Arkansas State University defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen was having trouble comparing the offense operated by Saturday's opponent, Coastal Carolina, to anybody else in the Sun Belt.
"We haven't seen anybody like this," Cauthen said of Coastal Carolina (1-4, 0-2), which has the conference's sixth-ranked scoring offense (27 points per game).
Up next
ARKANSAS STATE VS.
COASTAL CAROLINA
WHEN Saturday, 6 p.m.
WHERE Centennial Bank Stadium, Jonesboro
RECORDS Arkansas State 2-2, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference; Coastal Carolina 1-4, 0-2
INTERNET ESPN3
Cauthen then recalled a game in 2015, when ASU surrendered 454 total yards to quarterback Louisiana-Lafayette quarterback Jalen Nixon, who recorded over 200 yards in both passing and rushing and had three total touchdowns in a 37-27 ASU victory.
"Lot of quarterback run game," Cauthen said, comparing Louisiana Lafayette and Coastal Carolina. "A lot of unusual formations. Some unusual plays. That's probably who I would compare them to the most of anyone we've played."
But that was two years and 24 games ago -- a stretch that demonstrates just how difficult it has been for ASU to prepare for a football program that won seven conference titles at the Football Championship Subdivision before it made the jump to the Football Bowl Subdivision this year.
"The unknowns are the things that kind of concern you," ASU Coach Blake Anderson said. "For us, we haven't really seen them against anybody that we've played recently, so just the personnel matchups we're not real clear on. We really don't know what we're up against."
Anderson dismissed the notion that Coastal's four-game losing streak indicates inferiority. Winless Georgia Southern trailed ASU 22-17 at halftime last week before turnovers broke open the Red Wolves 43-25 victory, in which the defense surrendered a season-high 333 rushing yards.
Coastal lost its conference games with Louisiana-Monroe, 51-43, and Georgia State, 27-21.
The Chanticleer's spread-option offense (368.4 yards per game) is more productive than Georgia Southern's (316.2 yards per game) and presents more formational wrinkles than Georgia Southern.
"They're going to move all over the place," Anderson said. "It really stresses the communication: 'Who's got what?; You've always got to have option responsibilities, but now it's a move at a quick pace."
The offense is the brainchild of Coastal Coach Joe Moglia, who is on medical sabbatical, and offensive coordinator and interim coach Jamey Chadwell, who joined the staff in January after being named a two-time FCS National Coach of the Year finalist at Charleston Southern.
The presnap motions are intended to confuse defenses and provide favorable matchups for the offense.
Cauthen said Coastal Carolina utilizes so many formations that it is able to run "one-hitters," plays a team runs once out of one formation, never to be seen again.
That ensures ASU will be faced to defend something totally unexpected, which Cauthen said is "probably the biggest concern."
Coastal also routinely plays three quarterbacks throughout a game, and each has personal skills that overlap with the others, like some football venn diagram that leaves opponents shooting for something in the middle.
Senior Daltin Demos has been identified as the primary runner (93 yards, 2 touchdowns rushing), senior Tyler Keane as the primary passer (58 of 101, 806 yards, 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions), and sophomore Chance Thrasher as somewhere in between (52 yards passing, 32 yards rushing).
"You really just need to know what each one of them can do," said sophomore safety BJ Edmonds, who is second on the team with 29 tackles. "That helps us see what's going to happen before the play starts."
Cauthen said the plan can't be to "sell the farm to stop" Demos' running ability, or "he'll throw a shot on you," and that Coastal has a tendency to trap aggressive defenses with play-action passes.
This requires discipline from a secondary that has three safeties (Edmonds, junior Michael Johnson and sophomore Darreon Jackson) who each earned their first career starts this season.
"There's so much stuff, you've just got to watch a lot of film," Edmonds said. "Just keeping our eyes right on the back end. Keeping our eyes right."
Sports on 10/13/2017