VIDEO: Ashley Ingram Interview
VIDEO: Wingate Cinematic Highlights
VIDEO: 2023 Catawba Highlight Reel
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 25 Carson-Newman (3-0, 1-0 South Atlantic Conference) will try to match its best start in 17 years when it heads to Salisbury, N.C. for a 6 p.m. kickoff with Catawba (1-2, 0-1 SAC)
Carson-Newman has an opportunity to go 4-0 to start the year. Catawba was the team to spoil C-N's last crack at a 4-0 start, beating the Eagles 25-22 in Burke-Tarr Stadium in week four of the 2013 season. Catawba won last year's matchup in Jefferson City, 24-14.
It has been 17 years since Carson-Newman last started 4-0. The 2007 team won its first six games en route to a 10-1 record. Catawba was also the team to halt that team's winning streak, famously doing so 55-49 on Oct. 13 in a loss that would eventually keep C-N out of the playoffs. C-N has started 14 seasons 4-0. Twelve of those years fall between 1989 and 2007.
"Coach (Tyler) Haines obviously does a great job," head football coach Ashley Ingram said. "He did a great job at Shepherd while he was there. Beat us last year. They always do a great job offensively. Big RPO team, he's got a really good quarterback, and we're just going to have to play really well to have a chance to beat these guys.
Carson-Newman has been sensational on special teams to start this season, scoring points on special teams without kicking for three consecutive weeks for the first time in program history. Fortune Woods returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in week one against Reinhardt, Cam Ferguson returned a kickoff 92 yards for a score at West Virginia State and Major Williams became the first Eagle to return a fumble for a defensive PAT against Wingate last week.
Carson-Newman has seven special teams touchdowns (two blocked punt returns by Elijah Davis and Caleb Goins, plus a regular punt return from Major Williams) against Catawba in the teams' last four meetings. The other four special teams scores were all on kickoff returns.
Carson-Newman has returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in the last four contests with Catawba (DeQuan Dudley, twice; Marcus Williams and Devon Moore). In fact, four of the last 15 kicks that the Eagles have returned against the Indians have found the end zone.
"As coaches, we're not perfect," Ingram said. "Our players aren't perfect. We're just a work in progress. But the guys are buying in and we'll just continue to get better. We'll continue to work, we'll continue to coach them hard and if they'll allow us to do that, our best days are still ahead of us."
Ashley Ingram is the first Carson-Newman head football coach to win his first three games at the helm of the Eagle football program. Legendary C-N skipper Ken Sparks has the best five-game record of any coach to the start of a career, going 4-1 with a lone blemish in week three in 1980 to Wofford.
Catawba has transformed into one of the nation's top passing attacks under Tyler Haines. Catawba Indian signal caller Preston Brown ranks fourth nationally in completion percentage (72.6%) and 11th in completions per game (23.0). Brown ranks 15th nationally and second in the league in both passng efficiency (161.7) and passing yards per game (260.0) - trailing Limestone's Dustin Noller in both categories.
"Brown is one of the nation's leaders in completion percentage and he's drastically improved that from last year," Ingram said. "So second year in the system, that's definitely benefitting him. He's just a good player and we're going to have our hands full with him."
The SAC All-Piedmont Division quarterback from a season ago now has six career games of 295 yards or more in 14 career starts as a Catawba Indian.
Tailback LJ Turner is seventh nationally in yards per carry with 7.58 a carrry. Turner recorded 194 total yards and two touchdowns in Catawba's 31-28 loss at UVA Wise Saturday. He led teams in both rushing and receiving yards with 110 and a touchdown and 84 yards and a score, respectively
All-SAC safety Deno Wardlow has produced three consecutive double-digit tackle game to start the season; the preseason All-Division selection leads the SAC with 30 tackles. He is 11th nationally in total tackles and 10th in tackles per game.
Carson-Newman has kept the defensive pressure dialed up. With a sack in every week of the 2023 season, last year's team became the fourth this century to tally a sack in every week of the season. C-N has registered a sack in 14 straight weeks and 22 of the last 23. The Eagles' seven sacks against Wingate last week are tied for the second most in a NCAA Division II game this season and are the sixth-most in school history. C-N is 20th nationally in sacks this season and second in the SAC.
Carson-Newman takes aim at a fifth straight road win. Carson-Newman's four-game road winning streak is the ninth-longest active streak in NCAA Division II. Carson-Newman hasn't won five straight away from the friendly confines of Burke-Tarr Stadium since winning seven consecutive away from Mossy Creek from the end of the 2006 season to the start of the 2008 campaign. For context, Carson-Newman's longest road winning streak is 22 from 1988-92. That and a 17 game stretch from 1996-2000 are the only two double-digit road winning streaks in school history.
Kickoff between the Eagles and Catawba Indians is set for 6 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5 p.m. with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
