Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

CCU football notes: Series superiority at stake for rivals

CONWAY -- Either Coastal Carolina and Liberty will take the lead in their rivalry series today in Lynchburg, Va.

The schools are 3-3 against each other since they began playing in 2003. Liberty won the opener, Coastal won the next three and the Flames have won the past two. How close is the series between them?

Each team has scored 171 points against the other in their six meetings, a statistic that Coastal coach David Bennett pointed out at his weekly press conference Wednesday.

Difference maker?

Coastal's struggles on special teams have been well documented throughout the season, and Bennett believes his team must improve to have a chance against the Flames.

``Special teams are going to play a huge part in this football game,'' Bennett said. ``You hear that all the time. I'm telling you field position is going to be huge in this ballgame. Right now we have to get better on special teams. I give the edge to Liberty.

``If we can beat them in the special teams game, we might have a chance to win this ballgame. But we can't be worse than them.''

Family ties

Though he labeled the information ``G-14 classified,'' Coastal linebacker Jamel Davis said this week that he is related to Liberty all-purpose threat Mike Brown, who will likely return kicks, play receiver and take snaps at times in today's game.

Davis, a redshirt freshman from Richmond, Va., learned before last season's meeting with Liberty that he and Brown, a redshirt sophomore from Charlottesville, Va., were related by marriage.

``One of his aunts is married to my uncle,'' Davis said. ``That's basically it. I didn't really know him until last year.''

Odds and ends

In addition to Davis, Coastal has two other players on its travel roster from the state of Virginia. Starting receiver Paul Nicholas is from Monacan High School in Richmond. Reserve receiver Jonathan Morgan is from Chantilly, Va. Liberty has four players from South Carolina: receiver Freddie Brown (Duncan), guard Malcolm Boyd (Spartanburg), defensive end Trey Jacobs (Columbia) and quarterback Tyler Brennan (Anderson). ... Coastal is 14-7 all time in televised games but just 6-5 on the road in such contests. The Chants are just 4-8 all time on synthetic surfaces. Liberty's Williams Stadium features FieldTurf.

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