Honestly, after the most recent Sunday Strut podcast, there isn’t much more to say about Coastal’s 47-7 drubbing at the hands of Old Dominion Saturday night. The Chants were outclassed and outplayed from start to finish, to the point there wasn’t a single moment in time where I thought Coastal was competitive or had a chance to win.
Even the Chanticleer defense, which was the bright spot on the team in the first four games, didn’t bring it against the Monarchs. The 619 yards of total offense ODU gained was the most by an opponent since Coastal’s move to the FBS in 2017. The offense as usual was stagnant and ineffective, failing for the fifth straight game to score in the first quarter and incredibly have scored only 10 total points in five first halves this season.
The entire night was a massive disappointment and left head coach Tim Beck once again searching for answers when it was over.
So let’s go ahead and look forward to Saturday night’s home clash with Louisiana-Monroe. As of this writing, the Chants are a 2.5-point underdog against the Warhawks (3-2, 1-0). Coastal (2-3, 1-1) is a home underdog to ULM…let that marinate some.
The series with the Warhawks, which ULM leads 3-2, began in that first FBS season in Monroe, with ULM winning a wild one 51-43. CCU wideout Malcolm Williams hauled in 266 yards through the air with 2 TDs as the Chants rallied late to pull to within 45-43.
Unfortunately, by the time Coastal got the ball back, there wasn’t enough time to move into FG range and a last-play-of-the-game sack fumble and touchdown for ULM resulted in a Scott Van Pelt “bad beat.”
The last time the teams met in Conway was in 2021 when the Chants overwhelmed the Warhawks 59-6, in Terry Bowden’s first season at ULM. Brayden Bennett and Isaiah Likely scored 2 TDs each and the Coastal special blocked a punt for a TD in the rout.
Coastal and ULM last played in 2022 down in the bayou, as the Chants won that game 28-21. It was a strange night at Malone Stadium, as Coastal scored all 28 in the first half and held off ULM numerous times in the second half to win.
For Saturday night, the Warhawks come to town off a 42-7 loss at Northwestern, while their only other loss was at Alabama. Wins over Saint Francis, UTEP and Arkansas State has head coach Bryant Vincent’s team feeling good about their chances against the Chants.
The ULM offense hasn’t been quite as anemic as Coastal’s, as they average 19 points and 327 yards of total offense per game. Defensively, they allow 33 points and 394 total yards per contest. Whatever the over/under is for this game, I might take the under.
One key to watch is the turnover battle, as ULM has only 5 turnovers in 5 games, while the Chants have given the football away 13 times in their five contests. The Warhawks have the smallest operating budget in all of FBS, and Vincent is the lowest-paid head coach in the Sun Belt, but ULM has been relatively successful under Vincent (8-9) in the 1.5 years he’s been in Monroe. They’ve been able to do more with less, while others do much less with more.
The game Saturday night is a “White Out” game, and since this theme started in 2021, the Chants are 3-1 with wins over Kansas (2021), Buffalo (22) and Old Dominion (24), sandwiched around a 2023 loss to Georgia State. The first time Coastal ever wore white uniforms at home was in a 2015 home win over Alabama A&M and then they donned that look again the next season in a too-close-for-comfort win over Central Connecticut State.
Get there early, wear white (with teal) and be loud!
CHANTS UP