VIDEO: Mike Clowney Press Conference
VIDEO: 2022 Highlights
TU Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (2-3, 1-2 South Atlantic Conference) resumes its 110-year-old series with rival Tusculum (2-3, 2-1 SAC) Saturday at Burke-Tarr Stadium at 1 p.m. The Eagles and Pioneers will play in Burke-Tarr Stadium for the first time since 2019.
Carson-Newman and Tusculum renew what is the second-oldest rivalry game in the state of Tennessee. The Pioneers and Eagles first met in 1904. (The Tennessee/Vanderbilt series is the oldest by eight years- 1896).
C-N enters the contest fresh off a 22-point fourth quarter and a 34-21 come-from-behind win at Newberry. Meanwhile, Tusculum comes in after rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit against Barton, only to fall on a game-winning field goal with five seconds left.
"We talked about last week, having faith and believing, and I thought our guys did a good job of creating energy for themselves," Clowney said. "It's cool to create that energy for yourself, and it's fun. The cool thing is when we are doing that, you don't really realize. We were kind of creating some energy, and all of a sudden, I start hearing metal stands banging behind me, and I look, and the entire crowd is in the game. It changes the entire atmosphere, and it just makes that environment for our kids so much more enthusiastic. They all grew up wanting to play at Tennessee where there's a hundred thousand fans, but whatever stadium you are in, you like to see it packed. I think that as many people we can get out here to cheer these guys on, I think they'll be grateful for it."
The Eagles won 10 straight contests from 1935-1950, missing a handful of years because of World War II. Carson-Newman outscored Tusculum 359-20 over that stretch. The Eagles shut out TU in eight of those meetings.
This is the first meeting between Carson-Newman and Tusculum at Burke-Tarr Stadium since 2019. The Pioneers have won all four meetings at Pioneer Field since Jerry Odom took over as head coach in 2016, while the Eagles have taken both meetings at Burke-Tarr Stadium.
Since a one-point, 31-30 overtime victory for the Pioneers in 2016, the series has been marked by blowouts. The average margin of victory in that stretch for the winning team is 26.4 points. The closest decision was a 41-28, 13-point win for Tusculum in 2018. TU leads the ledger 3-2 over the last five.
Tusculum is averaging 3.80 sacks per game which are 6th nationally. The Pioneers were most successful at getting to the quarterback against Catawba. They had seven sacks that game. TU has posted multiple sacks in every game this season.
Ever a defensive team, TU is tops in the SAC in blocked punts (2 - 5th in NCAA II) and interceptions (8 - 14th in NCAA II). The Pioneers are third in the league but 32nd nationally in turnovers forced with 10. The Pioneers recovered three fumbles and picked off a pass in the Eagles' 34-6 loss to the Pioneers last year.
"(Tusculum head coach) Jerry (Odom) does a good job, and they always do a good job on defense. They've always got athletic kids that can run, and that's no different this year," Clowney said. "The big thing for us is just to continue to be smart with the football, number one. We've got to make good decisions and be aggressive up front. We need to make sure that we work on having good hard runs, and then still make sure that we secure the ball. That was a big issue with us going over there last year, so that's something I think that's still kind of going to be at the front of our minds in a sense. We know that we have to be able to take care of the ball to win the game."
Tusculum games have been chaos in terms of ball control this year. While the Pioneers are third in the league in turnovers forced, they are on the minus side of turnover margin this season. Pioneer QBs have tossed eight interceptions while ball handlers have fumbled nine times, losing four.
The Pioneers are last in the SAC with eight interceptions thrown, however, the bulk of those picks came in the Pioneers season-opening against FCS Kennesaw State when they threw four picks.
Linebacker Wesley Scott leads the SAC and is 14th nationally with 9.4 tackles per game.
Through five weeks of football, Carson-Newman has yet to make a field goal. C-N last went five weeks without putting through a three pointer in 2018 when it closed the final five weeks of the year missing a 40 and a 37 yarder. C-N hasn't gone six weeks without a field goal since 2010, when it made one field goal on the entire year.
Shockingly, Carson-Newman's best marker for success is its passing game this year. The Eagles are 2-0 when they average 7.0 yards or greater per pass, and are 0-3 when below that mark.
"Jaylen did do well was distribute the football. He took the things that were there, and he shared it with several different people," Clowney said. "There's still some reads stuff that he has to do in the run game. I thought for the most part, he handled that adequately, and we just look forward to him continuing his growth and development as a quarterback. I think one thing that you always want to have is a more balanced offense. I think that gives us a chance to be able to continue to do that down the road because I don't think we want to, at any point, vacate the run game. We still have to be better at running the football, but we need to be more adequate at passing, and I think it's something that's super critical to our growth and development as a program."
Preseason All-America safety Major Williams is sixth among active Division II players in non-offensive touchdowns. Williams has a pick six and two punt return TDs to his name in his career. His second career punt return for a touchdown came at Newberry last week. The 65-yard return registers as the 10th-longest punt return in school history.
Carson-Newman has rushed the ball fewer than 30 times in back-to-back weeks. While no longer running the split-back veer as it did under Ken Sparks and Mike Turner. The Eagles haven't run the ball fewer than 30 times in back-to-back weeks ever. Until now.
Kickoff between the Eagles and Pioneers is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at noon with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
