Eagles Host Wingate for Share of SAC Title on Saturday
Oct. 31, 2008
JEFFERSON CITY - There are two games left in the regular season, and the Carson-Newman football team currently sits one spot out of earning an invitation to the NCAA Division II playoffs.
The Eagles can play their way into the field with wins over Wingate and Tusculum - both of which are ranked ahead of Carson-Newman in the Super Region Two rankings this week. C-N is ranked No. 7, and the top six teams advance to the postseason.
Carson-Newwman (6-2, 4-1 SAC) will host Wingate this Saturday at 1 p.m at Burke-Tarr Stadium. The game will be broadcast on WRJZ 620 AM, with pregame coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. Listen Live (Click Here)
"The only thing I know is that we play a good football team Saturday," Carson-Newman head coach Ken Sparks said Tuesday afternoon. "Hopefully our players have no problem figuring out that this game and the next game mean something."
Carson-Newman and Wingate (8-1, 4-1 SAC) enter the game tied atop the South Atlantic Conference standings. The winner will claim at least a share of the 2008 conference crown. For the Eagles, it would be the 20th title in school history.
Wingate - ranked 2nd in the region and 16th in the nation this week - has been one of the surprise teams in Division II football this season. The Bulldogs were picked fifth in the SAC Preaseason Coaches Poll. Carson-Newman is No. 15 in the latest AFCA national poll.
The Eagles are coming off a 34-3 victory over a one-win Brevard squad, a performance that didn't leave Sparks entirely pleased.
"We played on our opponents level as far as our technique is concerned," Sparks said. "Not to take anything away from Brevard, because they played extremely hard."
"We messed up on our assignments in the first half. We are eight games into this season and doing things that a mature football team shouldn't have to be reminded not to do. We finally got that straightened out and held them to something like 25 yards the second half."
Wingate is fresh off a 34-24 win over Catawba last week.
The Bulldogs are one of the most balanced teams in the conference, ranking third in both scoring defense and offense. However, they rank just sixth in the league in rushing defense. Carson-Newman averages 315.0 rushing yards per game, best in the nation.
C-N has beaten the Bulldogs 12-straight times, dating back to a 25-24 loss at Wingate in 1995.
"I remember that game like it was yesterday," Sparks said of the loss. "We fumbled at the five yard line, going in for the winning score with about a minute left in the game."
Region poll
The 15th-ranked Carson-Newman Eagles moved up two spots to seventh in this week's Division II Super Regional Two rankings the NCAA announced Monday.
Carson-Newman (6-2, 4-1 SAC) moves up on the strength of a 34-3 win at Brevard on Saturday.
The Eagles leaped Albany State, who lost to Morehouse 24-19, and SAC-foe Newberry, who fell out of the poll after a 45-33 loss at Tusculum.
Three Gulf South Conference schools rank in the region's top four, including North Alabama, who beat the Eagles 20-23 in early September. Delta State remains in the top spot, while Valdosta Stat falls to fourth after losing at North Alabama on Saturday, 41-23.
Carson-Newman's two remaining opponents are each ranked ahead of the Eagles.
C-N hosts 2nd-ranked Wingate (8-1, 4-1 SAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Jefferson City, before facing 5th-ranked Tusculum to close the year on November 8 in Greeneville, Tenn.
The winner of Carson-Newman/Wingate showdown on Saturday claims at least a share of the South Atlantic Conference title. It also gains the inside track to a playoff berth and potential home game in the first round of the playoffs.
The top six teams in the regional poll advance to the NCAA Division II Playoffs at the end of the season.
