Coastal Carolina cruises to 45-13 win over Kennesaw State

This is the Coastal Carolina football team everyone was expecting this season.

The No. 4-ranked Chanticleers backed up a lopsided shutout win last week with another thoroughly one-sided victory Saturday while rolling over Kennesaw State, 45-13, before a crowd of 8,802 at Brooks Stadium.

The Owls (6-4, 2-3 Big South) and their triple-option attack caused little trouble for the Chants (9-1, 4-1) and their rejuvenated defense.

And the Coastal Carolina offense was once again in total control.

Combined, the Chants have outscored Gardner-Webb and Kennesaw State 91-13 over the last two weeks while looking recharged following their first defeat.

“I think kind of where we are now, in an ideal world I kind of hoped in games three, four or five we could have got there, but I’m delighted we’re getting there now,” head coach Joe Moglia said. “By the way, timing-wise, this might be a better time to get there than earlier in the season.”

Senior quarterback Alex Ross completed 20-of-27 passes for 262 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions, tying the program’a single-game record for touchdown passes. In the process, he also became the Big South’s career leader in total offense, pushing his total to 10,689 combined passing and rushing yards to pass former Charleston Southern quarterback Collin Drafts’ mark of 10,571.

Sophomore Chris Jones was the primary target for Ross on Saturday, tallying six receptions for a career-best 131 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Tyrell Blanks also hauled in two touchdowns, finishing with five catches for 38 yards.

And junior running back De’Angelo Henderson finished with 103 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, scoring in the fourth quarter to extend his FCS record streak to 24 straight games with a touchdown.

After trading touchdowns with Kennesaw State early in the first quarter, Coastal Carolina scored the next 31 points to pull away quickly for the second week in a row.

“We came out with a lot of energy and those guys are a good team, but we’ve got athletes,” Ross said. “I was just putting the ball up and giving them chances, and they were coming down with it and making me look good. Simple as that.”

Coastal Carolina punted on its first possession, but it scored on its next five over the rest of the opening half.

Ross had already passed for 222 yards and four touchdowns by halftime, connecting on scoring strikes to Blanks (10 yards and 15 yards), junior Bruce Mapp (16) and Jones (41).

He added a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jones early in the third quarter to match the program single-game record of five set by Zach MacDowall and Aramis Hillary while pushing the Chants’ lead to 38-6.

That mark and the Big South record for total offense, which was announced over the PA system during the game, are just the latest additions to Ross’ stacked collegiate resume.

“It was nice. A lot of the guys came up, tapped me on the shoulder and congratulated me for that,” he said. “So it was nice to have those guys support me, but I’m going to say it again, it’s not something that I really care about right now. It’s going to be something that I can look back on and be proud about.”

As he was heading to the locker room after the game, Coastal Carolina offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude commented, “We’re back,” and there’s no doubt these last two weeks in particular the offense has found its stride.

“The difference is just more tempo during practice,” Jones said. “We know we took a loss to Charleston Southern, we didn’t make the plays that we needed to make and plays that we’re capable of making, so we just told ourselves that we’re going to go out there and give our best effort 100 percent of the time and we’re getting good results right now. It’s better to click now with the playoffs coming up than [peaking] early.”

Meanwhile, the Owls – who are in their inaugural season of football – came in ranked fourth in the FCS in rushing at 299.2 yards per game. They managed 259 rushing yards and 433 total yards against the Chants, but they were stuck on six points until midway through the third quarter when the game was already well in hand for the hosts.

Junior defensive tackle Jabarai Bothwell had a team-high eight tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss and a blocked extra point to lead the Chants’ defense, which recovered two fumbles in the win.

The defense, which was much maligned after a disappointing first half in that loss at Charleston Southern two weekends ago, has now allowed just 19 points over its last 10 quarters.

“Going back to Charleston Southern seeing [what happened] the first half and if you take even one of the touchdowns away, [it’s a different] game. So as a defense we felt that game was on us,” Bothwell said. “We felt like for the rest of the season we won’t lose because of us.”

The only negative Saturday for Coastal Carolina came late in the first half when freshman safety Michael Billings, a former standout at Georgetown High School, had to be carted off the field with an unspecified injury.

Moglia did not have an update on his injury or condition after the game.

Coastal Carolina now turns its attention immediately to its regular-season finale at Liberty on Thursday night in Lynchburg, Va. The Chants won’t take their normal off day Monday while trying to maximize the short week for a game with significant postseason implications.

With a win, they would have a strong likelihood of earning a top-8 seed in the FCS playoffs and a first-round bye.

“We [understood] after we lost to Charleston Southern that the rest of the season our fate’s in our hands and we’ve got to take care of business and we’ve got to win each week in order to put us where we want to be going into the playoffs,” Ross said. “Now we’ve got to focus on Liberty. We’ve got a Thursday game so we’ve got to rest and recover. That’s two days that we have less than usual so we’ve got to get our bodies right. …

“And that’s what we’ve got to focus on right now. If we take care of business that [game] we’re going to be exactly where we want to be.”

NOTES

Grammy Award winner Gloria Gaynor sang the national anthem before the game.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina cruises to 45-13 win over Kennesaw State."