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

Who: Georgia Southern (7-3, 4-2 Sun Belt) at Coastal Carolina (5-5, 2-4 Sun Belt)

When: 5 p.m. (Eastern)

Where: Brooks Stadium, Conway

Occasion: Senior Day, Military Appreciation Day

TV: Live online on ESPN+

Radio: WRNN 99.5-FM

Online audio: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/coastal/

Live stats: Through www.goccusports.com GameTracker

Last meeting

Coastal Carolina 28-17 on Dec. 2, 2017 in Conway, S.C.

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Rushing attack

Weakness: Run defense

Georgia Southern

Strength: Forcing turnovers

Weakness: Passing game

Key matchup

Georgia Southern offensive line vs. Coastal Carolina’s defensive front seven: Georgia Southern has averaged just 9.3 pass attempts and 85.6 passing yards per game, with the passing yardage the second fewest in the nation among FBS programs. But they run the ball out of an option attack and are 14th in the nation in rushing yards with 244.5 per game behind an offensive line that features two seniors, a junior, a redshirt sophomore and redshirt freshman. Quarterback Shai Werts (5-foot-11, 200 pounds) leads the team with 716 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns, while Wesley Fields leads the team with 73.3 rushing yards per game.

Coastal has struggled to stop the run this season, allowing 221.8 rushing yards per game, which ranks 116th in the country and next to last in the Sun Belt Conference, and a whopping 6.3 yards per carry. The defensive front seven of ends Jeffrey Gunter and Tarron Jackson, tackles Sterling Johnson and Jonathan Clayton, and linebackers Silas Kelly, Teddy Gallagher and Michael Makins will have to be stout against the run. That group is young, consisting of one junior, one redshirt freshmen and five sophomores.

Players to watch

Coastal Carolina

Senior wide receiver Malcolm Williams: The 5-10, 190-pounder has caught a pass in 14 consecutive games and has 40 receptions for 615 yards and four receiving TDs this season to lead the team in all three categories.

Sophomore running back Torrance “C.J.” Marable: The 5-10, 190-pound Presbyterian transfer is averaging 6.6 yards per carry with 634 yards and six TDs on 96 carries.

Freshman quarterback Fred Payton: The 6-2, 200-pound native of Suwanee, Ga., has completed 41 of 61 passes for 588 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. He has also gained 132 yards on 40 carries.

Georgia Southern

Sophomore quarterback Shai Werts: The Clinton native is averaging 4.9 yards per carry with 11 touchdowns on 147 carries, and has completed 53 of 92 passes for 816 yards and eight TDs.

Senior running back Wesley Fields: He is second on the team with 660 rushing yards and had a breakout game receiving against Troy last week with five catches for 138 yards.

Junior cornerback Kindle Vildor: He leads the Eagles with four interceptions and also has eight pass break-ups and 38 tackles, including 3.5 for a loss of yards.

He said it

“We’ve had a good season, but the key for us now is let’s finish this up really going after it. There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot at stake so no matter what happens lets finish this giving everything we’ve got and then everything else winds up falling into place.” – CCU head coach Joe Moglia

“Our offense is different from theirs, but conceptually there is a lot of overlap. Because we go against ourselves [in practice], it’s not like we go into the game not knowing how to prepare against an option attack. And Jamey Chadwell, our offensive coordinator, and Marvin Sanders, our defensive coordinator, have already and will continue to put their heads together where one might be able to offer the other some insight.” – Moglia

“The last two weeks have not gone our way and this is a big-time learning moment for our football team to have success early and then kind of get punched in the mouth the last two weeks and put ourselves in a position of adversity and seeing how we can respond from it.” – Georgia Southern coach Chad Lunsford

Scouting report

For the third consecutive week, Coastal has a chance to become eligible for the program’s first bowl game with a win.

Coastal is on the third game of a three-game Sun Belt Conference gauntlet, and after losing to Appalachian State and Arkansas State by the combined score of 67-23, the Chants host a Georgia Southern team that has beaten both of them this year. “We know we’re going to have our work cut out for us. These are three really excellent teams back to back,” Moglia said.

Georgia Southern has an amazing plus-21 turnover differential this season. The Eagles have recovered 11 of 18 forced fumbles while losing only four fumbles, and have intercepted 14 passes without throwing an interception this season while completing 54 of 93 passes for 856 yards. They also commit only 4.7 penalties for 41.8 yards per game.

The Eagles average just 330 yards of offense per game but live off turnovers and strong defense, giving up just 22.8 points per game.

“They’re No. 1 in the country in turnover margin, so they don’t turn the ball over on offense and they get to interceptions and hit you hard enough to force fumbles,” Moglia said. “They do a good job with regard to penalties. That reinforces the fact they’re disciplined. And from a defensive perspective they attack you. I wouldn’t say they have the talent level as Arkansas State and App State on defense, but these guys are very good, they’re very aggressive and they come for the ball.”

The Chants have not been good at home. They are 1-3 at Brooks Stadium this season, and since a win over UAB on Sept. 8 in Week 2, the Chants have dropped home games to Louisiana-Monroe, Appalachian State and Arkansas State by a combined score of 112-43.

Coastal’s offense has stalled in the past two games. The Chants were held to 178 yards by Appalachian State and 298 yards by Arkansas State last week, and to a combined 23 points after scoring 20 points or more in their previous seven games.

Freshman Fred Payton is expected to get his fourth consecutive start at quarterback. Senior Kilton Anderson, who started the first four games before suffering a high ankle sprain, has been rotated into the past few games since returning from the injury.

“I think the defenses we’ve played in the past couple weeks are really outstanding, and I think the second piece of that is at the beginning of the season we started Kilton Anderson and he was doing a great job for us and was a senior, but he had only started four games a year ago and was still inexperienced. When he went down . . . . I think the combination of both of those has had an impact on our performance.”

Notes

▪Coastal ranks eighth in the country in time of possession at 33:47 minutes per game, and has had the had the ball longer than all but one opponent - Appalachian State.

▪ Prior to its consecutive losses in the past two weeks to Louisiana-Monroe and Troy, the Eagles’ only loss on the season was a 38-7 defeat at No. 2 Clemson on Sept. 15.

▪ Georgia Southern is the only team in FBS with at least a plus-1 turnover margin in every game this season.

▪ It’s the final home game for CCU’s small class of 11 seniors, including several who have gone through CCU’s transition from FCS to FBS. “Your last game after a really successful, fulfilling college career is something special, so you want everybody to give everything they’ve got in support of that,” Moglia said.

▪ The 4,000-square-foot photographic “Remembering Our Fallen” war memorial that honors fallen soldiers from the War on Terrorism (Sept. 11, 2001-present) will be outside Brooks Stadium. Active-duty military and veterans get free admission and their family members receive discounted admission.

Line

Georgia Southern -7

Prediction

Georgia Southern 34, Coastal 24: The Chants have struggled to stop the run all season and it will be a particular test Saturday.

This story was originally published November 16, 2018 at 5:49 PM.