September 26, 2025

SAC title game rematch on deck for C-N at No. 19/20 Wingate

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (2-1, 1-1 South Atlantic Conference) revisits the site of the 2024 SAC title game when it heads to Irwin Belk Stadium for a rematch of last year’s championship against No. 19/20 Wingate (3-0, 1-0 SAC) Saturday at 6 p.m.

RV Carson-Newman

3-1

#19/20 Wingate

3-1

Final	1	2	3	4	T
RV Carson-Newman (3-1)	7	0	3	11	21
#19/20 Wingate (3-1)	0	0	7	7	14

VIDEO: Ashley Ingram Presser

VIDEO: C-N at Wingate "In The Booth" Radio Feed

VIDEO: C-N v. Lenoir-Rhyne Cinematic Recap

VIDEO: 2024 C-N v. Wingate Regular Season Full Broadcast

VIDEO: 2024 C-N at Wingate SAC title highlights

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (2-1, 1-1 South Atlantic Conference) revisits the site of the 2024 SAC title game when it heads to Irwin Belk Stadium for a rematch of last year's championship against No. 19/20 Wingate (3-0, 1-0 SAC) Saturday at 6 p.m.

Carson-Newman won the regular season meeting between the two teams last year in overtime in Burke-Tarr Stadium 31-28 on a walk-off Bennett Smith field goal, while the Bulldogs claimed a 28-13 win in the title game last season. Wingate held C-N to 84 yards of total offense in that championship meeting – the fewest total yards of offense for C-N since the year 2000.

"We have a great opportunity this weekend to go on the road and play a great football team, a great football program," C-N head coach Ashley Ingram said. "We will certainly have our work cut out for us. We've got a lot of respect for Wingate and what Coach (Rashaan) Jordan is doing over there. Got a lot of respect for their program and we're just excited for the opportunity.

Carson-Newman is squaring off with a second straight ranked foe in regular season play. After beating No. 19/17 Lenoir-Rhyne 24-7 last week, Carson-Newman heads to now No. 19/20 Wingate. This is a rare occurrence.

It marks the sixth time C-N will play back-to-back ranked teams in the regular season. The last was in 2022 when C-N lost to Lenoir-Rhyne 34-13 before beating No. 7 Newberry 24-7. C-N has gone 1-1 in three of those stretches and 2-0 in two.

In 2000, C-N opened the year with consecutive ranked wins over No. 19 Bloomsburg 28-20 and No. 10 Arkansas Tech 49-26. In 2004, the Eagles picked up a 49-30 win at No. 22 Catawba before beating No. 22 Wingate in Burke-Tarr Stadium 41-10 on Nov. 6.

Carson-Newman is looking to snap a three-game road losing streak at a place where it hasn't tasted victory since 2015. The Eagles have lost three straight to the Bulldogs in Irwin Belk Stadium since Carson Wise walked off with an 18-yard field goal to secure a 41-38 win for C-N over the then No. 21 Bulldogs in OT. C-N has a 5-3 record against WU when the Bulldogs are ranked.

Wingate and Carson-Newman are two of the 15 teams in the country who have not thrown a pick through four weeks of football. The Eagles and Bulldogs are two and three nationally in passing efficiency. C-N is at 222.60 and the Bulldogs at 201.23.

Wingate QB Elijah Holmes is second nationally in completion percentage, connecting on 73.4 percent of his passes. Holmes has fired nine TD passes, 12th nationally and most in the SAC, without an interception. His worst passing day came against UNC Pembroke in the opener when he only completed 63 percent of his passes. He has hit on 30 of his last 37 pass attempts, an 81.8 perent completion rate.

"He doesn't throw many incompletions so that's usually pretty good for qb," Ingram said. "He's got command of their offense and what Wingate is going to do on both sides of the ball, they're going to play within their system. They're not going to ask people to do things that they can't do. He is a very good quarterback. He's been accurate, he's managed the game very well. He's just a very good football player."

Wingate punter Rivers Teeter is the reigning D2Football.com National Special Team Player of the Week. Teeter started his night with a 39-yard punt that was downed at the three. His next punt was a 51-yarder, which was downed at the two. His third punt was a 49-yarder that was downed at the one. Six of his seven punts on the year have been downed inside the 20.

Wingate has one of the top offensive and defensive units in the SAC. The Bulldogs are second in total defense (259) and first in total offense (464.3).

"They haven't missed a beat. The completion percentage is great. They run the ball really well. They're really good on the offensive line. Obviously they've got good skill," Ingram said. "What they do is they just don't put themselves in bad positions. They had very few third and long situations on the season. So they throw on their terms, they run on their terms and that makes them very good. Then defensively, they did lose some guys, but if you look at their too deep. Of the 22 players there's not a single person who is not at least in their third year in the program. They've built a program with homegrown guys, very few transfers in the program and every single person on their defense in the two deep has been in the program at least three years."

Carson-Newman has kept the defensive pressure dialed up. With a sack in every week of the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the last two years' teams are the fourth and fifth this century to tally a sack in every week of the season. C-N has registered a sack in 26 straight weeks and 34 of the last 35. C-N sacked Wingate's quarterbacks seven and five times in the two meetings last year.

Mekhi Brown has 16.5 career sacks, good for eighth among active players in NCAA Division II. Brown is 13th all-time in school history for career sacks. He needs 1.5 more sacks to move into the top-10 all-time in school history - 18 for a career to be tied with Eric Rice and David Roberts.

The Eagles had the honor of being the first nighttime foe in Irwin Belk Stadium history in 2017. The Bulldogs had played night games in their home history before when they played games at Walter Bickett High School. The Bulldogs are 4-1 all-time against Carson-Newman at night and 3-0 at home against C-N when the sun goes down. The Bulldogs first ever win in the series came in 1995 under the lights at WBHS 25-24.

Since installing lights in 2017, the Bulldogs are 26-4 in 6 PM or later kicks. WU has won four straight at night dating back to a 23-21 loss to Tusculum on Sept. 16, 2023. Ashley Ingram is 2-0 in his tenure at C-N in night games.

Kickoff between the Eagles and Bulldogs is set for 6 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5 p.m. with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloCollege at cneagles.com/FloFB. The ESN also allows you to go "Inside the Radio Booth" with a live feed of the ESN crew on YouTube