JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- When the ninth-ranked Carson-Newman football team opens the 2009 season on Thursday at Winona State (Minn.), it will mark the 30th season in which head coach Ken Sparks has led the Eagles onto the gridiron.

Despite a number of changes in the game of football over the years, Sparks said he will approach this season opener the same way he did his first in 1980. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. (CT) at Maxwell Field.

"It's about the same," he said. "I still put a lot of expectations on myself and everybody around me. Our definition of success is to do our very best with what we have, and that's what we are going to do."

The Eagles will need their very best against the Warriors on Thursday. Winona State is coming off a 6-5 campaign in 2008 and was able finish with a winning record in the tough Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which includes 2008 national champion Minnesota-Duluth.

"We are impressed with them on field," Sparks said of the Warriors. "They've got a lot of players back from last year and they were good last year. They are from a conference that has the national champion and they have a history of beating that national champion team."

"It will be a quality football team that we are playing against, and they won't beat themselves. They are very well coached and are sound in the things they do, so we just have to go play football and find out who wants it the most."

C-N must be prepared for a balanced attack from the Winona State offense. The Warriors finished last season with 2,242 yards rushing and passed for 2,180 yards.

Leading the way for Winona State will be quarterback Greg Preston. The senior signal caller started 10-of-11 games last season and threw for 1,622 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also led Tennessee-Martin to an Ohio Valley Conference title in 2006, before transferring to WSU.

"They've got a good scheme," Sparks said. "They will pound you to death off tackle, and by the time you think that you have something, they will throw the play action pass at you."

Returning to help stop the Warriors' offense will be senior safety Denares Waites (Alma, Ga.), who missed all but one game last season with an injury. Waites will help anchor an Eagle defense that returns seven starters, including four preseason All-South Atlantic Conference selections.

Sparks said getting Waites back on the field will be a huge plus for his football team.

"(Waites) is our leader in a lot of ways," Sparks said. "He's a natural at it. He's kind of the quarterback of our defense in a lot of ways. When he went down last year, we lost a little bit of confidence and it affected us some. It's great to have him back."

Winona State will face the difficult task of stopping a C-N rushing offense that finished last season ranked first in the nation in rushing yards per game (310).

The Eagles return seven players from that offense, including preseason first team All-SAC quarterback Alex Good (Greensboro, N.C.). Good is C-N's leader in career rushing yards for a quarterback (1,828) and is fourth in school history in total offense with 4,741 yards.

The matchup marks the fourth straight year C-N opens the season on Thursday and it is the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Eagles defeated Concord 77-14 in last season's opener.