Week 4 college football prediction and preview Georgia State vs. Coastal Carolina for Thursday September 21

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Week 4 Thursday games features Georgia State vs. Coastal Carolina

Only one Thursday game is on the betting board for Week 4, but that is a small price to pay because we start getting Tuesday and Wednesday college football next week, plus we’ve got four games on Friday night. 

 

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The Georgia State Panthers take on the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in some Thirsty Thursday Fun Belt action near Myrtle Beach. What could be better than that?

Week 4 Hub | College football odds | College football betting splits

(Odds as of September 19, 7:00 p.m. PT)

Georgia State Panthers at Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (-6.5, 62.5)

We’ve got a big ol’ total in this one, so we could get some fireworks between these Sun Belt East Division rivals. Georgia State is unbeaten with wins over Rhode Island, UConn, and Charlotte, but it hasn’t been all that pretty. QB Darren Grainger is putting up some monster numbers, but the Panthers defense has sprung a lot of leaks and ranks 90th in yards per play allowed at 5.75 despite playing the 183rd-ranked schedule according to Jeff Sagarin.

There are only 133 FBS teams, so that gives you an idea of the competition that Georgia State has faced to this point. All a team can do is play the opponents that are on the schedule and the Panthers have gotten a 6/0 TD/INT ratio from Grainger, who has completed 73.4% of his passes. He’s also rushed for 216 yards, including a 65-yard TD scamper. Running back Marcus Carroll has 358 yards and a long of 63, including seven touchdowns. Carroll has out-rushed 27 FBS teams this season.

The Chanticleers opened the season with a tough assignment against UCLA before winning at home over Jacksonville State and Duquesne. The Jacksonville State win wasn’t terribly impressive in the box score, as the Chants had a six-yard edge and only 5.4 yards per play. QB Grayson McCall has already matched last season’s interception total with two in 87 attempts. He had two in 297 attempts last season, three in 241 attempts in 2021, and three in 250 attempts in 2020. 

The Coastal Carolina running game has found a few chunk plays, but they’ve only managed 3.8 yards per carry, even though WR Jared Brown has four rushes for 95 yards. Even with the game against UCLA, the Chanticleers have played the 174th-ranked schedule per Sagarin.

My Power Ratings put this line at Coastal Carolina -4.5, so we’re not crossing any key numbers with the line at 6.5, but I think Georgia State is the side to take in this one. The Coastal offense doesn’t look like it did under Jamey Chadwell, as new head coach Tim Beck was widely viewed as a significant downgrade and we don’t have any evidence of the contrary to this point.

Pick: Georgia State +6.5