Coastal Carolina is the NY6 Sleeper
Coastal has the best chance of any Group of 5 team to run the table, Wednesday's win against #21 Louisiana was their coming out party.
What is it going to take for Coastal to make a NY6 Bowl? Well their resume reads pretty well so far. The Chants claimed a road victory over a Power 5 opponent in week 1 against Kansas; the Playoff Committee looks favorably upon these wins even if Kansas is quite awful. Week 2 Coastal cruised to victory over FCS Campbell. Then the following week, CCU blew out a solid Arkansas State team that had previously taken Memphis to the wire and beaten now #22 Kansas State in Manhattan, KS. The Chants jumped on the radar after reaching 3-0, receiving AP voted for the first time ever. The date with #21 Louisiana loomed ahead though. The game served as a prequel to the Sun Belt Championship later this season and was an absolute thriller. Not until the final 4 seconds when Coastal booted a 40yd FG would the game be decided, 30-27.
Looking ahead, what do the Chants face going forward?
vs Georgia Southern- The Eagles only beat Campbell by 1 point, CCU did by 22. Southern did almost top Louisiana however, losing by 2 on a last second field goal. If Georgia Southern has all of their players then it could be a tough game taking into consideration the triple option. No way they stop CCU's offense though.
@ Georgia State- Another team with another close loss to Louisiana, this one by 3. The Panthers have a dynamic young quarterback in Cornelius Brown IV who really excelled in their game against East Carolina, throwing for 3 TDs and rushing for 2 more. The Coastal defense isn't nearly as elite as their offense and if they aren't careful then Brown IV is going to eat their lunch.
vs South Alabama- The Jags beat a bad Southern Miss team before losing two straight to Tulane and UAB. Coastal is better than both of those schools and should get an easy victory in this match up.
@ Troy- Troy has two wins over pitiful Middle Tennessee and Texas State to go along with a blowout loss to BYU. Coastal is on par with BYU and will do much the same to Troy as the Cougs did.
vs App State- This will be a massive challenge for the Chants. App State is the defending Sun Belt champs and are pissed after losing by 10 to Marshall. The Mountaineers responded the following week by crushing Campbell by 31 points. App's defense won't be able to contain Grayson McCall however, Chants roll.
@ Texas State- Hard to get a read on the Bobcats, they take now #17 SMU and (3-1) Boston College to the wire but then lose to Troy and UTSA? I'm not sure how to reconcile these. Texas State's only win has come over a ULM team that is arguably the worst team in FBS. Whether the Bobcats decide to show up for this game or not is unknown but mark it as another W for CCU.
vs Liberty- An old foe returns to Conway, SC. This game could ultimately make or break the Chanticleers. Liberty is sitting at 4-0 heading into a match up with Syracuse this weekend; should they win then we could very well see a 6-0, ranked Liberty team playing a ranked Virginia Tech team. By the time Liberty plays CCU they will likely only have losses to VT and NC State. Coastal must contain QB Malik Willis if they stand a chance in this one. Expect this to be the hardest fought game of Coastal's season; they'll be playing for an undefeated season and NY6 Bowl bid giving them the extra motivation to top the Flames.