The 2025 Coastal Carolina football turnaround continued last week with a 44-27 whipping of Marshall that followed the blueprint (in some ways) of the win at App State the preceding week. The Chants kept the scoring pace early and then used a shutdown defense in the second half to pull away to victory.
Against the Thundering Herd, it was forcing five second-half turnovers that proved to be the difference. That and an offensive game plan which, once again, utilized an effective ground game to win for the fourth time in the last five starts. After an historically bad opening stretch to the season, the Chants (5-3, 4-1) are now very much alive for bowl eligibility, a Sun Belt East Division title and a chance to win the Sun Belt championship.
To keep it going this weekend on Homecoming, Coastal must find a way to break one of the strangest streaks currently going in all of college football. Coastal and Georgia State have split the eight meetings between them, which in and of itself is not remarkable. What is remarkable is that the road team has won all eight games.
The Panthers won the first meeting between the two teams in Conway 27-21 back in 2017, and each year since, it’s been the visitors with the happy flight (or bus ride) home. Last year the Chants achieved bowl eligibility with a 48-27 victory at Turner Field in the final game of the regular season.
Will this be the year the home team finally figures it out and ends the jinx? Or do the Panthers (1-7, 0-4) remain unbeaten on the Surf Turf with an upset of the favored Chants? Coastal’s next two opponents have the two worst rushing defenses in the league, which bodes well for CCU. The Panthers allow opponents 205 ypg on the ground and more than 450 ypg overall. Hopefully, those trends continue beginning at 4 pm Saturday afternoon.
CROSSOVER SEASON – As football heads down the home stretch of the regular season, the month of November ushered in the beginning of Coastal Men’s and Women’s basketball. Both teams opened Monday night against MAC opponents and unfortunately, both came up short in their lid-lifters.
The Coastal Men traveled to take on Western Michigan and lost a close one 76-71. Despite the setback, head coach Justin Gray’s team seems to have more versatility and more scoring options than did his first team last season. Coastal’s next game is Friday night at 7 pm in the HTC Center against Virginia-Lynchburg.
Meanwhile the Coastal Women opened at home against Miami (OH), as the Redhawks used a 21-4 second quarter stretch to fuel their 63-53 victory. Coastal won three of the four quarters, but it was the second period that doomed the Chants in this one. CCU rallied late to cut a 21-point deficit to just four but couldn’t get all the way back as Miami held off Coastal at the end.
Fourth year head coach Kevin Pederson completely rebuilt his roster much like Coach Gray did with his, and it will likely take some time to get “Coastal Chaos” clicking on all cylinders. The Coastal Women travel to BYU tonight to take on the Cougars in their season opener at 9 pm ET. BYU is picked #10 in the Big 12 preseason poll.
You’ll want to catch The Strut each week as we’ll provide coverage of men’s and women’s basketball all season!
CHANTS UP!