The Liberty Flames and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are going to meet after all. After their initial scheduled meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19-related reasons, the two will finally get to lock horns this week in an intriguing bowl game between two teams with electric offenses. Check out our preview of this game below.
Liberty just recently destroyed the UMass Minutemen at home last Saturday, to the tune of a 45-0 score. The Flames burnt the Minutemen to a crisp with their fully-charged offense that is averaging 37.1 points and 480.6 total yards per game, ranked 17th and 15th in the nation, respectively. Liberty is a run-heavy team that is also 23rd nationally with a 59.28 rushing play percentage and eighth with 252.1 rushing yards per game. The Flames have three players with at least 500 rushing yards on the season and four with at least 400. The leader is dual-threat quarterback Malik Willis, who has 2,040 passing yards and 20 touchdowns, and four interceptions to go along with his 807 rushing yards and 10 rushing scores. Against UMass, he had 223 passing yards and four total touchdowns (3 passing, 1 rushing).
Liberty is 8-2 against the spread in its last 10 games overall.
Betting on the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (-6.5)
Record: 11-0 Overall / 8-0 Conference
The Chanticleers will arrive in the Cure Bowl with a spotless record. They have an 11-0 slate, with two wins against ranked teams. Apart from defeating BYU a couple of weeks ago, the Cougars also victimized the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns, 30-27, on the road back in October. The Chanticleers have a high-octane offense that’s being driven by talented quarterback Grayson McCall. The redshirt freshman leads Coastal Carolina’s offense that is pumping out 38.7 points and 448.3 total yards per game. McCall has managed to complete 67.2 percent of his passes and compiled 1,2,170 passing yards to go along with 23 touchdowns and three interceptions. But it was the Chanticleers’ rushing attack that showed them the way in last Saturday’s 42-48 road win over the Troy Trojans in which Coastal Carolina had 176 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 43 carries. Running back CJ Marable gashed Troy’s defense for 176 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, while McCall had 40 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
Coastal Carolina is 7-2-1 against the spread in its last 10 games overall.
