Coastal Carolina Football Week in Review

Either Monmouth is suddenly the hottest team in the Big South Conference or Coastal Carolina was rather underwhelming Saturday.

Coming off a bye week, the No. 1/2-ranked Chanticleers mustered a season-low scoring output and needed a 30-yard field goal in the final seconds from junior Ryan Granger to eek out a 23-20 win over the Hawks in West Long Branch, N.J.

Monmouth (3-5, 1-2 Big South) was coming off a big upset win over Liberty the week before for its first-ever victory over a ranked FCS opponent and had a strong homecoming crowd, but it was surprising nonetheless to see the top-ranked Chants get outgained 475 yards to 389 (their second-lowest total of the season).

Coach Joe Moglia wanted a chance to review the game film before levying any specific assessments, but it’s clear Coastal Carolina still has some things to work on if they are going to make a deep postseason run this fall.

Game balls

1. Ryan Granger: For the second game in a row, the top honor goes to the Chants’ junior kicker. Granger, of course, kicked that game-winning 30-yard field goal as time expired, but he was also a perfect 3-for-3 on the day while making earlier field goals of 30 and 32 yards and he’s now 15-for-18 on the season.

2. Alex Ross: The senior quarterback completed 20-of-31 passes for 282 yards and scored a rushing touchdown in the win. He also threw a pair of key third-down conversion passes on the Chants’ game-winning drive.

3. De’Angelo Henderson: “Hop” remained a model of consistency, setting the FCS record with touchdowns in 21 straight games. But he needed 25 carries to get 91 yards for an uncharacteristic 3.6 yards per carry average.

Ranking the top plays from the game

1. The top spot has to go to Ryan Granger and his game-winning 30-yard field goal as time expired. The junior has shown great consistency and poise this season and salvaged a tough day for the Chants in the final seconds.

2. The Coastal Carolina defense gave up plenty of yards Saturday, but it also delivered some timely stops. Before the Chants’ offense could drive down for the win, the defense kept the game tied with its second fourth-down stand of the final quarter. Under pressure, Monmouth quarterback Cody Williams threw the ball away on fourth-and-3 from the Chants’ 43.

3. Coastal Carolina’s game-winning drive faced a pivotal moment on a third-and-11 play from the Monmouth 44. John Israel got himself open in one-on-one coverage and Alex Ross delivered a strike for a 17-yard pickup down to the 27 to keep the chains moving and put the Chants in field goal range.

4. As mentioned, the Coastal Carolina defense had two fourth-down stands on back-to-back series in the fourth quarter. The first one came early in the period as Williams threw incomplete on fourth-and-4 from the Chants’ 41.

5. Give some credit to the Monmouth defense as well. Not only did the Hawks contain the Chants about as well as anybody all season, they also forced a key turnover in the fourth quarter to keep the game tied. After giving Coastal Carolina good field position on that first failed fourth down try, they gave up a long completion from Ross to Tyrell Blanks, but cornerback Joe Johnson stripped the ball from Blanks and safety Teddie Martinez recovered the ball for the hosts at the their own 9 to keep the game tied.

6. Lavon Chaney had a career-best day against the Chants and broke several long runs. The most significant was probably his 21-yard touchdown scamper late in the third quarter to tie the game at 20-20. Chaney, who had 228 total yards and three scores overall, broke two early tackles on that run before breaking free.

7. If the game wasn’t so tight to the end this might be ranked higher, but De’Angelo Henderson seized the FCS record with touchdowns in 21 straight games by converting a 2-yard scoring scamper on fourth down midway through the second quarter. It also gave the Chants a 10-7 lead at the time.

8. Monmouth made a couple of key mistakes in the first half that surely loomed large as they took a narrow loss. Early in the second quarter, Williams made a poor decision while rolling out of the pocket and lobbing the ball down the sideline. Safety Kerron Johnson easily intercepted it at the Chants’ 5 to negate a potential scoring drive.

