Eagles Host Tusculum in Regular-Season Finale Saturday

Game Notes vs. Tusculum

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — Heading into its regular season finale against Tusculum last season, the Carson-Newman football team was struggling to find consistency in its play and eventually lost to the Pioneers by a point.

Fast-forward to Saturday, and No. 14 C-N enters the final regular season game against its South Atlantic Conference rival going in a completely different direction. The Eagles have already won the SAC title outright and are on an eight-game winning streak that has put them at No. 2 in the latest NCAA Super Regional Two Poll.

With C-N (8-2, 6-0 SAC) and the Pioneers (3-6, 2-4) set to kickoff at 1 p.m. on Senior Day at Burke-Tarr Stadium, Eagles head coach Ken Sparks hopes his squad will continue to carry its momentum into Saturday and beyond.

“At this time last year, we were a deteriorating team,” Sparks said. “This year we are a growing football team. I don’t know what all caused that. The head coach wasn’t getting the job done last year, but we are a growing football team this year. That’s very encouraging.”

The Eagles are coming into the game on a roll after claiming their 21st SAC title last Saturday with a 45-7 victory at Wingate. C-N amassed 657 yards of total offense, including 496 on the ground. Senior running back Buck Wakefield (Drummonds, Tenn.) set C-N’s single game rushing record with 303 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, surpassing Heath Hawkins’ mark of 299 yards, which was set in 1998 against Slippery Rock.

“We had a good ballgame,” Sparks said of the win over Wingate. “There were some things that we didn’t do very well, but overall we are improving as a football team and we are getting better. That’s always been our goal from the beginning is to get better every week.”

With the success C-N’s high-powered rushing attack has had during the last several weeks, the improvement of the Eagles receiving corps has gone unnoticed. Seniors Reggie Hubbard (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Charles Dobson (Umatilla, Fla.) and junior Doug Belk (Valdosta, Ga.) have all made their share of plays for C-N this season.

Hubbard has averaged 19.2 yards per catch and leads the team with five touchdown receptions, while Dobson is averaging 26.4 yards per reception and has three touchdowns. Belk is gaining 17.9 yards per touch and has four touchdowns.

“They are underrated,” Sparks said. “Receivers on our football team have to be total team players. They have to be blockers more times than they have to be a receiver. We ask our receivers to be very, very talented where they can catch the ball and make something happen after they catch it.”

Tusculum will enter Saturday’s matchup with some momentum. After losing six of their first seven contests, the Pioneers have won two straight games over Newberry and Mars Hill, which are both fighting for playoff berths.

The Pioneers defeated the Lions 38-28 last week, and Sparks believes Tusculum is getting closer to playing at the level it did last season when it reached the NCAA playoffs.

“Like (Tusculum) head coach Frankie DeBusk said, they feel like they are now playing like they wanted to play all year,” Sparks said. “Of course, you have to remember that they are coming off the national playoffs last year and have a whole bunch of those players back. It’s not like they don’t have talent.”

“It’s just the fact that they are probably like us and have worked out some bugs where they are now playing well. I think Tusculum is probably the hottest team in the league right now.”

Even with the graduation of All-American quarterback Corey Russell, the Pioneers have remained in the mix as one of the most dangerous passing teams in the country. Tusculum leads the SAC and is sixth in the nation in passing offense with an average of 340.4 yards per game.

Freshman signal caller Bo Cordell has done well managing Tusculum’s offense this season, as he is fourth in the nation in passing yards per game (326). The Cincinnati, Ohio, native has completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 2,934 yards, 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

“He’s gained an awful lot of confidence,” Sparks said of Cordell. “Mars Hill put a lot of pressure on him, and he stood back there and threw that football under pressure very well. That’s something that he hadn’t really done all year, but he’s doing it pretty well now.”

“He’s not the running threat that Russell was, but I think he could be. He’s got some speed and can run it. I think he just chooses not to as much as Russell did.”

The Pioneers have struggled defensively this season, giving up a league worst 430.8 yards per game, but Sparks said Tusculum’s defense is beginning to turn things around.

“They did lose some key people on defense (to graduation),” Sparks offered. “But they are getting a lot better and are doing a lot of things well.”

C-N leads the all-time series 28-9-2. Tusculum won last year’s meeting 45-44.

Eagle Notes: The Eagles have piled up 1,255 yards of total offense in the last two weeks…C-N ranks first in the SAC and 10th nationally in total offense with an average of 458.2 yards per game…The Eagles are also first in the nation in rushing offense (322.3)…C-N’s defense has given up just 27 points in its last three games (three touchdowns, two field goals)…Senior quarterback Alex Good’s (Greensboro, N.C.) 2,720 career rushing yards ranks seventh in school history, while Wakefield’s 2,561 yards ranks ninth all-time…Good is also fifth in school history in career passing yards with 4,233 yards.