Coastal Carolina Chanticleers vs. Kansas Jayhawks Betting Preview
Not very often will you find a matchup in College Football that features a team that’s only been playing at the FBS level for five seasons looking for a third straight win over a power-five program. Coastal Carolina went into Lawrence and beat the Jayhawks in back-to-back seasons and now welcomes Kansas to Myrtle Beach for the final stage of this series. The series has evolved from Coastal being an underdog to being a slight favorite and now a four-touchdown favorite at home per BetOnline (-27.5).
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Coastal Carolina Team Preview
The Chanticleers opened up week one against The Citadel and handled the Bulldogs with ease 52-14. Sophomore quarterback Grayson McCall wasn’t asked to do much in the win but had an efficient day throwing for 262 yards and a touchdown. The Chanticleers dominated the game on the ground, rushing for almost 9 yards per carry and three different backs combined for five rushing touchdowns.
Coastal Carolina didn’t have to show much on the passing defense side as The Citadel runs an old-school triple option and only threw the ball six times in the game. The Chanticleer defense was able to hold the Bulldogs to about four yards per carry. The tune-up game against the FCS squad didn’t shed too much light on how good the Chanticleers can be this season, but the team stepped up and did what they needed to do in week one.
Kansas Jayhawks Team Preview
The Jayhawks entered the season with a win total across three sportsbooks of 1.5 wins. BetOnline, BetUS, and Bovada all had the Jayhawks leaning towards only one regular-season win, with the juice favoring the over side of the bet.
Kansas opened up by beating FCS opponent South Dakota 17-14 at home. The Jayhawks were favored by 11.5 points entering the game but needed a late touchdown to sneak past the Coyotes.
The Jayhawks offense mostly rested on the shoulders of quarterback Jason Bean. In week one, the signal-caller accounted for all but 28 of the Jayhawks’ yards on offense and threw for the team’s two scores.
Overall, Kansas was very poor on the ground, only averaging two yards per rush on 41 carries. The lack of quality rushing game isn’t going to translate well against an experienced Chanticleers defense.
The Bet
As mentioned above, the Chanticleers are favored by almost four touchdowns. BetOnline has the spread set at 27.5 points, while BetUS and Bovada have it set at an even -27. All three of the sportsbooks are in line as they have the total point betting line set with an over/under of 53 points.
The four touchdown spread is one, if not the largest, spread for a non-power five conference school over a power five school. The offensive explosiveness that Coastal has shown since the beginning of last year warrants the betting line being posted as-is, along with the Chanticleers being able to best the Jayhawks by two touchdowns on the road a season ago.
The current betting line is a steep number for any team and may seem too high for this matchup, but the Chanticleers should be able to cover. Kansas has long been a team that has been a doormat in college football, and their 1.5 win total this season shows that this isn’t likely to change.
New head coach Lance Liepold has a chance to change the culture around Lawrence, but it’s still too early for the Jayhawks to compete with nationally-ranked teams. Expect the Chanticleers to have success on the ground and through the air and the defense to give Kansas fits on Friday night.