Coastal Carolina Football Week in Review

Coastal Carolina football coach Joe Moglia called it a “tale of two halves” as his Chanticleers shutout Bryant after halftime Saturday night and scored the final 14 points to win 31-17 at Brooks Stadium.

It wasn’t the Chants’ prettiest performance, but it was good enough as they improved to 4-0 and sent another capacity crowd of 10,311 home happy.

With that said, let’s hand out some game balls, dissect the top plays from the win and highlight some key stats.

Game balls

1. De’Angelo Henderson: What else is new? “Hop” Henderson rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns in 21 carries while tying a Big South record with touchdowns in 18 straight games.

2. Alex Ross: The senior quarterback wasn’t as mobile as usual while playing through the lingering effects of a sprained ankle, but he was terrifically efficient in the pocket while completing 19-of-24 passes for 212 yards and a touchdown.

3. Marcus Williamson: The sophomore defensive end had two big plays in the fourth quarter to help preserve the win. He pressured Bryant quarterback Dalton Easton into a key incompletion on fourth-and-6 from the Chants’ 26 early in the quarter and then blocked a 33-yard field goal try on the Bulldogs’ next series.

Ranking the top plays from the game

1. The pivotal momentum swing in the game came midway through the fourth quarter. After a De’Angelo Henderson fumble gave the ball to Bryant, the Bulldogs managed to drive all the way to the Coastal Carolina 16 with the help of a pass interference penalty. But the defense buckled down and Marcus Williamson blocked a 33-yard field goal try to keep the Chants’ lead at 24-17.

2. Henderson’s fumble was the only blemish in an otherwise excellent performance, and he came through in a big spot for the Chants in the third quarter. After Bryant stuffed quarterback Alex Ross on third-and-goal from the 1, Henderson jumped over the pile and into the end zone on fourth down for the go-ahead touchdown to give Coastal Carolina that 24-17 lead.

3. After a lackluster first half, the Chants defense got the job done after halftime – particularly on two fourth quarter stops. On the series before Williamson blocked the field goal, he pressured Bryant quarterback Dalton Easton into an incompletion on fourth-and-6 from the Coastal Carolina 26 to end another promising Bulldogs drive in what was a one-score game at the time.

4. The Chants finally put some separation on the scoreboard when Osharmar Abercrombie ripped off a 22-yard touchdown run on the series after that blocked field goal. That pushed Coastal Carolina’s lead to 31-17.

5. Before the Chants had control of the lead, they actually got off to a sluggish start while falling behind 10-0. But they answered at that point with a 10-play, 65-yard drive capped by a pretty 12-yard touchdown connection from Ross to Bruce Mapp to make it a 10-7 game.

6. Henderson left the field during that first touchdown drive after tweaking his ankle, but he returned in a big way on the Chants’ next possession, busting free for a career-long 59-yard run on the first play and picking up all the yards on a four-play, 64-yard touchdown drive to put the hosts up 14-10.

7. Give credit to Bryant, though. The Bulldogs made a game of it with the top-ranked Chants. After getting a field goal on their first drive, the visitors went up 10-0 on Easton’s 50-yard touchdown pass to Matt Sewall, who was wide open over the middle on a nice catch-and-run strike.

8. And even after falling behind later in the half, Bryant showed some resilience by tying the game at 17-17 in the final minute of the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Ricardo McCray to cap a quick 10-play, 80-yard drive.

9. Henderson’s fumble didn’t end up costing the Chants, but it definitely made the fourth quarter more interesting. Up seven points early in the final period, Coastal Carolina had moved across midfield before Henderson was hit from behind and coughed up the football. Bryant returned the loose ball to the Chants’ 45 to keep the pressure on for a little while longer.

10. Coastal Carolina wouldn’t capitalize on the turnover, but rookie defensive tackle Christian Gill made a nice play on defense late in the second quarter to force a fumble from Bryant’s Hunter Taute at the Bulldogs’ 48. Linebacker Devon Brant recovered the loose ball.

What it means

Moglia was clear after the game that he doesn’t feel the Chants have played to their potential yet, but it’s hard to argue with 4-0.

Coastal Carolina will hope the defense can build on its strong second-half performance and continue to improve after a shaky start to the season.

Meanwhile, the Chants should remain No. 1 in the FCS Coaches Poll and No. 2 in the STATS media poll behind Jacksonville State, which won 48-41 over Tennessee-Martin.

Looking ahead

Coastal Carolina stays home for a third straight week as Alabama A&M comes to Conway next Saturday.

The Bulldogs are 1-2 after picking up their first win Saturday, 28-9 over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

They had given up 50-plus points to their first two opponents, FBS foe Cincinnati and Prairie View A&M, and are allowing 579 yards per game to rank 121st out of 123 FCS teams in total defense.

By the numbers

2 | De’Angelo Henderson continues to rank second in the FCS with 532 rushing yards through four games, just 13 yards behind Dayton’s Connor Kacsor.

18 | Henderson has rushed for a touchdown in 18 straight games to tie a Big South record. The FCS record for consecutive games scoring a touchdown of any kind is 20.

40.0 | The Chants had to go to their backup punter in sophomore Masamitsu Ishibashi, and he answered the call by averaging a strong 40.0 yards on three punts.

79.1 | Alex Ross’ completion percentage in the win Saturday night as he connected on 19-of-24 passes.

153 | Chris Jones, technically a second-teamer, leads all Coastal Carolina wide receivers with 153 yards through four games (second on the team overall behind Henderson’s 220 receiving yards as a running back). He led the way with six catches for 96 yards Saturday night.

They said it

Linebacker Alex Scearce on the Chants’ strong second half:

“At halftime we fixed a few things and we really dug down deep because we’re No. 1 in the nation and we wanted to prove that. We didn’t want people to think we’re overrated or anything like that. We know we’re not. I truly think we’re an elite defense, we just sometimes have little mental errors that can really hurt us. So I think holding them out, shutting them out in the second half really made a point to our fans.”

Running back De’Angelo “Hop” Henderson on diving over the pile for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter:

“The d-line, they submarined and they just dropped down and it was open to jump over it. Why not? Why not jump? Hop, why not Hop? No pun intended.”

Quarterback Alex Ross on shaking off an early 10-0 deficit:

“I think we were pretty calm. We knew that it was going to be a long game and that wasn’t going to stop us. As a group, we were pretty calm, we were pretty focused. We didn’t let that get to us. We knew that we were going to be able to drive down the field and score points and we were just patient.”

Wide receiver Chris Jones on stepping up in the absence of injured John Israel:

“I try to [make] the most of the opportunities that I have and today it just showed a lot. One of our star receivers went down and you can’t have no dropoffs when someone goes down, so I just stepped up and did what I was supposed to do.”

Marcus Williamson on his blocked field goal in the fourth quarter:

“I was kind of upset that I didn’t get a block on the first field goal so I said on the sideline, if I get a chance to get out there again I’m going to block it.”

Head coach Joe Moglia on the Chants’ 4-0 start:

“I’m delighted we’re No. 1 in the nation, I’m delighted we’re 4-0, but we’re not near where we’ve got to be.”

This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina Football Week in Review."