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The top spot in the division belonged to Coastal Carolina before kickoff, but the Chanticleers solidified their case to host the Sun Belt鈥檚 Conference Championship with a fast start on offense and a spirted defensive stand late in a 26-23 victory over Southern Mississippi on Saturday night at Brooks Stadium.

Coastal (9-1 overall, 6-1 conference) was already locked in as the Sun Belt鈥檚 East Division champion thanks to a Georgia State loss to Louisiana Monroe earlier in the day, and head coach Jamey Chadwell said this division crown took on additional meaning for this year鈥檚 team.

鈥淭he thing that makes this [division title] special, truthfully, is nobody 鈥� nobody 鈥� with all the different losses and all the different people that we had and the way we were playing, nobody thought we would get to this point, and that makes it meaningful, because you got a group of people that bought into believing in each other,鈥� Chadwell said.

Without a head-to-head win against West Division frontrunners Troy and South Alabama, both of which are 8-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play (Troy defeated South Alabama 10-6 on Oct. 20), the best way for the Chants to ensure they will host the conference championship is to just keep winning and avoid a series of complex tiebreakers. The Chants have two regular season games left, next Saturday at Virginia, and Nov. 26 at Sun Belt newcomer James Madison.

Jarrett Guest got his first start at quarterback for Coastal, going 7-for-14 passing for a 163 yards with a pair of interceptions as he filled in for injured starter Grayson McCall, who was injured in the Chants鈥� win over Appalachian State on Nov. 3.

Chadwell said Guest was going to be the starter all along because he was a better fit for the offensive flow his team needed, along with a healthy dose of Bryce Carpenter, who completed his only pass attempt for a 28-yard gain, and carried the ball eight times for 18 yards.

The game marked the first time since Week 1 that the Chants had a full compliment of running backs. Braydon Bennett returned from an injury and Aaron Bedgood returned to the end zone for the first time since the season-opening win over Army as five different running backs had carries for Coastal Carolina in the game.

Coastal scored first and scored fast with a 30-yard touchdown run from Bedgood on the fourth play of the Chants鈥� first possession, and they went ahead 14-0 on the next possession with a 1-yard scoring run from Reese White to cap a six-play drive highlighted by a 48-yard completion from Guest to Sam Pinckney.

Kade Hensley added a 43-yard field goal on the next drive to extend the lead to 17-0 before the Golden Eagles began to find traction and score the next 17 points 鈥� including 1-yard scoring run from Kenyon Clay and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Trey Lowe to Taiquelin Mims as Southern Miss tied the score heading into halftime.

鈥淲hen we got up 17-0, we relaxed a little bit and lost our intensity and our fire," Chadwell said. "And we do that, we鈥檙e not very good."

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter to stay tied, and the Golden Eagles went ahead early in the fourth when kicker Briggs Bourgeois matched his career high with a third field goal 鈥� this time from 23 yards out 鈥撀爐o put Southern Miss ahead 23-20.

Coastal Carolina would answer quickly, starting with a career-long 56-yard run by CJ Beasley. White gained 17 yards on the next play, then punched it from the 2 to put the Chants ahead 26-23 after the extra point try was blocked.

The Chants would force a Golden Eagles punt on the next possession, but gave Southern Miss the ball back with 2:54 to play on Guest鈥檚 second interception of the night when Jay Stanley picked of a pass at the Eagles 10.

Southern Miss would drive to its own 48, but Coastal made its biggest defensive stand of the night when JT Killen stopped Lowe for no gain on first down, followed by back-to-back pass breakups by Charles Arnold and Tavyn Jackson.

That brought up a fourth down for the Golden Eagles, and Josiah Stewart found his away to Lowe, forcing a fumble and a sack for an 8-yard loss and locking up the win for the Chanticleers.

鈥淭hey were about 20 yards away from at least having an opportunity to tie it, so I thought that four-down scenario right there, those four downs were huge," Chadwell said. "We got a great push with Josiah there to be able to get that, and a big sigh of relief.鈥�

Beasley led all rushers with 68 yards on just four carries, and White had 44 yards on 12 carries as the Chanticleers rushed for 170 yards as a team.

Lowe had a career night for the Golden Eagles, going 19-for 36 for a career-best 295 yards, and Frank Gore had 13 carries for 52 yards to lead Southern Miss.

Up Next:

Coastal Carolina travels to Charlottesville, Virginia, to face the Cavaliers in the first football meeting between the schools.

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN3.

The Cavaliers have lost three straight, including falling to Pitt 37-7 on Saturday.

The only common opponent for the teams is Old Dominion, which defeated Coastal Carolina 49-21 on Oct. 15. Virginia defeated ODU 16-14 on Sept. 17.

Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong has NFL potential, throwing for more than 4,000 yards last year and approaching 9,000 passing yards for his Cavalier career.