CCU Football Week in Review

The end came swiftly and far earlier than the Coastal Carolina football team had envisioned.

A season driven by hopes for an FCS national championship instead wrapped up Saturday with a 41-38 loss to The Citadel in the first round of the playoffs as the visiting Bulldogs recovered a fumble in the final minute and kicked a game-winning 43 yard field goal in the final seconds.

With that, the Chanticleers finish their final season of FCS eligibility with a 9-3 record and now head into an offseason of significant change.

The program will spend the next two seasons transitioning to the FBS level and will not be eligible for any postseason play in that time. And the Chants will be moving on without star senior quarterback Alex Ross, who finishes his collegiate career with too many school and Big South records to count.

So on this occasion, let’s reflect not just on the loss Saturday but on the season as a whole.

Game balls

The Citadel quarterback Dominique Allen: The Bulldogs offensive leader rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns Saturday.

The Citadel running back Cam Jackson: One of the Bulldogs’ many weapons in the triple option, Jackson rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown in only nine carries (12.6 yards per carry).

CCU running back De’Angelo Henderson: “Hop” rushed 19 times for 101 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 60 yards and a score.

What it means

There’s no denying this was a disappointing finish for Coastal Carolina after reaching the third round of the FCS playoffs each of the last two seasons. The Chants simply didn’t play their best Saturday.

The Citadel rushed for 524 yards – the most the Chants have ever allowed – and the Coastal Carolina offense turned the ball over four times. Keeping the game as close as it was given those two stats was an accomplishment, and the Chants still had a chance to win it.

Instead, the offseason arrives early. In the big picture, though, this really doesn’t affect the momentum the program has built the last few years.

Coastal Carolina is one of just six programs that reached the FCS playoffs the last four seasons, and now the Chants will ready themselves to make a mark at the FBS level in the coming years.

Looking ahead

These next couple of seasons will certainly be different for Coastal Carolina.

The Chants will play an FCS schedule again next fall, but they won’t be eligible for the playoffs as they begin their mandatory two-year transition to the FBS. In 2017, they will debut as a member of the Sun Belt Conference and be eligible for a conference championship – but not a bowl game.

But that’s not to say these next two years lack significance. On the contrary, the Chants need to keep that aforementioned momentum going, need to develop a replacement at quarterback with standout Alex Ross moving on and need to further grow their talent pool as they move from 63 to 85 scholarships.

Top 10 performers for CCU in 2015

*Instead of ranking the top 10 plays from the game Saturday, here is a look at the players who played the most important roles and had the best season for the Chants this fall.

1A. Quarterback Alex Ross: The senior had set impossibly high expectations after his brilliant junior season, so maybe it was easy to take for granted what he brought to the field each week. But despite coming back from offseason shoulder surgery and playing most of the season with an ankle injury that at times was worse than most fans realized, Ross was terrific again while completing 66.8 percent of his passes for 3,009 yards, 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions to go with 209 yards and three scores rushing. Beyond the stats, he was an invaluable asset in the advantage he gave the Chants at the line of scrimmage with his ability to identify defenses and make audibles. Simply put, he’s the best offensive player to ever come through the program, leaves with a trove of program and Big South records and will be very hard to replace.

1B. Running back De’Angelo Henderson: It was a 1A, 1B kind of deal with Ross and “Hop” Henderson in terms of value and significance. The Chants don’t have the season they had without either. The junior running back was phenomenal yet again, rushing for 1,346 yards and 16 touchdowns on 6.1 yards per carry while also finishing second on the team with 40 catches totaling 403 yards and three scores. He presently ranks sixth in the FCS in rushing. In the big picture, Henderson is already the program’s all-time rushing leader, ends the season with his FCS record streak of 26 straight games with a touchdown intact and has another season to add to his resume.

3. Defensive tackle Jabarai Bothwell: The junior was the team’s defensive MVP this year, taking over as a starter in week two after senior Marcus Crowder abruptly left the program and then emerging as a weekly force up front for the Chants. He finished second on the team with 73 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss and had a blocked kick. He was twice named the Big South’s Defensive Player of the Week, was voted the team’s defensive player of the week six times by the coaching staff and was the only Coastal Carolina defensive player to earn first-team all-conference honors.

4. Wide receiver Chris Jones: The sophomore had a breakout season both offensively and on special teams. Despite only starting six games, Jones was heavily involved all season and finished second on the team with 604 receiving yards and four touchdowns while averaging a team-high 18.3 yards per catch. He also ranks 15th in the FCS in averaging 11.5 yards on 22 punt returns and was voted second-team All-Big South as both a receiver and return specialist. He gets a boost on this list as well for helping the offense not lose anything despite injuries that caused senior receivers John Israel and Tyrell Blanks to miss games and for how he closed the season, with 15 catches for 366 yards and three touchdowns over his final three games.. With Israel and Blanks moving on, Jones will have an even larger role in the offense next fall.

