Two teams with near equal talent, similar records and strong coaching, that were the strongest rivals while they were FCS. The Cure Bowl matchup with LU and Coastal was anticipated to be a popular enough game that ESPN moved it from 12 noon to 7:30 prime time slot. It was America's new Cinderella's team, Coastal, who was the darling of the G5 teams left out of a new year's game. And they were right.

Coastal with their success was due a major bowl. But being the newbies on the scene, with the P5 and ESPN flexing their muscle, Coastal was relegated to the near new, 6 year old Cure Bowl, against LU. LU was thrilled to be invited. Coastal had disappointment. But that disappointment disappeared as the radio voice of the Chants stated on the Flames pre-game show how he was asked to put together a history of the series between the two teams, to get them focused on playing LU. It worked. There was no let down by Coastal. But there were significant changes to the game plan by LU than confounded Coastal initially.

Fact is Freeze outcoached Chadwell. One noticeable factor was the Flames lined up at least 70% of the time without a running back. That took defenders away from the line covering slot and outside receivers and gave Willis more room to run and less defenders to attack. And run he did.

LU kept Coastal continuously wondering if LU was going to run or pass. The pre hype game was everyone thought Freeze was going to establish the run, control the clock, keep the high powered Coastal offense off the field. Nope, the did the opposite with multiple and wide sets taking away defenders and opening lanes for Willis to either pass or run.

Coastal was dumbfounded in the first half. Their much ballyhooed running game was held in check and Marable, their star running back was held well below his three recent 120 yard rushing games. In the second half, Coastal made adjustments and their offense began to click, but a half had been lost.

Freeze said all the right things in pregame. And the did the opposite in game time. He created an advantage with the play calling, kept Coastal guessing, and put the ball in the hands of his best player on every offensive play.

Chadwell is a very good coach coming up in the ranks from FCS and the Big South. He's has an exceptional future and has been linked to high profile P5 HC openings. Freeze came from the highest P5 level to LU's level. The experience and gamesmanship he exhibited clearly bested Chadwell. Chadwell will learn from this loss and Freeze will savor it. The FB talking heads were raving about this being the most entertaining game of the bowls. And it was to date.

Lastly, it will come out why running back Mack went so far into the line in attempting to run down the clock. The call by Freeze was a good one with poor execution. I bet he would do it again if able.