CCU Notebook: Are the Chanticleers out of gas? What can they muster for season finale?
Coastal Carolina is considered the youngest team in the nation with just 11 seniors and primarily underclassmen that get the bulk of the playing time.
The Chanticleers are also 15 scholarships shy of the 85 allowed at the Football Bowl Subdivision level as they complete their transition from the Football Championship Subdivision.
So it stood to reason that the Chants would wear down as the season progressed with their youth and lack of depth, and it appears that has occurred as Coastal limps to the finish of the season.
Coastal’s competition has increased in the past three weeks with losses to three of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference in Appalachian State, Arkansas State and Georgia Southern, who are a combined 23-9 overall and 15-6 in the conference.
But the Chants struggled to remain competitive in the games as both Appalachian State and Georgia Southern pulled away in the second half and Georgia Southern coasted to a win, and the Chants lost to the trio by a combined 68 points.
“We’re one of the youngest teams in the nation, so that benefits you over time, but we’re still inexperienced right now,” CCU head coach Joe Moglia said. “. . . That 15 scholarship differential is a very, very big deal. It impacts your depth across the board on offense and defense, it certainly impacts what you have with regard to special teams, and that takes its toll I think over the span of the season, because by definition we wind up getting banged up.”
The Chants (5-6, 2-5) have to muster enough energy to win at South Alabama (2-9, 1-6) at 3 p.m. Friday to become eligible for a bowl, and would have at least three weeks to recharge before a bowl game, if they are selected.
Added benefits
A bowl berth could benefit the CCU program in multiple ways.
It would be a reward for a solid season, and it would also likely be beneficial in terms of recruiting and experience going into next season.
The young Chants would have multiple weeks of extra practices to continue learning the CCU systems and improve their skills.
“The compounding, having more practices, is a big deal but it’s not like we’re going to have 500 more practices. We’ve worked really hard this season, it’s an advantage to go to a bowl game,” Moglia said. “. . . But it’s going to be a little less about the fact we have a few extra practices. It’s going to be more about we’ve got an opportunity to kind of really wind up doing something special, and when my 2018 team finishes that’s what I want them to be able to say, one of the things we accomplished.”
Back in the game
Moglia was asked following the team’s final home game of the season last Saturday what the year has been like for him in his return to the sideline this year.
Moglia missed the entire 2017 season while on a medical sabbatical to treat a condition that was causing inflammation in and damage to his lungs.
It was a relatively short break for Moglia, who famously skipped 25 years of coaching to work at Merrill Lynch and TD Ameritrade before returning to college football in 2009.
“While I wasn’t on the sideline last year, by the time I began in January it took me about a week to get kind of back in the flow of things,” Moglia said. “I wouldn’t make a comparison between this year and last year with regard to me being on the sideline because I don’t feel like I’ve missed not being on the sideline.
“I missed being on the sideline a little bit when I made the trip to Wall Street and then went back to football, but that was after 20 years.”
Title game TBA
Coastal Carolina is one of five teams that have been eliminated from contention for the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, and both the East and West division winners will be determined this weekend.
Because the title game will be hosted by the divisional champion with the best overall conference winning percentage, Troy (9-2, 7-0) and Appalachian State (8-2, 6-1) will determine both the East Division champion and host of the championship game when they meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Boone, N.C. App. State would win a tiebreaker based on the head-to-head victory.
Three teams remain in the hunt in the West Division with identical 4-3 conference records. Arkansas State (7-4, 4-3) forced a tie at the top with a win over Louisiana-Monroe (6-5, 4-3) last Saturday – its third straight win and fourth in its last five games – and Louisiana (6-5, 4-3) moved into a tie for the lead with a win over South Alabama.
The two Louisiana teams play Saturday in Monroe and Arkansas State plays at Texas State (3-8, 1-6). If Arkansas State wins, it wins a tiebreaker over ULM but loses one to Louisiana-Lafayette, which defeated the Red Wolves 47-43 on a touchdown with 1:18 to play on Oct. 27.
The championship game is at noon on Saturday, Dec. 1 and will be televised on ESPN.
Bowl pickings
The winner of the championship game already knows where it is headed for its bowl game.
The R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl has announced it will take the Sun Belt champion for a matchup against a team from Conference USA. The game will kick off at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 15 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and be televised on ESPN.
The Sun Belt has five guaranteed bowl affiliations. The others are the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl on Dec. 15 in Montgomery, Ala., the AutoNation Cure Bowl on Dec. 15 in Orlando, Fla., the Dollar General Bowl on Dec. 22 in Mobile, Ala.; and the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl on Dec. 29 in Tucson, Ariz.
Six of the 10 Sun Belt teams are already eligible for a bowl with six wins. Coastal would make it seven with a victory.
This story was originally published November 20, 2018 at 11:16 PM.