Coastal Carolina hosts Georgia State on Thursday
CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will host Georgia State on Thursday night Sept. 21, in an ESPN nationally televised game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.
TV | ESPN
HEADS UP | Parking changes ahead of Coastal Carolina’s Thursday night game
CCU LOOKING FOR ANOTHER HOME WIN
• Thursday night’s game will be CCU’s third consecutive home game and a win would be the Chants’ third consecutive win.
ESPN BRINGS NATIONAL BROADCAST BACK TO CONWAY WITH INTERESTING TWIST
• For the second time this season, the Chants will make a national television appearance on ESPN, but this time there is a twist.
• Matt Barrie will be in the booth doing the play-by-play broadcast.
• He played for CCU Head Coach Beck at Rover High School in Arizona.
• Also, in the booth will be a familiar name in Dan Mullen, while Harry Lyles will be the sideline reporter.
SCHEDULE CHANGE
• The Sun Belt Conference office announced on Monday that CCU’s game at Georgia Southern on Sept. 30 will be broadcast on the NFL Network with a 7 p.m. ET start.
WHITEOUT
• Thursday is the annual “White Out” game where all fans are asked to wear their white CCU gear.
CHANTS IN PRIME TIME
• Thursday will be Coastal Carolina’s second of four nationally televised games on the ESPN family of networks this season.
OFFENSE EXPLODES
• The Chanticleers’ offense exploded for a season-high 515 yards in the win over Duquesne.
A BALANCED ATTACK
• CCU’s rushing attack ran for a season-high 241 yards on 35 carries.
• The Chanticleers’ rushers averaged 6.9 yards per carry and had four rushing touchdowns.
• A total of 10 Chanticleers carried the ball in Saturday night’s win.
• Four different runners scored touchdowns in the game.
BENNETT LEADING THE GROUND ATTACK
• Junior Braydon Bennett led a balanced scoring attack with 58 yards rushing on only seven carries.
• For the second consecutive game Bennett picked up a rushing touchdown when he scored from a yard out early in the second quarter...His two rushing touchdowns lead the Chants.
FIRST TIME RUSHERS
• Three Chanticleers picked up their first carries in a CCU uniform.
• Ja’Vin Simpkins not only picked up his first carries but scored his first touchdown as a Chant.
• He gained 50 yards on six carries with a long of 22 yards.
• He scored the final points of the game on a three-yard scoring run with two minutes left in the game.
• Jahbari Kukendall and Darren Lloyd also saw their first action in the Chants’ backfield.
BALANCED PASSING ATTACK
• A total of four quarterbacks played against Duquesne and nine players caught a pass in the game.
• Jared Brown had four catches for 63 yards to lead the receivers.
• Sam Pinckney, Jameson Tucker and Max Balthazar had two catches each.
• Kyre Duplessis, Genson Hooper Price, Kendall Karr, Braydon Bennett and Tyson Mobley each had one reception.
MCCALL ENTERS ELITE STATUS
Grayson McCall’s 82 career touchdown passes have him tied with Ryan Dinwiddie (Boise State), Colin Kaepernick (Nevada), Andrew Luck (Stanford) and Ryan Schneider (UCF) on the FBS level.
INTS THE NORM FOR CCU DEFENSE
• The Coastal defense added three more interceptions in Saturday’s defeat of Duquesne and now has a Sun Belt Conference-leading six on the season.
• CCU is tied for third nationally with those six picks and is also tied for the lead nationally in pick-six with two.
• The Chants have 202 return yards in interceptions, which leads the nation in FBS football.
PICK SIX SCORES
• Redshirt senior JT Killen started the interception parade on Duquesne’s opening drive when he stepped in front of a Duke pass and returned it 30 yards for the CCU’s second score of the game.
• Right before halftime, junior Tobias Fletcher picked off a Duke pass in the endzone and returned it 100 yards for a score.
RECORD SETTER
• When Tobias Fletcher returned his pick six for 100 yards, he set a CCU standard for the longest interception return in program history. It also tied an NCAA Division I record.
• His return for a score tied the program’s longest scoring play that had been held by Devin Brown who had a 100-yard kickoff return against Furman (09-05-15).
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS OF GEORGIA STATE
• GSU enters the game sporting the reigning Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week in Darren Grainger.
• The Conway native threw for a career-high 466 yards and three touchdowns in leading Georgia State to a 41-25 win over Charlotte.
• One of those passes was a Panther record 97-yard touchdown pass to Robert Lewis.
• The Panthers start the season 3-0 for the first time in program history.
• Grainger leads the Sun Belt in total offense with 339.7 ypg (No. 8 in FBS) while completing 73 percent of his passes with six touchdowns.
• He also leads the Sun Belt in pass efficiency while ranking second in passing yards (267.7).
• The game at Coastal Carolina is a homecoming for Grainger, the Conway, S.C., native who led the Panthers to a 42-40 win at No. 21-ranked CCU in 2021 for the GSU program’s first win over a ranked team.
• Lewis ranks No. 1 in FBS in all-purpose yards (170.0 pg), No. 7 in receiving yards (115.7) and No. 6 with four TD receptions. He leads the Panthers with 17 catches for 347 yards and four TDs.
• Lewis has caught 11 touchdown passes in his last 12 games.
• RB Marcus Carroll is No. 3 in FBS in rushing with 119.3 yards per game and No. 1 with seven touchdowns.
• Carroll rushed for a career-high 184 yards and three touchdowns in the opener vs. Rhode Island and then followed with 107 yards and three more scores vs. UConn.
• GSU’s top offensive lineman is super senior left tackle Travis Glover, a Preseason First-Team All-Sun Belt selection who has 47 career starts.
• Linebacker Jontrey Hunter is the Panthers’ leading tackler with 21 stops, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups.
• Georgia State leads the Sun Belt and ranks No. 19 in FBS in rushing defense at 83.3 yards per game. The Panthers held UConn to 50 yards rushing on 31 attempts and Charlotte to 88 yards on 29 carries.
SERIES SNAPSHOT WITH GEORGIA STATE
• It has been a short series with Georgia State as tonight’s game is only the seventh time the two teams have faced each other. Neither team has won on its home field and each team has won three games.
