Moglia not interested in history as Chants open season at Furman

There are few topics Coastal Carolina football coach Joe Moglia has less interest in discussing than past results or anything that does not have a direct influence on present, here-and-now matters.

And yet there’s no way to overlook the fact that two of the wildest games of the Moglia era have happened inside Paladin Stadium, where the No. 5-ranked Chanticleers return Saturday night for their season opener at Furman.

The Chants are making their third trip to Furman in the last four years, and after they escaped with a triple-overtime win there in 2012 and a double-overtime win last season, well, it was only fair to mention even if the response was easy to foretell.

“They certainly don’t give up and I think that says something about the quality of their kids and I think that says something about the quality of their coaching staff,” Moglia said of returning to Furman. “But what happened last year or all those stats are irrelevant to what’s going to happen on Saturday. If we had blown them out seven years in a row or they had blown us out seven years in a row or we played seven ties, it’s irrelevant to what’s going to happen Saturday night.”

Maybe. Probably. But still …

While Coastal Carolina has defeated the Paladins each of the last four seasons, all four games have been decided by a touchdown or less with the last two clashes in Greenville producing especially dramatic finishes.

In 2011, prior to Moglia’s arrival, the teams resumed their series after a three-season break and Coastal Carolina prevailed with a 30-23 win at home, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 1:32 left in regulation.

The next year, in Moglia’s second game as head coach, the Chants fell behind on the road as Furman scored a touchdown with 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter. But former kicker Alex Catron converted a 45-yard game-tying field goal as time expired to force overtime. And after trading touchdowns through three overtime periods, the Paladins were denied on a final two-point conversion attempt as Coastal Carolina claimed a thrilling 47-45 win.

In 2013 back at Brooks Stadium, the Chants won 35-28, holding off a late Furman comeback.

And then again last season in Paladin Stadium, the teams would need overtime as Furman twice scored game-tying touchdowns in the fourth quarter. After the Paladins missed a field goal to open the second overtime, the Chants would go on to win as running back De’Angelo Henderson caught a swing pass from Alex Ross and went 17 yards for the decisive touchdown.

“I’m expecting them to come hard because in these last three years those games have been so close and each time we’ve pulled it out,” sophomore safety Kerron Johnson said. “So I know it’s just given them a reason to come so much harder and try to get that win and it just makes us [prepare] hard to continue our streak.”

All that said, there were topics Moglia was more interested in talking about this week, other key story lines as the Chants kickoff a season of ever heightened expectations after back-to-back 12-win campaigns.

Ross returns for his senior season at quarterback as a Walter Payton Award candidate after finishing seventh in the voting last year for the FCS’ version of the Heisman Trophy.

After throwing for 3,389 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions last fall while rushing for 691 yards and nine scores, Ross already owns most of the Chants’ significant program records for passing and total offense and will surely collect a few more along the way this fall.

He’s as steady as they come, but there is some extra intrigue in this season opener as he plays his first game since having surgery at the end last season to repair his AC joint after playing through a separated shoulder in a gutsy playoff performance at North Dakota State last December.

“I said earlier in preseason I thought he was rusty relative to where he was certainly a year ago. That would make sense because he didn’t even start throwing until the end of April, the beginning of May,’ Moglia said. “But I think the last week or so his timing’s been good. ... It’s starting to come together as we get closer to the game, which I feel pretty good about.”

Ross has maintained throughout the preseason that he’s back to full strength and throwing the ball as well and far as before, and he reiterated this week that he doesn’t feel he has anything extra to prove in this first game back.

“No, not me, I don’t feel like I have anything to prove,” he said. “I’m going to go out there and play the game I usually play. I’m going to go out and have fun and just play for my teammates.”

More of a question, perhaps, is how the Chants’ retooled offensive line will perform after losing three veterans who combined for 122 career starts the last several seasons.

With Ross back along with Henderson (1,823 total offensive yards and 21 touchdowns in 2014) and the team’s entire starting receiving corps of junior Bruce Mapp (71 catches for 959 yards and six touchdowns) and seniors John Israel (46-798-6) and Tyrell Blanks (52-646-4), the Chants are equipped to be one of the best offenses in the FCS if the protection and blocking up front is sufficient.

“We know we have good skill people,” Moglia said when asked what he wants to see in the opener. “We know we have a good quarterback, we know we have good running backs, we know we have good receivers. We know all those things, and we’re hopeful we’re going to have a good offensive line. The offensive line is going to be tested [Saturday] night so I’d like to see what kind of progress we’ve made there.”

And then there’s the defense, which graduated three-time Big South Defensive Player of the Year Quinn Backus and lost five starters in all.

Moglia said that the Chants have looked the best defensively this camp that he’s seen in his time with the program, so it will be interesting to see how all those new pieces respond in their first game together.

The Paladins, meanwhile, are coming off a down 3-9 season that was marred by key injuries as quarterback Reese Hannon suffered a fractured tibia and dislocated ankle in the season opener and star linebacker Carl Rider played only three snaps before a shoulder injury ended his season.

Both players are back and Hannon should have plenty of help with Furman’s top four receivers – including standout junior tight end Duncan Fletcher – also returning.

On the other side, Rider pairs with senior Cory Magwood to form a strong defensive core at linebacker as the Paladins also welcome in a new defensive coordinator in Kyle Gillenwater, who previously held the same role at James Madison.

If history is any indication – and even if it isn’t – Furman should give the Chants a strong opening test.

“We both have a new team this year. We have a great past history with Furman as far as our rivalry goes with them, but that has nothing to do with what’s going to happen this year,” Ross said. “We have to focus on what we’re going to bring to the table this year and have a clear understanding of what they’re going to give us defensively. We can’t really focus on the past.”

Said Moglia: “We know this is a big game for them, but it’s not any bigger than it is for us. We know we’re going to have our work cut out for us, but it’s opening day, it’s 2015, it’s us and Furman. We’ll be ready to go Saturday night.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Moglia not interested in history as Chants open season at Furman."