9. The Hawks took a 13-10 lead later in the second quarter when Chaney scored on a 17-yard touchdown reception, but kicker Matt White missed the extra point. In a game that ended up tied until the final seconds, every point counted.

10. White also missed a 39-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter that certainly would have helped later on in the game.

What it means

Well, there’s a lot to be said for a 7-0 start and finding ways to win the tight games, but this was simply not the performance the Chants had hoped for coming out of a bye week and eager to surge into the second half of the season. The defense was hit for some big gains Saturday and gave up 196 yards and two touchdowns to Monmouth running back Lavon Chaney, but it also buckled down with a pair of key fourth-down stops in the final quarter. The offense, meanwhile, got the job done in the end with a late game-winning drive, but this team has too many playmakers to put itself in that position. The Chants played well enough Saturday to beat Monmouth, but that same performance won’t translate as well against the likes of Charleston Southern, Liberty or in the playoffs.

Looking ahead

Speaking of which, one of Coastal Carolina’s toughest tests comes this Saturday night at Charleston Southern. The Buccaneers are 6-1 overall, 3-0 in the Big South and have won four of their last five games by double figures. They have a potent rushing attack that averages 251.1 yards per game on the ground, and they boast the league’s best defense while holding opponents to an average of 14.1 points per game. It’s also worth noting that the last time the Chants visited Charleston Southern, they took a 31-26 loss back in 2013. With Liberty already taking two losses in the conference, the Chants and Buccaneers are the only two remaining undefeated teams in Big South play and this game could be a determining factor for the regular-season championship.

By the numbers

1 | Monmouth had one punt return for one yard Saturday, becoming the first team to even attempt to return a punt against Coastal Carolina this season.

7-0 | The Chants are the first Big South program to start 7-0 in three straight seasons.

9.4 | Ryan Granger and De’Angelo Henderson are tied for the Big South lead in scoring, each averaging 9.4 points per game.

18.6 | The Chants rank second in the Big South and 17th in the entire FCS in scoring defense, holding opponents to 18.4 points per game.

21 | With a touchdown in 21 straight games Henderson broke former Monmouth running back David Sinisi’s FCS record.

35.1 | While the Chants have been held to their two lowest point totals the last two games, they still rank second in the Big South and 22nd in the FCS in averaging 35.1 points.

86.7 | Granger leads the conference in field goal percentage by a significant margin at 86.7 percent with the next-best kicker at 69.2 percent

121.3 | Henderson ranks fifth in the FCS in averaging 121.3 rushing yards per game.

They said it

Quarterback Alex Ross on being tied with Monmouth until the final play of the game:

“The game’s not over until the clock runs out and I think our team understands that and we found a way to win. We found a way to stop them in the end, our defense did a great job of putting up a stand, our offense drove down the field and left it in our special teams’ hands. We’ve definitely got to improve, we’ve got to get better, we’re not where we want to be. But we do find a way to win in the end.”

Ross on leading a game-winning drive:

“I love it. It’s what you play for. It’s nice to go out there and blow out teams, but you kind of live for that moment where you get the ball last and you need to be able to drive down the field and win the game.”

Wide receiver John Israel on winning another close game:

“We’ve been in that position before, being tied up, we’ve been in overtime games, so it’s a situation that we’re familiar with.”

Defensive tackle Jabarai Bothwell on the tight game:

“These are the games we live for as a football player, close games. Blowouts are cool, but this is one of the [most fun] games I’ve played all season.”

Running back De’Angelo Henderson on pulling out a win to stay undefeated:

“We’re 1-0 each week. That’s the goal. We don’t look at the overall record. We’ve got to do a better job of executing on offense. The defense, they’ve been doing a great job all season of keeping us in and winning games for us, but offensively we’ve got to do better.”

Kicker Ryan Granger on his game-winning 30-yard field goal:

“Probably the most thankful I’ve ever been. I’ve never had a game-winning opportunity. We practice it in practice all the time on Tuesdays, but it was probably the most ecstatic I’ve ever been in my life.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2015 at 9:55 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina Football Week in Review."