Liberty (3-4, 2-0)
vs.
Coastal Carolina (3-4, 1-1)
The second game of what I call the "holy trinity" of the Big South takes place this weekend as the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers host Liberty.
Both teams come into this weekend with momentum, Coastal coming off a 34-7 rout of VMI in Lexington, while the Flames come in burning bright following their third straight victory over Division II Concord 21-13.
Liberty does come in minus one of their biggest deep threats as Ryan Ferguson was announced as out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury sustained on the opening kickoff against Concord. Darrin "Petey" Peterson and Jaquan Glover saw increased playing time. Ryan Ayers will return to action at cornerback against the Chants, which is a definite bit of good news. The Flames however, did lose linebacker Bobby Partilla and the career of Korrey Davis came to an end due to a hip injury.
The Liberty-CCU series is probably the most even series outside of Liberty and Stony Brook. Liberty won the first meeting between the two in 2003, 38-21. CCU then ran off the next four meetings, including the first two in Conway, 33-6 and 28-26. Liberty broke through in 2007, (the debut of the red jerseys), and won the next three meetings to tie the series at 4. CCU then upset the Flames (who were on the cusp of a top 10 ranking at the time) in 2010, on the way to the first ever automatic bid for the Big South. Liberty then trampled Coastal last season in Lynchburg, scoring the first 42 points on the way to a 63-27 victory and knotting the series at 5.
Liberty has not had a lot of success down at the beach, with the "beach chickens" holding a 3-1 advantage at Brooks Stadium.
CCU will need a balanced attack to be able to hold serve once again. Aramis Hillary comes into the weekend leading the conference in passing yards (1,657) and second in passing TDs (11), but the Chants will need more from running backs Jeremy Height (who was held to only 9 yards, as the Chants rushed for 159 as a team) and freshman Lorenzo Taliaferro (who is drawing comparisons to former Chant RB Mike Tolbert, now with the NFL's Carolina Panthers) for Coastal to come away with a victory.
Liberty needs to keep winning to force a potential winner take all game in Lynchburg on November 10. a CCU win, coupled with a Liberty win on November 10, likely gives Coastal the automatic qualifier for the second time in three years, thanks to the conference's new tiebreaking procedures (see a very informative post here from LU Flames Nation)
One thing that you can guarantee about games between LU and CCU down in Myrtle Beach is the scoreboard operators are gonna be very busy (the average score between the two has been 47-33 in favor of Coastal). If both QBs (Hillary for CCU and Woodrum for Liberty) play like they have the last few weeks, it will come down to who can establish the running game and open up the lanes for their dual threat QB. I call Liberty to take this one in another South Carolina shootout.
Liberty 45
CCU 38
1 comment:
Liberty has all the possibilities to track and maintain your position. The team needs initiative and make changes for next season.
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