Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Delaware Blue Hens

Coastal Carolina visits Delaware for an 11:30 a.m. ET kickoff in Newark, with CBS Sports Network carrying the first meeting between these programs. Delaware’s run defense is the strongest argument for the favorite, but Coastal has already shown that its passing offense can function when the ground game struggles. Deuce Bailey threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns against West Virginia despite Coastal managing only 52 net rushing yards and allowing five sacks. That production came while chasing a substantial deficit, so it does not establish that Coastal controlled the game. It does show why stopping the run may not be enough to put this offense away. That matters against a Delaware defense that has stopped plays frequently but allowed more damage on successful plays than Coastal has. I expect Bailey and his receivers to produce enough substantial gains to keep Coastal competitive, even if Delaware wins much of the work up front. Coastal’s 45.2% offensive success rate, compared with Delaware’s 39.7%, also suggests its offense has more going for it than isolated touchdown highlights. The other half of this ticket is Delaware’s ability to build separation. Nick Minicucci completed 11 of 27 passes with two interceptions against Vanderbilt while his line allowed six sacks. Coastal’s pass rush cannot simply be assigned Vanderbilt’s performance, especially with most of its sacks coming against Fordham. But Coastal’s ability to limit damaging gains gives it another route to containing an offense that has struggled to sustain successful plays. Jo Silver is the biggest threat to this bet. His 109 rushing yards against Vanderbilt give Delaware a credible way to attack Coastal’s run defense and ease the burden on Minicucci. I expect that matchup to help Delaware, but Bailey’s passing production makes a comfortable home victory a stronger conclusion than I’m willing to draw. My conviction is in Coastal staying competitive through the finish. Getting +4.5 accommodates both an upset and a narrow Delaware win.