CCU Football Notebook: Henderson ties national record

De’Angelo Henderson is now atop a category in the NCAA Division I record book.

When the Coastal Carolina senior running back scored on a 9-yard run late in the third quarter Saturday in a 38-14 win over Lamar, it gave him at least one touchdown in 27 consecutive games.

That ties Virginia Tech’s Lee Suggs (2000-02) for the all-time Division I record. Henderson already held the Football Championship Subdivision record entering the season.

“I told [coach Joe Moglia] earlier I try not to think about it but it’s kind of hard when everybody keeps mentioning it,” Henderson said. “So after just getting the first one out of the way it was kind of like, ‘Whew, I can play ball now.’ It’s definitely a blessing to achieve something like that, but I’m just happy we came out with the victory, really.”

Suggs scored 57 touchdowns in his 27-game streak, while Henderson has scored 41.

Henderson also recorded his 19th career 100-yard game with 158 yards on 28 carries.

If Henderson scores a touchdown in all 12 CCU games this season he will tie Danny Woodhead, who played in Division II, for the NCAA all-division record at 38 straight games. Woodhead scored 106 TDs in those 38 games.

“I’m delighted,” Moglia said. “… We’re certainly proud of [Henderson]. That’s a big deal to have that record.”

Fast starts

Coastal Carolina has won its last six season openers.

Since 2011, the Chants have defeated Furman, North Carolina A&T, South Carolina State, Citadel, Furman again last year, and now Lamar.

Though most of those are all formidable FCS opponents, it helped that CCU stopped scheduling ranked FBS opponents to start the season, such as No. 22 Penn State (66-10 loss) in 2008 and No. 25 West Virginia (31-0 loss) in 2010.

The Chants, who trailed 14-3 at halftime Saturday, are 6-4 all-time when opening on the road. Saturday’s game was CCU’s first in the state of Texas.

“To get a win opening day always gives you a little momentum,” Moglia said. “To get a win on the road against a team I think will have a pretty good season this year, after a plane trip and coming back when you’re down at halftime, I think that was more of a special win.”

Difference of opinion

Coastal began its final possession with a 17-point lead and 4:06 remaining, and following a 29-yard Josh Tilley pass to Bruce Mapp to the Lamar 16, Henderson ran six consecutive plays up the middle and scored on a 2-yard run with 9 seconds remaining.

The team’s head coaches had differing opinions on the value of the final touchdown.

“It’s just one of the many decisions you’ve got to make as a head coach,” Lamar coach Ray Woodard said. “Are you going to try to stick it up in them one more time or are you going to show some class and take a knee?”

Moglia explained his reasoning for the final TD. On CCU’s two previous possessions, it reached the Lamar 5 and had to settle for a field goal, and reached the Lamar 2 where Henderson was stopped on fourth-and-goal.

“We always have [taken a knee]. In the four years I’ve been here we have,” Moglia said. “But again we were down 14-11 and we’ve got a lot of inexperience playing for us now. So I wanted them to have a little bit more confidence. The previous series they stopped us. … We weren’t going to get fancy, we weren’t going to run outside and we weren’t going to throw the ball, but we were going to come up the middle every time. We did that about five or six times in a row and we wound up scoring. I wanted our guys to feel they can score if they need to score in those type of situations. That was mostly the reason for that.”

Neutralizing Brown

Devin Brown got used to being avoided in the latter stages of the 2015 season, and the rude treatment has carried into 2016.

Lamar senior kicker Alex Ball, who is 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, was one of the more proficient kickers in the country last year in terms of touchbacks, forcing opponents to start on the 25-yard line following 31 of his 72 kickoffs. Comparatively, CCU kickers recorded touchbacks on just eight of 79 kickoffs last year.

Ball’s touchback proficiency figured to neutralize Brown, a 2015 All-American and 2016 STATS FCS Preseason Third-Team All-American after averaging 28.6 yards per kickoff return with two touchdowns last year, giving him five career kick return TDs.

One of the Chants’ most dangerous weapons returned Ball’s first kick from 4 yards deep in the end zone to the 22. After being unsuccessful at a touchback, Ball changed course and kicked away from Brown on his final two kickoffs, making redshirt freshman Ky’Jon Tyler field the kicks near the left sideline inside the CCU 10.

Wide of the mark

It wasn’t the best day for a pair of experienced kickers, as CCU senior Ryan Granger and Ball began the game 1-for-4 on field goal attempts.

Granger made a 40-yard attempt on the Chants’ first possession but missed attempts of 46 and 34 later in the first half. Ball missed a 33-yard attempt in the first quarter.

Granger made kicks of 34 and 24 yards in the second half, giving the duo a combined 50-percent success rate Saturday.

Granger made 16 of 20 (80 percent) field goal attempts last year and was 16 of 19 inside 50 yards. Ball was 10-for-13 (77 percent) last year and made 8 of 9 kicks inside 40 yards.

Hailing Harrington

Lamar senior running back Kade Harrington, who at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds led FCS in rushing last year with more than 2,000 yards, increased his career rushing yards to 3,919, his all-purpose yards to 4,798 and his career point total to 294, and recorded his 15th 100-yard rushing game.

He showed his explosiveness with touchdown runs of 59 and 64 yards in the first half Saturday, but was held to 84 yards on his other 26 carries.

His 207 yards on 28 carries was consistent with his 2015 stats. Over his final nine games last year, Harrington carried the ball 24 times or more in seven games, and also rushed for 190 yards or more seven times.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 5:13 AM with the headline "CCU Football Notebook: Henderson ties national record."