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A battle of the Carolinas will take place in Birmingham for the Ticketsmarter Birmingham Bowl. This will be the first ever matchup between the two schools. This is Coastal Carolina’s third straight bowl game appearance, going 1-1 in the first two games. This is East Carolina’s first bowl game under Mike Houston, and their first bowl game since 2014.
When: Tuesday, December 27th @ 6:45 PM ET
Where: Birmingham, Alabama
Who: Coastal Carolina vs. East Carolina
Spread & Total: East Carolina -7.5; O/U 64
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Tale of the Tape: Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
The most decorated player in Sun Belt history – Grayson McCall – resides with Coastal, but has announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal. Yet, he announced he will play in this game. Coastal Carolina is 8-2 when he led the charge this season. Their offense has topped 30 points just twice in their last eight; they hit 30 in each of the first four games of the season.
Defensively, Coastal Carolina allowed over 40 points in three of their last six games, including the Sun Belt Championship. They have turned over quarterbacks just nine times, but only once in the second half of the season.
Coastal Carolina’s head coach, Jamey Chadwell, accepted the Liberty head coaching position after Hugh Freeze left for Auburn. The interim head coach for the bowl game will be defensive coordinator Chad Staggs. Former offensive coordinator of North Carolina State was hired as the new Coastal Carolina head coach for the 2023 season. If something comes out regarding McCall’s status, given his intention to enter the transfer portal, Coastal will go to their QB3 in Jarrett Guest. Backup quarterback Bryce Carpenter is suspended and unavailable for the bowl game.
Transfer Portal Departures:
QB Grayson McCall (Will play in bowl game)
C Willie Lampkin (First Team All-Sun Belt)
CB Manny Stokes
Players to Know:
QB Grayson McCall
Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. Announced he will enter the transfer portal, but opted to play in the bowl game. Three year starter. 70.4 completion percentage, 78 touchdowns to just eight interceptions.
CB Lance Boykin
All-Sun Belt Second Team. 55 total tackles is second on team. Seven pass deflections leads the team. One recorded sack and forced fumble
Tale of the Tape: East Carolina Pirates
The passing attack is the strength of this offense. Holton Ahlers threw for at least 250 yards in 10 of 12 games this season. He threw for multiple touchdowns in each of his first five games, but only did so twice in the team’s last seven. The offensive line has done a great job in keeping Ahlers upright, allowing just 14 sacks all season. Ahlers has been sacked multiple times in a game just three times this season.
Defensively, this is the worst pass defense in FBS. 26 passing touchdowns allowed ranks 119th of 131 schools. Over the last two games, East Carolina has surrendered 962 passing yards and nine passing touchdowns. But the rushing defense is strong. East Carolina has allowed just one 100-yard rusher this season, Lopini Katu of BYU.
Transfer Portal Departures:
C Avery Jones
DE Elijah Robinson
S Shawn Dourseau
Player to Know:
RB Keaton Mitchell
All-AAC First Team Selection. Second straight season with over 1,000 yards. 13 rushing touchdowns is a career high. Logged over 200 receiving yards and a touchdown for second straight season
QB Holton Ahlers
Holds school records in completions, attempts, passing yards (13,633) and passing touchdowns (92)
Bowl Game Trends:
- First time bowl appearance for both head coaches
- American: 9-6 in Birmingham Bowl
Game Synopsis:
Both pass defenses are atrocious, and both teams have solid quarterbacks. The question with this is how invested is Coastal Carolina with the news of their head coach leaving for Liberty and their star quarterback entering the transfer portal. We saw a similar situation with Wake Forest earlier in bowl mania, except Wake’s Sam Hartman had not yet announced his intentions to enter the portal. But it was assumed. I like East Carolina to win this outright, but McCall’s status doesn’t make this the most confident play.
Bowl Mania Pick To Win: East Carolina
Bowl Mania Confidence: 3/43
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