Six times between 2005 and 2021, the Coastal Carolina football team traveled to Boone, N.C., looking to notch a victory over the App State Mountaineers. And six times, the Chants came up short, with some games being blowout losses while others were close but no cigar decisions.
The 2021 game was especially tough, with Coastal going to the high country unbeaten at 6-0, ranked #14 in the country, and the game being shown in prime time to a national audience. Alas, a walk-off field goal doomed the Chants in a 30-27 loss, and many of us wondered when, if ever, Coastal would prevail there.
My friends, after finally getting the job done in 2023 (in walk-off fashion ourselves) and then winning again there this past Saturday, I think we can say we have planted the Chanticleer Flag at “The Rock.” Not many teams win in Boone to begin with and hardly anyone does it on back-to-back trips.
Coastal’s 45-37 victory over App State, on their Homecoming, was as exciting and exhilarating as it was improbable quite frankly. The Chants were decided underdogs coming in, due to some ugly performances and an offense that struggled mightily during the first half of the season. Meanwhile, App was 4-2 and playing good football of late.
But as TD mentioned on our Sunday Strut recap of the win, for the first time all season, this game felt like what Coastal Football has been for nearly 23 years – an offense that moved the ball effectively and scored a bunch of points, a defense that got timely stops when they had to and special teams that were solid and didn’t get you beat.
The Chanticleer rushing game churned out 246 yards, the most a Coastal football team has ever gained on the ground against an App State club. The defense, pushed around early, buckled down in the second half allowing no offensive touchdowns. And the special teams, though they gave up a punt return touchdown, were otherwise solid in all other areas.
Coastal broke through in 2023 with #10 at the helm – CCU legend Grayson McCall who threw for a career-high 373 yards that night in the 27-24 win. On Saturday it was another #10 who led the way offensively, Samari Collier. His numbers weren’t spectacular, but they didn’t have to be. His presence on the field and running this offense gives it a dimension it just didn’t have before. He’s dynamic and explosive out there.
Collier rushed for two touchdowns in this game and threw for another, directing a Coastal attack that produced a season-high 410 yards and 45 points. His 37-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Tucker was a thing of beauty, as he dropped the football right in there for the score.
Kudos to the defense in this one as well. After the Mountaineers scored a touchdown to go up 21-10 at the 8:45 mark of the 2nd quarter, they didn’t see the end zone again. Twice more during the game, the App State offense had 1st and Goal to go. Twice they had to settle for field goals. After being down 31-17 early in the 3rd quarter, Coastal outscored App 28-6 the rest of the way.
Ibrahim Diawara was a force in this game, with 3 tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and a QB hurry. Tray Brown and Zeke Campbell were difficult to deal with, Ja’Marion Wayne led with 11 tackles and the Coastal defense as a unit just got better and more aggressive as the game wore on. Finally, when the defense had to shut the door at the end, it was Campbell getting the strip-sack fumble and Noah Arinze the recovery to do just that – shut the door.
So now the Chants go into their mini-bye week sitting pretty in the Sun Belt East race, at 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the league. As improbable as it seemed after the debacle at The Dominion of Old on October 4, Coastal now controls its own destiny to the Sun Belt championship game. Marshall is next on Thursday, October 30, and hopefully the Chants will come out of that break better than the last time prior to ODU.
In the meantime, savor this victory. Relish it and hold onto it. It’s always significant to beat App State, five of the last six times now, and it’s especially gratifying to plant the flag at “The Rock.”
CHANTS UP!!
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