Coastal Carolina vs Troy Sun Belt Championship prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Championship Week, Saturday, December 3
Coastal Carolina vs Troy Sun Belt Championship Prediction Game Preview
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Coastal Carolina vs Troy How To Watch
Date: Saturday, December 3
Game Time: 3:30 ET
Venue: Veterans Memorial Stadium, Troy, AL
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Coastal Carolina (9-2), Troy (10-2)
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Why Coastal Carolina Will Win
It was a rocky road, but it’s here.
It only seems like Coastal Carolina is in its third straight Sun Belt Conference Championship Game.
It didn’t get a shot against Louisiana with the 2020 title game cancelled, and last year Louisiana and Appalachian State played for the third time in the four years of the Sun Belt Championship creation.
Coastal Carolina suffered a weird home loss to Old Dominion, got destroyed by James Madison – who should actually be in this representing the Sun Belt East, but wasn’t eligible in its first year up in the FBS world – and lost star QB Grayson McCall for the season.
Again, it’s here.
It managed to win close game after close game – five victories were by a touchdown or less – thanks to another year of high-powered passing efficiency and just enough takeaways to make up for the problems on defense.
The amazing Troy defense might be a rock, but it’ll give up passing yards. The offense will also turn it over just enough to matter.
Coastal Carolina has to be quick-hitting with the passing game, there have to be a few early scores to make Troy’s offense press a bit, and the takeaways have to be there to help the O.
However …
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Why Troy Will Win
The loss of Grayson McCall really did hurt the Chanticleer offense.
James Madison might be No. 1 in the nation against the run, but Coastal Carolina wasn’t able to do anything through the air, either, in the 47-7 loss last week.
The Troy defense isn’t quite as strong, but it isn’t far off.
The pass rush will be coming from the start – the Coastal Carolina timing should be off from the start.
Troy has won nine straight partly because the competition has been mediocre, but it’s also because the D keeps on coming up with takeaways, it’s fantastic at generating a pass rush, and it always finds ways to keep the score low and stay in control.
Coastal Carolina’s passing game might be great, but it has a problem when the running game isn’t rocking. It has to average at least four years per carry to keep everything moving, but that’s a problem – Troy allows just 3.3 yards per pop.
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What’s Going To Happen
The Troy formula should continue to work. Run well, rely on the defense, repeat.
The Trojans are 8-0 when at least getting to 70 rushing yards – and 1-2 when it didn’t – and Coastal Carolina hasn’t allowed fewer than 90 against any FBS team.
This might not be scintillating, but it should be close throughout before Troy finally breaks through with the ground game. Coastal Carolina’s two losses came in the two worst days of the season against the run. This won’t be that bad, but Troy will come up with a time crunching drive to survive.
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Coastal Carolina vs Troy Sun Belt Championship Prediction, Line
Troy 27, Coastal Carolina 24
Line: Troy -8.5, o/u: 48.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
Coastal Carolina vs Troy Sun Belt Championship Must See Rating (out of 5): 4
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