VIDEO: Mike Clowney Press Conference
VIDEO: 2022 C-N v. Limestone Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (1-1) begins its voyage through the South Atlantic Conference with a roadtrip to take on Limeston (0-2) and the Saints' resurgent defense Saturday at noon from Saints Field.
Limestone is looking for its first home win against the Eagles. Carson-Newman won the first six games in series history before the Saints prevailed in two overtimes last year in Jefferson City.
While the Saints are 0-2, they have played stout Gulf South Conference competition tightly, losing by two, 21-19, on the road at West Georgia. West Alabama handed Limestone a 27-13 loss last week after taking advantage of turnovers and short fields.
"Thinking about the Saints, they are a really good football team," Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney said. "We had a competitive game here with them last year. You look at where they finished from their last season and being able to go play in the playoffs, they are a good football team. I think you can make the misconception of looking at their record right now, but they played two really good football teams, and they have played both of them really close. They're athletic up front and on both sides of the ball. Their guys on the back end can run."
The Eagles have averaged 42.42 points per game against the Saints and scored at least 30 points in all but one game in the series.
The Eagles have rushed for 2,576 yards in the seven all-time meetings with the Saints, good for 368 yards per game. C-N's low rushing output came in 2017 when it gained 239 yards. Every other game has featured at least 300 yards rushing.
Carson-Newman and Limestone have a combined six former NFL players on their respective coaching staffs. The Eagles are represented by Leonard Weaver and Antonio Goss, while the Saints boast of Mike Furrey, Jerrocho Cotchery, Nate Garner and Jordan Todman.
The Saints enter into their 10th year of football and seventh as a member of the SAC. Limestone went 8-4 last year and made its first playoff berth.
Limestone boasts of All-SAC running back Tre Stewart. Stewart rambled for 180 yards last year against C-N on 27 carries. He averaged 6.7 yards a carry and touted five rushes of 10 yards or longer. Through two games this year, Carson-Newman has allowed just one rush to a running back longer than 10 yards (an 11-yarder to ETSU's Bryson Irby).
"His change of speed.," Clowney said of what makes Stewart so strong. "I mean he's the guy that can go to zero to 100 really fast. He does a good job of seeing things, and when he sees a gap, he hits it. He's got good enough speed to run away from people, so you have to make sure you do a good job of keeping him hemmed up early."
Last season, special teams were instrumental in the Saints' win in over C-N. Carson-Newman missed three field goals on the day, muffed a kickoff return and saw the Saints return a punt 58 yards and a kickoff 59 yards to set up two short fields and two touchdowns.C-N has had a punt blocked this year and two others that nearly got blocked.
Red zone trips have been adventurous for both the Saints and their opponents this year. Limestone ranks 150th nationally in red zone scoring. Of seven trips inside opponent's 20s, three have ended in touchdowns. LU has missed two field goals, turned it over on downs and thrown a pick. Conversely, LU ranks 10th in opponent redzone scoring. With five trips, only three have ended in TDs, with a missed field goal and pick repping the failures.
Front meets front in this game. Carson-Newman leads the SAC in both tackles for loss allowed (fourth nationally, 2.50 per game) and sacks allowed (14th nationally, 0.5 per game). Meanwhile, Limestone is 18th nationally in sacks (3.0 per game) and second in the league in tackles for loss per game (7.5).
Jake Cottle is sixth nationally and the SAC's sack leader with three through two games. He is 18th nationally and second in the SAC with 2.5 tackles for loss per game. Carson-Newman has gotten solid pressure on opposing QBs thus far. The Eagles are leading the SAC in sacks with 3.5 per game, a figure that is 12th nationally. C-N has been consistent, finding VUL's QB four times and ETSU's three.
"I think the big thing for us, especially from a defense standpoint," Clowney said. "Is that the effort has been there. Then, we'll flip on the other side of the ball and it goes into that same thing where you have one game where you score decent and another game where you don't score at all. We've got to be able to go execute a little bit better and clean some things up upfront and then be able to attack and hit holes the way we need to
Carson-Newman will be looking for better punt defense. C-N is 149th nationally in punt return defense. Opponents are averaging 19.83 yards per return on C-N. The Eagles are 11th in the SAC in net punting, only generating 26.4 yards of field position flipped on each punt.
Kickoff between the Eagles and Saints is set for noon Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 11 a.m. with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
