2024 Week 6 - at Charleston Southern

[ST_Lawson]

AT
Date: 10/5/2024
Time: 3 PM CT (game is in Eastern tim zone, so it's 4 PM locally)
Location: Buccaneer Field (4,000 capacity), North Charleston, SC (http://www.csusports.com/facilities/buccaneer-field/3)
TV: ESPN+

Charleston Southern's Record: The Buccaneers are 1-3 so far this season, losing by 1 to The Citadel, beating Top 25-ranked Furman by 4, losing by 38 at Richmond, then losing by 4 at Tennessee State last weekend. Last year, CSU finished 4-7 overall. This weekend will be their Homecoming game.

History: WIU has never played Charleston Southern, so here's a short bit about the history of one of our new conference-mates. CSU was chartered in 1960 as the Baptist College of Charleston, changing their name to Charleston Southern in 1990. They are located in North Charleston, a suburb of Charleston, SC and currently have just over 3,800 students. They did have some issues with power loss from Hurricane Helene that caused them to have to cancel or postpone some events and sports matches over the weekend, but it looks like everything is back up and running now (https://www.charlestonsouthern.edu/powe ... perations/).

Players to Know:

• Sophomore RB Autavius Ison leads the team with 80.5 yards per game and 2 TDs, including a 157-yard performance against Tennessee State last week.
• Graduate QB Rob McCoy Jr. is probably starting QB, but we won't know until closer to game time. He is averaging 148 passing yards per game with 3 TDs and a 151.31 QB rating, but had an ankle injury against Richmond on the 14th and was out last weekend against Tennessee State. If he doesn't play, his replacement is likely to be Sophomore Kaleb Jackson, who threw for 90 yards against TSU.
• Receptions are mostly split between Sophomore WR Noah Jennings (44.5 ypg w/ 2 TDs) and Junior WR Chris Rhone (42.75 ypg)
• Sophomore LB Steve Zayachowsky is leading the team in tackles with 18 solo and 7 assisted, but is closely followed by Grad Safety Trayson Fowler with 18 solo and 2 assisted. They also have 1 forced fumble each.
• Junior Punter Gilbert Brown is averaging 50.36 yards per punt this season with a 61-yard average on 4 punts against TSU last weekend (in the rain).

Predictions: Massey currently says we have a 35% chance of winning, with a predicted score of 31-24 for CSU: https://masseyratings.com/game.php?gid=940317350
Weather is currently projected to be around 81 (feels like 85), with a 15% chance of rain. Hopefully we do a better job of pre-game hydration this weekend, because even with the cooler weather on Saturday, there were a lot of players on our side cramping up.

[ST_Lawson]

[jtrinaldi]

If we win out, we make the playoffs. Will be interesting to see how the team does at a lower level of competition compared to the MVC.  

[ST_Lawson]

If we win out, we make the playoffs. Will be interesting to see how the team does at a lower level of competition compared to the MVC.  

 

I mean...yeah, technically. I'd just be satisified with 3-4 wins though. With a bit of luck (and better defense...and fewer penalties) we could probably be competitive with just about anyone in the Big South-OVC except for probably SEMO and UT Martin at this point. Massey is currently saying 16% chance against UT Martin and 9% against SEMO. Every other game is between 25% and 45%...so, not favored, but most have us within 10 points. A couple of lucky bounces and we can cover that.

Still hoping for wins against Charleston Southern and Tennessee State, then possibly Lindenwood, TN Tech, EIU, or Gardner-Webb.

[NewNeck]

I don't see much that resembles a playoff team with WIU right now ... but I agree 2-3 conference wins is a real possibility.  Much more parity in OVC plus none of the "big boys" from the Dakotas to deal with.  Defense must make a big improvement and if Lamb continues to play efficient we will be in the mix in most of these games.

[ST_Lawson]

Much more parity in OVC plus none of the "big boys" from the Dakotas to deal with.

 

Exactly. If you look at the Massey Ratings of the MVFC and OVC teams, here's where things stand currently:

1. SDSU
2. NDSU
6. UND
7. USD
14. SEMO (OVC)
16. SIU
17. MO State
22. IL State
29. TN Martin (OVC)
30. UNI
44. TN Tech (OVC)
54. YSU
67. Lindenwood (OVC)
71. Gardner-Webb (OVC)
74. EIU (OVC)
81. TN State (OVC)
88. Charleston Southern (OVC)
91. Murray State
95. IN State
107. WIU (OVC)

So, you have all the Dakota schools in the top 10 and all above the best team in our conference. Three more MVFC in the top 25 before you get to the #2 team in the OVC. Playing in the MVFC, even if we missed the best two teams in the conference, we'd still have to play probably four to five top-25 teams in most years. In the OVC, we play one...maybe two if we have two teams doing really well.

The downside to that is that we'd have to win a lot more games to make the playoffs, but the plus side is we have a much better chance of winning most of those games.

[4EverPurple&Gold]

 

Found these on YoutTube and love that the conference is doing this, been watching other teams too. 

[sealhall74]

The boys just landed in Charleston from their Peoria-based flight.  Do you think the 3 busses head back to their home base (Burlington?) or do they spend the night in Peoria?  My gut says cheaper to spend the night in Peoria but what do I know.

[Western_101]

The boys just landed in Charleston from their Peoria-based flight.  Do you think the 3 busses head back to their home base (Burlington?) or do they spend the night in Peoria?  My gut says cheaper to spend the night in Peoria but what do I know.

 

Flightaware is a pretty cool tool to track to see if folks got to their destination/or to know when to jump in the car to pick up at terminal.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight ... /KPIA/KCHS

Seal, you're a hoot! It never would have occurred to me to speculate on whereabouts of the bus drivers
  

[jtrinaldi]

Much more parity in OVC plus none of the "big boys" from the Dakotas to deal with.


 

Exactly. If you look at the Massey Ratings of the MVFC and OVC teams, here's where things stand currently:

1. SDSU
2. NDSU
6. UND
7. USD
14. SEMO (OVC)
16. SIU
17. MO State
22. IL State
29. TN Martin (OVC)
30. UNI
44. TN Tech (OVC)
54. YSU
67. Lindenwood (OVC)
71. Gardner-Webb (OVC)
74. EIU (OVC)
81. TN State (OVC)
88. Charleston Southern (OVC)
91. Murray State
95. IN State
107. WIU (OVC)

So, you have all the Dakota schools in the top 10 and all above the best team in our conference. Three more MVFC in the top 25 before you get to the #2 team in the OVC. Playing in the MVFC, even if we missed the best two teams in the conference, we'd still have to play probably four to five top-25 teams in most years. In the OVC, we play one...maybe two if we have two teams doing really well.

The downside to that is that we'd have to win a lot more games to make the playoffs, but the plus side is we have a much better chance of winning most of those games.

 

This is great motivation. Time to go bottoms up and shock the world!