CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina football is set to open up its 2020 home slate this Friday night, Sept. 18, versus the Campbell Fighting Camels at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
  • The Chanticleers have dominated in home openers at Brooks Stadium since its first home opener back in 2003, posting a 13-4 overall record in the first home contest of each season.
 
• Coastal will look to start a new home-opening winning streak, as the Chants dropped last year's home opener to Eastern Michigan (Aug. 31, 2019) by a score of 30-23 after winning eight-straight home-opening contests from 2011-18.
  • CCU's previous game with Campbell was moved up from Saturday, Sept. 15, to Wednesday, Sept. 12 and was relocated to Buies Creek, N.C. and Barker-Lane Stadium due to Hurricane Florence in 2018.
 
• With the game being moved up four days, CCU had just four days of rest between its week 2 game versus UAB (Sept. 8) and its contest at Campbell (Sept. 12).
  • This year's contest was another unique scheduling quirk, as the two teams were not on each other's original 2020 schedule.
 
• This week's contest was put together due to all of the scheduling changes across the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic and announced on Aug. 24.
  • Coastal Carolina is 1-0 all-time versus the Campbell Fighting Camels.
 
• The Chanticleers scored the final 48 points of the game in a 58-21 road win over Campbell (FCS) on Wednesday, Sept. 12 (2018).
 
• The Chants scored a new FBS-era record 58 points, besting their 47-point outing in the win over UAB (Sept. 8) just four days earlier. The 58 points were also the most points by CCU since scoring 58 points at Charleston Southern on Oct. 1, 2016.
  • With the Big South Conference choosing to postpone fall sports to the spring due to COVID-19, the Campbell Fighting Camels are playing four non-conference games this fall against Georgia Southern (last week), Coastal Carolina (Sept. 18), Appalachian State (Sept. 26), and Wake Forest (Oct. 9).
 
• Picked to finish fourth in the 2020 Big South Preseason Coaches' Poll, six Camels were named to the 2020 Preseason All-Big South teams headlined by 2019 freshman All-American quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams being named the 2020 Big South Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
 
• The Camels are coming off a 27-26 loss at Georgia Southern (Sept. 12) in which they went for the win with a two-point conversion attempt with just 15 seconds left in the game.
 
• CU outgained Georgia Southern 369 to 346 for the game with 237 yards coming through the air from Williams. He was 17-of-27 for 237 yards and two touchdowns while connecting with six different receivers in the loss.
 
• Williams also led the team in rushing, running 11 times for 73 yards and a score. C.J. Freeman and Bryant Barr ran for 39 and 38 yards, respectively, versus the Eagles with Barr accounting for one TD.
 
• The Campbell defense held strong for the first half of play but appeared to run out of steam against the GS triple-option attack late in the game as the Eagles scored twice in the fourth quarter.
  • Making his first career start, redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall received national attention for his play in week two, as he was named a College Football Performance Award (CFPA) National Performer of the Week honorable mention, a Manning Award "Star of the Week", and to the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award's Great 8 list.
 
• McCall, who accounted for five touchdowns — three passing and two rushing — to lead the Chanticleers to a 38-23 season-opening road win at Kansas (Sept. 12), was 11-of-18 for 133 yards via the passing game while connecting with six different receivers. He also rushed 11 times for 73 yards and two scores. Most importantly, McCall led an offense that totaled 318 yards, five touchdowns, and had no turnovers.
  • With the season opener coming on Saturday, Sept. 12, the contest was the latest season-opening contest in the program's young history.
 
• The latest date in which the Chants' had opened up the season was on Sept. 6 in the program's inaugural season in 2003.
  • Coastal Carolina is 11-7 all-time in season openers in the program's 18-year history after the win last week at Kansas (Sept. 12) to open the season.
 
• CCU is 7-5 in season openers on the road, which included four-straight season-opening road wins from 2013-16.
 
• The Chants are now 2-2 in season openers in their brief FBS history with a win over UMass (2017), a loss at South Carolina (2018), a home defeat versus Eastern Michigan (2019), and the win this year at Kansas (Sept. 12).
  • Over his collegiate career, including his Big South-leading 1,038 rushing yards at Presbyterian College (FCS) as a true freshman in 2017, Marable has rushed for 2,917 yards which puts him just 83 yards shy of 3,000 career rushing yards.
  • The Coastal Carolina defense recorded three takeaways in the first half in the win over Kansas (Sept. 12) last week in the season opener.
 
• The three turnovers — a Derick Bush interception, a fumble recovery by Enock Makonzo after a forced fumble by D'Jordan Strong, and an interception by Jeffrey Gunter — led directly to 21 points for the Coastal offense.
  • The Coastal defense was excited to welcome back linebackers Silas Kelly, Enock Makonzo, and Jeffrey Gunter for the 2020 season.
 
• Kelly, who was injured in the second game of the season at Kansas (Sept. 7, 2019) last season returned to his old form at the same spot he saw his season end last year. He was second on the team with eight tackles, all solo stops, and recorded 2.0 tackles-for-loss including 1.0 sack.
 
• Like Kelly, Makonzo was also injured for the season last year at Kansas. In his return, the redshirt junior was third on the team with seven tackles, 2.0 tackles-for-loss, and a fumble recovery.
 
• Gunter returned to Coastal where he was a 2018 All-Sun Belt first team selection after sitting out last year at N.C. State as a transfer.
 
• The 6-4, 260-pound linebacker totaled four tackles and 2.0 tackles-for-loss which were both sacks. He also recorded his first career interception, as he leaped up in the air, batted a pass, and came down with the catch all before hitting the ground.
  • Redshirt senior defensive tackle C.J. Brewer had himself a day in the season-opening win at Kansas (Sept. 12) last week on both sides of the ball.
 
• On defense, his team-leading 3.0 tackles-for-loss and 2.0 sacks were both career-highs.
 
• On offense, yes offense, he entered the game as a fullback in a goal line formation and caught a two-yard pass out of the backfield for a touchdown, the first of his career.
 

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