VIDEO: Mike Clowney Press Conference
VIDEO: 2019 Lenoir-Rhyne Playoff Highlights
JEFFERON CITY, Tenn. – After a three-game road swing, Carson-Newman (0-5, 0-3 South Atlantic Conference) returns home to Burke-Tarr Stadium to challenge Lenoir-Rhyne (3-2, 2-2 SAC) Saturday at 1 p.m.
The contest is Kids Day, Hall of Fame Weekend and Carson-Newman's Breast Cancer Awareness Game.
"We've been on the road which has been good for us to just be away and something different, but as you do that over and over, it's good to just get back at home," Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney said. "Just to be at home and be around people who can love on you and support you. Also, to have your home crowd and continue to find a way to fight for another one here at Burke-Tarr Stadium."
Carson-Newman has played the ninth toughest schedule to date in the nation. Catawba and Wingate are both unbeaten, while West Georgia only has one loss.
Lenoir-Rhyne has won three straight in the series and three straight in Jefferson City. Carson-Newman hasn't beaten Lenoir-Rhyne at home since 2012 when the Eagles beat the Bears in the regular season and the playoffs.
The Bears have taken four of the last six meetings in Jefferson City. Prior to that, Carson-Newman had won 14 consecutive in Burke-Tarr Stadium prior to the Bears 52-14 win in 2010.
Coupled with losses to West Georgia and Wingate in the first two weeks of the season, C-N will be looking to avoid a three-game home losing streak. Carson-Newman has not lost three consecutive home games since the 1977-78 seasons. C-N lost to Lenoir-Rhyne and Elon at home to conclude the 1977 season before opening 1978 with a 34-17 loss to North Alabama. Carson-Newman snapped that three-game home losing streak on Oct. 7, 1978 with a 44-19 win over Newberry.
The Eagles have had three consecutive games with four turnovers. C-N ranks second from the bottom nationally in turnovers margin. C-N is minus-10 on the year. Those 15 turnovers have led to 36 points for C-N's opponents and an average drive start of the C-N 49-yard line following those Carson-Newman turnovers.
"It's one of those things that's obvious. We've talked about the last two weeks with four turnovers, and it is something that we work on," Clowney said. "The big thing now is at some point, they have to own it. They get the ball and I'm kind of lackadaisical with the football and so a lot of times, we're overconfident with the ball. If we don't handle the ball in the right way, someone is going to take it. Like on Dendy's turnover, that is the thing that hurt us. The defender hit it in just the right place, but that's why we hold it in exactly the right way."
Reigning D2Football.com National Special Teams Player of the Week DeQuan Dudley is one of three players nationally with two kickoff returns for touchdowns. Carson-Newman ranks third nationally with 31.4 yards per kickoff return as a team. Dudley's 41.6 yards per return rank second in the country.
Update on @Houdiniwayyyy
— Adam Cavalier (@cavonthecall) October 11, 2021
The 76.3 yards per return are the second most all-time among all @NCAA Divisions.
Only Division III's Elijah Rehm of @RowanAthletics averaged more per return - 84.7 yds per return against Widener to be exact - on Aug. 30, 2018 (3 ret for 254 yds) https://t.co/JLlFoQLOl5
�� BREAKING ��
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) October 12, 2021
The @D2Football National Special Teams Player of the Week is @cnfootball's @Houdiniwayyyy (DeQuan Dudley) pic.twitter.com/7dzhROdlL3
When Braxton Westfield tallied a 20-yard TD catch against Barton, the NFL prospect found himself in an opponent's end zone for the 13th time in his career. He is tied with former Cincinnati Bengal Tim George for eighth on the all-time receiving TD list. His next score will put him in a tie for sixth with Leonard Weaver and Alvin Sanders for sixth all-time.
Lenoir-Rhyne placekicker Chase Allbaugh set a new NCAA Division II record for most consecutive extra points in the Bears' 38-31 win over Tusculum. Allbaugh connected on five extra points, giving him 132 consecutive kicks without a miss. His last miss came in Burke-Tarr Stadium. Allbaugh missed on his second of four attempts on the day, a 40-21 L-R win on Nov. 3, 2018.
Freshman tailback Dwayne McGee has five straight 100-yard rushing performances to open the fall campaign. McGee leads the league in yards/carry, rushing TDs, rushing yards and rushing yards/game. He ranks fourth nationally in yds/game (154.4), fifth in rushing yards (772), eighth in rushing TDs (eight) and 14th in yards/carry (6.66).
"Dwayne McGee is a good back and he's really fast which is one thing you see on film," Clowney said. "He does a good job, especially on hitting outside runs and having great vision to see things inside. Lenoir-Rhyne has had success as a good program in this league and you see that by the national ranking on the front end."
L-R QB Grayson Willingham needs 25 yards to break the L-R record for career passing yards which has stood since 1987 when Brian Bryson finished his career with 6,583 yards and Willingham currently sits at 6,558 passing yards in his 37 career games. Additionally, Willingham is 83 yards away from breaking Bryson's career record for total offense. Bryson finished with 6,645 and Willingham is at 6,563. Willingham's 22 completions per game are 20th nationally and second in the SAC.
Carson-Newman is 0-5 to start a season for the first time since 1959. That team got in the win column in week six with a 26-22 win over Appalachian State.
Carson-Newman started year eight of the Roy Harmon era with five straight losses to Western Carolina, Southeast Missouri, Emory & Henry, Newberry and Georgetown. This is just the third time in school history a Carson-Newman football team started 0-5. The 2021 team joins the 1959 and 1927 teams. The 1927 team had the ignominious distinction of being outscored 121-6 with five shutouts through the first six weeks of the season.
"That's really part of the plan when we talked about what we want to do with this football program. That is a major part of the plan because when you go look at the stones outside of our building, we've been here a long time and see the 10-3 records and the national championships," Clowney said. "When you look at our recent history, in reality, we haven't won a championship since 2009. When you go look at those stones on the back, you see the 5-6, 4-7, 7-4, 9-3, 10-2. There's been that little four-year process where we kind of reset and go through the process again. The biggest thing we have to do is get old and stay old so that we can go be what we used to be and stop rebuilding and start reloading."
Kickoff between the Eagles and Bears 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), Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
