PITTSBURGH - The Duquesne University football team is set to take on its second straight Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent on Saturday, traveling to Coastal Carolina for a 7 pm kickoff on ESPN+.
THE BASICSÂ
September 16, 2023 | 7:00 PM | Brooks Stadium (Conway, S.C.)
Duquesne Dukes (1-1, 0-0 NEC)Â
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (1-1, 0-0 Sun Belt)Â
Watch Live on ESPN+ |  Follow Live Stats |  Listen Live on 104.7 HD2
Gameday Central |  Duquesne Game Notes | Coastal Carolina Game NotesÂ
BY THE NUMBERS
OPENING KICKOFF
- Duquesne will be playing a second straight FBS opponent, after a 56-17 loss at West Virginia last week ... It is just the second time DU is playing an FBS opponent in back-to-back weeks ... The only other time came in 2021 at TCU and Ohio.
- Coastal Carolina is in the midst of a three-game homestand and enters the matchup 1-1 on the young season ... The Chanticleers picked up their first win of the season last week after downing Jacksonville State, 30-16 ... CCU opened the season at UCLA falling 27-13 in the Rose Bowl.
- Coastal Carolina is the ninth FBS opponent for the Dukes since joining the FCS level in 1993.
- Duquesne is 1-7 all-time versus FBS programs ... The win came at Ohio, 28-26 in 2021.
- Duquesne is the only team from the Northeast Conference (NEC) to ever beat an FBS opponent ... The NEC has 10 FBS matchups this season and is currently 0-4 through two weeks.
- Duquesne is one of three NEC teams (Wagner and LIU) to play two FBS games this season and take on a Power-Five opponent (LIU at Baylor on 9/16 and Wagner at Rutgers on 9/30).
- The Dukes are scheduled to take on two FBS opponents in the same season for the fifth time in the last six years. Duquesne took on UMass and Hawaii to start the 2018 season. The Dukes were slated to travel to Air Force and Coastal Carolina in 2020, but the fall season was postponed. In 2021, DU traveled to both TCU and Ohio, then last season the Dukes took on Florida State and Hawaii on the road. This season, a short drive to WVU preceded the Week 3 matchup at Coastal.
THE SERIES
- This will be the first-ever meeting between Duquesne and Coastal Carolina on the gridiron.
THE COACHES
Duquesne: Jerry Schmitt (19th season / 114-79 at Duquesne) Â
- Head coach Jerry Schmitt is in his 19th season at the helm of the Duquesne program. He became the Dukes' all-time winningest coach in 2019 with a 30-21 victory over Saint Francis U for his 98th win as Duquesne head coach. Schmitt passed Greg Gattuso (1993-2004) for the most wins in program history. Schmitt is one of 10 active coaches with 100 FCS wins at their current school.
- Schmitt is the longest tenured coach in the NEC. He is also the longest tenured coach amongst any of the collegiate or professional football teams in Pittsburgh.Â
Coastal Carolina: Tim Beck (1st season / 1-1 at CCU)
- Beck, a 35-year coaching veteran, was named the fourth head coach in Coastal Carolina's history this past December. CCU is Beck's first head coaching job, but he is no stranger to the sidelines. The Ohio native has 18-years of Power-Five coaching experience with the last 12 as an offensive coordinator at Nebraska, Ohio State, Texas, and NC State. Beck has coached in a postseason bowl game in every season since 2007 including the 2016 College Football Playoff with Ohio State.
THE DUKES
- Duquesne has the second-highest scoring offense in the NEC after two weeks and ranks 24th in the FCS averaging 33.0 points per game ... The 17-points at WVU last week were the most ever for DU in three games against a Power-Five opponent.
- Duquesne has scored first and fast in both games this season ... DU put up 42 before the Fighting Scots of Edinboro could find the board in Week One, Ayden Garnes got the scoring started with a pick-six on just the second play from scrimmage ... Duquesne then took its first-ever lead against a Power-Five opponent, 7-0, with a 38-yard touchdown pass three minutes into the game in Week Two at WVU.
- Graduate transfer DJ Powell is one of 12 players in the FCS to have three touchdown catches and leads the NEC ... Powell had a pair of acrobatic grabs in the back of the endzone in the opener, then caught the first score of the WVU game on a 38-yard strike from Perrantes.
