Coastal Carolina Chanticleers College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Biggest Key: Offense
Always maintain control of the clock, and do that by owning third downs on a consistent basis.
The Chanticleers were amazing in the time of possession battle – keeping the ball for almost 34 minutes per game – but there were a few issues when the O wasn’t able to keep things moving.
There weren’t any real concerns in the 23-6 win over South Alabama, but the offense struggled on third downs, didn’t win the clock battle, and it wasn’t a bigger blowout.
There were problems controlling the clock early against Appalachian State, but the team dominated the fourth quarter in the 34-23 win – even though the O only had the ball for about 26 minutes – and most of all, there were issues in the bowl loss to Liberty.
Coastal Carolina centered a season-low 27% of third downs, and after doing a great job of owning the fourth quarter all year – it never had the ball for fewer than eight minutes against any FBS team – it only had it for 5:31 of the fourth in the lone loss of the season.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Biggest Key: Defense
The run defense has to be stronger against the big boys. There weren’t any problems against most teams, but the D allowed over six yards per carry against BYU, got hit for almost eight yards per pop in the battle with Louisiana, and it gave up over 200 yards against Appalachian State.
The D gave up a season-high 255 rushing yards Liberty in the bowl loss. When the run defense was playing well, everything else flowed from there.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Key Player To A Successful Season
RB Shermari Jones, Sr.
The Chanticleers have running back options to replace CJ Marable, but Reese White is more of a smallish, quick back to go along with the 6-1, 220-pound size of Jones.
The former JUCO transfer has the speed to go along with the size – he was used on kick returners last year – and ran for almost 400 yards with three scores. If he can turn into a bit more of a workhorse, there aren’t any real weaknesses on the offense.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Key Game To The 2021 Season
at Appalachian State, Oct. 20
Now the bar is set higher. A winning season has to be a given, a bowl appearance is obvious, and anything less but a conference championship isn’t going to do after what the program showed what it could do last year. That probably doesn’t happen without a win over Appalachian State.
The Chanticleers are 1-3 against the Mountaineers, finally breaking through last year. On the plus side, Coastal Carolina gets a week off to prepare and Appalachian State will be coming off a trip to Louisiana.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Schedule Analysis
2020 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Fun Stats
– Sacks: Coastal Carolina 34 for 220 yards – Opponents 14 for 63 yards
– Time of Possession: Coastal Carolina 33:50 – Opponents 26:10
– 4th Quarter Scoring: Coastal Carolina 134 – Opponents 69