Coastal Carolina football: 3 takeaways from win over Georgia Southern
By Dante Pryor
2. Both defenses defended the run very well
The way each defense played the run seemed as if they scrimmaged against one another all week before the game. The truth is, each team plays such a similar style; it should not be a surprise this game turned into a defensive struggle. The Chanticleers did not help matters much that starting quarterback, Grayson McCall missed the game with an upper-body injury.
The Eagles held the Chanticleers to a season-low 130 yards. Chants leading rusher CJ Marable was held to just 19 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Fred Payton had just 38 rushing yards on ten carries. Georgia Southern did not respect the quarterback as a runner in this one keying on Marable on every option play.
The Eagles did not fare much better against the Chanticleers’ defense. Star quarterback Shai Werts was bottled all game long. He had just 94 yards passing, two interceptions, and 36 yards rushing, 23 of those yards on one run. Running back J.D. King had some success gaining 67 yards on 15 carries.
The Chanticleers’ front seven did an outstanding job of playing assignment football. Defending the option is often a lesson in discipline. Linemen kept their gap discipline, and the linebackers did an outstanding job of staying in their lanes. The player who spied Werts stayed on him, forcing him to pitch stringing out the play wide. The Chanticleers’ linemen kept their linebackers clean to make tackles.