Big South’s big game comes early this season

Leave it to the Big South’s schedule makers to completely suck the drama out of the race for the conference’s football championship.

The conference favorite — No. 20 Liberty — travels to Conway, S.C., tonight to battle the Coastal Carolina, which was picked to finish second in the preseason.

No, the league title won’t be decided tonight at Brooks Stadium. But the winner will have a clear upper hand over the rest of the conference, since Liberty and Coastal were fortunate enough to draw home-heavy conference schedules.

Liberty travels only to Coastal and VMI. Coastal draws VMI and Gardner-Webb away from Conway. The Flames and Chanticleers have been the league’s best home teams recently.

The Flames (4-0) have won their last 10 home games, and Coastal has won its last eight Big South home games. Plus, the two teams have won or shared the last four conference titles.

So it’s not a stretch to conclude that the winner tonight will be holding the hardware come November.

“That truly is the only thing I’m placing value on,” LU coach Danny Rocco said. “Everything has to stem from that.”

By everything, he meant the rampant talk of earning an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs for the first time in school history. Though last week’s win at Youngstown State gave the Flames’ resume a boost, the playoff talk will pretty much be moot unless Liberty wins the Big South championship.

Coastal (3-2) will provide a stiff test. The Chanticleers have won three straight since opening the season with consecutive losses to Penn State and Colgate. Defense has been key. Coastal allowed a total of 17 points in wins over Monmouth, Towson and North Carolina A&T.

“They’re probably more sound defensively,” Rocco said. “In the past, (CCU coach) David (Bennett) has had this group always full speed ahead, aggressive and physical. But at times, you were able to take advantage of that. So they’ve definitely been more disciplined.”

Coastal’s defense is wounded, however. Cornerback Marrio Norman fractured his ankle last week on a punt return and is out for the year. Safety Dominique Davenport, who had a career-high 20 tackles in the loss to Colgate, is out for the season with a dislocated elbow.

“If someone gets knocked down,” Bennett said, “the next guy has to step up.”

Offensively, Coastal has three capable tailbacks in Eric O’Neal (questionable for tonight’s game with an ankle injury), Jamie Fordham and Arthur Sitton At quarterback, Zach MacDowall is expected back after missing last week’s game with a sore ankle. Trent Usher, the Chants’ top receiver, is questionable with an ankle injury as well.

Coastal will be facing its second Walter Payton Award candidate tailback this season. In Week 2, Colgate’s Jordan Scott ran for 190 yards on 43 carries. Liberty’s Rashad Jennings is coming off a 220-yard, three-touchdown effort at YSU.

Coastal has promoted the game as a “Black Out,” and the school is encouraging fans to show up wearing all black. It’s a similar ploy to last year’s game at Williams Stadium, when Liberty fans came to the game dressed en masse in red.

Jennings said he’s ready for the intensity of the atmosphere.

“Since I’ve been here, the rivalry has just gotten stronger and stronger,” Jennings said. “Since we beat them (in 2007), it’s kind of like instead of being the hunter, we’ve become the hunted.

“But we still look at it like, they’re Coastal Carolina, and that’s a great team. They’re capable of winning just as much as we are. We can’t go into the game thinking we have the upper hand at all. As far as I’m concerned, we don’t.

“We’re going to their territory and their hype. We’ve got to have our minds right, and we’ve got to play ball.”