The 10 Point Defeat to the Chanticleers Was Frustrating, But Also a Step Forward

I got to admit, the story of Tantalus is pretty gruesome and awful. Reader’s Digest version, Tantalus tries to feed the gods chunks of his own son, and is punished by being made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. Never mind how Tantalus got there. (As far as I know, none of us have barbecued our kids and served them at a banquet.) Focus, and empathize, on the end result – the fruits of victory are so close within our grasps we can almost taste it. The sweet water of competitive football near to our tongues!

The Homecoming loss to Coastal Carolina was a torture to all Red Wolves fans – two touchdowns recalled to penalty! A missed chip-shot field goal! A pair of preventable (and costly) interceptions! Zeus, have we not suffered enough? The Red Wolves were a better team on Saturday, and Arkansas State still got slapped with the Scarlet L.

Victory, so tantalizing in its elusiveness! But let us sift through this woeful rubble. The last time Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina met, the result was a 52-20 crushing (also in Jonesboro). Grayson McCall passed for 365 yards and four touchdowns. The Red Wolves defense surrendered 685 yards (to A-State’s 273). Arkansas State did not belong on the same field as the Chanticleers.

What’s worse about that 2021 result was that it was not an improvement over 2020, which saw the Chanticleers wallop the Red Wolves 52-23. Again, McCall threw four touchdowns (on 323 yards passing) and Coastal Carolina out-gained A-State 539 yards to 385. Compare that to Saturday night’s box score, with the Chanticleers out-yarding A-State by just 14 yards (436-422) and the defense limiting Coastal to just four third down conversions (we’ll just ignore that A-State converted only 2).

What was the difference in the game? Penalties hurt bad. Red Wolves were tagged with 9 penalties for 103 yards – two of those flags negated touchdowns. Coastal only absorbed 35 penalty yards on four flags (which seems a bit unbalanced). Also hurting, two painfully unnecessary interceptions thrown by freshman quarterback Jaylen Raynor, the last of which was a stare-down pick into triple coverage. Both picks resulted in touchdowns for the Chants.

But you have to dig deeper to understand where the Red Wolves are in this volatile college football universe. Let us compare apples by looking at Georgia State, who is enjoying a fine season under head coach Shawn Elliott, now in his seventh season with the Panthers. Elliott took over a 3-9 program that didn’t seem to have any hope to fielding a competitive team. After six seasons in Atlanta, Elliott’s record was 34-38, which included a two-win season in 2018.

Today, the Panthers are 6-1 and have an excellent chance of winning the Sun Belt East. The difference between the Panthers and Red Wolves? Experience. Georgia State is led by senior quarterback Darren Grainger, a three-year starter for the Panthers who began his carrier at Furman in 2018. The Panthers lead running back is four-year man Marcus Carrol. Linebacker Jontrey Hunter – a senior who’s played for Georgia State since 2018 – leads the team in tackles. The team’s leading cornerback (Gavin Pringle) and defensive end (Javon Denis) are seniors. Two of their starting offensive linemen are seniors. Their two leading wide receivers are juniors. The time for Georgia State is right now.

The time for Arkansas State is not quite now. The Red Wolves are starting a freshman quarterback, a sophomore running back, a freshman linebacker, and often a freshman defensive lineman. In fact, no other G5 program has started more true freshman this season than Arkansas State. In addition, the Red Wolves boast just one senior on the starting offensive line (Jaylen Cunningham), a sophomore kicker, and two sophomore starters on the defensive line. Oh yeah, did you know Corey Rucker is a sophomore?

We’re not making excuses here. We’re bragging. This team is cement that has yet to harden, and in its loss to the Chanticleers it showed us that the fruits of our labors are nearly there for the plucking.

PHOTO CREDIT: Howlraiser