College Football Rankings 2020: Projected AP Top 25 final rankings

Coastal Carolina has played with fire a few times this season. The Chanticleers needed a last-second field goal to beat Louisiana, and needed a stop with a yard to spare to hold on against BYU. Jamey Chadwell’s team nearly suffered a trap game at Troy, then missed the chance to play for an outright Sun Belt title when COVID-19 spread through their locker room. Icarus finally came too close to the sun in the Cure Bowl, where Coastal fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in a 37-34 overtime defeat.

A blocked field goal in overtime proved Coastal Carolina’s ultimate undoing. That they allowed 475 yards to Liberty and generated only three points from three Flames turnovers was far more significant to the Chanticleers collapse in Orlando. Grayson McCall threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns on 21-of-32 passing, and he added 96 yards and a touchdown on the ground to lead the team in rushing. McCall’s best couldn’t get it done alone, as the rest of the offense managed only 59 yards on 18 plays.

The chance to claim a national championship from the Colley Matrix evaporated with the loss to Liberty, but Coastal Carolina can still boast a season that will put them in the final AP Top 25 for the first time in school history. With McCall back for at least one more season in Conway, the window hasn’t yet closed for the Chanticleers to make another push at a New Year’s Six bowl game.