CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern ripped off 27 unanswered points in the second half to defeat Campbell, 34-10, on Thursday night at Buccaneer Field. The Bucs tallied 261 yards of offense after halftime and limited Campbell to just 49 yards and one first down to improve to 3-0 for a second straight season.
Trailing 10-7 at intermission, CSU (3-0) responded with touchdowns on its first two drives of the third quarter to pull away from Campbell (0-3).
CSU senior
Christian Reyes scored from a yard out to give the Bucs the lead for good at 13-10, capping a six-play march highlighted by an
Austin Brown 51-yard pass to
Kenny Dinkins. The first interception of sophomore corner
Troy McGowens' career set up CSU's next score, as Danny Croghan III came off the bench to power the Bucs' option game with a two-yard touchdown run. Charleston Southern's defense forced Campbell into three-and-outs on its final six possessions of the night, and the offense tacked on two more touchdowns to cement the victory.
"I thought it looked like we were on a short week in some respects," CSU head coach
Jamey Chadwell said afterward. "We looked a little sloppy. But give Campbell a lot of credit. They came out and were ready to play from the get go. We had a come to Jesus type moment there in the locker room at halftime. But I thought we came out in the second half and played pretty well. We really started clicking in a lot of ways after halftime."
"I didn't holler at them at halftime," Chadwell continued. "I just thought Campbell brought more intensity to start the game than we did. That should never happen. We aren't that type of team. If we want to win, we've got to be the team that brings all the energy. That's on us. I felt like our guys kind of played that way. We kind of talked about that with the guys at halftime, about what type of program we are trying to be. I thought we came out and proved that."
Brown led a 243-yard CSU rushing effort (166 yards in the second half) with 85 yards on 11 carries, including a 50-yard burst to set up the Bucs' opening touchdown drive. Reyes added 56 yards and a touchdown, and needs only 23 more yards to move into second place on the CSU all-time rushing list. Brown made his share of big plays in the passing game for a third straight week, connecting on 8-of-15 attempts for 154 yards and a pair of scores.
"We are still a work in progress," Chadwell said. "We left a lot of points out there, I felt like and we were sloppy on a lot of plays. I thought both our quarterbacks played well in stretches but there were still some miscues out there. That's going to hurt us as we play better teams."
Skersick's third sack of the young season headlined an opening three-and-out by Campbell, as CSU got off to a quick start for a third straight game. Brown moved the CSU offense down the field on five plays, sprinting 50 yards on an option keeper for the key play of the possession. Brown found tight end
Nathan Prater down the right sideline for a 17-yard touchdown to complete the drive, giving CSU a 7-0 lead.
The Camels responded early in the second quarter as quarterback Dakota Wolf found Jabri Ridenhour for a four-yard touchdown on a wheel route to the back right pylon, capping off an 8-play, 64-yard drive. Campbell was aided on the drive by a 44 yard pitch-and-catch from Wolf to Ridenhour on third-and-nine, leading to the score and tying the game up at 7-7 with 12:25 remaining in the second quarter.
Campbell took the lead going into the half on their next drive as Mitchell Brown connected on the 44-yard field goal attempt to put the Camels ahead, 10-7, with 6:08 to play in the half. The field goal ended a nine-play drive which saw Wolf move the chains on a 13-yard carry, while Campbell was also aided by a CSU pass interference call earlier in the drive.
Out of the break, Charleston Southern took the kickoff and marched down the field to take the lead for good. Brown connected on a 51 yard pass to Dinkins to put CSU inside the Campbell 10-yard line, and three plays later Reyes pounded the ball across the goal line at the 11:38 mark to put the Bucs ahead 13-10.
Following McGowens leaping interception of a David Salmon pass, Croghan III and the Bucs running game took over on the next drive as CSU moved the ball 41 yards on six running plays. Croghan took the final snap around left end and into the end zone from two yards out to put the Bucs ahead, 20-10.
The Bucs added two late touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull away. Brown connected with
Jared Scotland on a 28-yard touchdown pass to cap a five-play, 40-yard drive for a 27-10 CSU lead.
Mike Holloway added a late 26-yard touchdown run down the left sideline, breaking two tackles along to way to account for the final 34-10 tally.
The victory sets up a showdown with The Citadel next Saturday at 6 p.m., as the Bucs close out a four-game homestand. CSU defeated The Citadel, 32-29, on the road in Chadwell's debut as coach a year ago. The eighth all-time meeting between the two programs will take place at Buccaneer Field for the first time.
"This will be the first time this season we will be the underdog," said Chadwell of the matchup. "They've played the number one team in the country and the number five team in FCS. We haven't played anybody like that yet. They are going to want to come in here and be physical and still remember what happened last year. I'm sure they are going to be up for this game. So we have to match that intensity that I'm sure The Citadel is going to bring. If we play like we have in the last few weeks, we are going to get beat. We know they are a good team coming in here next Saturday, and we have to go to work to be as prepared as we can and ready to go."
