VIDEO: Mike Turner Press Conference
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (1-1, 0-1 South Atlantic Conference) welcomes first-year SAC member UVa-Wise (1-2, 0-1 SAC) to Burke-Tarr Stadium to open up a three-game home stand Saturday at 1 p.m.
The contest is a part of Student Appreciation Week. Carson-Newman students will have access to a free tailgate sponsored by Texas Roadhouse from 90 minutes before kickoff to midway through the first quarter.
Despite being separated by just 123 miles, Saturday will mark the first time that UVa-Wise and Carson-Newman have met in football. The Cavaliers began their program as a NAIA institution in 1991 before transitioning to NCAA Division II and the Mountain East in 2013.
"I think it's great that Virginia-Wise is in our conference," C-N head football coach Mike Turner said. "I think it's a positive for all of us in the conference – the proximity of it, the help with our conference scheduling, it's been a tremendous help. We've watched them on video and they've been very competitive. They had a great blowout victory in the first game, they took Tennessee Tech, an FCS school, to task, and then had the opportunity to beat Mars Hill this past Saturday. very, very gritty and they play hard. They run to the football on defense and on offense they're going to be sound in what they do and attack you."
The Highland Cavaliers have hung their hats on a stout defense that causes chaos through the early portion of the season. UVa-Wise leads the South Atlantic Conference and is 17th in the country in sacks with 10. They rank second in the league and seventh nationally with 30 tackles for loss.
Drew O'Bryan has been the herald of chaos on the defense, turing in 2.3 tackles for loss per game to rank 12th in the country and third in the league. Buster Henderson adds in 1.7 stops behind the line a contest. Meanwhile, it's Chavon Fields and Rondre Knowles-Tener who are the top sack artists. The duo combines for two sacks a game and is tied for 17th in the country in sacks.
"They're playing a man coverage, a bump and man coverage, up in your face, and they're pretty gritty at it," Turner said. "They're going to take care of the perimeter with man coverage. The type of athletes they've got, they're just tough kids. And they look they enjoy playing."
The Highland Cavaliers give up a shade under 400 yards of total offense a game, but just 24 points a contest. Those are numbers aided thanks to a secondary that has already picked off a quartet of passes and a defense as a whole that has forced seven fumbles and recovered five. The Cavs lead the SAC in turnover margin and are 11th nationally in turnovers forced.
Those numbers have added leverage after the Eagles coughed it up four times in a week two loss to Wingate while the Bulldogs accounted for nine tackles for loss.
"It's a first-down emphasis," Turner said. "Now, do you throw the ball on first down? Absolutely you do. But we have to say we're going to run the football, we're going to have that four-yard mentality, we got to do that, any offense is going to do that. We had some breakdowns execution wise and it's not from a lack of effort. We've got to learn how to play (like) every week's the Super Bowl, and we've got to understand that people are going to give you your best shot."
Antonio Wimbush (Kingsland, Ga.) joined Carson-Newman's 3,000-yard club against Wingate and now has 3,019 yards in his career. He is 10th all-time in rushing yards. He needs 62 yards to move into ninth past Alex Good (3,081).
From there, Wimbush could in theory climb all the way to seventh, but it would take an all-time performance against a very good UVa-Wise defense. A 127-yard day (which would also be Wimbush's 14th career 100-yard rushing performance) would vault Wimbush past Andy Hibbett (3,208 yards), while a school-record chasing 272-yard day would put Wimbush on level footing with the single-game school-record holder Buck Wakefield (3,291).
A three-touchdown day would draw Wimbush level with Leonard Guyton and Heath Hawkins for 11th on the career rushing touchdown chart with 34 career scores.
UVa-Wise becomes the seventh school from the Commonwealth that Carson-Newman has played all-time. The Highland Cavaliers join Virginia Union, Virginia-Lynchburg, Virginia State, Liberty, Washington & Lee and Emory & Henry as schools from the state that C-N has played.
Carson-Newman is 24-21-2 all-time against schools from the state. Emory & Henry accounts for the bulk of that. The Eagles are 17- 19-2 all-time against the Wasps in a series that stopped in 1975. The Eagles are 7-1 against schools from the state since 1980. The lone loss came in a 1984 trip to Lynchburg to take on Liberty.
This is Carson-Newman's first match up with a new conference foe since 2015. The Eagles unceremoniously welcomes Limestone to the league that year with a 69-28 win on Halloween in Gaffney. Carson-Newman is 5-0 all-time against first year league members. C-N welcomed Brevard to the SAC in 2008 with a 34-3 win in Asheville. C-N welcomed rival Tusculum to the league in 1998 with a 45-21 win in Jefferson City. In 1996, C-N brought Newberry back into the league after an absence with a 13-0 shutout win. The oldest first-year member is Wingate, who joined in 1988 to the tune of a 36-24 loss to the Eagles.
Kickoff between the Eagles and UVa-Wise is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at noon with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
