VIDEO: Ken Sparks Press Conference
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (7-2) takes aim at another challenging in-region contest as head football coach Ken Sparks tries to move past former Mount Union coach Larry Kehres and into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time wins list.
The Eagles welcome North Greenville (6-2) to town for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday in a battle between two teams who are both receiving votes in the AFCA coaches poll and who are both ranked in the Super Region II top 10.
Carson-Newman checks in at seventh in the region. North Greenville is fourth after a 27-21 win at Wingate last week.
"North Greenville is a very well-coached football team and are the kind of teams that does the fundamental things well, which means what you get is earned," Sparks said. "They don't make any alignment mistakes and they are sound in their approach. For a team like us that is sometimes having nine players doing a great job and two not, that's going to be a challenge for us this week because they seem to have 11 people on the same page most of the time."
The Eagles have won four straight games following Oct. 3's 52-17 loss at Lenoir-Rhyne. Since dropping that game, the Eagles have averaged 45 points and 539 yards of total offense. The Eagles have spread the love around offensively too, Damian Baker (Columbus, Miss.), De'Andre Thomas (Milledgeville, Ga.), Montavious Taylor (Atlanta, Ga.) and Noah Suber (Asheville, N.C.) are all averaging at least 69 yards rushing over that span, while none of them averaged greater than 77.5 yards (Suber).
Regardless of the impressive offensive numbers from a week ago against Limestone when Carson-Newman scored 69 points – its most since 2009 – Sparks see loads of room for improvement on his club.
"There wasn't a whole lot of building material in that Limestone game," Sparks said. "There were some high points and there were some spectacular plays, but there was not a consistency where 11 people got the job done on every play, and especially on defense. There are times where we are a pretty good football team and then there's some times when we aren't even a good high school team in the way we function.
"But we are getting better and last week we had some more progress in places. We have some individuals who are growing up, so we have to just get everyone to grow up and to bring it together. Let's go, it's time to go."
Defensively, the Eagles will have to combat a sophisticated quarterback in North Greenville's Nelson Hughes.
Hughes is sixth nationally in completion percentage (161.3) and 11th in completion percentage (66.1%). Hughes is 50-74 with two picks against three touchdowns and 487 career passing yards against Carson-Newman.
"He's so heady by getting them in the right place," Sparks said. "He has a lot of game experience and so he has been there and done that. When you look at him, he's not spectacular in any way, he just beats you and that's probably the best thing you can say about a quarterback."
Hughes has plenty of talent around him, too. Crusader running back Ashton Heard has the third highest single-game rushing total in all of Division II this year. Heard stormed Tusculum for 314 yards on 31 carries. He also scored twice that day.
"He is quick and tough. He is confident and believes that he can make something happen and he does," Sparks said.
Then there are Hughes' targets. Mason Sanders leads the receiving corps and is in the top 25 in the country with nine receiving touchdowns. The 6-6, 230-pound wideout snagged three of those scores in a blowout win over Ave Maria on Oct. 10.
The Eagles lead the all-time series with the Crusaders 3-1. Carson-Newman hasn't lost to NGU since the opening game of the series back in 2011 when Marshall transfer Willy Korn was quarterbacking the Crusaders to an NCAA playoff appearance.
While the Crusaders are regionally ranked this season, the playoffs may not be in the cards to North Greenville. By the season's end North Greenville will not have met the eligibility requirements for the playoffs with nine countable games (10 are required and NGU's contests with God's Chosen and Virginia-Lynchburg are non-countable games and exhibitions) and seven against Division II competition (eight are required, the Crusaders also count games against FCS Charleston Southern and NAIA Ave Maria). However, that doesn't mean the Crusaders' playoff hopes are DOA.
North Greenville head coach Jeff Farrington confirmed in a phone conversation with D2Football.com SAC blogger Tommy Readling that the university was appealing that ineligibility; however, that appeal was also still in progress.
The Crusaders will likely be revved up in an effort to keep their playoff hopes alive, and perhaps to attain a modicum of revenge on the Eagles' for last year's 35-34 homecoming win for C-N. The Eagles trailed 28-7 midway through the second quarter before rallying.
Carson-Newman senior quarterback De'Andre Thomas moved into a tie for fifth on the all-time rushing touchdowns list with quarterback Alex Good against Wingate. He can become the first quarterback and fifth Eagle overall to score 40 rushing touchdowns. Doing so would move Thomas into a tie for fourth on the all-time list with former teammate Tyron Douglas.
Carson-Newman has a nine-game home winning streak against non-conference competition. The Eagles haven't lost at Burke-Tarr stadium to a non-SAC team since UNC Pembroke beat Carson-Newman on homecoming in 2011, 42-14.
Carson-Newman wide receiver TraShaun Ward (Miami, Fla.) has 603 receiving yards this season and 1,259 for his career. Those numbers put him in striking distance for both single season & career top 10 lists in Carson-Newman's all-time annals.
The game has been deemed Military Appreciation Day. All military members who show their service card will be admitted free. Dominos' will be giving a Carson-Newman student an opportunity to win a year's supply of free pizza. Domino's will draw a student at this week's game. That student will then have an opportunity to kick a 30-yard field goal for a year's worth of free pizza next week at halftime of the Eagles' regular season finale against Tusculum.
Kickoff between the Eagles and Crusaders is set for 1 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at noon 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.
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