Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina at No. 21 Louisiana on Wednesday

Wednesday’s game

Who: Coastal Carolina (3-0) at No. 21 Louisiana (3-0)

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Cajun Field, Lafayette, Louisiana

TV: ESPN

Radio: WRNN 99.5 FM

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

Live stats: Through www.Coastal.statbroadcast.com and GameTracker

Last meeting

Louisiana 48-7 on Nov. 7, 2019 in Conway

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Defensive front seven

Weakness: Secondary

Louisiana

Strength: Offensive line

Weakness: Wide receiver

Key matchup

Coastal Carolina’s defensive line vs. Louisiana’s offensive line: Louisiana likes to bully opposing defenses with its offensive line, and Coastal’s strength is the pushback of its defensive line and linebackers, as the Chants have 26 tackles for loss in their three games this season. The Ragin’ Cajuns had two offensive linemen selected in the first four rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft in Robert Hunt (second round, Miami) and Kevin Dotson (fourth round, Pittsburgh), while running back Raymond Calais was also drafted in the seventh round after piling up yardage behind the linemen.

But the cupboard isn’t bare. Sophomore guard O’Cyrus Torrence (6-5, 342), who is on the 2020 Outland Trophy Preseason Watch List, has a chance to go higher than Hunt when he’s eligible. In addition to Arizona State transfer Zach Robertson, the four other starting linemen – Ken Marks, Torrence, Shane Vallot and Max Mitchell – all have at least a full season of starting experience for a team that had the sixth-best rushing offense in the nation in 2019.

Players to watch

Coastal Carolina

Redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall (6-3, 200): In the first three starts of his career he has completed 42 of 63 passes for 728 yards and nine TDs with one interception, and has rushed for 139 yards and two TDs on 31 carries.

Senior running back C.J. Marable (5-10, 200): He has gained 190 yards and scored three TDs on 47 carries to pull within 6 yards of 2,000 in his two-plus years at Coastal, and has seven receptions for 26 yards and a TD.

Senior linebacker Silas Kelly (6-4, 230): The Sun Belt’s defensive player of the week for his performance against Campbell on Sept. 19 is tied for the team lead with 21 tackles, including four for a loss and three sacks.

Louisiana

Senior quarterback Levi Lewis (5-10, 184): The dynamic three-year starter has completed 52 of 90 throws for 723 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions, and has been held to 19 yards rushing on 14 carries with a long of 21 yards.

Senior running back Elijah Mitchell (5-11, 218): In two games this season, he has gained 210 yards and scored two TDs on 24 carries for averages of 8.8 yards per rush and 105 yards per game.

Junior linebacker Lorenzo McCaskill (6-0, 223): The Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week after posting a career-high 14 tackles against Georgia Southern on Sept. 26 has 36 (17 solo) this season, the seventh most in the nation. He has 10 or more tackles in all three games.

He said it

“Lafayette’s a great team, but we’re a good team too. I think we just proved that and we’re trying to take over the Sun Belt.” – CCU junior outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter

“That game is going to be won up front. They’re going to pound us, they’re going to try to come get us with that zone [blocking scheme] and play-action and boot, and that quarterback is pretty good, so we’re going to have to be physical up front. And they cause a lot of issues with their defense and the way they play. So it’s going to be a battle up front.”” – CCU coach Jamey Chadwell

“I think Coastal Carolina is one of the more improved teams in our league. Certainly the young quarterback has done a great job of helping them play really efficient. The skill players they have around him, the tight end, the running back, the receivers are a really explosive group. And defensively I think they’ve taken a step forward and improved not only with personnel but conceptually. It’s very evident that coach Chadwell, the program is improving under his watch. . . . It’s going to be a great football game and a great matchup.” – Louisiana coach Billy Napier

Scouting report

Coastal has the No. 4 scoring offense in the country with an average of 44.3 points per game, and Louisiana has the 17th-ranked scoring defense in FBS, allowing 21 points per game. Coastal’s scoring defense is 20th at 22.3 points, though the Chants played FCS program Campbell while Louisiana has played three FBS teams.

