See how Georgia Southern took over in the second half against Coastal Carolina

It will all come down to Coastal Carolina’s final game of the season.

The Chanticleers lost their third consecutive game Saturday, and whether they become eligible for the program’s first bowl game will come down to Friday’s season finale at South Alabama.

Georgia Southern (8-3) defeated Coastal 41-17 Saturday at Brooks Stadium to drop the Chants to 5-6 on the season.

“We’ve got one game left, we’ve got a lot riding on that game, and we’ve got to figure it out. That’s what we’ve got to be able to do,” Coastal head coach Joe Moglia said. “I think [becoming bowl eligible] is really important.”

Coastal trailed by just three points at halftime, but Georgia Southern took command in the second half, scoring four consecutive touchdowns to complete a run of 41 straight points to take a 31-point lead.

After gaining 132 yards on its first two possessions to take a 10-7 lead, Coastal was held to 57 yards on its remaining 10 possessions.

“They didn’t really change up their defense, they just really emphasized the gaps that they were supposed to be attacking that they didn’t attack as hard prior,” said freshman tight end Isaiah Likely, who scored both of CCU’s touchdowns on short passes. “I feel if they saw something similar coming they took a shot and took that gap hard and it was either a missed opportunity for them or a big sack.”

Georgia Southern outgained CCU 442-189, marking the second time the Chants have been held below 200 yards of offense during their three-game home skid against Appalachian State, Arkansas State and GSU – three of the Sun Belt Conference’s top teams. The Eagles, who improved to 5-2 in the conference, have beaten the other two this season.

“We just finished playing a really good run of three very, very good teams,” said Moglia, whose team fell to 2-5 in the Sun Belt. “I think we lost to a good football team. The team we played tonight handled the two teams we’ve already lost to that are both very, very good teams.

“We played three really good teams and we weren’t able to hold up. I’m not happy we lost, but I feel reasonably comfortable with that.”

Freshman Fred Payton started his fourth consecutive game at quarterback and completed 8 of 14 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game in the third quarter with a mild neck injury. Moglia said he probably could have reentered the game if it were closer in the fourth quarter. Senior Kilton Anderson was 4 of 10 for 26 yards and a TD in relief.

Georgia Southern scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 24-point lead.

The Eagles got long runs on the first two scoring drives, as Monteo Garrett ran 54 yards to set up a Wesley Fields 6-yard scoring run, and both Fields and Wesley Kennedy III had runs of at least 25 yards before Fields scored on a 2-yard run.

Logan Wright broke a couple tackles near the line of scrimmage en route to a 59-yard touchdown run that gave the Eagles a 34-10 lead.

Coastal was outgained 233-16 in the third quarter.

Georgia Southern rolled up 409 yards rushing out of its piston/gun-option offense, including 284 in the second half. While the Eagles took advantages of some holes in the CCU defense, they also repeatedly broke tackles on long runs in the second half.

“I think as the game went on they wore us down a little bit,” Moglia said. “There were tackles. It wasn’t like we weren’t there, we’d wrap up and the guy just keeps driving and then we’d slide off. . . . There were just too many plays that wound up going for big yards when we needed to be able to make a tackle and we just didn’t make the tackle.”

Possessions were at a premium early with the two ball-control offenses that lead the conference in time of possession. There were just four possessions in the opening 23:30, with each team scoring a touchdown and field goal.

Coastal took the opening 7:30 off the clock with its initial drive of 75 yards in 15 plays, which matched its most plays on a drive this season. The Chants were aggressive on the opening drive, converting a fourth-and 2 at the Eagles’ 9-yard line on a 3-yard run by Alex James that led to a 1-yard Likely touchdown reception.

Georgia Southern answered with a 12-play drive that covered just 31 yards and ended with a 44-yard Tyler Bass field goal. The drive included a fourth-down conversion near midfield and reached Coastal’s 17-yard line before a penalty pushed the Eagles back.

Coastal drove 57 yards in 10 plays for a Massimo Biscardi field goal before Georgia Southern scored the final 10 points of the half to take a 13-10 lead into halftime.

Quarterback Shai Werts capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown run, and the national leaders in turnover differential got their 26th takeaway to take the lead.

The Eagles improved to plus-22 on the season when defensive end Quan Griffin stripped Payton of the ball in the pocket and Raymond Johnson III recovered at the Coastal 12. C.J. Brewer and Jonathan Clayton tackled Fields for a loss of a yard on third-and-1 at the 3 and GSU settled for a 20-yard Bass field goal.

The first half was relatively even. CCU ran 32 plays for 138 yards while GSU ran 27 plays for 136 yards. But the Eagles received the second-half kickoff and took over from there.

Coastal will play at 3 p.m. Friday at South Alabama, which is 2-9 on the season, with a possible bowl game on the line.

“I think that obviously would be a huge step for the program and I would love to be a part of it,” senior linebacker James Heft said.

This story was originally published November 17, 2018 at 7:59 PM.