Week 3 Preview: East Carolina at Coastal Carolina

Coastal Carolina’s defense handled business in its home opener last Saturday against Charleston Southern, securing its first win of the 2025 season. The Chanticleers will look to keep that momentum heading into Saturday’s battle with East Carolina.

Both teams enter Saturday coming off their first wins of the season, but East Carolina did so in dominant fashion in rolling past Campbell 56-3. Coastal leaned on its defense and running back room in a 13-0 shutout.

Coastal Carolina

The Chanticleers’ ground game was a difference-maker in last Saturday’s win, with Ja’Vin Simpkins, Jalen John and freshman standout Dominic Knicely each rushing for more than 50 yards.

Redshirt Junior MJ Morris struggled tremendously in Coastal’s win, finding very little success against an FCS opponent that entered on an 11-game losing streak. Morris threw for 102 yards on 13 completions with three interceptions, as well as a fumble.

The offense needed a spark, so they turned to Redshirt sophomore and North Carolina transfer, Tad Hudson. Hudson took over on his very first drive, guiding the offense down the field and capped it with a 4-yard run for the game’s only touchdown, finishing off a smooth drive featuring a few big runs and an 18-yard connection to Bryson Graves.

The Chanticleers rushed for 245 yards, averaging almost five yards per carry.

On the other side of the ball, first-year defensive coordinator Jeremiah Johnson’s defense held Charleston Southern to just 153 total yards and a staggering 0-for-11 on third down conversions and recorded six tackles for losses. Senior linebacker Shane Bruce came up with an interception late in the first half, giving the defense its first turnover of the season.

Third-year head coach Tim Beck said they must be more consistent when it came to ball security.

“We can’t turn the ball over, that’s the biggest thing, every year I’ve ever coached, when you turn the ball over, you lose,” said Beck.

Ball security was an issue, as the Chanticleers fumbled three times (all recovered) on top of the three costly interceptions.

East Carolina

The Pirates made sure to secure a victory this week, bouncing back after their heartbreaking Week 1 loss to NC State, where they were stopped on a fourth down deep in Wolfpack territory with just 37 seconds remaining in the game.

East Carolina scored eight touchdowns and totaled 535 yards on offense against Campbell, led by senior quarterback Katin Houser, who completed 25 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns.

The Pirates wasted no time, striking first with an 18-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Desirrio Riles on their first drive of the game. It was only uphill from there.

Sophomore running back London Montgomery powered the Pirates’ offense with two touchdowns, one in the first quarter and another in the third. He wasn’t the only back to make an impact, as Marlon Gunn Jr., Parker Jenkins and DeJuan Lacy each found the end zone.

Junior wide receiver Brock Spalding led the team in receiving with three catches for 81 yards, highlighted by a 55-yard touchdown early in the second quarter. After posting six receptions for 97 yards in Week 1, Spalding is quickly proving himself to be a reliable weapon in the Pirates’ offense this season.

Defensively, the Pirates dominated, recording nine tackles for loss and holding Campbell to just 2-of-14 on third-down conversions while surrendering only three points.

East Carolina committed 10 penalties resulting in 84 yards, something head coach Blake Harrell stressed will need improvement moving forward.

“Obviously, there’s some things throughout the game we got to clean up, some penalties that still early in the season we’re not doing a good job with, that will hurt you in a tight ball game.”

Harrell thought the team had some good performances overall and good individual performances. One of the biggest takeaways was East Carolina’s balanced passing attack, as the Pirates spread the ball around to 15 different receivers, each recording at least one catch.