CCU Football Notebook: Defense shines in win

There is improvement and then there is morphing over seven days from a vulnerable unit getting beat on the ground and through the air to an utterly dominant, stifling defense dictating the game.

Like Clark Kent stepping into a phone booth, that was the transformation the Coastal Carolina defense made from game one to game two.

After allowing Furman to total 525 yards – more than any opponent all of last season – and 35 points in the season opener, the No. 1/3-ranked Chanticleers didn’t allow South Carolina State to put any points on the scoreboard until late in the third quarter Saturday night on the way to a 41-14 win.

The Chants didn’t surrender a first down until the second quarter, gave up only 69 yards in the first half and 234 for the game while subbing in backups to finish off the win.

“Coach Carlin has the same message every week – just do your job. I think everyone across the board really did their job this time,” senior defensive end Calvin Hollenhorst said.

Defensive coordinator Clayton Carlin was steady as always in his demeanor coming off that lackluster season-opening performance, expressing confidence the Chants would make the necessary corrections – namely improved tackling and limiting the big gains.

His group responded by forcing South Carolina State into five three-and-outs and two lost fumbles in nine first-half possessions.

“I think you saw improvement,” Carlin said. “We talked about fixing some things, and I think we fixed those things. Our approach part on tackling was much better, and I thought our rush defense was good and we were really good on third down and we got some takeaways too. All of those things added up to significant improvement from week one to week two.”

Sophomore safety Kerron Johnson jarred the ball from Bulldogs running back Jalen Simmons on South Carolina State’s first offensive play and senior safety Kelvin Deveaux recovered the loose ball at the hosts’ 34 to set up the Chants’ offense and set the tone for the evening.

Hollenhorst later recovered another fumble at the Bulldogs’ 27 and overall Coastal Carolina started five of its first seven possessions inside the 50-yard line.

“We feed off their energy. The defense, [when] they come out in three-and-outs or no points scored, we feed off their energy,” sophomore running back De’Angelo Henderson said. “So the better they play, the better we’re going to play and I tell them that every week. They did a phenomenal job tonight.”

Said senior quarterback Alex Ross: “The defense played great tonight and they put us in a position where we would have a short field to go and they really put us in a position to win.”

Junior linebacker Alex Scearce led the defense with six total tackles, two tackles for loss and two pass break-ups while senior linebacker Devon Brant finished with six tackles, one tackle for a loss and a quarterback hurry.

The Chants had lost a starting defensive tackle earlier in the week when senior Marcus Crowder told the coaches after the first game that he was stepping away from football, but the line was stout as ever Saturday night while holding the Bulldogs to 51 total rushing yards.

And for perspective, the 234 total yards Coastal Carolina allowed marked the lowest total for any Chants defense since holding North Carolina A&T to 194 yards in 2011.

“I said early on that I think our defense can show a big improvement and will be good this year,” head coach Joe Moglia said. “I believe that, and we didn’t show that after the first game. I do think there was significant improvement this week and the defense really did an outstanding job.”

Penalties

What Moglia was not so pleased with were the nine penalties the Chants accrued.

Six of those were on the offense, including five false starts and one personal foul, and the other three were on special teams. One of those was a holding penalty that accounted for a 54-yard difference in field position.

“We did a poor job with discipline and poise,” Moglia said. “And the four years we’ve been together, I think one of the characteristics of our team is we are disciplined and we are poised. We kind of lost that tonight, especially in the first half, and there are going to be times when it can cost us a ballgame when we’re not disciplined and poised. So that part’s a big deal. So if we get that fixed, though, I think across the board, special teams were effective, defense I thought was outstanding, the offense was good, but we’ve got to be far more disciplined and poised than we were tonight.”

Offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude shared Moglia’s frustration on the false starts but explained that’s part of the growing pains in assimilating three new starters on the offensive line.

“That is probably the thing that is irritating me the most, it’s the thing that we have to get ironed out,” Patenaude said. “They were really multiple in the looks that they were giving us, and we have a fifth-year senior quarterback who’s basically got a PhD in football and a bunch of new starters up front. Some of the things that were kind of inherent in the things that we would do last year with snap count, cadence, changing play and dummy audibles and trying to bluff the defense and all those different things are things that we’re still getting ironed out. But I think that those are things that are definitely correctable.”

Rabon looks sharp

Freshman punter Evan Rabon was admittedly “shaky” in his collegiate debut last weekend at Furman, averaging just 26.5 yards on his four punts.

Moglia reiterated his confidence in Rabon this past week and the rookie delivered a nice bounce-back performance at South Carolina State while averaging 41.7 yards on three punts.

“Week one was a little shaky, but my coaches have a lot of confidence in me and are real positive in everything they do and I believe in what I’m doing in training,” Rabon said. “So it is a real confidence booster.”

Said Moglia: “Huge improvement over the first game. I was delighted to see that. We all know he has that in him. I think he had first-game jitters. That’s behind him now. We recruited him because he’s a good punter/kicker, he’s kicked and punted a million times in high school. He knows what to do; he’s just got to go out there and punt it and kick it.”

Abercrombie seizes opportunity

While Henderson was the headliner Saturday night, rushing for 136 yards and a touchdown and setting the program’s career rushing record in the process, his backup was pretty impressive as well.

Sophomore Osharmar Abercrombie broke free for a 58-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter and was officially credited with 70 yards on four carries overall.

“When you get your chance, you’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity,” he said. “... You never know when it’s going to be your chance to get the ball, so you’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity.”

Abercrombie has flashed his impressive talent on the practice field the last couple years and showed his potential Saturday night, but he is in a tough position on the depth chart with Henderson only a junior.

The two have a good bond, though, and Abercrombie said Henderson is always encouraging him.

“I’ve just got to be patient and wait my turn,” Abercrombie said. “Me and him, we talk a lot and that’s what he tells me, ‘Just be patient and wait my turn and when my turn comes take advantage of it.’”

Nothing wrong with Mapp

Many fans were curious why junior wide receiver Bruce Mapp – the Chants’ leading receiver last season – was not very involved in the game plan and finished with zero receptions Saturday night after tallying seven catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns in the opener.

Patenaude said there was nothing to read into that and reiterated that Mapp was not disciplined in any way.

“I didn’t even know that Bruce didn’t have a catch until the end of the game,” Patenaude said. “That was one of those things where the ball just went to John or went somewhere else. We threw the ball to Hop [Henderson] a lot out of the backfield. ... It wasn’t anything specific that he did or didn’t do. It was just one of those deals.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 6:10 PM with the headline "CCU Football Notebook: Defense shines in win."