Why the Birmingham Bowl should be a shootout between the Chants and Pirates

Coastal Carolina and East Carolina are going to play in the 2022 TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl. Both teams have potent offenses. Coastal has one of the top quarterbacks in college football in redshirt junior Grayson McCall. ECU has the No. 2 passer in American Athletic Conference in Holton Ahlers and the second-best rusher in conference in Keaton Mitchell. The game is going on in a week. The defense is not very prepared. It will need to perform well. They will play with a full complement of running backs. Reese White, Braydon Bennett, Aaron Bedgood and CJ Beasley are expected to be available.

Both teams have announced and/or anticipate losses for the game. Both teams are either preparing for a transfer portal or pro career preparation. CCU's Grayson McCall announced that he would play in the bowl game and Staggs is happy about it. ECU has at least two players skipping the match. Senior tight end Ryan Jones has declared for NFL Draft and is foregoing the Bowl game, while Avery Jones is transferring to Illinois. He spent two seasons with the Pirates after transferring from Oklahoma. The center Avery is a three-year starter on the offensive line. His team has a chance at the NFL.

CCU flew to Birmingham on Dec. 22 for the Birmingham Bowl. Coastal has four players from Alabama on its roster. Jacob Jenkins is from Hoover in the greater Birmingham area. The team's participation in this game may help the coaching staff further its recruiting efforts in that area, Staggs says.

Coastal Carolina and East Carolina will play each other in the Birmingham Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 6:45 p.m. (ET) at Protective Stadium, Birmingham, Alabama.