STATESBORO, Ga. — Coastal Carolina's offensive explosion came up short Saturday night, falling to Georgia Southern 45–40 in a Sun Belt Conference shootout.

Producing 482 yards of offense — their most since Nov. 30 of last season against Georgia State — the Chanticleers dug deep into the playbook. Jameson Tucker led all Coastal receivers with 107 yards on four catches, including a 75-yard touchdown thrown by wideout Bryson Graves on a double pass. The Chants reached into their bag of tricks again in the third quarter when wide receiver Robby Washington took a handoff and tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Karmello English. It marks the first time since 2011 that two non-quarterbacks have thrown touchdown passes for Coastal in the same season.

Quarterbacks Tad Hudson and Samari Collier combined for 280 yards of total offense. Collier added 69 rushing yards, including a five-yard touchdown run.

Coastal's special teams shined in the second quarter. True freshman kicker Philippe Laforge drilled a 51-yard field goal —the longest by a Chanticleer since 2022. Later in the quarter, with Coastal trailing 35–20, Malcolm Gillie returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, the program's first since 2020.

Xamarion Gordon led the Chanticleer defense with eight total tackles, recovered a fumble, and hauled in an interception. As a team, Coastal recorded nine tackles for loss and forced two turnovers.

With the loss, Coastal falls to 6–4 overall and 5–2 in Sun Belt play.

Up Next:
The Chanticleers travel to Columbia, S.C., on Saturday, Nov. 22, to face the South Carolina Gamecocks. Kickoff is set for 4:15 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.