<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3Be4CI_0w37F4HF00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3Be4CI_0w37F4HF00" width="1609" height="1287" ><figcaption>CCU wide receiver Jameson Tucker hauls in a 40-yard touchdown reception on a Thursday night game against James Madison University Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Photo courtesy CCU Athletic Department)</figcaption></figure>James Madison remains Coastal Carolina’s football Mount Everest.It’s a peak the Chanticleers haven’t come close to scaling in the last three seasons.Alonza Barnett III fired three touchdown passes, the Dukes got a pick-six from the defense and rolled to a dominating 39-7 victory Thursday night, Oct. 10, in a nationally televised Sun Belt Conference game.James Madison has won the last three games between the two teams by a combined 114 points. The Dukes won 47-7 in Harrisonburg in 2022 and 56-14 at Brooks Stadium last season.The Dukes (5-1 overall, 1-1), coming off a 21-19 upset loss to Louisiana-Monroe last week, made the Chanticleers pay. They held a 421-181 edge in total yardage and held the ball nearly 39 minutes.Coastal Carolina quarterback Ethan Vasko was 5-of-18 for 84 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions before being relieved by Noah Kim. Vasko had incompletions on 13 of his last 14 passes a week after throwing for 367 yards in a 45-37 win over Old Dominion.The Chanticleers are 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Sun Belt after the jarring loss.“We did not play a great all-around game for four quarters,” said Coastal Carolina head coach Tim Beck. “There were some spurts where we did some good things. Obviously, as the head football coach, I’m responsible and didn’t do a great job, obviously, of getting our guys ready to play early.”But the second-year coach quickly pivoted and focused on looking ahead.“It’s just one loss as hard as that is,” Beck said. “This is a really good conference, a lot of good football teams. There’s a lot of football ahead of us and we still have the opportunity to reach all of our goals. We still have an opportunity to control our own destiny by going out and continuing to improve and get better and correct the things we’ve got to correct.“Life’s a journey and it’s a constant learning experience. It’s a growing experience. And that’s where we’re at.”James Madison dominates across the boardThe Dukes showed remarkable balance, rushing for 222 yards and throwing for 199. They converted 6-of-14 third downs and a fourth down.On the other hand, the Chanticleers couldn’t establish a running game in addition to their passing game woes. They finished with 102 yards on the ground, with 29 coming on a Vasko run.“It’s hard for me to make assessments and evaluations at this time,” Beck said. “We just played. I’ve got to be able to look at the film, marinate on it a little bit and see where we made the mistakes and what we need to do to fix.”Beck has been around for the last two lopsided losses and is searching for answers.“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “Last year was a different deal. We got down early… There’s a lot of different factors from that game to this game. I felt good going into this game, I really did. I felt like if our players played their best game, we had a chance to win the game.”Early hopeLinebacker Wyatt Gedeon recovered a fumble to halt the Dukes’ first drive and Vasko threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Tucker. It was a 7-7 game with 4:30 left in the first quarter.And then the Chanticleers forced a punt on James Madison’s ensuing drive. When the quarter ended, it was still a 7-7 game. In last year’s game, things were already out of reach for the Chanticleers by that point.Second quarter backbreakersJames Madison regained the lead early in the second quarter when Barnett threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Taylor Thompson. That came moments after Thompson hauled in a 33-yard reception from Barnett on a flea-flicker. They used even more trickery when Thompson, who was the holder, threw to Josh Phifer for a two-point conversion.Then it quickly got worse for the Chanticleers.Vasko threw a screen pass toward the middle of the field but 6-foot-6, 245-pound lineman Lloyd Summerrall III grabbed it and rumbled 35 yards for a touchdown.Just like that, the Chanticleers were down 15.“We gave them a touchdown and then an interception return for a touchdown in what – a minute, two minutes?” Beck said. “It hit us a little bit, knocked the wind out of us… From that moment on, we gave up 17 points.”The ill-fated pass was a slipup in execution.“We were running a screen,” Beck said. “The back kind of got caught up, trying to get out to the field. A version of what we did last week against Old Dominion on the boundary and scored… [James Madison] ran kind of a twist game. The defensive end kind of just stood there. The big man jumped up, caught it and ran it for a touchdown. He made a play. He made a play.”After forcing a three-and-out, the Dukes struck once again when Barnett scrambled five yards for a touchdown and a 29-7 lead.There was still time for the Chanticleers to make it a two-touchdown game heading into halftime and things looked promising toward that end when Vasko ran 29 yards to the James Madison 46. But a couple of dropped passes snuffed out that opportunity.Quarterback switchNoah Kim, a redshirt senior who transferred from Michigan State, entered the game late in the third quarter with Coastal Carolina trailing 36-7.There wasn’t a notable difference, but the game was pretty much decided by that point. Kim completed 4-of-7 passes for 18 yards. He also fumbled a pair of snaps, which he recovered.The change was more of a game situation than anything else.“We wanted to let Noah go in there and see what he could do,” Beck said. “I felt like we were just giving him some reps, giving him some time to be able to go. Again, I’m not in any mindset to make any kind of knee jerk reaction in a loss.”Vasko has thrown for 1,185 yards and 8 touchdowns with 4 interceptions this season.The Chanticleers host Louisiana on Saturday, Oct. 19 at noon.</div></body>

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James Madison blows out CCU for 3rd year in a row

James Madison remains Coastal Carolina’s football Mount Everest. It’s a peak the Chanticleers haven’t come close to scaling in the last three seasons. Alonza Barnett III fired three touchdown passes, the Dukes got a pick-six from the defense and rolled to a dominating 39-7 victory Thursday night, Oct. 10, in a nationally televised Sun Belt Conference game.

James Madison blows out CCU for 3rd year in a row

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