Without its star QB, how Coastal Carolina handled business against Georgia Southern
Faced with playing without its star quarterback in terrible weather conditions Saturday night, Coastal Carolina got big plays on defense and special teams to remain tied for the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division lead.
CCU announced prior to the game that redshirt sophomore Grayson McCall would miss the game and is “out indefinitely” with an upper-body injury.
Without their offensive leader, the Chanticleers used four turnovers and a blocked punt for a touchdown to defeat Georgia Southern 28-8 at Allen E. Paulson Stadium in Statesboro.
The Chants (8-1) remain tied for the East Division lead with Appalachian State (7-2) at 4-1 in the conference, though the Mountaineers own the tiebreaker with a 30-27 win over CCU on Oct. 20.
In McCall’s absence, senior Bryce Carpenter was 13-of-20 passing for 85 yards and a touchdown, and gained 44 yards rushing and scored a touchdown on 13 carries in a game played through torrential rain.
Coastal had 220 yards rushing, including 96 on 20 carries by senior Shermari Jones with leading rusher Reese White out with an ankle injury, and held Georgia Southern (2-7, 1-5) to 233 yards of offense.
Freshman defensive end Josaiah Steward recorded five of CCU’s 11 tackles for loss, including four sacks, and linebacker Silas Kelly had 2.5 tackles for loss among his six tackles. Stewart’s four sacks breaks the school record of 3.5 that he set against Kansas earlier this season, and he now has nine sacks on the season.
“He’s going to be a freshman All-American for sure,” CCU head coach Jamey Chadwell told WRNN 99.5 FM after the game.
What’s Grayson McCall’s outlook?
McCall was injured last Thursday in a win over Troy, though he finished that game after missing a few plays, and Coastal announced Saturday that he is “out indefinitely.”
“It is our interpretation that this is a long-term thing. Hopefully, we get him back before the end of the season,” Chadwell told WRNN 99.5 FM. “. . . We don’t know exactly how long he’ll take to get back. It’s really unfortunate for him and unfortunate for our team.
“But we’ve been here before, and Bryce Carpenter has played a lot of football for us.”
Carpenter has now started 10 games in his CCU career. He started two games as a freshman in 2018 and the final six games of the 2019 season.
“It’s next-man-up mentality. Bryce has that mindset and he’ll play well and help our football team play well,” Chadwell told WRNN. “Our guys and our players have confidence in him. He’s a great teammate.”
McCall leads the nation in passing efficiency and yards per attempt, and is third in completion percentage.
Defense, special teams lead way
With both teams faltering on offense through the first quarter, big defensive and special teams plays sparked the Chanticleers.
Outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter ripped the ball from Eagles quarterback Justin Tomlin at the Georgia Southern 20 at the end of a 9-yard run, and linebacker Enock Makonzo recovered the ball at the 36 after a scramble. Three plays later, Carpenter hit Kameron Brown on a 12-yard touchdown pass on a slant route to give the Chants a 7-0 lead.
Georgia Southern’s next possession ended in another lost fumble when a shotgun snap slipped through Tomlin’s wet hands and linebacker Teddy Gallagher recovered at the Eagles’ 40 after Tomlin was unable to grasp the ball on the ground. Three plays later, Carpenter scampered for a 23-yard touchdown run on an option keeper, breaking a tackle at the 10-yard line en route to the end zone.
On the final play of the first half, Alex Spillum broke through the middle of the Georgia Southern line to block an Anthony Beck punt attempt, and Mason Shelton scooped up the ball and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to give the Chants a 21-0 lead.
“When we get turnovers we’re pretty good,” Chadwell said. “Turnovers changed the game.”
The Chants got another big special teams play in the fourth quarter when Jaivon Heiligh recovered a muffed punt at the GSU 26, and cornerback Derick Bush intercepted a pass in the final quarter.
CCU holds another block party
The blocked punt is Spillum’s second this season, the team’s fourth, and the Chants’ fifth blocked kick this year, which may have them tied with Old Dominion for the national lead, depending on the events of other games Saturday. Three of the blocked punts have gone for touchdowns, and the fourth led to a touchdown.
Redshirt freshman C.J. Beasley blocked a punt and Aaron Bedgood returned it 9 yards for a touchdown against Louisiana-Monroe.
Alex Spillum blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone against Kansas, and Shelton blocked a punt against Massachusetts. Gunter also has a blocked field goal attempt this season.
Chants embark on decisive drive
Coastal essentially put the game away with its first possession of the second half, sucking the energy from the stadium and sending many of the Georgia Southern supporters who hadn’t left for shelter at halftime to the exits.
After forcing a punt on the Eagles’ opening possession of the second half, the Chants drove 92 yards in 12 plays to take a 28-0 lead.
On the drive, Braydon Bennett had 48 yards on three carries, Carpenter was 1-of-2 passing and rushed twice for 13 yards, and Jones gained 28 yards on five carries, including a 7-yard touchdown run.
Poll implications
The win over Georgia Southern is impressive considering the Chants played the game without one of the top quarterbacks in the country. CCU moved up from 24th to 21st in both The Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today AFCA Coaches polls following its seven-point win at home over Troy last Thursday, so CCU figures to move up slightly again when the polls are released Sunday afternoon.
Up next
Coastal hosts Georgia State at 2 p.m. next Saturday at Brooks Stadium on Homecoming and Hall of Fame induction weekend.
The Panthers (4-5) are 3-2 in the Sun Belt and are coming off a 21-17 loss at Louisiana on Thursday night on a late touchdown by the Ragin’ Cajuns, who improved to 8-1. Georgia State entered the game on a three-game winning streak with victories over Louisiana-Monroe (55-21), Texas State (28-16) and Georgia Southern (21-14).
The Panthers will be motivated by the 51-0 beating Coastal put on them in Atlanta last season.
They are led by redshirt junior quarterback Darren Grainger of Conway, who played at Conway High and Furman University before transferring to GSU in January. Grainger has completed 82-of-142 passes for 1,022 yards and 12 touchdowns with three interceptions. The dual-threat QB has also rushed for 416 yards and a touchdown on 90 carries.
Two classes are being inducted into CCU’s Sasser Athletics HOF next week. Inductees being recognized at halftime are Alex Ross, Quinn Backus and Lorenzo Taliaferro of football; Mike Morrison, Connor Owings, Michael Paez, Zach Remillard and G.K. Young of baseball, and Letitia Saayman of women’s cross-country and track and field.
This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 9:11 PM.
