Arkansas State Red Wolves at Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

One program stayed the course after a bowl win. The other blew the whole thing up. Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina meet again in a series the Chanticleers have owned lately.

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ARSTCCU

ARSTCCU

OverUnder

Best BetArkansas State

Arkansas State brings more continuity into this season, even with a new starting QB to find. Coastal Carolina is working through a full roster teardown under a first-year head coach, and first-year regimes at this level are frequently still finding their footing by mid-November. That uncertainty makes the Red Wolves the safer side to trust on the moneyline.

Arkansas State

• +Butch Jones returns for 6th season, program continuity
• +Won 7 games and the Xbox Bowl in 2025
• −Lost 3-year starting QB Jaylen Raynor to portal
• −New OC and RB coach must install new systems

Coastal Carolina

• +Won last 3 meetings in this series, including blowouts
• +New staff includes OL coach from Michigan's title staff
• −Fired HC Tim Beck after late-season collapse
• −First-year coach, over half the roster is new

Butch Jones is back for year 6 in Jonesboro after Arkansas State closed 2025 at 7-6 with a Xbox Bowl win over Missouri State, so there's real continuity at the top even with a coordinator shakeup around him. Coastal Carolina is starting over. Tim Beck got fired after a brutal finish to 2025, and Ryan Beard arrives from Missouri State to run a program that's overhauled more than half its roster.

The Chanticleers' collapse last year wasn't subtle. They rode a 4-game win streak into contention for the Sun Belt title game, then lost their starting QB to injury and dropped their final 3 games, giving up 45-plus points in each. That's the version of Coastal that Beard inherited, and he's answering it with a fully open quarterback competition heading into fall camp — Arkansas transfer Trever Jackson, Missouri State transfer Deuce Bailey, a JUCO arm and a true freshman all in the mix.

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ARST Arkansas State

CCU Coastal Carolina

Arkansas State has its own hole to fill. Three-year starter Jaylen Raynor, who threw for over 3,300 yards and ran for 7 more scores in 2025, left for the transfer portal. New offensive coordinator Garrett Altman, hired away from Vanderbilt's QB room in late December, has to find and develop a replacement without that kind of proven arm already in the building.

Arkansas State Red Wolves

Nov 7?vs UL Monroe—

Oct 24?vs Georgia State—

Oct 16?@ Southern Miss—

Oct 8?vs South Alabama—

Oct 2?@ Louisiana—

Sep 26?vs Kennesaw State—

Sep 19?@ TCU—

Sep 12?vs West Georgia—

Sep 5?@ Memphis—

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

Nov 6?vs Old Dominion—

Oct 30?@ Georgia State—

Oct 16?vs App State—

Oct 9?@ Marshall—

Oct 2?vs Georgia Southern—

Sep 24?vs Liberty—

Sep 19?@ Delaware—

Sep 12?vs Fordham—

Sep 5?@ West Virginia—

History leans Coastal. The series sits at 3-3 all-time, but the Chanticleers have won 3 straight meetings, including blowouts in 2020 and 2021, and A-State hasn't beaten them since 2019. That trend was built under Beck's staff, though, so how much of it carries over to a brand-new coaching regime is genuinely an open question.

By the time this one kicks off on Friday, November 13, both rosters will have had a full fall camp and half a season to figure out who they actually are. Arkansas State's structural stability gives Jones a real edge in that department — new coordinators aside, he's not installing an entire program from scratch the way Beard is in Conway.

Arkansas State Red Wolves

(0)

Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

(0)

Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report