Coastal Carolina will host Marshall on Thursday night at Brooks Stadium in a game with major implications in the Sun Belt East Division race. Both teams are coming off a bye and are playing their best football of the 2025 season.
A capacity crowd is expected for the 7:30 kickoff, which should make for a great atmosphere for the ESPN2 national television audience and fans listening on the Chanticleer Sports Radio Network.
For those keeping up, the Chanticleers are 9-5 all-time on Thursday night since CCU football began in 2003. The last time Coastal played on Thursday night was last season when the Chants routed App State 38-24 in Conway, easily the best performance down the stretch of the 2024 campaign.
Other memorable Thursday night games? Here are some that come to my mind.
September 25, 2003: In just the fourth game in program history, the Chants traveled to Eastside High School on a Thursday night to take on North Greenville. After falling behind the Crusaders 17-7 early in the second quarter, the upstart Chants exploded for 35 points in the final 11 minutes of the period to lead 42-17 at halftime, eventually winning 49-39. Aundres Perkins rushed for 202 yards and two touchdowns, Demetrius Morant also scored twice while Lounzy Green returned an interception 58 yards to paydirt keying the win.
November 17, 2016: With Coastal playing an FCS schedule though they were no longer in the Big South Conference or eligible for the FCS playoffs due to the transition to the FBS, the Chants met bitter rival Liberty on a Thursday night in Conway. Former football GA and national champion baseball player, turned emergency QB Tyler Chadwick, came off the bench early in the game and led an attack that piled up 316 rushing yards. Hop Henderson went for 139 yards and 3 TDs as Coastal won handily 42-7. The 2016 National Champion Coastal Carolina baseball team, including Chadwick, was honored at halftime of this game, making the evening especially memorable.
October 7, 2021: On this particular Thursday night, Coastal rolled unbeaten into Jonesboro, Arkansas, and unleashed an offensive showcase which we hadn’t seen before and haven’t seen since. Coastal amassed a school-record 685 yards of total offense, averaged 11 yards per play, and easily put away the Red Wolves 52-20. Coastal’s first TD was 99-yard pass from Grayson McCall to Isaiah Likely, who scored a program-record 4 TDs in the ball game. The Chants had four scoring plays in this game which incredibly covered 64 yards or longer. McCall threw for 365 yards, Likely caught eight passes for 232 yards and those 4 scores, while Shermari Jones rushed for 113 yards on just 10 carries. Anything the Chants wanted on offense in this game, they got it.
November 3, 2022: In what was essentially former head coach Jamey Chadwell’s final hurrah at Coastal, the Chants met App State in Conway on a “Black Out” night and in front of a then-record crowd of more than 21,000, the Chants never trailed in a 35-28 win over the Mountaineers. McCall, who played most of this game with a mid-foot sprain, threw for 253 yards and two scores, while the Black Swarm defense held App to just 88 yards on the ground to record the 8th win of the 2022 season. The most memorable play of the game may have been when App State made things interesting late, but with Coastal in possession deep in their territory and facing third and 11, McCall hit Jared Brown with a 47-yard strike to move the chains and basically end the game.
August 29, 2024: Three times in program history Coastal has opened a season with a Thursday night game. First in 2009 losing at Kent State, then again in 2021 as the Chants routed The Citadel at home. The last time it happened was just a year ago, as Coastal lifted the lid on the 2024 campaign with a resounding 55-27 victory at Jacksonville State. CCU set a program record for most points in an opening game (55), as they also racked up 552 yards of total offense. Ethan Vasko threw for 249 yards and two scores, Ja’Vin Simpkins rushed for 80 yards, while eight different Chants caught a pass in the offensive onslaught. The defense got into the act when Clev Lubin scooped up a fumble and rambled 17 yards for a first quarter score as the Chants were never threatened after that.
So what will happen Thursday night? Who knows but it should be a good one. Marshall has won four of its last five, which includes the eye-opening 48-24 boatrace over The Dominion of Old a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile, Coastal has had an offensive awakening in the last two games while the defense has been reasonably consistent all season. We’ll talk about the game on the next edition of The Strut so tune in!
CHANTS UP!
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