Coastal Carolina accepts bowl invitation. When, where, who the Chanticleers will play
Coastal Carolina will attempt to earn the program’s first bowl win in Orlando, Florida.
For the second consecutive season, the Chanticleers will play in the Tailgreeter Cure Bowl.
CCU (10-2, 6-2 Sun Belt Conference) will face Mid-American Conference champion Northern Illinois (9-4, 6-2 MAC) on Friday, Dec. 17, at Exploria Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. with a broadcast on ESPN2.
Northern Illinois has a season-opening road win at Georgia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference, won the MAC West Division and defeated Kent State 41-23 in the conference championship game Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit.
The Huskies have had a remarkable turnaround in 2021 under third-year coach and former Baltimore Ravens running backs coach Thomas Hammock. They were winless at 0-6 in the coronavirus pandemic-impacted 2020 season.
Coastal, which is in its fifth year in the Sun Belt Conference and at the Football Bowl Championship level, has notched its second straight 10-win season in 2021.
The Chants went 11-0 in the regular season last year before falling 37-34 in overtime to Liberty in Orlando in their first bowl game.
CCU’s two losses this season came at Appalachian State and against Georgia State by a combined five points. App State kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired and a CCU two-point conversion attempt with about a minute to play against Georgia State was unsuccessful. Starting quarterback Grayson McCall did not play against Georgia State because of injury.
Several college football media outlets projected that the Chants would be selected to play in the Myrtle Beach Bowl at CCU’s Brooks Stadium in Conway.
Several Chants said in recent weeks that they would prefer to play a bowl game on the road rather than in Myrtle Beach.
“I’d love to play here again, but of course everybody wants to go somewhere else so we can just get a different experience, another city and just live a little more life together one of these last moments,” super senior defensive lineman C.J. Brewer said.
Tickets for the Cure Bowl are digital only and can be purchased online through Ticketmaster.
The Cure Bowl is a fundraising event hosted by the Orlando Sports Foundation that supports the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) and other cancer organizations. Over $3.88 million has been raised since 2015.
Local Orlando researcher Dr. Annette Khaled at the UCF College of Medicine has received $1.2 million from the funds donated.
In association with the game, the March 2 Cure is a game-day block party starting at 2 p.m. at Church Street Station. The event will be highlighted by a cancer tribute march featuring the team bands, dignitaries, cancer survivors, cancer supporters, and the Orlando community walking together in a cloud of pink smoke to Exploria Stadium.
Myrtle Beach Bowl matchup set
Tulsa and Old Dominion will meet in the second edition of the Myrtle Beach Bowl presented by Tax Act at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 20. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
This will be the first-ever meeting between Tulsa of the American Athletic Conference and Old Dominion of Conference USA, which will be joining the Sun Belt by July 2023.
Tulsa (6-6, 5-3 AAC) brings a three-game winning streak to the Grand Strand with conference wins over Tulane, Temple and SMU to finish fifth in the conference standings. The Golden Hurricane appeared in the AAC championship game in 2020.
Old Dominion (6-6, 5-3 Conference USA) closed the regular season with a five-game winning streak to move into third in the Conference USA East Division and become bowl eligible for the second time in program history. The Monarchs defeated Charlotte 56-34 in their last game. They did not compete in the 2020 season.
Four Sun Belt teams go bowling
The bulk of the NCAA FBS bowl matchups were announced Sunday afternoon following the release of the four teams in the College Football Playoff: Alabama, Michigan, Georgia and Cincinnati, the first Group of Five school to ever reach the playoff.
Four Sun Belt teams were eligible for bowls this season.
Conference champion Louisiana (12-1, 8-0 Sun Belt), which defeated Appalachian State 24-16 in Saturday’s Hercules Tires Sun Belt Championship Game, is bound for its fourth-straight bowl game in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. It will face Marshall (7-5, 5-3 Conference USA) at 9:15 p.m. Dec. 18.
App State (10-3, 7-1 Sun Belt) is making its seventh consecutive bowl appearance and will attempt to earn its seven straight bowl victory in the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl in Florida. The Sun Belt East Division champion will face Conference USA East Division champion Western Kentucky (8-5, 7-1 Conference USA) at 11 a.m. Dec. 18.
