Conway, S.C.(WBTW) – Coastal Carolina fell behind early and played from behind for the rest of the game in a 45-20 loss to Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night in front of 11,506 fans inside Brooks Stadium on Family Weekend.
The crowd of 11,506 is the seventh-largest crowd to watch a CCU football game in Brooks Stadium history.
The loss drops Coastal Carolina to 3-3 overall on the season and to 1-2 in the Sun Belt. With the win, ULM snaps a four-game losing skid and moves to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play.CCU is now 0-2 all-time versus the Warhawks on the gridiron.
“I think the bottom line is they are a better team than people give them credit for, but at the end of the day we just were not sharp tonight,” stated head coach Joe Moglia. “I’m disappointed in that because we had a really good week of practice and we had a bye week that helped us.”
Making just his second career start, freshman quarterback Bryce Carpenter was 9-of-19 for 133 yards and an interception. Fellow first-year Chant Fred Payton was 3-of-3 for 34 yards over CCU’s last two offensive drives late in the fourth quarter.
Marcus Outlow led the CCU ground attack with 15 carries for 104 yards and a touchdown for his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. Carpenter (17 attempts) and CJ Marable (11 attempts) added 56 and 60 yards, respectively.
Senior wideout Malcolm Williams hauled in four catches for 87 yards, including a team-high 41-yard reception in the third quarter, and registered his first career rushing touchdown.
“From the offensive perspective, Bryce has done a great job for us. He wasn’t particularly sharp tonight. We put the ball on the ground a couple of times and we had penalty after penalty which certainly didn’t help us,” said Moglia. “To maximize your potential you got to be disciplined enough that you understand what you are doing under severe pressure and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Defensively, three defensive backs in safety Eriziah Walker (eight tackles), corner back Mallory Claybourne (seven tackles, fumble recovery) and corner back Derick Bush (seven tackles, 0.5 TFL) all had career highs in tackles in the loss.
“From the defensive prospective, I thought we had a good game plan going into the game and we had a pretty good week of practice. At the end of the day though we weren’t able to stop them,” continued Moglia. “They did a decent job of moving the ball on the ground. Certainly, they did a good job of moving the ball in the air, especially on short passes. You have to give them credit for that, but at the same time we didn’t get our job done and we didn’t stop them.”
For ULM, quarterback Caleb Evans was 16-of-22 for 224 yards and a touchdown through the air, while also rushing six times for 32 yards and two scores.
Derrick Gore was ULM’s leader on the ground gaining a game-high 147 yards on 16 attempts. He scored two touchdowns, including a 46-yarder with less than a minute left in the game.
ULM’s big-play receiver Marcus Green caught five passes for 111 yards including a 37-yard scoring play in the second quarter.
The Warhawks’ defense totaled 10.0 tackles for loss and had four different players with seven or more tackles on the night.
CCU finished the game with 450 yards of total offense – 283 rushing and 167 passing. The Chants hurt their chances with eight penalties and had a season-high three turnovers that led directly to three ULM scores. The Chants won the time of possession battle 34:58 to 25:02.
The Warhawks finished the game with 242 rushing yards and 224 passing yards for 466 total yards. They only committed two penalties (-30 yards) and turned the ball over just once.
In their first home game in five weeks, the Chants came out flat to start the contest, as the Warhawks took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards in just six plays and 2:12 to take an early 7-0 lead on a four-yard touchdown run by Austin Vaughn.
Following a CCU fumble, the Warhawks doubled its lead with a four-play, 42-yard drive in just 1:29 to push its lead out to 14-0 on a Gore touchdown from 10 yards out with 8:35 to go in the opening quarter.
After a punt in their second offensive possession and the Chants’ defense forcing ULM in a three-and-out late in the first quarter, the Chants’ offense was able to put together a solid drive, highlighted by a 21-yard run by Outlow and a 13-yard scamper from Carpenter to get CCU down to the ULM four-yard line. However, a negative rush, a false start and an incomplete pass forced the home team in teal to settle for a Massimo Biscardi 29-yard field goal to put the score at 14-3 in the first quarter.
The defense stepped up again with another three-and-out stop and gave the ball back to the offense with 0:53 seconds to go in the opening quarter.
The Chanticleer offense started the second quarter with a first down, but looked to be stopped with a fourth-and-three on their own 41-yard line. However, a fake punt call by coach Moglia and his staff saw linebacker E.J. Porter run untouched for 33 yards to the ULM 26-yard line.
Six plays later, Williams took the hand off on a sweep to score from four yards out and cut the ULM lead to four at 14-10 with 9:10 to play in the first half.
However, the Warhawks answered with a quick score, as Evans found a streaking Green across the middle for a 37-yard pass and catch to cap off a four-play, 75-yard drive in just 1:32 to push its lead back to double digits at 21-10 with 7:38 to go before the halftime break.
The two teams traded field goals over the final minute of the half to send the teams to the halftime break with ULM in front at 24-13.
The two defenses dictated play to start the second half, as the Warhawks forced CCU to turn the ball over on downs on their first possession of the second half, while the Chants’ defense took advantage of a ULM fumble on the ensuing possession to take the ball at the CCU 34-yard line with 10:11 to go in the third quarter.
On the drive, facing a third-and-four, Carpenter hit Williams in the slot for a 41-yard gain down the left sideline to help set up an Outlow six-yard touchdown run up the middle. After a false started halted the Chants’ two-point conversion attempt, Biscardi made good on the PAT to put the home team down just four at 24-20 with 6:56 left on the clock in the third quarter.
The back-and-forth scoring affair continued just minutes later, as ULM had yet another answer, this time going eight plays for 57 yards to find pay dirt on an Evans one-yard quarterback keeper to push its lead back out to double digits at 31-20.
The two teams then traded punts, before the Chants took their ball on their own 43-yard line with 10:38 to go in the fourth quarter. Highlighted by a 17-yard and 11-yard run by Marable, the home team drove down the field and had a first-and-goal on the ULM eight-yard line thanks to a Warhawk pass interference call in the end zone.
However, Carpenter’s pass was intercepted by ULM’s Jabari Johnson in the end zone to keep the ULM double-digit lead in tact with 8:05 left in the contest.
ULM added two touchdowns late in the game to put the final score at 45-20.
Coastal will step out of Sun Belt Conference play with a road contest at UMass (2-5) on Saturday, Oct. 20. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