5. Defensive end Roderick Holder: Another senior that wrapped up his collegiate career with a strong final season. Holder led the Chants with 11 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks and finishes tied for third in the program history 14 career sacks.

6. Wide receiver Bruce Mapp: The junior saw his numbers dip from 71 catches for 959 yards last season to 50 catches for 769 yards this fall, but that was in two less games and he set a career-high with seven touchdown grabs while earning first-team All-Big South honors. The numbers may not be what he wanted this fall, but Mapp is an elite collegiate receiver and should have a huge senior season.

7. Kick returner Devin Brown: The Big South Special Teams Player of the Year made his mark early this season with two kickoff returns for touchdown in the first three games. That gave him five for his career, which is one shy of the FCS record, and at that point opponents gave him few opportunities to touch the ball on special teams. He’s a game-changing force in the return game and even when teams kick it away from him, he is making an impact on field position. He’ll return as a senior next season.

8. Left tackle Voghens Larrieux: The junior moved from right tackle to left tackle this season and earned first-team All-Big South honors (along with junior right guard Sam Ekwonike). Entering the playoff game, he led all Chants offensive linemen with 683 snaps played and had been called for only one penalty.

9. Kicker Ryan Granger: The junior earned first-team All-Big South recognition by making 16-of-20 field goals, setting a program single-season record for made field goals and percentage (80 percent).

10A: Defensive end Marcus Williamson: The Chants lose both of their starting defensive ends in Holder and fellow senior Calvin Hollenhorst, and Williamson is a guy who could be in for big things in 2016. He managed to consistently stand out as a backup this fall, leading the team with six quarterback hurries and four blocked kicks along with 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble. Those four blocked kicks set a program single-season record and already tie him for the career record.

10B. Running back Osharmar Abercrombie: Another player who shined in a backup role, the sophomore rushed for 502 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging a team-best 6.7 yards per carry. He’ll continue to rotate in behind Henderson next fall.

By the numbers

16 | Ryan Granger’s 16 field goals this season set a program record, as did his 80 percent success rate.

26 | De’Angelo Henderson’s FCS record streak is now at 26 straight games with a touchdown.

91 | Alex Ross’ 91-yard touchdown pass to Bruce Mapp in the first quarter Saturday marked the longest passing play in Coastal Carolina and Big South history. Also, Ross became the Big South’s career leader with 91 combined passing and rushing touchdowns – yet another record to add to his resume.

415/454 | Ross set Chants’ single-game records with 415 passing yards and 454 yards of total offense Saturday.

524 | The Citadel’s 524 rushing yards Saturday was the most ever allowed by Coastal Carolina, surpassing the 512 Georgia Southern had against the Chants in 2007.

9,918 | Ross finishes with 9,918 career passing yards and three straight 3,000-yard passing seasons.

They said it

CCU head coach Joe Moglia on the season-ending loss Saturday:

“Clearly we can’t have four turnovers or give up as many yards as we did on defense and expect to win, but our guys did give it everything they had. I thought we were fighting from the first quarter to the last quarter to the very, very, very end. So I was proud of the effort that our guys had, and I was proud of what they’ve been able to put together not just this season but over the span of the last four years.”

Moglia on keeping perspective after 41-13 run over the last four seasons:

“I wanted our guys to know that when you take a look at what we’ve been able to do, what we’ve been able to accomplish, 95 percent of the country would love to have had that as part of what their career had been. I reminded the guys of that tonight at the end, and I told them how proud I was.”

Senior defensive end Aaron McFarland on ending the season in the first round of the playoffs:

“Clearly it’s tough. You get to the playoffs and you’re expecting to win, and you go out there and play your hearts out and you see seniors like Alex here and myself, [we] just played our hearts out. To come up short, it’s definitely tough.”

Senior defensive end Calvin Hollenhorst on struggles against The Citadel’s triple-option attack:

“They just keep coming at you every play. That’s a relentless team.”

Moglia on quarterback Alex Ross’ legacy:

“He’s the all-time leading gainer in the conference. He’s the only person in the history of the conference that has been first-team three years in a row as well as a player of the year as well as the scholar-athlete of the year. Nobody has ever achieved that. Hopefully he will have a real opportunity at the next level. I think he’s got that type of ability, and he’s had a great career here. Certainly I think anybody that would look at what he’s done would recognize what he’s meant to our program and what his legacy is at Coastal, which will last forever.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "CCU Football Week in Review."