Statesboro, GA: After After each Coastal Carolina football win, the team gathers in the locker room to celebrate with their victory song. The Allman Brothers hit “Statesboro Blues” is not on the Chanticleers’ playlist.
Georgia Southern rolled up 653 yards of total offense and got a career night from running back OJ Arnold to defeat CCU 45-40 on Saturday night at Paulson Stadium. The loss, coupled with James Madison’s 58-10 blowout of App State earlier in the day, eliminated the Chanticleers from contention for the Sun Belt East Division title. The Dukes will play the winner of the West on December 5th for the league championship.
Arnold accounted for 393 yards of total offense and had five 50+ yard plays in a career night for the Quitman, Ga., native. He rushed 21 times for 267 yards and two touchdowns, the fifth-most rushing yards in a single game in Georgia Southern history, while adding four catches for 53 yards and a touchdown as well as a 73-yard touchdown pass. According to GSU media relations, he is the first Georgia Southern player to rush for a touchdown, catch a touchdown pass, and throw a touchdown pass in the same game in program history.
Game Recap Courtesy of CCU Media Relations: Producing 482 yards of offense—CCU’s most since Nov. 30 of last season against Georgia State—the Chanticleers dug deep into the playbook. Jameson Tucker led all Coastal receivers with 107 yards on four catches, including a 75-yard touchdown thrown by wideout Bryson Graves on a double pass. The Chants reached into their bag of tricks again in the third quarter when wide receiver Robby Washington took a handoff and tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Karmello English. It marks the first time since 2011 that two non-quarterbacks have thrown touchdown passes for Coastal in the same season.
Quarterbacks Tad Hudson and Samari Collier combined for 280 yards of total offense. Before suffering an injury in the first half, Collier added 69 rushing yards, which included a five-yard touchdown run. Hudson finished the game, completing 15 of 28 for 173 yards with an interception.
Coastal’s special teams shined in the second quarter. True freshman kicker Phillippe Laforge drilled a 51-yard field goal—the longest by a Chanticleer since 2022. Later in the quarter, with Coastal trailing 35–20, Malcolm Gillie returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, the program’s first since 2020.
The Chanticleers travel to Columbia next Saturday to face South Carolina. Kickoff is set for 4:15 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.