Everything you need to know for Saturday’s South Alabama at No. 15 Coastal Carolina game

Saturday’s game

Who: South Alabama (3-3, 2-1 Sun Belt Conference) at No. 15 Coastal Carolina (6-0, 4-0 SBC)

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Brooks Stadium, Conway, SC

Occasion: Homecoming

TV: ESPNU

Radio: WRNN 99.5 FM

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

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

Last meeting

South Alabama 31-28 on Nov. 23, 2018 in Mobile, Ala.

Coastal Carolina

Strength: Defensive front seven

Weakness: Limited attendance

South Alabama

Strength: Wide receivers

Weakness: Rush offense

Key matchup

Coastal Carolina’s defensive backfield vs. South Alabama’s wide receivers: The Jaguars average 259 yards passing per game, which is third in the Sun Belt and 35th in the country, and have three receivers that can all stretch the field for big plays. Jalen Tolbert, a 6-foot-3 junior, has 32 catches for 524 yards and five TDs this season, 6-1 senior Kawaan Baker has 32 receptions for 508 yards and six TDs, and 6-2 junior Jalen Wayne has 17 catches for 239 and a TD. All three average more than 14 yards per catch. In a win over ULM on Oct. 24, Baker caught six passes for a career-high 154 yards and three touchdowns, and is second in all-time receiving yards at South Alabama with 1,678.

Coastal is coming off a 51-0 win over Georgia State in which it held the Panthers to 30 yards passing. If the fearsome front seven of the Chants can generate a pass rush on sophomore quarterback Desmond Trotter it will make it easier on the all-junior defensive backfield of cornerbacks Derick Bush and D’Jordan Strong, who has three interceptions, and safeties Brayden Matts and Alex Spillum to shut down the dangerous receivers. “They’ve got arguably the best set of receivers in the conference,” CCU head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “They’ve got three really good receivers there that can beat you in a multitude of ways.”.

Players to watch

Coastal Carolina

Senior running back C.J. Marable (5-10, 200): He leads the Chants with 353 yards rushing on 93 carries with five TDs, and is second on the team with 17 receptions for 133 and four TDs.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall (6-3, 200): The reigning Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week has completed 77 of 111 passes (69.4 percent) for 1,184 yards, 15 TDs and one interception, and has rushed for 199 yards and four scores on 48 carries.

Senior defensive end Tarron Jackson (6-2, 260): The reigning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week recorded a sack, a hit on the quarterback that led to an interception, and two forced fumbles last week.

South Alabama

Sophomore running back Carlos Davis (5-10, 205): He has a pair of 100-yard rushing games against UAB and Texas State this season while gaining 513 yards on 117 attempts with two touchdowns for a 4.4-yard average per carry.

Sophomore quarterback Desmond Trotter (6-1, 200): The dual-threat has completed 66 of 96 passes (69 percent) for 944 yards and eight TDs with two interceptions, and has gained 77 yards on 39 carries with a rushing TD.

Junior safety Keith Gallmon (5-9, 205): He has led the team in tackles in each of the past two games, and last week against Georgia Southern he recorded nine tackles, a forced fumble and an interception.

He said it

“We’ve got playmakers everywhere, the back end, the linebacking corps, the defensive linemen, we’ve got playmakers absolutely everywhere on the field and I love playing with them.”” – CCU junior outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter

“They’ve got a really physical defense. Our team knows they’re a good, tough, physical team. They beat us two years ago when we had a chance to get bowl eligibility, so we’ve got some guys that remember that down there in 2018. I know our guys respect them and respect what they can do. Both us and USA have been similar, we’re trying to build our programs and you can see we’ve both made strides this year. Coach Campbell has been at a lot of places and everywhere he’s been he’s turned it around.” – Chadwell

“I’ve known coach Chadwell for years and knew he would do an outstanding job there, and I know they’ve got great players. All you’ve got to do is put on the film and you can see they’ve got a lot of talent and they’re a very well-coached football team. I’m not surprised at all that they’ve got an outstanding football team.” – South Alabama coach Steve Campbell

Scouting report

McCall returned to the starting lineup after missing a game with a shoulder injury and the Chants were again dominant last week, winning 51-0 over Georgia State as McCall accounted for five TDs by completing 18 of 24 passes for 254 yards and four TDs and rushing for another score.

