QB Ethan Vasko benched again for a spell as Coastal Carolina falls to Georgia Southern
Coastal Carolina looked outmatched on the gridiron once during the 2024 season. That was when James Madison conducted the 39-7 demolition job on October 2024, but in CCU’s other losses, the Chants have kept the games close.
Against the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday at Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C., the Chants again kept it close late into the fourth quarter. But like CCU’s losses to Marshall University, Troy University and the University of Louisiana Lafayette, the little things burned the Chants.
Those problems led to Coastal (5-6) dropping its final home game of the 2024 season to Georgia Southern (7-4) 26-6. Head Coach Tim Beck called the game a heart breaker.
“Offensively, you just continue to make mistakes that cost us, and then certainly in the second half, all the turnovers just turned into chasing our tail,” he said.
Coastal wide receivers dropped several crucial passes. One dropped pass from quarterback Ethan Vasko to tight end Cane Berrong was slightly behind Berrong, a former Notre Dame player. Despite the less-than-ideal location, Berrong got both hands on the ball before it bobbled out into a defender’s grasp for an interception.
Beck has said he doesn’t know why his players have dropped so many passes this season, particularly lately. After the drops cost them versus Georgia Southern, Beck was perplexed.
“I’m not a psychologist, so I’m not really sure in terms of why that’s happening because it didn’t happen early in the season, but it’s happening now, and it’s costing us,” Beck said. “It’s costing us the ability to stay on the field. It’s costing us in turnovers.”
Berrong’s bobble wasn’t the only time the offense coughed up the ball. CCU turnovers at critical junctures in the game sapped Coastal of the offensive momentum it had managed to build. CCU even benched quarterback Ethan Vasko for the second time this season. Noah Kim came on to help Coastal try and regain momentum.
Only two of Kim’s passes were caught — one by a Georgia Southern defender who returned it to the CCU 2-yard line. After throwing the pick, Kim looked to his teammates in frustration. This followed a fumbled option play on the previous drive, and the backup quarterback experiment ended when Vasko returned to the game.
Beck said after the game he thought Vasko played well but wanted to give Kim a chance to spark the offense.
“That’s a hard thing for Noah to have to do to be able to go in there and try to put everybody on his shoulders, to carry the football team,” Beck said. “At the end, we kind of thought, let’s just go back to Ethan and let him finish out the game.”
Vasko did not fair much better: He threw his second interception of the game with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles’ defenders celebrated their fortunes by jumping into the sand pit behind the Coastal end zone, a nod to a previous beach-themed touchdown celebration by Coastal Carolina.
CCU’s troubles completing drives returned against the Eagles as well. Coastal Carolina too often drives deep into the enemy red zone but has difficulty getting touchdowns. The Chants got a break when a 67-yard run by Braydon Bennett put Coastal at the Eagles’ 4-yard line to start the third quarter. But CCU squandered it by losing 2 yards on three more plays and settled for a field goal.
Bennett was one of the few bright spots for CCU. His 143 yards rushing and receiving represented more than half of CCU’s total yardage on offense.
Bennett acknowledged his team’s troubles on offense.
“I just feel like a lot of people are expecting somebody else to make the play instead of them wanting to make the play,” Bennett said. “I feel like that’s just how it’s kind of been all season, too.”
It may be too late to fix those season-long problems, but the Chants will have a week to try.
Coastal will play on the road for its final regular-season game of the season: CCU will travel to Atlanta to face the Georgia State Panthers (2-8) on Nov. 30. The game begins at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
The Panthers bested Coastal Carolina in the two teams’ last meeting in Conway: In former quarterback Grayson McCall’s last home game at Brooks Stadium, CCU lost 30-17. McCall finished the game, completing 26 of 42 passes for nearly 300 yards and a touchdown.
The game serves as CCU’s last chance to become bowl-eligible. They’ll have to try to do without two key defensive starters. Linebackers Wyatt Gedeon and Shane Bruce did not play in Saturday’s game, and Gedeon had on a full leg wrap on the sideline.
Beck said both will miss the Georgia State game and said it was unclear whether Bruce would return for a bowl game. Beck added that Wyatt wouldn’t play were Coastal to become bowl-eligible.
Bruce and Gedeon join defensive lineman Emmanuel Johnson and Will Whitson — both ruled out earlier this season.
This story was originally published November 23, 2024 at 6:56 PM.
