Takeaways from Coastal Carolina’s win over Lamar

What it means

In a season when it can’t play for a conference championship or the postseason as it transitions to the Football Bowl Subdivision, Coastal Carolina still has its team goals on the table following its 38-14 win at Lamar on Saturday.

Most notably, the Chanticleers have spoken of an undefeated season, and you can’t win them all if you don’t win the first game. The Chants have now won their past six season openers against Furman, North Carolina A&T, South Carolina State, Citadel, Furman again last year, and now Lamar. Saturday’s game was CCU’s first in the state of Texas.

“To get a win opening day always gives you a little momentum,” CCU head coach Joe 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.”

Looking ahead

The Chants’ home opener is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Brooks Stadium against Florida A&M of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Rattlers were overmatched in their opener Saturday, falling to Miami (Fla.) 70-3.

The teams have met once previously. CCU thumped Florida A&M 48-3 in 2014.

The game will provide CCU senior running back De’Angelo Henderson with an opportunity to set an NCAA Division I record with a touchdown in 28 consecutive games, and will be third-year sophomore Josh Stilley’s second start at quarterback. He was 10 of 22 for 138 yards with no turnovers in his first start Saturday.

“I’d say the first two series, it was more of an excitement kind of thing. My heart was pumping a lot,” Stilley said. “Just after moving the ball a little bit I was kind of getting that rush. After that I kind of calmed down a little bit and it just felt like I used to do it in high school.

“It’s good to get the first one out of the way. It will give me that much more confidence going into next week and I feel confident in leading this team the whole season. I think there will be a lot of improvements I can make going into the next game.”

Game balls

Running back De’Angelo Henderson: The senior recorded his 19th career 100-yard game with 158 yards on 28 carries and two second-half touchdowns.

Safety Richie Sampson: In his first game since October 2014, the fifth-year senior returned an interception 71 yards for a touchdown to spark the Chants early in the third quarter and matched a career-high in tackles with 10, including seven solo.

Linebacker Alex Scearce: The senior recorded his second career interception with 4 minutes to play and a team-high 11 tackles, including six solo and one tackle for a loss. He helped the Chants win the turnover battle 2-0.

By the numbers

27

Consecutive games Henderson has scored a touchdown, tying Virginia Tech’s Lee Suggs (2000-02) for the all-time Division I record. Henderson already held the Football Championship Subdivision record entering the 2016 season.

3

Interception returns of 71 yards or longer in CCU history. Sampson’s 71-yard return in the third quarter was the second longest pick returned for a touchdown behind a 73-yard return by former linebacker Quinn Backus.

35

Unanswered points scored by CCU after it trailed 14-3 at halftime. CCU gained 251 of its 407 total yards of offense in the second half, while limiting Lamar to 151 yards in the second half of its 391 total yards of offense.

9

Seconds remaining when CCU tacked on its final TD on a 2-yard Henderson run. Moglia said he wanted his team to gain more confidence with the score, Lamar coach Ray Woodard had a different take. “It’s just one of the many decisions you’ve got to make as a head coach,” 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?”

207

Yards gained by Lamar senior running back Kade Harrington, who led FCS in rushing last year with more than 2,000 yards. He carried the ball 28 times and scored on runs of 59 and 64 yards Saturday.

50

Percent of the six field goal attempts that were successful in the game. Lamar’s Alex Ball missed a 33-yarder, and CCU’s Ryan Granger was 3 of 5, hitting field goals of 40, 34 and 24 yards and missing kicks in the first half of 46 and 34.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Takeaways from Coastal Carolina’s win over Lamar."