JONESBORO -- Coming out of his three-point stance from his 1, Coastal Carolina tight end Isaiah Likely didn't even run 10 yards before turning his head back toward quarterback Grayson McCall.
He knew what was in front of him: 90 yards of turf and no Arkansas State defenders.
Likely's 99-yard touchdown was just the start of a massive night as he piled up 8 catches, 4 going for touchdowns, and 232 yards -- all career highs -- in No. 15 Coastal Carolina's 52-20 rout of the Red Wolves at Centennial Bank Stadium on Thursday. The Chanticleers, the highest-ranked team to visit ASU, scored the first 31 points and were never in serious danger despite a brief second-half surge by ASU with Layne Hatcher at quarterback.
"That's just man coverage, that's just eye discipline," Jones said of his team's costly error on the opening score. "The way I've been brought up, the leagues I've been in, if somebody doesn't execute their job or assignment, you get somebody else in there. Right now, we don't have that luxury."
With ASU's offense stymied early, Coastal Carolina kept pouring it on. The Chanticleers methodically marched 67 yards in 12 plays but came away with only a field goal after defensive tackle Terry Hampton made a crucial stop on third and goal from the Red Wolves' 1.
As ASU (1-5, 0-2 Sun Belt Conference) continued to punt -- the Red Wolves' first five series ended with Ryan Hanson booting it away -- Coastal Carolina punctuated the half with two more touchdown drives of four-plus minutes.
The second of those possessions ended with an impressive 4-yard grab by the dynamic and physically dominant Likely, who went up over a pair of ASU defenders to give the Chanticleers a 24-0 advantage at intermission.
"We knew where he was all the time," Jones said on why his team couldn't slow down Likely. "Sometimes we missed an assignment in the coverage, sometimes there was a fundamental flaw in what was going on and sometimes good players make plays."
With things already not going well for ASU, they got downright scary when cornerback Samy Johnson suffered a back injury on the first play of the third quarter. The Little Rock native stayed on the ground for several minutes before being put on a backboard and taken by ambulance to St. Bernard's Medical Center in Jonesboro.
Jones said postgame that the team was awaiting the results of an MRI but added all of Johnson's other tests came back normal.
It wasn't the only injury of the night -- starting quarterback James Blackman missed the entire the second half with a potential AC joint injury in his shoulder and Hampton suffered a knee injury. Jones said he was awaiting further details on Hampton but indicated it could be serious.
Coastal Carolina (6-0, 2-0) didn't wait long to get its tight end involved following the delay for Johnson's injury. Likely hauled in a 16-yard touchdown on the fourth play of the second half, then grabbed one more on the third play of his team's next series -- going 64 yards for the score.
"I got the best quarterback in the nation, the best [offensive line] in the nation. The reason we score 50 points in a game is the chemistry," Likely said. "Our mantra is to score as many points as we can. Score 50 points and get a burger. I love burgers."
Although the Red Wolves' defense gave the hosts little hope of pulling the stunner, ASU found some rhythm when Hatcher took over in the third quarter in relief of the injured Blackman. The Little Rock native completed three of his first four attempts, pushing ASU across midfield before finding his favorite target, wide receiver Corey Rucker, for a 15-yard touchdown.
He followed it up the next drive, connecting with Te'Vailance Hunt for a 63-yard score three plays later.
But the Chanticleers kept pounding down the doors -- McCall tallied a career-best 365 yards on 18-of 23 passing -- scoring two more 60-plus yard touchdowns in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter as the Red Wolves never got closer than 18 points.
It marked the fourth time in five games that ASU has allowed 50 or more points, and Coastal Carolina's 685 total yards marked the most by a Red Wolves' opponent this season -- Memphis posted 680 in Week 2 at ASU.
Jones was alone at the podium late Thursday night. While the ASU coach was the one left giving answers, he had few to share.
"I was very candid with our football team: There's a standard, there's an expectation, there's a pride in performance," Jones said. "We did not have that competitive grit. I don't understand it."
Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.
