BOONE, N.C.-- Coastal Carolina knew all along that all of its grand aspirations, which all seemed possible through six games, would hinge on its game at Appalachian State on Wednesday night at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
And the Mountaineers wiped some of those goals away, including CCU’s likely hopes of a New Year’s Six bowl berth.
A 24-yard field goal by Chandler Staton as time expired gave App State (5-2, 2-1) the upper hand in race for the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division title with a 30-27 win over the Chanticleers (6-1, 2-1), who entered the game ranked 14th in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Coastal had won 18 consecutive regular season games, which was the most in the nation, and had also won 11 consecutive Sun Belt games and seven road games in a row.
The Mountaineers forced a Coastal punt with 4 minutes remaining and drove 55 yards in nine plays for the game-winning points against a beleaguered CCU defense.
Its App State’s first win against a ranked FBS team since it made the transition to FBS from FCS in 2014, and just the second ever along with its shocking upset of Michigan in 2007.
The nation watched on ESPN2, and fans showed up for the showdown, as the announced attendance of 31,061 is the fourth largest crowd in App State history.
CCU’s entered the game with the most prolific offense in college football under quarterback Grayson McCall, ranking first in the nation in both points per game (48.8) and yards per play (8.8) and second in yards per game (554.2).
While the offense still produced 30 points and 346 yards despite struggling for stretches of the game, especially in the second half, the step up in competition for CCU played out on the defensive side of the ball.
After allowing less than 275 yards of total offense against three consecutive opponents to move up to eighth in the country in points allowed per game (15) and third in passing yards allowed per game (151.5), the CCU defense was torched for 575 yards, including 347 passing by Chase Brice.
McCall completed 15-of-23 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown while under duress much of the game. He entered the game leading the nation in passing efficiency, completion percentage and yards per attempt.
Making an early statement
App State won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball, but CCU put up the first 14 points of the game.
The Mountaineers drove 60 yards in eight plays to the CCU 28, where junior safety Shi’heem Watkins broke up a fourth-and-3 pass to receiver Malik Williams with a big hit from behind to give CCU possession.
Coastal converted a pair of long third downs with a beautiful McCall 28-yard pass to Jaivon Heigligh despite double coverage on the left sideline on third-and-10 at the CCU 28, and pass interference call on a throw to Heiligh on third-and-7 at the ASU 41. Shermari Jones capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run.
CCU forced a punt on App State’s second possession with the help of a 15-yard facemask penalty on center Baer Hunter, and on third-and-3 McCall hit Kameron Brown over the middle for a 74-yard TD. McCall scrambled to his left and looked like he would run for the first down but stopped shy of the line of scrimmage and hit Brown 10 yards over the middle, and Brown outraced defenders to the end zone.
Mountaineers going deep, early and often
App State entered the game with a clear offensive game plan to attack CCU with deep passes and feature Malik Williams, one of its trio of talented receivers.
The Mountaineers almost ignored its talented receivers Corey Sutton and Thomas Hennigan against cornerbacks and attacked CCU with deep passes to receiver Malik Williams, who was being defended by safeties, often one-on-one in man coverage. He had seven catches for 145 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
In the first quarter alone, Chase Brice attempted four passes of 25 yards or more — three to Williams.
A long pass to Hennigan and two to Williams were broken up by Lance Boykin, Alex Spillum and Mateo Sudipo before Brice finally landed one with a 45-yard strike down the middle to Williams on the final play of the first quarter. Williams caught a 32-yard pass on the very next play in one-on-one coverage against Derick Bush to set up a 1-yard Camerun Peoples TD run for App State’s first score.
The second score would be a 47-yard bomb over the middle from Brice, who was being pressured up the middle by C.J. Brewer, to Williams, who ran past linebacker Silas Kelly and safety Mateo Sudipo.
Brice went deep twice on ASU’s first possession of the second half. Boykin broke up a pass to Hennigan and Sutton scored on a 28-yard TD reception thrown to the left pylon, and Brice wasn’t done there, either.
App State gets sneaky
Despite two long field goals by Massimo Biscardi of 46 and 50 yards to give him the CCU career record with 43 made field goals, App State won the special teams battle with one play.
A well-executed onside kick got the ball back for the Mountaineers following their first score early in the second quarter.
Exploiting something the coaching staff must have seen on film, Mountaineers kicker Michael Hughes lofted a soft kick to the right sideline about 12 yards downfield and backup cornerback Milan Tucker recovered just inside the sideline at the CCU 48. App State scored two plays later to tie the score.
Biscardi passed Justin Durham, who had 42 field goals. CCU’s first kicker, Josh Hoke, is third with 40.
Some, but not enough
Coastal had its share of big plays on defense, but not enough to hold off the Mountaineers.
The Chanticleers got a pair of turnovers on downs. Shi’heem Watkins broke up a fourth-and-3 pass with a solid hit on App State’s first possession.
Jerrod Clark tossed the center aside to meet Teddy Gallagher in the hole and stop Nate Noel on a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter.
Gallagher forced a fumble on a completion to Corey Sutton and Manny Stokes Jr. recovered late in the first half.
And C.J. Brewer recovered a fumbled exchanged between Brice and Daetrich Harrington at the CCU 6 to thwart a scoring opportunity in the fourth quarter.
Poll implications
Coastal has been ranked for 19 consecutive releases of both The Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll dating back to last October.
Though they’ll take a tumble with the loss in Boone, will a prime-time loss on the road against a respected opponent be enough to drop them out of the Top 25 altogether, or will there be a 20th consecutive week as a ranked team?
Up next
Coastal has won 11 consecutive games at Brooks Stadium and returns to Conway for yet another midweek prime-time game against Troy at 7:30 next Thursday night.
The Trojans are 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the conference and are coming off a pair of close wins over Georgia Southern (27-24) and Texas State (31-28) after falling 24-13 at South Carolina. Troy is off this week.
