VIDEO: Mike Clowney Press Conference
VIDEO: UVA Wise Cinematic Highlights
VIDEO: 2021 Catawba Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After starting the season 1-3, Carson-Newman (5-5, 4-4 South Atlantic Conference) has rattled off four wins in its last six games and has an opportunity to close out 2022 with a winning record.
Standing in the way of that is the Catawba College Catawba Indians (1-9, 0-8). C-N and Catawba clash for the 55th time Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Shuford Stadium. The Eagles lead the all-time series 40-13-1 and 18-7 in games played in Salisbury.
A win for Carson-Newman would give the Eagles a three-game winning streak and a winning season. Carson-Newman had one win in 2021, the four-win improvement is already the best for the program following a one-win campaign. A five-win improvement would be the second greatest in school history.
"I think it's something that really gives us something else to fight for," Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney said. "That's where we talked about how we fought all year. Going to West Georgia and losing the first game, and you fight all year to get back to .500. That's what we talked about after the game Saturday. We're back to .500 now, so let's just go win the next football game and try to make ourselves a winner."
The 1925 team turned in a 2-3-2 record before going 9-3 under Lake Russell in 1926. Arguably greater though is the turnaround from 5-5 in 1985 to a 12-1 national-championship winning group in 1986.
The matchup pits two SAC Hall of Famers against one another. Both head coaches, Mike Clowney (2015) and Curtis Walker (2008) have been inducted into the SAC Hall of Fame for their playing careers at their respective alma maters. This represents the first ever matchups between two SAC Hall of Fame players in any sport and the second overall. Walker also collided with Hall of Fame Coach Ken Sparks, however, Sparks was inducted on the strength of his coaching career at Carson-Newman.
This is also the only matchup in the South Atlantic Conference featuring two coaches at the helm of their alma maters.
Additionally, Clowney and Walker represent the first two African American head football coaches in South Atlantic Conference history. The matchup is a bit of a collector's item in general. Outside of HBCU leagues such as the CIAA and SIAC, Clowney and Walker are two of 14 African American Division II head coaches nationwide. The SAC is the fourth league that will see two African American head coaches coach against one another this year. The GLIAC, RMAC and MIAA are the other leagues.
Catawba has struggled defensively this season. The Indians are last in the SAC in rush defense, pass defense, scoring defense and total defense.
On their nine-game losing streak, the Indians have surrendered fewer than 30 points once, a 28-0 loss to Wingate. Opponents have put up at least 400 yards of offense in the last four weeks with more than 500 in five of the last seven.
"We expect them to come out and give us a great effort," Clowney said. "You can see they've been in a good majority of their games. They're a young football team. Overall, when you see what they played the last couple weeks, we expect those guys to come out and give us their very best."
The Indians' nine-game losing streak is tied for the sixth-longest active skid in the country. A 10-game conference losing streak is the ninth-longest active streak.
Carson-Newman has returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in the last two contests with Catawba (DeQuan Dudley, twice; Marcus Williams and Devon Moore). In fact, four of the last eight kicks that the Eagles have returned agains the Indians have found the end zone. Carson-Newman has six special teams touchdowns (two blocked punt returns by Elijah Davis and Caleb Goins) in the last two meetings.
Carson-Newman has won the coin toss in all 10 of the games it has played this season. The odds of that happening are 0.0976 percent. To win the toss in 11 straight weeks has a 0.04882 percent chance of happening.
Carson-Newman wide receiver Braxton Westfield sits on 18 career receiving TDs, he needs three more to catch Tank Black for fourth all-time in program history with 21.
With 96 career receptions and 1,590 receiving yards, Westfield is Carson-Newman's 11th, 1,500-yard reveiver. He needs 22 yards to move into eighth all-time past Mikkail Jenkins (2001-04) and his 1,612 yards. A 133- yard day would get him to Calvin Christopher and seventh.
A total of four more catches and Westfield would become the sixth player in program history with 100 catches in a career.
With 50 catches and 724 yards, Westfield has the most snags for a receiver in the option era in a single season. His 724 yards rank 13th.
Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche has tallied 19.0 sacks in his career. That's good for sixth all-time. His next sack will break a tie with Mark Isom and Cedric Killings. A sack and a half moves him into the top five all-time with Gary Laging.
Kickoff between the Eagles and Indians 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) and online at cneagles.com/live.
