CONWAY – The Chanticleer football program will open the upcoming season on the road at South Carolina, play six home games – including two in September and three in November – and face six teams that went 4-2 in bowl games last season, the Coastal Carolina Department of Athletics announced today.
The six home games are versus UAB (Sept. 9), Campbell (Sept. 15), ULM (Oct. 13), Appalachian State (Nov. 3), Arkansas State (Nov. 10) and Georgia Southern (Nov. 17). The six teams that played in bowl games in 2017 are South Carolina, UAB, Troy, Georgia State, Appalachian State and Arkansas State.
“I am looking forward to the schedule we are going to have for this coming year,” said head coach Joe Moglia. “It is certainly going to be a challenge both in and out of conference. Once again, our guys will get a chance to see parts of the country they have not seen. We look forward to our second season in the Sun Belt, but, right now, we are solely concentrating on spring practice and working on the things that will give us a competitive advantage next fall.”
Coastal will open the season Sept. 1 facing the Gamecocks in Columbia. This will be the second time the two teams have met in football. The first meeting was Coastal’s 2013 regular-season finale, also played in Williams-Brice Stadium. The Chants, ranked seventh in the FCS poll at the time, fell 70-10 to then #11 South Carolina. It was one of just three losses for CCU that season as Coastal won two games in the FCS playoffs before losing to eventual national champion North Dakota State in the quarterfinals.
The Chanticleers will play their 2018 home opener on Sept. 8 versus UAB. Last season, the Blazers held on for a 30-23 win, one of five CCU losses that were decided by one possession or less. Coastal will stay home to play Campbell the following weekend (Sept. 15), marking the first time the two schools will meet on the gridiron.
From that point, four of CCU’s next five games will be on the road. First, CCU will make back-to-back road trips to Louisiana (Sept. 22) and Troy (Sept. 29). After an open date, Coastal will host ULM on Oct. 13. The Chants will then hit the road for consecutive road games at UMass and at Georgia State.
The month of November will see Coastal play three straight home games, on Nov. 3 (vs Appalachian State), Nov. 10 (vs. Arkansas State) and Nov. 17 (vs. Georgia Southern).
Coastal will close the regular season at South Alabama on Nov. 24.
With the Sun Belt Conference playing a divisional format this season, the league will play a championship game featuring the winner of the East Division (Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Troy) and the West Division (Arkansas State, Louisiana, ULM, South Alabama and Texas State). The championship game will be played on the campus of the division winner with the best record or, if the two teams are tied, the Sun Belt will have a tiebreaking procedure.
Coastal Carolina
09/01 at South Carolina
09/08 UAB
09/15 Campbell
09/22 * at Louisiana
09/29 * at Troy
0/13 * ULM
10/20 at UMASS
10/27 * at Georgia State
11/03 * Appalachian State
11/10 * Arkansas State
11/17 * Georgia Southern
11/24 * at South Alabama