In front of the largest crowd ever at Brooks Stadium, with an attendance of 22,104, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers would be scheduled to take on the Virginia Cavaliers out of the ACC. This was the first meeting between the two schools. Both teams were supposed to play against one another in November of 2022, but that game was canceled due to the shooting that took the lives of three Virginia Cavaliers football players and wounded a fourth.

Coastal Carolina came into the game having won three games in five seasons against Power Conference opponents, the last of which was a victory over Kansas in 2021. Virginia would go into the contest having had a 100-yard receiver in the previous nine games. The day’s story would not be Virginia’s passing yards but its ability to run the football on Coastal.

Virginia had rushed for almost 400 yards on the ground through the season’s first three games. On this day, they would rush for an astounding 383 yards while coming into the game as a narrow favorite to bring home the victory. Coastal would not start with any momentum, having fumbled the opening kickoff, which was recovered by Virginia, giving them the ball deep into Coastal territory. They would take the lead right out of the gate with 13:36 left in the first on a connection from Virginia QB Anthony Colandrea to Malachai Fields for a 7-yard passing TD.

Coastal would start their drive with a couple of chunk plays but would end up settling for a field goal by Chant’s kicker, Kade Hensley, to make it 7-3 with 10:11 left in the first. After both teams settled for a couple of 3 & outs, It was Coastal Carolina’s turn again to try and take the lead. QB Ethan Vasko would have a pass tipped for a Virginia INT while taking over at the 35-yard line. They would then capitalize on the turnover with a five-yard rushing touchdown by backup QB Grady Brosterhous to take a lead of 14-3 at 4:47 left in the first quarter.

Virginia would kick a field goal in the second quarter to move the lead to 17-3 with 11:14 to go until the half. Coastal Carolina would answer with a 29-yard TD pass from Vasko to Jameson Tucker to pull within seven, making it 17-10 with 7:26 left in the first half in favor of Virginia. After another touchdown by Grady Brosterhous and another field goal, Virginia would take the lead into halftime with a score of 27-10.

Trying not to let the game get out of hand, Coastal would hold Virginia to a field goal to start the second half, making the score 30-10. Unable to get things going on the ground, Coastal would attempt to turn to the passing game, looking for any big plays. Coastal speedster Tray Taylor would catch a pass for a significant gain, but they could not cap the drive off with any points on the board inside the 10-yard line. Virginia would again score another rushing touchdown and made the score 37-10 with 6:26 left in the third quarter.

Coastal Carolina backup QB Noah Kim would enter the game and provide a bit of a spark, finding Bryson Graves for a 15-yard TD to make it 43-24, but at this point, the game was out of hand, and Coastal Carolina was running out of time. The score mentioned above would be the final on the day.

When looking at a box score, you can permanently shed some light on the outcome by a few stats that stick out. Usually, looking at the TOP (Time Of Possession) or (Turnovers) will be the culprit as to who wins and who loses. Today, the story would not only be (Time Of Possession), which was handled by Virginia at 37:05 to Coastal’s 22:55 but also the rushing yards. Virginia would lead in this category while outgaining Coastal 384 yds to 82 yds. Deep into the 4th quarter, Virginia was also 5-5 in the red zone.

Coastal Carolina prides itself on defense but was outplayed by Virginia’s offensive side of the football. They only managed to get a few sacks late and 3 TFLs (Tackles For Loss). Would the outcome have differed if Coastal Carolina had had a healthy backfield? Not likely, but it may have kept them in the game with more points on the board. Coastal Carolina will look forward to the bye week next weekend before welcoming Old Dominion to town in two weeks with a kickoff time TBD.

Written By Joshua Petry

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