Everything you need to know for Saturday’s No. 20 Coastal Carolina at Georgia State game

Saturday’s game

Who: No. 20 Coastal Carolina (5-0, 3-0) at Georgia State (2-2, 1-2 SBC)

When: Noon

Where: Center Parc Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

TV: ESPNU

Radio: WRNN 99.5 FM

Online audio: https://goccusports.com/watch/

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

Last meeting

Georgia State 31-21 on Oct. 12, 2019 in Conway, SC

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Defensive front seven

Weakness: Secondary

Georgia State

Strength: Run game

Weakness: Pass defense

Key matchup

Coastal Carolina’s defensive front seven vs. Georgia State’s offensive line: The Panthers want to control the game on the ground, and they did in last year’s 31-21 win over the Chants at Brooks Stadium, running for 350 yards with three different 100-yard rushers. Junior running back Destin Coates leads the Sun Belt Conference and is fifth in the nation with an average of 126 yards rushing per game over three games, and quarterback Cornelius “Quad” Brown IV is also a threat to run, averaging 46.5 rushing yards per game with four rushing touchdowns. Georgia State’s starting offensive line, which averages 6-foot-4 and 296 pounds, has a combined 106 career starts led by senior left guard Shamarious Gilmore’s 41 straight.

The Chants have allowed 155 yards on the ground per game, which is 54th in the country, and would like to make the Panthers’ multiple-set offense more one-dimensional and force Brown to throw by stopping the run. The Chants held Georgia Southern’s potent option run game to 119 yards on 37 carries last week led by the experienced and talented defensive front seven, which is arguably the strength of the CCU team.

Players to watch

Coastal Carolina

Senior running back C.J. Marable (5-10, 200): Shifty and durable, he has rushed for more than 2,000 yards in two-plus years at CCU and has seven touchdowns this season with four rushing and three receiving.

Junior receiver Jaivon Heiligh (6-2, 190): He leads the team with 25 receptions, 434 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns and is coming off back-to-back 100-yard games. He returned a punt 40 yards last week as well.

Junior cornerback D’Jordan Strong (5-11, 175): The junior college transfer intercepted two passes last week and is tied for the national lead with three on the season. He also has two pass breakups, a forced fumble and tackle for loss.

Georgia State

Junior running back Destin Coates (5-11, 198): The workhorse is averaging 27.3 carries per game with 378 yards rushing on 82 carries for a 4.6-yard average with three touchdowns. He also has eight receptions for 47 yards.

Senior tight end Roger Carter (6-2, 250): He caught two touchdown passes in last week’s win over Troy to give him three on the season as part of 11 catches for 160 yards in four games.

Junior linebacker Jordan Strachan (6-4, 215): The reigning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week had three tackles for loss, including 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and a 63-yard fumble return against Troy. On the season, he leads the Sun Belt with five sacks and an average of 1.62 tackles for loss per game.

He said it

“Their run game, I think we’re going to be able to stop it this year, and I think we’ll be able to handle the fast tempo, how they come in and try to get as many plays as they can. It’s going to be a good game. Those guys are really good and we’re really good too, so we’re all ready for Saturday. ” – CCU’s Strong

“The biggest challenge for us is we’re going to have to score points because we know Georgia State is going to. They’re tremendous on offense and very opportunistic on defense so we’ve got a big challenge this week as we go on the road. ...They’re highly ranked in the country with rushing, and the quarterback is dynamic and they can make some plays. They’re very good offensively, probably the best offensive team we’ve seen all year long.” – CCU coach Jamey Chadwell

“They’ve got a really good football team. When you look at them they have a creative scheme on the offensive side of the ball and when you look at them defensively I think they’re one of the best in our league. Especially the front, they match up well with everyone, they’ve got a lot of athleticism. . . . We have a big, tall task at hand with Coastal Carolina.” – Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott

Scouting report

CCU redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall is questionable to play with an upper body injury. He was ranked in the top five in the nation in both passer rating and Total QBR through four games but missed last week’s game. In his absence, junior Fred Payton led the Chants to a win over Georgia Southern with 252 passing yards and three touchdowns in his 11th career start.

