Will the Catawba College football team be able to stay cool, calm and collected when juggernaut and nationally fifth-ranked Carson-Newman comes swaggering into Shuford Stadium Saturday to meet the third-ranked Indians? Will they be able to deal with the pressure of such a big-time encounter?

The answers lie with the coaching staff, who not only must prepare a solid game plan but also keep the players on an even keel.

Which brings up the question: How much pressure do David Bennett’s assistants feel?

Most say not much, even though the players are putting the weight of this Division II national showdown squarely on their shoulders.

“We know Coach Kent will have a good game plan,” said defensive lineman James McDowell after Catawba’s 55-0 rout of North Greenville last week.

“Ireally have a lot of confidence in Coach Kent’s game plan,” echoed linebacker Darris Morris.

“Coach Kent” is Richard Kent, a 10-year member of this staff and its defensive coordinator.

Offensive lineman Ben Hepler said basically the same thing about the game plan of “Coach Snider.”

“Coach Snider” is the offensive coordinator Jamie Snider.

Both he and Kent agree that preparing for Carson-Newman, the team that handed Catawba both of its losses last year in an 11-2 campaign, will be like any other game. Sort of.

The bottom line, they say, is the players must still go out on the field and execute.

“You sit down, look at the film and decide what’s best to do and what’s not the best thing to do,” explained Snider, who is in his 13th year here. “As far as putting pressure on yourself? We do that every week.”

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No one knows that more than defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, who played for Catawba over a decade ago and has coached in NFL Europe.

You’ll have to excuse Tomsula if he puts just a wee bit more pressure on himself than the other coaches. How can he forget last year’s 28-25 Division II playoff loss to Carson-Newman?

Catawba came in giving up just 50 yards on the ground. When it was over, one Eagle had 206 by himself. Carson-Newman had 192 yards rushing by halftime.

Bennett certainly hasn’t forgotten.

“They took that football and rushed for 360 yards against us,” he said, shaking his head. “They stuck it down our throats. If that happens again, it won’t be a good day for the Indians.”

And Tomsula knows it. It’s basically the same scenario this time around. The defense has given up an average of 45 yards rushing in seven games. Carson-Newman is averaging 344. Something has to give.

“There’s nothing we have to change,” said Tomsula. “We just need to know our assignments.”

Tomsula says coaching is overrated, “but it’s the coach’s job to teach the players where to go and how to get there. Last year, in a lot of cases, they got there but weren’t making the plays. That fell back on me and my player understanding exactly where to make the play.

“I was very disappointed. A lot of that was a direct reflection on me.”

Tomsula is emotional when it comes to football. It’s nothing for him to wake up at 3 in the morning and be unable to fall back asleep, worrying about the game plan.

“I’m paranoid,” he admitted. “OK? It’s an emotional game. Anything can happen and that scares me.”

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Tomsula does admit that every group of players is the same. He takes his linemen to a classroom deep in the bowels of the gym. Curtis Walker and Ryan Haglan have their linebackers in another room. Chip Hester gathers his receivers together. Bob Lancaster talks to the backs. Joe Todd pumps up the tight ends. And so on.

“Each group is thinking, ‘We have to get it done,’” says Tomsula. “There’s really no magic to it. It’s just hard work.”

And then, there’s quarterback coach Kevin Brown, who strokes the ego of senior Mitch Ellis. Brown knows that Ellis blames himself for the 1999 regular season loss to Carson-Newman, when the Eagles came back from a 17-0 deficit to win 28-17.

So Brown, who, by the way, quarterbacked Catawba over Carson-Newman in 1996, has the pressure of keeping his quarterback from going insane throughout the week. What helps, he says, is that the two played one year together and considering Brown was one of the best signal-callers in Catawba history, Ellis listens. There is obvious respect.

“Mitch just needs to do his assignments and not overdo it,” Brown said, “even though it’s a big game and everybody says the pressure is on the quarterback. Mitch makes our offense click, along with the receivers. His job is to get the ball to them and let them do their thing.”

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Snider points out that there is something else that helps the coaches keep everything in perspective.

“Carson-Newman is a big game, but it’s not THEGAME,” Snider said. “You know why? Win or lose, the last time I checked, we still have two games after that. This game is not made or broken by what happens next Saturday.”

Hester was found Wednesday afternoon watching film of the 1998 game. He was fidgeting in his chair, wishing the game could be played right then.

“Sure, you get nervous,” said Hester, a former player at Guilford College. “Most of the coaches have played so you feel it when it’s a big ballgame.”

But why watch the 1998 game? Because Carson-Newman plays the same way every year.

“Carson-Newman runs the same offense that it ran when I played for Bill Mauldin here in the mid-80s,” Tomsula said. “It’s hard to simulate them. No team we play does anything close to what Carson-Newman does. It’s a split-back veer with their own little touch to it. They get a unique type of player to play in that scheme.”

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If the Carson-Newman backs get past the defensive line, it’s up to the next wave of defenders — the linebackers.

They call Morris “D-Mo” and Saturday, Catawba is definitely going to need mo D.

“We’re ready to take on that challenge,” said Morris.

And the coaches?

“It’s just business as usual,” shrugged the unflappable Kent.

Which also means business as usual for assistant coach Jim Tomsula — a lot of sleepless nights this week thinking about making the play.

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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports editor of the Post.