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Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (6-1) will look to bounce back against the Marshall Thundering Herd (4-3) on Saturday. The Chanticleers are still licking their wounds from a 49-21 home defeat at the hands of the Old Dominion Monarchs. Coastal closed as an 11-point favorite, but was run all over in an embarrassing 28-point loss. ODU's Blake Watson ran for a school-record 256 yards against Coastal. CCU QB Grayson McCall was again fabulous, but it mattered little with the defense getting torched.
Meanwhile, the Marshall Thundering Herd played spoiler last Saturday, handing the James Madison Dukes their first home loss of the season. JMU scored 12 points in the first quarter, but the Herd answered with 26 unanswered points while shutting out the Dukes the rest of the way. Marshall running back Khalan Laborn did his thing, rushing for 151 yards and two scores. It the third time he's done that this season. Saturday will be the first time these two programs have faced off.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers vs. Marshall Thundering Herd Betting Odds
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Tale of the Tape
Coastal Carolina is in its sixth season as an FBS program and fourth with coach Jamey Chadwell at the helm. The Chanticleers are enjoying yet another fantastic campaign, all of which has been with QB Grayson McCall under center. McCall may end his career as the most efficient gun slinger to lace them up, already throwing 72 touchdowns against seven interceptions in his four years in Conway, South Carolina. The North Carolina native has 18 touchdowns to one pick this season, ranking third in the FBS in passer efficiency. The CCU rushing attack is solid, led by CJ Beasly, who averages 77 rush yards a game on 5.5 per attempt.
The Coastal defense has yet to live up to expectations, allowing 29.3 points per game. In addition, they have been horrible against the pass, getting gashed for nearly 270 passing yards per contest. The Chanticleers are somewhat decent against the rush, but still rank near the bottom of the Sun Belt in defensive rush metrics.
At 4-3, the Marshall Thundering Herd have a realistic chance of punching their ticket to a ninth bowl game in ten years. The Herd offense runs through RB Khalan Laborn. The Florida State transfer leads the Sun Belt in rushing yards and TDs at 1,002 and 12. Marshall runs nearly twice as often as they throw, but QB Henry Colombi completes a remarkable 73% of his passes.
The Herd defense is one of the country's best and easily the Sun Belt's top unit. They allow 16.6 points per game and keep opposing QBs under a 51% completion percentage. Good luck running on a Marshall team that hasn't given up a rushing touchdown in October. Pundits could argue that the Herd's most impressive feat was keeping Notre Dame running back Audric Estime well below his average for yards and yards per attempt.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers vs. Marshall Thundering Herd Prediction
As well as Marshall has played this season, bettors should remember that Coastal has been a force for the last three seasons. Their QB play is impressive, and HC Jamey Chadwell is the man to prepare the Chanticleers with two weeks of preparation. Expect Grayson McCall and company to go into Huntington, West Virginia, and secure their fourth conference win of the season.
Prediction: CCU +2.5 (-105)
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