CONWAY, S.C. — Coastal Carolina leads the Sun Belt's East Division as the only team with one conference loss.
App State is among a large group of East teams at 2-2 in league play, but the Mountaineers haven't lost to a divisional foe that's eligible to appear in the Sun Belt Conference title game.
Needless to say, the App State-Coastal game being played Thursday night on ESPN is a big one.
Despite a 1-2 start to Sun Belt play with losses to FBS newcomer James Madison (which is ineligible for postseason play) and West division opponent Texas State, App State (5-3, 2-2) controls its ability to represent the East in the league's championship game. The formula for success has no shortcuts, starting with an immediate need to beat the first-place Chanticleers (7-1, 4-1).
An App State win at Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C., would leave every East team with at least two conferences losses and provide the Mountaineers with a potentially important head-to-head tiebreaker over Coastal. All four of App State's games in November are against postseason-eligible East Division teams.
"Our kids are locked in and focused," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "They know it's going to be a big football game. We can sit here and say it's not, that it's the next game, but it is a big football game, and every week's a big game in the Sun Belt. That's something we look forward to."
The Mountaineers hold a 4-1 lead in Sun Belt matchups against Coastal Carolina, which trailed 23-21 with less than three minutes left in its 2020 home win over App State. Last year, App State overcame an early 14-0 deficit and kicked a tiebreaking field goal as time expired to claim a 30-27 victory that played a key role in allowing the Mountaineers to appear in the Sun Belt title game for the third time since its 2018 inception. Coastal is the only other team to win the East Division, but the 2020 title game was not contested.
Bouncing back from a 63-61 loss to open the season, even with the stats from that game contributing to these totals, App State's defense ranks in the top 20 nationally in forced fumbles (tied for No. 2 with 13), passing yards allowed per game (No. 15 at 179.4) and total yards allowed per game (No. 17 at 308.5).
Coastal Carolina lost some high-level skill position players from 2021, but the Chanticleers still possess a standout quarterback in Grayson McCall, who has 73 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions in his career. Passing for 257.6 yards per game in 2022, he has thrown 19 touchdown passes and a single interception while completing 68.8 percent of his attempts.
On the ground, CJ Beasley and Reese White both average more than 65 rushing yards per game. Georgia State transfer Sam Pinckney leads the team with 45 catches for 628 yards, and speedy redshirt freshman Jared Brown already has five touchdown receptions of 50-plus yards in eight games.
"(McCall) really leads that offense," Clark said. "They're going to run the (Shotgun) Triple (Option), but he's also a great thrower. He doesn't get enough credit for how he throws the ball downfield and stretches the field vertically. He's getting to his second and third progressions now and has really developed as a quarterback in the passing game."
Coastal has used an opportunistic defense to rank second nationally in fumble recoveries (11), fifth nationally in turnovers forced (19) and sixth nationally in turnover margin (plus-10 overall, or plus-1.25 per game). "Bandit" Josaiah Stewart presents problems as the Sun Belt's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and Jerrod Clark anchors the line as a 6-foot-4, 340-pound nose tackle.
App State's offense has started slowly over the last three games, leading to a combined seven first-quarter points in that 2-1 stretch, and that's a recipe for trouble against a Coastal team that has outscored its opponents 80-34 in the first quarter this season.
The Chanticleers have been outscored in the second and third quarters, but a 79-55 advantage in fourth-quarter scoring has helped them close games well, as they erased fourth-quarter deficits in wins against Buffalo (38-26) and Georgia Southern (34-30). Coastal also has close wins against the likes of Gardner-Webb (31-27) and ULM (28-21).
The Mountaineers are returning to the site of running back
Camerun Peoples' two most productive games to date. He rushed for 171 first-half yards and finished with 178 on a career-high 27 carries at Coastal Carolina in 2020, then set a school record with 317 rushing yards in Brooks Stadium during the 2020 Myrtle Beach Bowl win against North Texas.
Peoples had a quiet afternoon last weekend against Robert Morris, but
Nate Noel's 157 yards on 20 carries over the last two games have enabled fans to see the kind of burst that had been missing since a 116-yard season debut against North Carolina.
"We know the schedule and know there are tough games on the docket," Clark said. "This week is about us playing clean football, being able to sustain some drives on offense and really rally to the football on defense to get them off their mark."
