VIDEO: Ashley Ingram Presser
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VIDEO: 2023 Emory & Henry Highlights
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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Mountain Division hangs in the balance Saturday when No. 17/17 Carson-Newman (7-0, 5-0 South Atlantic Conference) and Emory & Henry (6-1, 4-1 SAC) match up at 1 p.m. from Fred Selfe Stadium.
For Carson-Newman, a win would secure the Eagles no worse than a share of the Mountain Division title and a spot in the SAC championship game. While Emory & Henry and Mars Hill mathematically could still catch C-N, the Eagles would hold tiebreakers against both teams with two weeks remaining in divisional play.
For Emory & Henry, a win for the Wasps would give them an edge in the tiebreaker with the Eagles. It would set up a titanic showdown the following week with Mars Hill with the division hanging in the balance for that game.
"We told you guys, every time you win just means the next game gets that much more important," head football coach Ashley Ingram said. "So to be playing in mid to late October and it being of this kind of magnitude is obviously very exciting. It's a credit to our coaches, it's a credit to our players. We're excited for the opportunity."
Per the South Atlantic Conference's football by-laws, in the event of a tie between two or more teams for the division lead, the following procedure will be utilized. In the process of breaking the tie among multiple teams, if one team is eliminated from the tie, then the tiebreaking process will restart from the first step.
- a. Head-to-Head Results among tied teams.
- b. Record against teams in the division not involved in the tie starting at the top of the standings.
- c. Overall record in mandated conference games (divisional & crossovers included).
- d. Mandated crossover opponents' aggregate record in their division only games.
- e. Road wins among the eight SAC mandated games preceding the Championship Game. f. Record vs. teams in the opposite division starting at the top of the standings.
- g. Coin toss or blind draw
Furthermore, due to the loss of games by four teams due to Hurricane Helene, the following by-law could also come into effect to determine a division champion.
If a Conference game cannot be played as scheduled and the Conference office, in consultation with the involved institutions, determines that the game cannot be rescheduled, then the game will be considered no contest and will not count as a win or a loss for either team. In such a situation, the final regular-season standings shall be determined by the number of Conference losses. Any resulting ties will be broken based on the head-to-head results of the tied teams.
Emory & Henry causes absolute chaos defensively. The Wasps have forced a turnover in every game this season. What's more than that, E&H has forced a minimum of three turnovers in all six of their wins. The Wasps had a single pick in their only loss of the season - at Limestone. E&H's 21 turnovers forced leads the nation and their +1.43 turnover per game margin is seventh nationally.
The bulk of E&H's chaos has come from the secondary, which has intercepted a nation's best 16 passes. Shawn Collins and Jacob Robinson are tied for sixth nationally as individuals with four picks apiece. Eight different players have picked off a pass.
"They're well coached and they're athletic," Ingram said. "They've got great cornerbacks. They've got a really good athletic defensive line. They're really good at linebacker. So across the board they're athletic, they're experienced and they're well coached. That's a really good defensive unit."
The Wasps are 14th nationally in both scoring and rush defense. E&H has only given up more than 100 yards rushing to two teams, Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum. Both Anderson and Barton failed to score offensive touchdowns against the Wasps defense.
E&H running back Jordan Jackson is second in the SAC and 12th nationally in rushing yardage. He has four, 100-yard games this season, including a season-high 177-yard day against Bluefield State.
"They're good up front so they can run the football," Ingram said. "They've got an experienced quarterback who's a good football player, and then they've got good skill around it. They're just well coached and as you said, you know, they're kind of running America's offense now. Everyone's running some version of RPO and they just do it very well."
Carson-Newman has an opportunity to go 8-0 to start the year. Carson-Newman's last 8-0 start was in 2002 when it ran through the regular season unbeaten before falling in the NCAA quarterfinals to second-ranked Valdosta State 31-28. Six Carson-Newman football teams have started 8-0, doing so in 1936, 1990, 1991, 1997, 1999 and 2002.
Carson-Newman is searching for its first eight-game win streak overall since the 2009 team won 11 straight games after an 0-2 start to make the semifinals of the NCAA playoffs before falling to Grand Valley State a game shy of the championship.
Carson-Newman is one of nine teams remaining in NCAA Division II with an unbeaten record. No conference in the country has multiple unbeaten teams remaining.
Factoring in future foes, C-N has the 27th toughest schedule nationally. Carson-Newman's strength of schedule is behind the University of Charleston for the toughest schedule among the nine unbeaten teams remaining in the country.
With Harding's loss to Ouachita Baptist, Carson-Newman now shares in the longest active win streak in the country with eight other teams. With six consecutive road wins, the Eagles have the third-longest active road win streak in the nation. C-N hasn't lost on the road since a 45-14 loss at Limestone on Sept. 16, 2023. Only Valdosta State (11) and CSU Pueblo (7) carry longer active road win streaks. Carson-Newman hasn't won seven straight away from the friendly confines of Burke-Tarr Stadium since winning seven consecutive away from Mossy Creek from the end of the 2006 season to the start of the 2008 campaign. For context, Carson-Newman's longest road winning streak is 22 from 1988-92. That and a 17-game stretch from 1996-2000 are the only two double-digit road winning streaks in school history.
Carson-Newman has kept the defensive pressure dialed up. With a sack in every week of the 2023 season, last year's team became the fourth this century to tally a sack in every week of the season. C-N has registered a sack in 18 straight weeks and 26 of the last 27. The Eagles' seven sacks against Wingate in week three are tied for the second most in a NCAA Division II game this season and are the sixth-most in school history. C-N is 38th nationally in sacks this season and second in the SAC.
Carson-Newman fullback Jayden Sullins has been on a tear in the month of October. Sullins has rushed 77 times for 575 yards in the month with four TDs. That's good for 7.5 yards per carry and 191.7 yards per game. In comparison, through his first four games this season, he was averaging 30.5 yards per game and 2.77 yards per carry. He is 14th nationally and third in the South Atlantic Conference this season. Sullins is on pace to become Carson-Newman's 29th all-time 1,000-yard rusher for a season, needing 303 yards to get to that mark. C-N hasn't had a 1,000-yard rusher since Antonio Wimbush in 2019.
Carson-Newman hasn't forced a turnover since Major Williams picked off a pass on Sept. 21 against Wingate. With only three TOs forced this season, C-N is last in the nation. C-N has gone four weeks without a takeaway. You have to go back to 2015 where C-N had a season with four weeks without a takeaway, let alone four straight weeks without one.
Kickoff between the Eagles and Wasps is set for 1 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at noon with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
