CCU Notebook: A potential program first motivates Coastal Carolina with two games to play
Until it is unattainable, becoming bowl-eligible for the first time in program history will be Coastal Carolina’s rallying cry for the final two weeks of the season, and possibly seasons to come whenever the Chanticleers are on the cusp of a sixth win.
After giving up a touchdown with 32 seconds remaining last week at Arkansas State to lose by a point, 28-27, the Chanticleers have no more room for error.
The Chants (4-6), who have dropped five of their past six games to sit at 1-5 in the Sun Belt Conference, must beat Louisiana-Monroe (4-6, 3-3) on Saturday to give themselves a chance to get to 6-6 in the regular season finale against Texas State at Brooks Stadium.
“Our guys know if we can come out and win this game we’re going to be playing a home game for a chance to get eligible, and that’s a cool deal. That would be a great legacy and foundation for this senior class,” CCU coach Jamey Chadwell said. “. . . We want to get there as a coaching staff, I think that would be great. But I want to get there doing it the way we know we have to do it and not luck into it basically. Let’s earn it by the way we practice and compete.”
Coastal sat at 5-3 overall last season before losing its final four games to come up a game shy of bowl eligibility, and was 3-1 through its non-conference schedule this season.
Coastal will have to win the final two games with several backups in the starting lineup and little depth. CCU lost at least seven players to transfer or attempted transfer in the offseason, and largely because of injuries it has started 41 different players on offense and defense combined, the 10th most in FBS.
“After all the turmoil and everything we went through, we’ve got two opportunities to extend our season,” Chadwell said. “After all the different things that happened offseason and all those things, you’ve got two games to get you a chance to get bowl-eligible. This [Arkansas State loss] is disappointing but we still have two opportunities that can help this program grow and help us get better.”
High noon showdown
The start time for Coastal Carolina’s final regular season game on Nov. 30 against Texas State at Brooks Stadium has been set for noon. It will be the earliest the Chants have played this season.
Students are out of school the entire week leading up to the game for Thanksgiving break, from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, so Brooks Stadium might be fairly empty for the season finale. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and on WRNN FM 99.5.
Cotton picking
Appalachian State (9-1) moved up a spot to No. 24 in the third College Football Playoff ranking released Tuesday, but the Mountaineers are still a long shot to give the Sun Belt Conference a team in a lucrative New Year’s Six bowl.
App. State trounced Georgia State 56-27 on the road Saturday but still trails four Group of Five Conferences teams in the rankings.
No. 18 Memphis and No. 19 Cincinnati of the American Athletic Conference, and No. 20 Boise State of the Mountain West are all ahead of App. State, and SMU of the AAC is just behind at No. 25. All five ranked teams have one loss.
A 24-21 loss to Georgia Southern on Halloween is the Mountaineers’ only blemish this season and may keep them from a berth in the Cotton Bowl, which is worth approximately 6.43 million for the Group of Five conference that places a team in the game based on the highest final CFP ranking.
“After the Georgia Southern game we treated it just like we do every other game. You figure out what you did good, what you did bad and what you have to fix,” App. State coach Eliah Drinkwitz said. “. . . We didn’t let it affect our confidence, we didn’t let it affect us moving forward.”
Prior to conference championship games, Memphis travels to South Florida (4-6) before a regular season finale showdown at home against Cincinnati, which hosts Temple (7-3) on Saturday. Boise State travels to Utah State (6-4) and Colorado State (4-6), SMU, which lost to Memphis, plays Navy (7-2) and Tulane (6-4), and App. State will be heavily favored against Texas State (3-7) and at Troy (5-5).
And smart, too
Six CCU players have been named to the 2019 CoSIDA Academic NCAA Division I District 4 first team in football: sophomores Kameron Burton, Alex Spillum and Michael McFarlane and juniors Trey Carter, Jonathan Clayton and Teddy Gallagher.
The six honorees this season exceed last year’s five recipients, and Clayton earned the honor for the second straight season. The CoSIDA team recognizes top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
The CoSIDA All-America program separately recognizes football honorees in four divisions — NCAA Divisions I-III and NAIA. To be eligible, a student-athlete has to have a 3.5 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) and have played in over 50 percent of his team’s games on the season.
Seeking NCAA berth
Coastal Carolina (23-5, 13-3) secured the East Division title and No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship that begins Thursday in San Marcos, Texas, by closing the regular season on a four-match winning streak.
The Chanticleers are No. 2 in the nation in NCAA Division I in service aces per set and team service aces behind only Maryland-Eastern Shore, and earned a double bye along with West Division champion and No. 1 seed Texas State (22-8, 14-2). CCU is ranked 50th in national RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) while Texas State is 39th.
In its final regular season match, CCU defeated No. 3 seed South Alabama (20-10, 11-5) 3-1 Sunday at the HTC Center behind a career-high 23 kills by junior Kyla Manning and 22 kills by sophomore outside hitter Anett Nemeth, who ranks seventh nationally in points per set (5.66) and eighth in kills per set (4.86). CCU freshman Brigitta Petrenko is third in the nation in service aces with 58 and fourth in aces per set.
The three players were named First Team All-Sun Belt on Tuesday, while Nemeth is the conference Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year and Petrenko is the Freshman of the Year.
Texas State has won two straight Sun Belt regular season titles and is the defending conference tournament champion. Coastal won the tournament in 2016 and 2017 and is seeking its fifth NCAA tournament appearance in coach Jozsef Forman’s eight seasons.
All seven tournament matches are set for live coverage on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Live statistics are available on SunBeltSports.org.
Saturday’s Game
Who: Coastal Carolina (4-6, 1-5 Sun Belt Conference) at Louisiana-Monroe (4-6, 3-3)
When: 5 p.m. (Eastern)
Where: Malone Stadium in Monroe, La.
TV/Radio: ESPN3, WRNN FM 99.5
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 8:55 PM.
