Coastal Carolina hangs on to upend Troy and keep its conference title hopes alive
It was an unconventional gamble, but it may have saved Coastal Carolina’s chances of winning the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division and playing for a conference championship.
The Chanticleers were clinging to a seven-point lead over Troy and facing a fourth-and-4 at their own 31-yard line with 3:26 to play.
With CCU lined up to punt into a stiff wind and rain, defensive lineman C.J. Brewer took the direct snap as an up-back and broke a tackle to run around the left side of the line for a 12-yard gain and a first down that helped preserve a 35-28 win at Brooks Stadium on Thursday night.
“I just knew if we give them the ball back there they had momentum and you’re kicking into that wind,” CCU coach Jamey Chadwell said. “My thought was, ‘We’re going to try to win it right now.’ That was my thought. We worked it all week and they gave us the look we wanted.”
No. 24 Coastal Carolina (7-1, 3-1 Sun Belt) bounced back from its first regular-season loss in two seasons, and kept pace with Appalachian State in the loss column following the Chants’ loss to the Mountaineers on a last-second field goal last Wednesday night.
App State (5-2, 2-1) plays Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday and has the tiebreaker in the East Division over the Chants. Troy (4-4) dropped to 2-2 in the conference.
CCU would eventually punt following the successful fake punt, and Troy’s final possession beginning at its 24 with 25 seconds to play consisted of one play. Freshman defensive end Josaiah Stewart strip-sacked Troy quarterback Gunnar Watson and Jeffrey Gunter recovered the fumble to essentially and the game.
“I’m really pleased with the win because we needed one,” Chadwell said. “We needed one in a tough situation against a good team. They’re a good football team and we found a way to grind it out, which we’re thankful for. We needed to get back and get that locker room and get that victory song going.”
CCU quarterback Grayson McCall completed 14-of-26 passes for 294 yards, two touchdowns and just his second interception of the season, and carried the ball a season-high 15 times for 59 yards and a score. CCU outgained the Trojans 510-389 with 216 yards rushing and McCall’s 294 passing through intermittent rain and gusting winds.
“We needed to rush the football in a game like this with the weather, and we were able to make some positive plays,” Chadwell said. “It was hard. You’re not going to just move them out of there. They’ve got some good players. . . . The difference in the game was we’re 10 of 17 on third down and obviously the fourth down conversion on the punt.”
An App State hangover?
Coastal came out flat, perhaps due to a deflation from its loss at App State last Wednesday.
The Chants failed to gain a first down on their first two possessions, and the second punt followed a drop on an easy pass over the middle by sure-handed receiver Jaivon Heiligh.
They also allowed two big plays on defense on Troy’s second possession, a 64-yard pass to the Trojans’ top receiver Tez Johnson, and 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Deyunkrea Lewis, who was left alone at the left pylon to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead.
Big-play offense
After not having a touchdown play of 50 yards or more through the first five games of the season, Coastal has recorded eight TDs longer than 50 yards in the past three games, including three on Thursday.
McCall hit Heiligh down the left sideline for a 66-yard touchdown to give Coastal a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter, and hit Braydon Bennett for a 71-yarder down the right sideline on a wheel route out of the backfield to push the lead to 21-7 later in the quarter. Shermari Jones added a 54-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
They are added to four long TD plays against Arkansas State — receptions of 99 and 64 yards by Isaiah Likely and runs of 64 and 67 yards by Reese White and Bryce Carpenter — and a 74-yard McCall pass to Kameron Brown at App State.
Heiligh’s big play helped the senior gain 116 yards on five receptions and break former NFL star Jerome Simpson’s CCU career record for 100-yard receiving games with his 10th.
“He’s an elite receiver and he’s going to be playing on Sundays. Whenever we’re in a rough situation find [No.] 6,” McCall said. “He’s going to find a way to get open, he’s going catch the ball in traffic, he does great things for us. Even when he’s not getting the ball he pulls defenders his way because they know when 6 is on the field he’s a huge target. So I love playing with that guy. He’s one of my best friends off the field, so it’s truly a blessing to be able to play beside him.”
McCall down, but not out
McCall had to leave the game in the third quarter with an injury and missed a few plays, but he returned for CCU’s next possession and played the remainder of the team’s offensive snaps.
McCall took a big hit on his fourth consecutive rush early in the third quarter and took a knee on his way to the sideline, then sat down and vomited a couple times while chugging water and speaking to members of the CCU training staff.
