VIDEO: Ken Sparks Presser

C-N Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As 22^nd-ranked Carson-Newman (9-2) prepares for its 25^th trip to postseason play under head coach Ken Sparks, it gets set to take the field against an opponent its run up against frequently in postseason play.

When the Eagles and 17^th-ranked Valdosta State (8-2) kick off Saturday at noon at the Blazers' Bazemore-Hyder Stadium, it will mark the seventh playoff contest between the two teams and the eighth overall.  VSU leads the all-time series 4-3 and 4-2 in the playoffs.

Regardless of the opponent, after a 3-2 start, Sparks is just thankful the Eagles are still playing football.

"To make the playoffs and to be one of 28 teams left out of 170 is pretty doggone good," Sparks said. "We are glad to be in it. When we were 3-2, it looked like there wasn't much hope, but these guys reeled off six in a row. Unbelievable compliment to these kids and what they have accomplished and not many games, maybe one, were easy. The rest of them were pretty good challenges. I can't say enough about the coaching staff. Their faithfulness through all of this has been great and they have never lost track of the vision of being better and improving every week to get where we wanted to get to."   

C-N will effort to buck a recent trend of road struggles in the playoffs. Trips outside Jeff City haven't been fun for Carson-Newman. The Eagles are 2-14 away from Burke-Tarr Stadium in the Division II playoffs.

The Eagles' two victories came in the quarterfinals of the 2009 playoffs against North Alabama and in the first round of the 2003 postseason with a win over Valdosta State.

Carson-Newman is 39- 19-1 in postseason play all-time under Sparks. The legendary head coach is 17-1 in Division II playoff games played at Mossy Creek

In Carson-Newman's 15 trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs, this marks the fifth time the Eagles will open up with a road playoff game. C-N lost in 1993 and 1994 at North Alabama, won in 2003 at Valdosta State and lost in 2008 to the Blazers.

Carson-Newman is 12-3 all-time in the first round of the NCAA playoffs, albeit just 1-3 on the road.

Valdosta State ended Carson-Newman's run in the 2012 playoffs 46-28, not many Eagles were on the roster back then. Carson-Newman counts longsnapper Dusty Nance, offensive lineman Tyler Scott, wideout TraShaun Ward (who returned three kicks for 46 yards) and wideout Steven Isom (targeted for two passes that were both broken up) as players who dressed out and appeared.

Goose Manning and De'Andre Thomas also made that trip as a freshman.

Now VSU's all-time leading rusher, Cedric O'Neal was just a freshman on that 2012 squad. That game, he carved Carson-Newman for 193 yards on 15 carries and three scores.  O'Neal is a first team All-Gulf South Conference selection  and leads the Blazers with 922 yards and 14 scores this season. 

"He has speed and great vision," Sparks said. "I remember one time he started this way [points left] and came back this way [points right] across the grain against us because there was a little crease on the back side. He will find a crease if you give him one."

The Eagles will counter offensively with the 2015 South Atlantic Conference offensive player of the year Damian Baker. 

Baker finished the regular season ranked in the top 25 in the nation in five rushing categories.  He closed out the regular season slate with 1,349 rushing yards to rank No. 9 in Division II, while his 122.6 rushing yards per game was good for No. 15 in the country.  Baker piled up 7.2 yards per carry to rank No. 5 in the nation and his 17 rushing touchdowns are No. 12 in D-II. 

The tailback averaged 9.8 points per game to finish at No. 20 in the nation to help the Eagles rank No. 11 in the country as a team with 41.8 points per outing. 

Baker accounted for 132.4 all-purpose yards per game for the Eagles to fuel a team rushing attack that is currently No. 4 in the nation with 332 yards per game.  He turned in six 100-yard rushing games this season, including 249 yards on the ground vs. Mars Hill on Sept. 26 – the seventh highest single game tally in Carson-Newman history.  Baker was just three yards shy of his second 200-yard game this season vs. Tusculum in the season finale as he notched 197 rushing yards.

Baker has also factored prominently in the Carson-Newman record books in his senior season.  He has a pair of four touchdown days this year, against Mars Hill and Newberry and is the only player since the turn of the century to score four rushing touchdowns twice in the same season. 

With his 1,349 rushing yards, Baker has the ninth highest single-season total in Carson-Newman history and his 17 rushing touchdowns are tied for the seventh highest single-season total in school history. 

On top of that his 108 points scored this year are tied for seventh all-time in school history.

He'll square off against Valdosta State's defense – known as the Black Swarm.  The Blazers have run up against a pair off triple option  teams in Shorter and Mississippi College (both  teams run variations of the flexbone as opposed to the Eagles' split-back veer option attack).  Shorter rushed for a season-high 466 yards on 50 carries while the Choctaws were limited to 136 yards on 40 carries. 

Shermaine Washington leads the VSU defense with 82 tackles.  He is a first team All-GSC pick. 

The Eagles depart Friday for the seven-hour bus ride to the Florida-Georgia line.

"It's an opportunity," Sparks said. "It's an opportunity to spend two days together, to grow together, to enjoy memories together. We are making memories and we are building a decision-making process, I hope in our own minds, that's going to help us for the rest of our lives. That's what football is for. Football is to help you to win life. If it doesn't help you win life, then football doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  It's a great learning laboratory that I hope we can plug in really well this weekend. This is a fun group of kids. There isn't a whole lot of babysitting that you have to do with this bunch. Fact is, they are a cut above most, so that is exciting for me."

Kickoff between the Eagles and Blazers is set for noon.  Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports  Network begins at 11 a.m. with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville) and online at cneagles.com/live.