After an impressive 31-14 road win over a ranked Iowa State to start the season, Louisiana has won a pair of Sun Belt games, but barely. It overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat Georgia State 34-31 in overtime on Sept. 19, then needed a walk-off 53-yard field goal by Nate Snyder to defeat Georgia Southern 20-18 at home on Sept. 26. The game will be the Ragin’ Cajuns first in 18 days.

Last season, Lewis threw for 3,050 yards and 26 touchdowns, which are both single-season school records, set the program record for single-season completions with 243, and became one of just 15 FBS quarterbacks in the past 15 seasons to throw for more than 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns with less than five interceptions. He has completed passes to 13 players and sophomore Peter LeBlanc is his favorite target with 12 receptions for 195 yards and a TD.

“[Lewis] has really developed nicely as a quarterback. He’s improved significantly,” Napier said. “This is our third year with Levi and we’re certainly better because he’s a part of our team. I know I’m a better coach because I have a chance to work with him every day. He can do everything. He can throw, he can run, he processes well, he’s got a big arm, he’s accurate.”

Louisiana has been a punishing run offense for the past few years. It set the program record for both rushing touchdowns (42) and rushing yards (3,604) last year and returned 35 TDs and 2,634 rushing yards this season, though it hasn’t been as dominant on the ground averaging 169 yards per game and 5.1 yards per rush.

Seniors Trey Ragas and Elijah Mitchell have each rushed for more than 2,800 yards in their careers. They have combined for 353 yards, five touchdowns rushing and eight receptions in five combined games this season. Chris Smith has also rushed for more than 100 yards on the year.

“They do have some really good players there, and where they do a good job of is you commit a lot to the run and they get the quarterback out there on some [bootlegs] and some different things and get him on the perimeter where he’s pretty dangerous,” Chadwell said. “It will be a different challenge for us this week because you’ll have to commit so many more people to the run, and maybe play a little bit more some man-to-man coverage on the perimeter. . . . We’ll have to do a good job with our front seven of giving some different looks and trying to handle the different things they do in the run games.”

The date of the game has been moved twice over the past couple weeks. It was scheduled for Oct. 17 but was moved to Oct. 10 after Louisiana’s game at Appalachian State scheduled for last Wednesday was postponed due to COVID-19 issues at App. State, and was moved to Wednesday because of Hurricane Delta.

Chadwell said the Chants did not record a positive coronavirus test last week for at least the second consecutive week, and enter the game with few significant injuries.

Notes

▪CCU received 37 votes in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and 48 points in the Amway Coaches Poll, which both put the Chants at 32nd in the country.

▪Louisiana has won 14 of its last 17 games dating back to last season.

▪The Ragin’ Cajuns are the only ranked Sun Belt team and are the third-highest ranked Group of 5 team in both polls behind the American Athletic Conference’s Cincinnati and SMU.

▪Louisiana is 3-0 for the first time since 1988, while the Chants are 3-0 for the first time as an FBS program and third time ever, joining 2014 and 2015 in FCS.

▪The game will be the second CCU contest broadcast ESPN this season and fourth on national television.

▪Cajun Field has a capacity of 41,426 but has a 25-percent maximum attendance for games this season.

▪Seven starters out vs. Georgia Southern on Sept. 26 for COVID-19 issues (testing or contact tracing) are back on Louisiana’s depth chart released Sunday night including Mitchell and offensive lineman Max Mitchell.

Line

Louisiana +7.5

Prediction

Louisiana 35, Coastal Carolina 31: Has Coastal made enough progress to knock off another Sun Belt power and become the conference favorite after two league games?

This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Everything you need to know for Coastal Carolina at No. 21 Louisiana on Wednesday."