Coastal Carolina-Charleston Southern Matchup Preview

Coastal Carolina (7-0, 2-0 Big South) at Charleston Southern (6-1, 3-0)

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Buccaneer Field, Charleston

TV: American Sports Network (WWMB in Myrtle Beach)

Radio: WSEA-FM 100.3

Weather Forecast: 67 degrees and clear skies

Series History: Coastal Carolina leads 8-4 and has won four of the last five meetings.

Last Meeting: The Chants rolled over the Buccaneers last year, posting a 43-22 win at home. John Israel caught three passes for 174 yards and two long touchdowns, De’Angelo Henderson rushed for 110 yards and three touchdowns and Alex Ross completed 12-of-17 passes for 276 yards while rushing for 55. But the last time Coastal Carolina visited Charleston Southern, two years ago, the Bucs scored a 31-26 upset to snap the Chants’ perfect record.

Chanticleers Breakdown

Coastal Carolina has squeaked by two of the Big South’s middle-of-the-pack teams the last two games with a 24-17 win over Presbyterian and a 23-20 win at Monmouth.

That’s not the kind of momentum the Chants would ideally want heading into what looks to be the biggest remaining game on the schedule.

But offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said he remains as confident as ever in the unit’s potential the rest of the way. The bigger uncertainty is what the defense can do to shore up against the run after giving up 268 rushing yards last weekend at Monmouth and now facing a prolific Buccaneers offensive attack.

Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern are the only teams without a loss in Big South play and the winner of this game would have the clearest path toward the conference championship, so the stakes are as great as they’ve been all season for the Chants.

Buccaneers Breakdown

Jamey Chadwell has done a remarkable job transform Charleston Southern the last three seasons into a nationally-ranked team with strengths on both sides of the ball.

The most impressive part of this Buccaneers team is the defense, which leads the FCS by a considerable margin in holding teams to an average of 218.1 yards per game. The Bucs are the first team in Big South history to hold three consecutive opponents to fewer than 200 yards of offense and allowed a ridiculously stingy 110 yards to Gardner-Webb last week.

Offensively, Charleston Southern continues to thrive with its option rushing attack, averaging 251.1 yards per game on the ground.

The Bucs’ only loss came 44-16 at FBS foe Troy in mid-September. Since then, they’ve won their last five games by an average margin of 24.0 points.

Key Matchup

De’Angelo Henderson vs. Charleston Southern’s defensive front: There are any number of key matchups in this game. Can Coastal Carolina stop the Buccaneers’ rushing attack? Can the Chants throw on the Bucs’ Big South-best pass defense, which allows only 119 yards per game through the air? But the most intriguing matchup is Henderson, who ranks sixth in the entire FCS with 849 rushing yards, going up against a defense that is giving up 99.1 rushing yards per game to rank 10th nationally. It’s a proven recipe that when the ground game is rolling, the Chants are at their best. Taking that away would put Charleston Southern in prime position for the win.

Spotlight Players

Coastal Carolina running back De’Angelo Henderson: As aforementioned, “Hop” is pivotal this week for the Chants, not just with the ground attack but with his ability to turn short passes into long gains. He’ll need to be a driving force for the Chants in this one.

Coastal Carolina quarterback Alex Ross: The senior’s steady decision making will be another key for the Chants as there figures to be minimal room for error this week. He comes in completing 67.5 percent of his passes for 1,524 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Coastal Carolina linebacker Alex Scearce: The Chants simply have to do better against the run. Scearce has had some really nice games this fall, leading the team with 47 total tackles, and can lead that effort.

Charleston Southern running back Darius Hammond: The 5-foot-10 junior is averaging 7.1 yards per carry to lead the team with 586 rushing yards.

Charleston Southern running back Mike Holloway: The 5-foot-8 junior averages 6.7 yards per carry, 71.4 rushing yards per game and has scored a team-high eight touchdowns.

Charleston Southern linebacker Solomon Brown: The redshirt freshman has keyed the Bucs’ defense with 8.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and 38 total tackles.

Scouting Reports

Coastal Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton Carlin: “They can really run the ball. We just keep making silly, simple mistakes, guys trying to do more than just their job. So that will be a big focus for us this week – just do your job. We get in trouble when we try to do our job and a little bit of someone else’s. I think that’s what got us in trouble [last week]. We have not been good against the run so we’ve got to fix it because we’re facing a phenomenal rushing offense.”

Coastal Carolina offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude: “Same thing as you always see from them, they have a good mix of scheme. They play a little more out of the 30 defense than a lot of teams do, they play really hard, they’re always going to the ball, they gang tackle you. So they present a little bit different deal than some of the teams have in the past, but overall they’re the same group they’ve been the last couple years.”

Notes

While all three of Coastal Carolina’s starting receivers were limited at points in practice this week, only senior slot receiver Tyrell Blanks is expected to be unavailable Saturday night. ...

For Charleston Southern, sophomore quarterback Kyle Copeland was considered probable to return from a concussion this week. Copeland is another threat in the Bucs’ option attack, working in behind starting quarterback Austin Brown. ...

This is just the second time in Big South history that two conference teams have been ranked in both major FCS polls while playing each other. The other occurrence was also between No. 3/5 Coastal Carolina and No. 16/18 Charleston Southern, two years ago in Charleston when the Bucs earned a 31-26 win. ...

Buccaneer Field has an official capacity of 4,000, but Charleston Southern coach Jamey Chadwell said this week that the school was going to add extra seating for this game.

By The Numbers

2.3 | Charleston Southern has held opponents to an average of 2.3 yards per carry over its last three games.

5-7 | Coastal Carolina is 5-7 against ranked FCS opponents under coach Joe Moglia and 9-13 in program history.

10 | Junior kicker Ryan Granger has set a program record with 10 consecutive field goals made. He is 13-of-15 for the season and needs two more to tie the Chants’ single-season record.

33-2 | Coastal Carolina is 33-2 in its last 35 regular-season games against FCS opponents. One of those two losses, of course, came two years ago at Charleston Southern.

49 | The Buccaneers have allowed an average of just 49 passing yards per game in their last three contests.

122.3 | And the Bucs have given up just 122.3 yards overall in those last three games.

Prediction

Coastal Carolina, 31-28. On paper, this matchup does not look great for the Chants given how poorly they fared against the run last week and how well Charleston Southern is playing. But the Chants have played their share of marquee games in recent years and more often than not they rise to the occasion. It’s hard to ignore that track record or their penchant for pulling out close games, but the fact is they will have to play better than they have of late if they want to stay unbeaten.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina-Charleston Southern Matchup Preview."