The Coastal defense played its best game, holding Georgia State to 40 total plays, five first downs, 106 total yards and 30 passing yards, while posting a pair of turnovers and six three-and-outs. CCU’s pass defense now holds opponents to an average of 163.5 yards per game, which is sixth in the country.

Can the offense and defense replicate those efforts against an improving South Alabama program?

Campbell is in his third year leading the Jaguars, who went a combined 5-19 in his first two seasons but are 3-3 and tied for the lead with Louisiana in the loss column in the Sun Belt’s West Division at 2-1 in the conference.

Two of South Alabama’s three losses were by one score, and a 42-10 loss to UAB on Sept 24 came while the team was dealing with coronavirus issues, which led to the postponement of its game with Troy and a stretch of 22 days between games.

The school in Mobile has also dealt with a number of named storms making landfall, most recently Zeta.

The Jaguars are coming off a 24-17 loss at Georgia Southern last week.

“I thought the guys bounced back really well after our little pause and got two conference wins and went into the fourth quarter with a lead this past week and just didn’t finish it,” Campbell said. “The guys have played extremely hard. I’ve been really pleased with their effort and pleased with the progress that we’ve made. . . . I like the way our guys have progressed and the improvements we’re making, and now is the time to let it show on the field.”

The Jaguars only allow 24.7 points per game, which is fifth in the conference and 34th in the nation. The offense has improved from 18.4 points per game in 2019 to 25.2 this season behind Trotter, who works behind an offensive line that returned four starters.

Trotter started the final four games last season as a redshirt freshman and this season has completed 66 of 96 passes for 944 yards and eight TDs with two interceptions. He missed time early this season with a shoulder injury, and in his absence JUCO transfer Chase Lovertich, who led Mississippi Gulf Coast CC to a national title last season, is 20 of 32 for 311 yards and three TDs with no interceptions.

“I like both quarterbacks. They’ve both done a lot of good things,” Campbell said. “Desmond has continued to improve and get better each week and has put together some really good games for us this year. As he gains more and more experience and gets more snaps under his belt I think he’ll continue to improve. I think he’s got a really high upside, he’s a student of the game and I think he’s been doing a good job of running the offense. And we’ve got a lot of confidence in Chance.”

Coastal will continue attempting to ascend the AP Top 25 (No. 15) and Amway Coaches Poll (No. 16) rankings.

“You want to break into the rankings, you get in and then now you’re at 15. I think what that does is it motivates you to say how high can you go?” Chadwell said. “Because if we can continue to win and people in front of you get beat, who knows, maybe you can crack the top 10. Maybe you can crack the top five, who knows? We’ve not brought it up much but I’m sure our players are aware of that, knowing if we keep winning there’s a good chance of climbing up. But also I think our guys know the one time we lose we’ll never sniff it again.

“It’s like you ask that girl out for a date, she says we’ll see and you never hear from her again, so we understand how that works.”

Notes

▪Coastal is trying to go 7-0 for the first time since 2015 and 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 seven straight going back to last year’s season-ending win over Texas State.

▪It’s homecoming weekend at CCU, though the school can allow only approximately 4,000 spectators because of coronavirus attendance restrictions.

▪Campbell has led two programs to national championships, Delta State in Mississippi to the 2000 NCAA Division II title and Mississippi Gulf Coast to the 2007 JUCO title. He’s 68-45 coaching at the NCAA level.

▪The game is being broadcast on ESPNU. All seven of CCU’s games this year have been nationally broadcast on either FoxSports1, ESPN, ESPNU or ESPN2.

▪Jaguars sophomore kicker Diego Guajardo set the school record for the longest field goal with a 54-yard kick last week.

Line

CCU -18

Prediction

Coastal Carolina 38, South Alabama 17: This is the first time the Chants have been favored by more than 3.5 points this season as the oddsmakers have finally caught on.

This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Everything you need to know for Saturday’s South Alabama at No. 15 Coastal Carolina game."