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Know the Foe: Coastal Carolina

Know the Foe: Coastal Carolina

Football Oct 07
By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

Given a choice, ULM coach Terry Bowden wouldn't have picked Coastal Carolina as his Homecoming opponent.

"I wish we had the old days," Bowden quipped this week. "You picked a team that couldn't beat anybody, and you get 'em on Homecoming. We don't have that luxury. In the Sun Belt, your conference is tough. Then you make money in your non-conference games. So, you end up not getting one of those dadgum creampuffs. You get one of the best teams in the conference."

Coastal (5-0, 2-0 Sun Belt) is one of 16 remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. With a win against ULM, Chanticleers can secure bowl eligibility and start the year 6-0 for the third-straight season. Their current eight-game winning streak is the second-longest in the FBS, trailing only Clemson (11).

"They believe in winning and they believe in themselves," Bowden said. "They find a way to win. When they get into a game, and they've had some close ones, they just find a way to win football games and pull away at the end. That's the mark of a good program as much as a good football team."

Despite Coastal's impressive credentials, ULM leads the all-time series 3-1, although the Chanticleers won 59-6 in 2021.

"They got past their hump a couple of years ago," Bowden said. "There was a hump they had to get over and they got past it. The quarterback (Grayson) McCall was a big part of that back then and he still is."

Kickoff for Saturday's game is 7 p.m. at Malone Stadium, where ULM is 6-2 over the past two seasons under Bowden.

"They're way improved from last year and we're not as good as we were last year," Coastal coach Jamey Chadwell said. "So. it should be a heck of a game. It's always challenging to go on the road in this league. They're playing well there and are undefeated at home this year."

McCall is the triggerman for an offense averaging 36 points and 464 yards per game. The two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year has completed 92-of-132 passes for 1,336 yards and 14 touchdowns with just one interception.

C.J. Beasley leads the running game with 409 yards and two touchdowns. Receiver Sam Pinckney has 28 catches for 377 yards and one touchdown while Jared Brown has 19 catches for 392 yards and three scores.

Offensive lineman Willie Lampkin, who has 25 career starts, was a Preseason All-Sun Belt selection.

Defensively, Coastal bills itself as the "Black Swarm." The Chants have forced 15 turnovers this year, with 13 on defense and two on special teams, and are tied for first nationally in all of FBS with Southern California. Coastal allows 27 points and 389 yards per game.

Bandit Josaiah Stewart was named the Preseason Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and is one of three defensive starters returning for Coastal, along with cornerback D'Jordan Strong and nose tackle Jerrod Clark. Stewart has 14 career sacks and Strong has six career interceptions.

Linebackers J.T. Killen and Trey Pinkney lead the squad with 36 tackles each.

"Coach Bowden at Monroe is doing a fantastic job," Chadwell said. "He's got a lot of experience on his staff on both sides of the ball – coaches that have coached at a high level of football for a long time. You can tell that with their schemes. They do a fantastic job and their players are playing hard and they're aggressive."

Chants quick slants: In each of the four previous meetings between CCU and ULM, the winning team has scored 45 points or more. CCU's 59 points in the 59-6 win over ULM last year were the most points scored in a single game in Coastal's FBS history (2017-present). … In Sun Belt road games over the past two years, Coastal is 8-1 since the start of the 2020 season. …The Chanticleers are 27-3 since the start of the 2020 season, tied with Georgia for the second-best record in all of FBS, behind Alabama. … McCall has thrown at least one touchdown in 18 consecutive games, a program record. … Matthew McDoom returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown in Coastal's win over Gardner-Webb.
 
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