VIDEO: Ken Sparks Press Conference
Sparks gives all the glory to God for being in position to tie Bear Bryant and all the credit to his players and coaches, both present and past.
"Most of them know that they are the reason why it's happened. Because of them, not because of me," Sparks said. "I hope they join with me in saying that the Lord deserves the credit from anything that's happened. For me to take any of that credit would be really be wrong. If you want to give praise, give praise to the God of this universe."
The 18th-ranked Eagles have won five-straight in the series dating back to a 45-44 loss to the Pioneers in Greeneville. That was also the last time the Pioneers defeated a team ranked in the AFCA top 25 (the Eagles were ranked 15th that day). Since then TC has dropped has dropped six consecutive to ranked teams, however all those games were on the road.
The Pioneers enter the game on the heels of a 16-14 win over Newberry.
"I think they are probably talent-wise, one of the best Tusculum teams I've ever seen," Sparks said. "They are playing sound fundamental football. The thing that jumps out at you more than anything when you watch Tusculum is their team speed. They are very capable as a football team."
The Pioneers have arguably one of the deepest receiving corps in the league. All-American Justin Houston leads the position grouping with 375 yards on 39 grabs.
Head coach Frankie DeBusk has replaced record-setting quaraterback Bo Cordell with freshman Malcom Pendergrass. Pendergrass has provided an addition dimension to the TC offense; he's rushed for 276 yards on the year – second on the team.
"The one they have this year is that the quarterback isn't limited in running the football at all," Sparks said. "They do a lot of things with him because he's a very capable football player. They can run zone read with him, they can run speed option with him. They can do a little bit of everything with him."
Defensively, linebacker Cashaud Lyons leads the way for the Pioneers' defense with 45 tackles, nine for loss and five sacks.
The Eagles have had 14 days to prepare for the game after the bye week. Sparks said the Eagles went back to working on the basics.
"We tried to get fundamentally better as a team," Sparks said. "We tried to give them a little bit of rest. We needed the break. I think it was a great week for us. There we're plenty of opportunities for growth."
Eagle running back Andy Hibbett (Corryton, Tenn.) is on the verge of a couple milestones. With a 100-yard game on the ground, Hibbett would tie Buck Wakefield's school record for consecutive 100-yard rushing performances at five. Hibbett, Wakefield, Brandon Baker and Tyrone Westmoreland are the only Eagles who have rushed for 100 yards or more in at least four consecutive games.
Hibbett also can become the 10th player in Carson-Newman football history to rush for 30 touchdowns in his career with one more score, and he can move past Wayne Thornton and into 13th place on the all-time rushing yards list with 114 on the ground.
The Gibbs grad leads C-N and is ninth in the nation with 137.6 yards per game rushing.
Quarterback De'Andre Thomas (Milledgeville, Ga.) leads C-N in scoring with 19.2 points responsible for per game. That tally is good for 13th in the nation. The junior needs 44 yards passing to move past Matt Penland and his 2,747 yards into seventh place on C-N's career passing yards list.
Kickoff from Greeneville is slated for 2:30 p.m. The game is Tusculum's homecoming. Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network gets underway at 1:30 p.m. with the Appalachian Electric Cooperative Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