- Quarterback Darius Perrantes leads the NEC with four touchdown passes, which is also good for tied for 11th in the FCS ... Perrantes has thrown for two scores in both games to start 2023, his eighth and ninth career games with multiple passing touchdowns.Â
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- The Dukes have connected on 10 passes for 15-plus yards this season (4 vs. Boro and 6 vs. WVU) ... Four of the 10 have gone for touchdowns ... The Perrantes to Powell connection for 38-yards to open the scoring at WVU was the longest TD grab of the season for DU so far.
- DU ranks ninth in the FCS and is only behind Central Connecticut State in the NEC in passing yards per completion (15.32).
- Darius Perrantes is fourth in the FCS and leads the NEC in passing yards per completion at 16.90.
- Duquesne has three of the top-11 receivers on the NEC's yards per reception leaderboard ... Keshawn Brown (23.8) is ninth in the FCS and second in the NEC, DJ Powell (22.0) is 16th in the FCS and fourth in the NEC, and Tedy Afful (14.5) is 11th in the NEC.
- Afful and Perrantes connected for the longest completion of the season last week, a 45-yard strike that set up a 16-yard TD by the same duo ... Afful had a career day in Week Two charting career-highs in receiving yards (83) and the 45-yard catch was a career long.
- Duquesne's defense dominated in the season opener with five takeaways (3 INTs and 2 fumbles), four of which in the first quarter ... The Dukes added two more takeaways in Week 2 at WVU with a special teams fumble recovery on a punt early in the first quarter, which resulted in DU's first TD the ensuing drive, then by knocking the ball out of the WVU running back's hands and through the endzone for a touchback in the third quarter.Â
- The season opener was the first time in recorded program history that the Dukes defense charted five takeaways in a single game.
- Duquesne is in a three-way tie for second in the entire FCS with seven turnovers gained  and a +5-turnover margin.
- DU is one of four FCS teams to recover four or more fumbles through two weeks of play.
- All seven Duquesne turnovers have been forced/recovered by different players.
- Ayden Garnes, Tim Lowery, and Ezekiel M. Daure have the interceptions ... Ty Howard and Ryan Lopez recovered the Edinboro fumbles and Nick Leopold jumped on the special teams fumble at WVU ... Gianni Rizzo and Kevin Kurzinger forced the fumbles versus Edinboro, while the WVU cough-ups were both unforced.
- Duquesne held Edinboro to 1-of-13 on third downs in the season opener
- After two weeks, the Dukes are tied for 12th in the FCS and lead the NEC with a 26.9% third down conversion defense.
- On the offensive side, Duquesne is atop the NEC board with a 37.0% third-down conversion percentage.
- Duquesne had six sacks in the season opener by six different players (Nick Curci, Kevin Kurzinger, Jack Dunkley, Gianni Rizzo, Ty Howard, and Dayvia Gbor) ... A.J. Ackerman was the seventh player to get on the sack sheet with the lone for the DU defense at WVU.
- Seven sacks for an average of 3.50 per game ranks second in the NEC and is tied for ninth in the FCS.
- The 2022 Dukes totaled 29 sacks, tied for the sixth-most in a season in program history.
- Ayden Garnes' 27-yard pick-six on the second play of the season was the quickest touchdown to start a season in recorded history and the fastest score for the Dukes to begin a season since Aaron Reed recorded a 13-yard safety on the first play from scrimmage in the 2013 season opener versus Albany at Rooney Field.
- Taj Butts, a transfer running back from Missouri, recorded the first 100-yard rushing game of the season in the NEC totaling 108 on 10 carries in the season opener versus Edinboro.
- Butts was the only 100-yard rusher in Week One and is now one of three after two weeks of play (Jermaine Corbett (Stonehill) - 182 vs. CCSU and Tyvon Edmonds, Jr. (Merrimack) - 140 vs. Lehigh)
DOMINATING HOME & SEASON OPENERÂ Â
- Duquesne dominated every aspect of the home and season opener claiming a 49-7 win over Division II Edinboro.
- The Dukes scored the first 42 points of the game, including a 35-0 halftime lead and 21-0 advantage after one quarter ... DU outgained Boro 390-180 in total offense including 238-63 on the ground ... The defense had five takeways, four in the first quarter.
