Shhhh.

That’s the sound you’ve heard through the first six weeks of the season from Catawba College football coach David Bennett each and every time the words “Carson-Newman” have been directed his way.

But not mentioning Carson-Newman is a tough order. Carson-Newman is, and always has been, the Florida State of the South Atlantic Conference. Everybody has always played for second.

So when a team is actually thought of as a bona fide rival for the SAC crown, like Catawba is this season, it’s hard not to look ahead, even if the two don’t meet until the eighth game of the season.

Everyone has tried to accomodate Bennett, from the players, to his buddies to even the local newspaper’s sports editor.

But this week, the resistance broke down. In Salisbury, Carson-Newman was on everyone’s lips, including Bennett’s. Carson-Newman was the topic of conversation in the restaurants, on the streets and even during Bennett’s press conference Tuesday afternoon at Western Steer.

Why? Carson-Newman had (gasp!) lost.

Presbyterian did the honors, 45-42 last Saturday, which was a downer to Catawba’s students, affectionately known as the Catawba Crazies.

The Crazies have secretly plotted to be the first SAC student section in history to tear down the goal posts if and when Catawba beat Carson-Newman on Oct. 28.

They have now been beaten to the punch. Presbyterian’s students did just that in a delirious celebration.

The upside is that Catawba is now thought of as the top dawg, the No. 1 team in the SAC, the No. 1 team in the South Region, the No. 1 team in the hearts of every football fan tired of seeing Ken Sparks’ Seminoles, er, Eagles dominate the landscape.

When the score began circulating, there were all types of feelings from the Catawba community.

“It was a shocking reaction,” said special teams star Marcus Hicks.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to Daryl Dickey and his staff at Presbyterian,” Bennett said. “They’ve scored 85 points on Carson-Newman in the last two years. ... Scoring 40-plus points on Carson-Newman? That’s incredible.”

“It didn’t really surprise me,” said defensive back Ryan Norman. “Presbyterian has a great team. I was happy for them.”

But how happy should Catawba be that Carson-Newman lost?

Rather, should the Indian faithful be happy at all?

The Division II playoff system is scarred. The top four teams in each region are invited to the 16-team affair so if Carson-Newman should lose here Oct. 28, it would be a second loss. And that may be curtains for the Eagles as far as the national playoffs.

“When (Oct. 28) comes, Carson-Newman is going to be a more focused, more hungry team,” said Bennett. “They know if they lose one more, they’ll probably be knocked out of the playoffs.”

Which, of course, is insane. To say that a 9-2 Carson-Newman team isn’t one of the best 16 Division II teams in the nation is ludicrous but that’s the NCAA.

If Carson-Newman wins Oct. 28 and the Indians and Eagles both finish 10-1, it’s a good chance each will make it.

Catawba is off this week and has two weeks to bask in the glory of being the South Atlantic Conference’s top team.

The next opponent, North Greenville, a NAIAteam, was barely mentioned and that kind of stuff worries the heck out of Bennett.

“I hate to say it, but Ithink our guys are looking ahead to that dadgum ballgame,” Bennett said of the Oct. 28 star-studded, nationally-prominent Carson-Newman-Catawba matchup. “We gotta get them focused on North Greenville.”

He’ll worry about Carson-Newman after the Oct. 21 game with North Greenville. And there is plenty to worry about. The Eagles had 618 yards in the loss and were driving for the winning score when they fumbled (their fourth of the game) in the last minute. It was the first SAC loss since Oct. 6, 1996 when they lost to (you guessed it) Catawba.

There seemed to be more hoopla surrounding the Carson-Newman loss than Catawba’s 24-19 win overTusculum.

Much to Bennett’s dismay.

“You try not to look too far ahead,” admitted Norman, “but Carson-Newman losing? You can’t let that go.”

Ronnie Gallagher is the sports editor of the Post.