Conway, SC: Noah Kim came off the bench to spark Coastal Carolina’s offense, but the Michigan State transfer couldn’t quite pull the Chanticleers through as the University of Louisiana picked up a 34-24 win over CCU on Saturday at Brooks Stadium. An announced Homecoming crowd of 17,812 witnessed the Ragin’ Cajuns roll up over five hundred yards of offense, scoring the final ten points of the game to remain undefeated in Sun Belt Conference play. CCU fell to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the league with their second straight conference loss.
After a first quarter in which the Chanticleers generated no points and just 39 yards of total offense, head coach Tim Beck pulled starting quarterback Ethan Vasko in favor of Kim. Vasko was just 3-of-10 passing for 10 yards in the opening quarter after throwing for only 84 yards in CCU’s 39-7 loss at James Madison back on October 10th.
Once inserted, Kim energized the teal, black, and bronze, authoring scoring drives of 76 and 90 yards to pull CCU to within 17-14 at the half. For the game, Kim was 16-of-25 for 182 yards and two touchdowns.
Following the game, Coach Beck was non-committal as to whether Kim had done enough to earn the starting nod when the Chanticleers return to action in two weeks at Troy.
“We recruited Noah for a reason. He’s a good player, and to give him an opportunity to come in and he did a really good job,” Beck stated after the game. “As far as this for the future, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
Game Details Courtesy of Rixon Lane, CCU Media Relations: Down 14-0 in the second quarter, Coastal got on the board with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Noah Kim to Kendall Karr with 8:50 on the clock. Louisiana extended the lead to 10 with a field goal, but the Chanticleers pulled within three when Braydon Bennett hauled in a four-yarder with 44 seconds left before halftime to make the score 17-14 at the break.
Coastal’s defense forced a pair of punts in Louisiana’s two possessions in the third quarter, snapping the Ragin’ Cajuns’ streak of scoring in 18 consecutive quarters. Kade Hensley converted a 29-yard field goal with 5:16 left in the third quarter to tie the score at 17-17.
After UL reclaimed the lead on the opening drive of the fourth quarter, the Chants responded when Bennett broke loose on an option pitch for a 49-yard run to pull even, 24-24, with 10:52 remaining in the game. However, Louisiana scored the final 10 points of the day to come away with the victory.
Kim came on in relief at quarterback and completed 16-of-25 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns over the final three quarters. Bryson Graves caught three passes for a career-high 54 yards to lead all receivers. Bennett rushed 13 times for a career-high 132 yards and a touchdown, while catching a team-high five passes for 22 yards.
Juan Powell led the Chanticleer defense with a career-high 11 tackles, while Clev Lubin registered a season-high 2.0 sacks.
Coastal will go back on the road to face Troy on Nov. 2.