Inside Enemy Territory: Coastal Carolina

In lieu of the usual question and answer feature we have with opponents before games, I decided to do something a little different for Coastal Carolina. The Chants don’t have a dedicated presence here on SBNation, so while they do get some coverage on this site, I wanted to go straight to the source to see how Chants fans are feeling about their game against South Carolina this weekend.

Yes, I went to a message board.

Coastalfans.com appears to be the de facto online watering hole for CCU folks, so the following quotes originate from a couple threads there. Most of them appear in full, although I’ve trimmed out some banter with other posters and similar filler from a few of them. Another disclaimer: This board apparently has a smack talk forum, but it’s available to registered users only. I love you guys, but I wasn’t sure I was willing to take that bullet, so I decided to pass on checking it out.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some insights from Chanticleer country:

To start with, many of their fans are quick to point out that Coastal pulled its starters early into its 70-10 loss to the Gamecocks in 2013 out of concern for the FCS playoffs, and also refer to last year’s narrow but promising 39-38 defeat to Arkansas.

They’re coming off a season that numerically looks really good. And they’re all expecting to be actually good this year. Personally, as mentioned above, I don’t think they were nearly as good last year as their record suggests. Because of their expectations and the fact that they see us as one of the only two guaranteed games on their schedule, I think they come in a little too confident. They know the last time we played they put 70 on the board, and because none of the players and much of the coaching staff were not there during that game, they may not realize we pulled our starters second quarter.

...

Having said that, I think we come out focused and unintimidated. We beat Arkansas for 95% of a game with all the things we had going wrong last year. That game specifically was our offensive lines’ defining moment. ... The whole team knows they’re capable of hanging with S.C., regardless of the outcome. Throw in that we have Moglia back, Chadwell able to focus on just the offense, and then all the size and talent we added, and I think we’ll do well.

So I won’t be at all surprised if we pull this off. Realistically, my head expects us to get a lead in the second quarter, by 10-14, and SCar to close the gap by half time with us still holding a small lead. Second half I expect us to still play well but lose a close one.

While I respect the optimism and do assume Coastal will improve this year, a CCU halftime lead is nonetheless a bit of a bold prediction from where I’m sitting. But hey, that’s the beauty (and the agony) of college football.

The last time was just a weird setup. We had FCS playoffs and a run at the natty on our minds and CJM made a calculated decision against a Top 10 Power 5 football team. Some agreed with it, some didn’t. I don’t think there is any way we do that this time because we are now an FBS team, with recruiting and a growing fan base to think of.

...

We aren’t going over there to place or show. However this is still a good USC football team with more quality depth than what we have right now. That’s just a fact of life. Plus they are more experienced than we are. If we started today, we wouldn’t start a Senior on either line of scrimmage. They have experienced QB, RBs, a wideout/return guy who is one of the most exciting players in all of college football, a couple of really good defenders in their front 7 and they’ll be at home.

But they are a real question mark on the back end of their defense, their kicking game is suspect and who knows how they will run their new, up-tempo, lots of snaps offense with a first-year OC. And will they be looking past us to Georgia?

It is interesting to consider how the FCS-to-FBS transition has affected Coastal’s preparation for this game. Every team comes in expecting to win, of course, but I figure CCU will have a much more urgent mindset this time around. On that Georgia note...

I’d be more worried if we were facing Spurrier or Lou Holtz, but Muschamp strikes me as the type of coach who would see us as an FCS level tune up game while focusing on Georgia.

I found this a strange observation, because I feel it’s exactly the opposite. Spurrier was prone to overlooking games against “lesser” competition because he was frankly arrogant, and didn’t want to waste his time with an opponent he perceived as inferior. Muschamp, on the other hand, is in the midst of a career and image revival. He can’t afford to overlook anyone.

Here’s a nugget about a couple of players to potentially watch out for:

If both Pringle and Sterling are able to start against SC, I think they’re going to be shocked at the amount of pressure we put on them. Not sure how good their scouting is, but up until recently we looked very thin on DLine. We just got two 300 pounders thrown in the mix.

And now for the lighter side of things:

Now..if it were Clemson...then those kitties can go to hell. They can go to hell and die!

But it’s SCar...so...I’m cool.

Thank you, friend.

Beyoncé and Jay-z rocked that stadium like USC fans never can.

Ouch.

My ex is a USC alum and will be at this game most likely, so I’m rooting for the Chants to lay a big ole turd on them in Willy B. KILL THEM CHANTS! FRY THEM UP AND EAT EM!

I mean, that’s fair.

This fan helpfully put together a drinking game that looks sure to get you properly hammered. Seriously, much kudos for this:

The CCU @ USC drinking game

If you’re watching the game, take a drink when you hear any of the following phrases.

1. “Coastal WAS the national champ in baseball in 2016” (probably in pregame)

2. “Is the strength of the SEC too much for the Sun Belt?”

3. “Coastal...out of Conway but a stone’s throw from Myrtle Beach”

4. “Joe Moglia, the billionaire turned football coach...”

5. “The Gamecocks are expected to challenge for the East Division title this year”

6. “I think the South Carolina faithful are some of the best fans in all of college football.”

7. “And Coastal, showing some moxie out there decides to take a risk”

8. “The few that followed the Chants to Columbia have to go like/hate that call”

9. Mispronouncing Chanticleers

In conclusion, Chants fans seem like a feisty but also pretty reasonable bunch. How disappointing.