“Like coach Chadwell always says, next man up,” said sophomore running back Reese White. “I trust Grayson and I definitely trust Fred to put us in the right position to win games and make the right plays.”

Coastal now has a numbered target on its back as each opponent it faces as a ranked team is presented with an opportunity to claim a victory that will be added to its history book. Georgia State has never defeated a team in the top 25.

“Well first of all it’s Coastal Carolina and it’s a conference game so that in itself is really big for us,” Elliott said. “. . . That’s just icing on the cake that they’re ranked. More power to them because they’re certainly deserving of it. They’ve got a good program and I think they’re one of 11 undefeated teams in the country at this time, so we’ve got to play our best.”

Georgia State had two of its first three games postponed or canceled, as the Panthers were scheduled to face Murray State, Alabama and Charlotte in September, and their only game in the month was a 34-31 overtime loss to Louisiana, which was ranked 19th in the country at the time.

In October, they’ve beaten East Carolina by 20 points, lost a 59-52 shootout to Arkansas State and defeated Troy 36-34 last week. Troy scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 37 seconds remaining to pull within two points but Georgia State survived a two-point conversion pass attempt.

Like at CCU, a redshirt freshman won the starting job in the preseason at GSU. The Panthers needed to replace three-year starter Dan Ellington, who is now on the coaching staff, and Cornelious “Quad” Brown IV (6-5, 200) from Calera, Ala., won the job and has led GSU to 42 points per game, which is the most in the conference and 11th in the nation.

He is in the top 30 in the nation in total offense per game (278.5), completing 78 of 132 passes for 917 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions, and rushing for 186 yards and four TDs on 44 carries.

“He’s done a good job to be a redshirt freshman,” said Elliott, who likes to run an up-tempo offense. “Some of the decisions in this past game were a little bit uncharacteristic of him, trying to force the issue. But we’ve been very pleased with him running the offense. He’s got a real confidence about him that we feel comfortable with. He’s knowledgeable and he has the athleticism both in the throwing game and running game that we like. So we think he’s on track but he still has a lot to improve on.”

On the outside, Brown has a pair of reliable wideouts, as junior Cornelius McCoy has more than 1,300 career receiving yards and redshirt sophomore Sam Pinckney already has 896 career receiving yards and 10 receiving TDs.

Coastal’s defense – which is in the top 30 in the country allowing 21.6 points and 345 yards per game – has forced nine turnovers this season, which have led to 35 points by the offense.

Georgia State has surrendered yardage and points this season, giving up 465 yards per game – including 368 passing – to rank 82nd in the country and 39 points to rank 88th, but it leads the Sun Belt with 10 takeaways. Last week, the Panthers held Troy to just 40 yards rushing and forced four turnovers with two fumbles and two interceptions.

“They’re very opportunistic on defense,” Chadwell said. “They play hard, they fly to the ball so they cause you problems there.”

Notes

▪Coastal is 5-0 for the first time since 2015 and only the fourth time in program history, joining 2013, 2014 and 2015, when then coach Joe Moglia decided it didn’t benefit the program to play FBS schools as an FCS member.

▪Coastal has won six straight going back to last year’s season-ending win over Texas State.

▪Coastal can set its highest season win total since moving into the Sun Belt Conference in 2017. The Chants have gone 5-7 in each of the past two years after going 3-9 in 2017. Three Sun Belt victories is already a program high.

▪CCU is 1-2 against the Panthers with the win coming in the only road game, 37-34 in 2018.

▪The game is being broadcast on ESPNU. All six of CCU’s games this year have been nationally broadcast on either FoxSports1, ESPN, ESPNU or ESPNews.

▪GSU kicker Noel Ruiz, a grad transfer from North Carolina A&T, ranks fifth among active FBS kickers with 286 points consisting of 42 field goals and 160 PATs.

Line

CCU -3

Prediction

Coastal Carolina 38, Georgia State 27: With or without McCall at QB, the Chants should be able to score enough against the Panthers’ porous defense.

This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 2:29 AM with the headline "Everything you need to know for Saturday’s No. 20 Coastal Carolina at Georgia State game."