- DU's season opener versus Edinboro was the first time it opened the season at home since the abbreviated, conference-only spring 2020-21 season (a 30-27 win over Sacred Heart). The last full season to start at Rooney Field was 2019 (a 44-3 win over Walsh). Duquesne has opened the season with a home game just three times in the past 11 full seasons (2019 vs. Walsh, 2015 vs. Kentucky Christian (W, 47-7), and 2013 vs. Albany (W, 35-24).
DUKES NAMED NEC PRIME PERFORMERS
WEEK 2
- Junior quarterback Darius Perrantes helped lead the Dukes offense to their most points scored versus a Power-Five opponent with 17 at WVU in front of the second-largest crowd DU has ever played in front of (50,037) and was named an NEC Top Performer for Week Two. The long ball was working for Perrantes and the Dukes receiving core, connecting on six passing plays for 15 yards or more which accounted for 179 yards. A 38-yard touchdown from Perrantes to DJ Powell just three minutes into the game put Duquesne ahead on the scoreboard for the first time in program history against a Power-Five opponent. The second TD was a 16-yard strike to Tedy Afful, set up by the longest pass play of the season so far for the DU offense between Perrantes and Afful for 45 yards just one play before the touchdown. Perrantes enters Week Three with the most touchdown passes in the NEC (4).
WEEK 1
- Redshirt sophomore Ayden Garnes set the tone for the Dukes' 49-7 season-opening win over Edinboro at Rooney Field. Just two plays into the game, Garnes picked off an Edinboro pass and took it to the house for a 27-yard pick-six to get the season started. Garnes' INT energized the Dukes' defense, which recorded four takeaways in the first quarter and five total in the game. The Philadelphia native added a pass breakup, two tackles and half a TFL, as DU held the Fighting Scots to just 170 yards of total offense and a 1-for-13 effort on third downs.
THE CHANTICLEERS
- Coastal Carolina picked up its first win of the season last week in its home opener, 30-16 over Jacksonville State who is in its first season as an FBS team and was 2-0 entering the matchup ... The Chanticleers fell behind 9-7 early in the second quarter, but 23 unanswered points swung the momentum into the home team's favor putting CCU up 30-9 early in the fourth as they cruised to victory.
- CCU has scored 43 points and allowed 43 points across its 1-1 start to 2023.
- Grayson McCall, a redshirt senior, started both games at QB this season and is 48-for-71 with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
- Reese White and Braydon Bennett lead the team in carries on the ground with 19 and 18, respectively, but Jared Brown has racked up the most yards on the ground with 92 yards over three rushes including a 77-yard TD last time out.
- Sam Pinckney and Jared Brown each have 13 catches and a touchdown to lead a receiving core that has 10 players recording a catch.
- Six players have double-digit tackles for the Chants defense, paced by redshirt junior linebacker Shane Bruce at 16 and super senior defensive lineman Michael Mason with 15 ... Mason leads the team with 2.5 TFLs and 1.5 sacks ... Coastal has charted 4.0 sacks and 14.0 tackles for loss this season through two games.
- Clayton Isabella is in a two-way tie for the FBS lead with three interceptions in the defensive secondary.
- CCU is leading the Sun Belt and is 7th in the FBS with an average time of possession of 35:22.
- Last season, the Chants went 9-4 and fell in the Sun Belt Championship Game, 46-25 to Troy ... CCU played in the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl and dropped a 53-29 decision to East Carolina ... The Chants have the fourth-best record in the FBS since 2020, at 32-8.
- Coastal Carolina has 52 new players on its roster this season, including 29 transfers, 13 of which from the FBS and 10 from Power-Five schools.
- The Chants have won 14 of their last 15 non-conference games and 11 straight at home ... The last home non-conference loss was August 31, 2019 vs. Eastern Michigan.
NEXT WEEK
- Duquesne will be off for a bye next week before returning on September 30 for its Northeast Conference opener at Long Island.
FOLLOW THE DUKES
- Follow Duquesne football online all season at GoDuquesne.com, as well as on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (@DuqFB).
- Live coverage links for every Duquesne game can be viewed on the schedule page.
- DU will be live on ESPN+ for the week two and three games at WVU and Coastal Carolina, as well as the October 28 game at Sacred Heart ... The October 7 game at Delaware will stream on FloFootball and also be live on NBC Sports Philadelphia ... The remaining seven games can be viewed on NEC Front Row.
- Dukes Football can be heard live again this season on 104.7 HD2, on the iHeart Radio App, or on ESPNpgh.com by searching Duquesne.
