CCU Football Notebook: Granger has career day

With Coastal Carolina’s deep cast of playmakers, it’s not often that the kicker steals the spotlight.

But then again, it’s also not often that the kicker scores the team’s first touchdown and accounts for more than half of the Chanticleers’ points.

Junior Ryan Granger had a career day Saturday while totaling 15 points in the No. 1/2-ranked Chants’ 24-17 home victory over Presbyterian, rushing in for a touchdown on a fake field goal play and converting all three of his field goal attempts.

“Heck, he was hot stuff today. I’m sure he feels pretty good,” Coastal Carolina coach Joe Moglia said afterward.

With the offense scuffling, Granger gave the Chants (6-0, 1-0 Big South) the boost they needed.

After having a drive stall at the Presbyterian 4 early in the second quarter, the Chants elected to try a fake field goal as sophomore holder Tyler Keane took off running to the left before tossing an option pitch to allow Granger to finish off the trick touchdown.

“Whether it’s a fake or just a field goal or PAT, I always just go out there and think that it’s just like practice every day. I’ve just got to execute the best I can,” Granger said.

It’s a play he’s practiced the last two seasons and one the Chants tried a year ago with then-seniors Austin Cain and Alex Catron on a two-point conversion.

For his part, Moglia reiterated he likes to take chances like that when the opportunity is there.

“We practice fakes every day and we should be able to make, especially when we have a little bit of an element of surprise, we should be able to make a play from three or four yards,” he said. “... I’m not afraid to do that. I would like to see us frankly, if we get that fourth-and-1, fourth-and-2, I want to see us go for it more often. We’re not afraid to fake it, I’m not going to say any place on the field, but we work on that stuff every day and I would have been disappointed if we didn’t get it, frankly.”

Meanwhile, Granger also connected on field goals of 38, 47 and 22 yards in the win. For the season, he is now 10-of-12 on field goals.

“I was definitely aiming for having a really good season, especially with the new guys on the specialist unit – with [long snapper Connor Kubala], Keane and myself all being first-year starters,” he said. “I think we’re doing really well and I’m really pleased with how we’re doing so far.”

Henderson ties FCS record

Junior running back De’Angelo Henderson continued to add to his resume and legacy Saturday by scoring a touchdown in his 20th straight game to tie an FCS record.

He matches the mark set by Monmouth’s David Sinisi from 2006-07, and coincidentally, he’ll get a chance to break the record when the Chants play Monmouth after their bye week.

“It’s pretty cool, I guess. The guys are the ones that really keep bringing it up and mentioning it [and saying], ‘Hop, you’ve got to keep the streak going.’ I just want to win,” Henderson said after the game. “I mean, it’s nice to be mentioned in FCS history with marks and stuff like that. It’s pretty cool. It’s big for the university. ... The o-line deserves most of the credit. I’m just the guy carrying the ball, so credit to those guys.”

Off day for the offense

Coastal Carolina’s 24 points Saturday were a season low, its 409 yards was the second-lowest total of the season and the Chants only scored one conventional offensive touchdown on what was just an off-game for the normally proficient unit.

Senior quarterback Alex Ross offered his thoughts afterward.

“Just small things. I think it was us. You know, as far as when we’re sliding protection, not picking up the right guy, me not putting the ball where I need to put it, not giving Bruce [Mapp] a chance outside,” Ross said. “I think it’s small things like that, dropped balls. It’s a culmination of things we need to get better doing.”

Mapp was one of the bright spots, hauling in seven catches for a career-best 129 yards, and he was emphatic that there was no reason for concern.

“We’re going to get it right,” he said. “... We’re going to figure it out and you’re going to see a more explosive offense after this bye week.”

Surprise QB for Presbyterian

Presbyterian surprised everybody by starting senior Kaleb Griffin at quarterback Saturday.

Griffin hadn’t played all season, but with the team’s other two quarterbacks struggling, he got the nod Saturday and completed 13-of-26 passes for 157 yards and no interceptions. He also rushed for a short touchdown.

Moglia acknowledged after the game that the Chants weren’t expecting that lineup change.

“We didn’t know about that. That actually did surprise us,” he said. “But let’s make believe they called us last week and told us he was going to play. I don’t know if that would have changed anything. There were a couple formations they hadn’t shown this year that we had to adapt and adjust to during the game.”

Etc.

Freshman Evan Rabon started at punter as the Chants continue to alternate between he and sophomore Masamitsu Ishibashi. He averaged 37.7 yards on three punts Saturday. ...

Senior defensive tackle Leroy Cummings left the game with a knee injury in the first half and sophomore wide receiver/punt returner Chris Jones did not play. Moglia did not offer injury updates after the game. ...

With 68 rushing yards in seven attempts, sophomore Osharmar Abercrombie increased his team-leading yards-per-carry to 7.2 (on 45 attempts). ...

Junior Devin Brown looked to have his sixth career kickoff return for touchdown in the third quarter Saturday, but it was negated by a block in the back penalty. He would have tied the FCS record if it had stood. ...

Senior defensive tackle Jabarai Bothwell was a force up front for the Chants, notching a game-high 11 total tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass break-up.

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 6:16 PM with the headline "CCU Football Notebook: Granger has career day."