VIDEO: Mike Clowney Presser
VIDEO: Week One Highlights v. VUL
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (1-0) will make the short jaunt along Interstate 81 to match wits with an opponent it hasn't faced since head coach Mike Clowney was three years old Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
The Eagles will challenge FCS and SoCON foe East Tennessee State (0-1) from Greene Stadium for the first time since 1974.
C-N leads the all-time ledger 20-9-1 and has won the last three in series, albeit in 1972-74 during Hall of Famers Jim Deaton, Mike Turner and Carl Torbush's (who would later go on to coach ETSU when it revived its program in the 2010s) playing days for the Orange and Blue.
"To me, that's one of the biggest things that brings energy to this game, is just locale. We all know and are familiar with one another. ETSU is one of those games that's saved in my score stream even if we aren't playing them, just because they're close and you want to see and know how they're doing. Especially when Coach Torbush was over there. I want to see what sideline he stands on, that's my biggest challenge for Carl. 'Where are you going to be on Saturday, Carl? Are you going to be at home with the Eagles?'" Clowney said before breaking into a laugh. "And we know he is significant there, but I'm sure that'll be a little hard on him. But we do expect him to be sitting on the Eagle side."
Carson-Newman and ETSU have shared history in Carl Torbush. The two-time C-N All-American baseball catcher and football linebacker was the head coach for the Bucs when ETSU restarted its football program in 2015. Torbush also served as C-N's associate head coach and linebackers coach when it last played an FCS school in 2007.
ETSU is helmed by George Quarles - the legendary head coach of Maryville High School for 17 years. During his unprecedented run at Maryville, Quarles coached the Rebels to a nation's-best 74 consecutive wins during one stretch that included four consecutive state championships. After taking over the Maryville program in 1999, he went 10-7 in his first 17 games, which he followed with a mark of 240-9 (.964). He was the winningest high school coach in America over the 10-year period (2007- 16). Quarles is from Jefferson County. His offensive line coach at ETSU is one of his former high school players and Clemson's former national-championship winning center Jay Guillermo. Guillermo spent 2021 as C-N's o-line coach.
"With George, I mean just being able to recruit his school for years when he was at Maryville, and just the success that he had there and just him still being here in this area. I think speaks volume just for the East Tennessee area in general," Clowney said. "Then Jay, getting his first full-time coaching job, he was at Western and then he comes here and coaches offensive line for us. Then he goes to Virginia and winds up right back down the street. And he played for Coach Quarles in high school, so I'm sure that relationship's significant for the two of them to be able to be back together. So, it's going to be a fun day, and a good family competitive environment."
This will be Carson-Newman's first meeting with a higher-division foe since 2007 and its fabled 29-17 win at UT Chattanooga. Since moving to Division II in 1993, C-N is 2-3 against higher division foes (Florida International in 2003 is the other win). C-N has dropped FCS games to Montana (1994), Central Florida (1995) and North Dakota State (2004).
Carson-Newman is looking for its first win against in-state opposition since 2019 - a 49-13 win over South Atlantic Conference foe Tusculum. Outside of the yearly meetings with rival Tusculum, ETSU will be the first school from the state of Tennessee that Carson-Newman has played since that 2007 meeting with UTC.
ETSU has faired well against South Atlantic Conference foes since restarting football in 2015. The Bucs have won all four games they've played against the league - beating Mars Hill twice and UVA Wise and Limestone once each. The Bucs have won all four games by at least three touchdowns. The average margin of victory in those four games is 27.5 points per game.
The Eagles ride a four-game winning streak into Johnson City. That streak marks the fifth-longest active win streak in NCAA Division II. The Eagles haven't won five straight games as a program since 2019 when it won five straight to make the second round of the NCAA playoffs.
Carson-Newman rides a nine-game winning streak when playing outside Division II. That streak includes wins against NCCAA (two), NAIA (five), Division III (one) and FCS (one) schools. The Eagles' last loss to a non-DII was in 2004, 49-14 to perennial FCS Power North Dakota State.
The last touchdown scored by Carson-Newman against ETSU came from Andrew Pittman in 1974 on a 31-yard pass from Fayne Limbo. Pittman would go on to set a single-season record for rushing attempts at 178 - a mark that has since been eclipsed 20 times.
Carson-Newman enters the contest third nationally in first downs defense (5), third in total defense (75), fourth in rush defense (6), sixth in scoring defense (3) and eighth in pass defense (69).
Offensively, the Eagles are fourth nationally in time of possession (40:39), fourth in tackles for loss allowed (2.0) and 11th in rushing offense (280).
Carson-Newman has won the coin toss in 13 consecutive games dating back to the final game of the season at Tusculum in 2021. The odds of that happening is one out of every 8,192 sets - or 0.0122 percent. The odds of winning 14 straight coin tosses is 1 in 32,768 - or 0.0030517 percent.
Kickoff between C-N and ETSU is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 4:30 with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