Georgia State (7-5, 6-2 Sun Belt) will make its third straight and fifth all-time bowl appearance against Ball State (6-6, 4-4 MAC) in the TaxAct Camellia Bowl at 2:30 p.m. Christmas Day in Montgomery, Ala.
The Boca Raton, Camellia and New Orleans Bowls will all be broadcast on ESPN.
The Sun Belt has won 69 percent of its bowl games over the past five seasons — including 4 of 5 a year ago — to lead all FBS conferences.
Isaac wins national award
CCU co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Newland Isaac has been named the 2021 AFCA FBS Assistant Coach of the Year, which is awarded by the American Football Coaches Association.
In his fourth year at CCU and 11th on a staff under head coach Jamey Chadwell, Isaac helped CCU rank seventh in FBS in scoring with 40.4 points per game, sixth in total offense with 493.1 yards per game, and sixth in rushing with 231.2 yards per game.
His running backs are averaging an FBS-leading 5.73 yards per carry this season, and the CCU offense leads the nation in third-down conversion percentage (54.1 %) and is fourth nationally in fourth-down conversion percentage (75 %).
Isaac will be honored on Jan. 10 during the 2022 AFCA Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
Isaac is also a finalist for the Broyles Award, which has been given to the top assistant coach in college football for the past 26 years.
The Broyles nominees in this year’s class were selected from approximately 1,270 assistant coaches representing 127 DI programs across the country. The Broyles Award selection process includes the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), broadcasters, a college football hall of fame selection committee, and current college head coaches.
McCall repeats, Chants pile up honors
As expected, CCU redshirt sophomore quarterback Grayson McCall was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year for a second straight season, and is one of eight Chants to be named to the conference’s First Team for the 2021 season.
A total of 16 Chants picked up All-Sun Belt honors.
McCall becomes the fourth player to repeat as Sun Belt POY — Ja’Von Rolland-Jones, Arkansas State, 2016 and 2017; Ryan Aplin, Arkansas State, 2011 and 2012; and Brandon Kennedy, North Texas, 2002 and 2003.
Joining McCall on the All-Sun Belt first team were running back Shermari Jones, receiver Jaivon Heiligh, tight end Isaiah Likely, defensive end Josaiah Stewart, defensive back D’Jordan Strong, defensive end C.J. Brewer, and linebacker Silas Kelly.
Offensive lineman Willie Lampkin and outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter were named to the second team. Offensive lineman Trey Carter and safety Alex Spillum were joined on the third team by Heiligh as a return specialist. Earning honorable mention were linebackers Teddy Gallagher and Enock Makonzo, receiver Kameron Brown and running back Brayden Bennett.
With his third-team honor this season, Carter joins Shamarious Gilmore of Georgia State as the first-ever five-time All-Sun Belt honorees in conference history.
DE Stewart a Freshman POY semifinalist
Stewart, a true freshman from Everett, Massachusetts, has been named one of 14 semifinalists for the fourth annual Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award presented by the Maxwell Football Club.
The award is presented to the most outstanding freshman player in college football.
Stewart is tied for fourth in FBS with 12.5 sacks this season and has been named First Team All-Sun Belt and to the 2021 Ted Hendricks Award Final Watch List. The Hendricks award honors the top defensive end in college football.
Stewart broke the CCU single-season sacks record of 10.5 set by consensus All-American and current Philadelphia Eagles member Tarron Jackson in 2019.
He also finished the regular season with 15.5 tackles for loss, which are the most by a true freshman nationally and are just shy of Maurice Simpkins’ school record of 16 set in 2003. His 12.5 sacks are also just one shy of the Sun Belt single-season record of 13.5 sacks.
Stewart set a single-game school record with 3.5 sacks in a win over Kansas on Sept. 10 and surpassed that with four sacks at Georgia Southern on Nov. 6.
While splitting time at defensive end this season, he has 42 total tackles, including eight stops in two different games, and has forced three fumbles.
The Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award has been presented since 2018. Past winners include Trevor Lawrence (Clemson) in 2018, Kenneth Gainwell (Memphis) in 2019, and Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama) in 2020.
This story was originally published December 5, 2021 at 2:54 PM.
