22 yards on offense in the third quarter to follow up a 12-yard second quarter.
“They wore us down obviously with the number of plays they were running and we couldn’t get off the field in the second half,” Chadwell said.
The Chants go to Arkansas next week before finishing the season with three more Sun Belt opponents.
“We prepare each week to win one, and we’re going to continue to do that,” Chadwell said. “We’re just not doing enough every day to be consistent enough to win a football game at this level. We’re just not doing it. We beat ourselves too much, whether it’s by turnovers or by penalties.”
Alan Blondin: 843-626-0284, @alanblondin
This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 9:16 PM with the headline "Seeking its first Sun Belt victory, Coastal Carolina gets another FBS rude awakening."