Liberty (5-5, 2-3) concludes their disappointing 2015 season Thursday night when they host #4 Coastal Carolina (9-1, 4-1). The game will be televised live on ESPNews with kickoff scheduled for 7pm.
Why Coastal Carolina can win this game
The Chanticleers are playing their best ball of the season, winning their last two games against Gardner-Webb and Kennesaw State by a combined 91-13.
Coastal is one of the top teams in the country in scoring margin as they rank in the top 15 nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
D’Angelo Henderson is one of the top offensive players in the country. Coastal’s running back is 7th in the country with 115 rushing yards per game. Henderson is not one-dimensional as he ranks 2nd on the team with 34 receptions. Coach Gill calls Henderson the best back Liberty will face this season.
Why Liberty can win this game
The Flames have been good playing at home this season, with a perfect 4-0 record. Liberty is scoring more than 32 points per game at home compared to just 22 points per game on the road.
This is a rivalry game. You can pretty much throw out each team’s record and ranking. The Flames will come to ready to play, and if history is any indicator, the game will be decided in the final minutes.
X-Factor for this game
Capitalizing on turnovers.
Coastal has been very good this season scoring after forcing a turnover. The Chanticleers have 13 takeaways through their first 10 games and they’ve scored 49 points off those turnovers. Meanwhile, when CCU has turned it over, their defense has done a very good job of not letting those turnovers be costly by only allowing 7 points off their 10 turnovers. The Flames are being outgained by their opponents this season in the points off turnovers category, 35-31.