He entered the medical tent on the sideline and emerged, sans helmet, before jogging down the sideline to congratulate teammates after they completed a scoring drive.
“I just took a shot to the gut and with me throwing up and stuff, it was just precautionary stuff on the sideline making sure I was alright,” McCall said.
With McCall sidelined, backup QB Bryce Carpenter entered for four rushing plays, including two of his own carries for 12 yards, to cover 24 yards capped by a 4-yard TD run by Shermari Jones that gave CCU a 28-14 lead.
The opening drive of the second half was 14 plays and 78 yards over 8:24, the longest drive of the season in terms of game time.
Running back Reese White wasn’t as fortunate as McCall. He left the game in the second quarter with a lower body injury and didn’t return, and was on the sideline using crutches in the second half.
Controlling the nation’s best
Troy entered the game as arguably the most disruptive defense in the nation, and Coastal -- particularly the offensive line -- was coming off a shaky effort in the loss to App State.
CCU rushed for just 55 yards last Wednesday, and allowed eight tackles for loss including four sacks.
Troy entered the game ranked first nationally in both sacks per game (4.43) and tackles-for-loss per game (9), third nationally in interceptions with 12, and first in the Sun Belt and seventh nationally in total defense at 287 yards allowed per game.
In addition to its 510 yards, CCU held the Trojans to one sack, three tackles for loss and two QB hurries, and they recorded their 13th pick of the season.
“Fifty-five yards rushing last week is embarrassing,” Chadwell said. “Part of that is me because I couldn’t help them, but that’s not what we do. I’m not saying we’re rushing for 200 all the time, but we’re better than that, and I think they took that personally that they didn’t play as well as they wanted and they got challenged this week and they did a good job of going against a really good team that gave a bunch of looks -- they give you a bunch of different looks -- and they handled it.”
Bending, bending, not breaking
Troy sophomore Kimani Vidal ran through Coastal’s defense for 137 yards and a touchdown on his first 17 carries.
But after gaining 9 yards on a first-down run early in the fourth quarter, he was stuffed for no gain by the CCU defense on consecutive runs while needing just a yard for a first down.
Linemen Josaiah Stewart and C.J. Brewer combined for the first stop, and linebackers Teddy Gallagher and Enock Makonzo combined for the second to force a punt.
The Chants scored on the ensuing drive to push their advantage to two touchdowns. McCall rolled right on third-and-10 at his 32 and hit Heiligh for a nice 14-yard catch on the sideline while withstanding a big hit from behind, and Jones scored on a 54-yard run up the middle on the next play for his second TD of the game.
Vidal finished with 141 yards on 21 carries, and the Trojans rushed for 164 yards and a 4.6-per-carry average.
“When we needed a third down and short we got it,” Chadwell said. “More so than the run defense, the tackling was bad. . . . I thought our tackling was not very good and it led to some of those rushing yards. But when we needed it in some key situations we got some short yardage stops.”
Poll implications
Coastal has been ranked for 20 consecutive releases of both The AP Top 25 and USA Today AFCA Coaches polls, and entered the game ranked 24th in both polls. A close win at home against what will be considered a marginally good opponent should keep CCU just inside the Top 25.
The Chants dropped from No. 14/16 to 24th following their loss last Wednesday. They began the season ranked 22/24.
“Our word for the week was ‘character.’ I told our team that our talent and skill wasn’t going to matter, it was really going to be our character and what we’re about,” Chadwell said. “Our confidence from last week was maybe a little broken. Not shattered by any means but maybe you’re doubting yourself a little bit, and we just challenged our team to play and compete with character.”
Up next
Coastal travels to Georgia Southern next week for its fourth road game of the season. CCU had a seven-game road win streak snapped last week.
The Bulldogs (2-5 overall, 1-3 Sun Belt) have lost five of their past six and two straight since a 59-33 win over Arkansas State on Oct. 2. They host Georgia State (3-4, 2-1) on Saturday.
Georgia Southern has struggled on defense this season, ranking 127th out of 130 FBS teams in total defense, allowing 492 yards per game, and ranking 124th with more than 7 yards allowed per play, and 114th with 34 points allowed per game. With their option offense, the Bulldogs rank 10th in the NCAA in rushing at 234 yards per game and average more than 5 yards per carry.
“I’m very happy we found a way,” McCall said. “Obviously we didn’t play our best ball, but at the end of the day we found a way and now we’re on to the next one.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 11:13 PM.
