Photo from Google Images
In the fall of 2002, I was a freshman at Coastal Carolina University. It was the first year Coastal would have a football team and they all used their redshirt eligibility while the program was built from scratch. The following year, my sorority sisters and I camped out to get in line for tickets for the first football game in school history. On September 6th 2003, the Chanticleers took the field for the first time in front of a sold-out crowd. With seven seconds left in the game, Eshoun Talley had a nine-yard run in the end zone that gave Coastal their first win in school history by beating Newberry 14-21. It was a grand first impression on college football.
Fast forward to December 5th 2020 and ESPN’s College Game Day is broadcasting live from #18 ranked Coastal Carolina University. It’s been a wild year in general. When so many conferences, media members and political turds were doing everything they could to cancel college football, there were two teams who said they’ll play anyone, anywhere, anytime. And now, with a Covid-19 schedule change and on a two-day notice, the #18 Chanticleers are hosting #13 BYU on the teal surf turf.
The Mormons vs. Mullets! Pretty sure BYU doesn’t list the players age on their website because they are much older. The Mormon mission, getting married early, and using every year of NCAA eligibility makes them full on adult grown men. (I bet most of them already have 401K’s too.) And then, on the other side of the country, in little ole Conway, SC (just outside of Myrtle Beach) there’s the Chanticleers. We had slogans like “we pre-game harder than you party”, “It’s not college, it’s Coastal”, “I go to school where you vacation” and there are others, but they are not appropriate. The tradition of fun continues as this team shows they have more fun than any other team in college football. Coastal does not apologize for their incredible awful mullets, the fully scripted WWE celebrations and a faux fur turn over cloak that even John Snow envies. Coastal has the guts to say they will play anyone and the balls to actually play anyone. This doesn’t make Coastal just an entertaining story or even just a good story; it makes them a GREAT team!
Both teams are playing for a New Year’s Six Game. This is HUGE! Two solid teams on both sides of the ball with running backs who can catch. Both teams are playing for respect from the selection committee. Coastal just joined the FBS in 2017, were picked to finish dead last in the SunBelt conference. Now they are 9-0 and the team that has given college football something good to crow about.
The Black Swarm defense will be put to the test and the only thing I know for sure is that they are not scared. Senior RB, CJ Marable is playing for a job in the NFL and Red-shirt freshman, Grayson McCall, is laying the foundation for his statue to be build next to Chauncey. It was great to see Dustin Johnson showing his love for Coastal as the Game Day’s guest picker. The only thing I know for sure about this game is that I am proud to be a Coastal Carolina University Alumni!
We’re the Chanticleers,
Tenacious and true.
We’ll fight until the end
For CCU!
We’ll defend our school,
With all our might!
Coastal will always,
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
GOOOO ChantsUp!