So, you think this is a big ballgame, huh? Something you’ve been looking forward to for a solid year?

Ken Sparks looks at the Carson-Newman-Catawba game today (1:30 p.m., Shuford Stadium) and doesn’t see it that way.

To the Carson-Newman coach, what game isn’t big?

“That’s one thing we’re used to,” he said.

But this season is a little different. Today, Carson-Newman is playing a little sudden death, a little Russian Roulette.

There is one bullet left in that gun and Catawba wants to pull the trigger.

Sparks knows the score. His team is 6-1. If it loses today, it will probably drop out of the South Region’s Top Four, which means it would drop out of the Division II playoff picture.

“There’s more urgency,” Sparks said. “There is a possibility we wouldn’t get in. I look at the East and West (regions) and there might be teams getting in that aren’t in the Top 16 (in the coaches poll). The coaches poll is a realistic poll.”

Where have we heard that before? Catawba coach David Bennett pleaded the same case last year when he wondered if his team would make it to the postseason. His team, now 7-0, is in the position that Carson-Newman usually is.

But he also has no false sense of security. Bennett knows this is one powerful program.

“We will get their best shot,” he said. “This will not be a Carson-Newman team looking past anybody or thinking about the playoffs. They know they’re in a situation where they’ll give all they’ve got.”

The first order of business for Catawba is stopping the Eagle offense that has been unstoppable this season. And it all begins with quarterback Leonard Guyton running that split-back veer.

“That dadgum offense is like a brand new John Deere diesel tractor just fueled up and heading down the dadgum field. We’ve gotta find a way to stop it.”

Guyton, only a sophomore, has averaged one loss a season since his junior year in high school. He led Carson-Newman to the national title game last year.

And he already has 1,264 total yards, third in the South Atlantic Conference.

“He’s a true winner,” Bennett said. “He’s an ol’ gallopin’ thoroughbred who is very elusive. You really can’t control him completely. You just try to slow him down a little bit.”

Guyton slips the ball to Myron Refoure (862 yards)and Antown Oliver (531). Even scarier, Carson-Newman has been working on its passing game, getting Grant Cockrell involved more.

“The last two weeks, we haven’t passed much,” Sparks said of two more routs. “You don’t want to pour salt in the wound.”

Catawba, meanwhile, is well-rested. Two weeks ago, it was off. Last week, the starters were off after the first quarter of a 55-0 rout of North Greenville.

“We know we’re going to get their full cannon shot,” Bennett said. “They’re going to play their rear ends off. So I’d rather be well-rested.

“This is going to be like a boxing match,”

match,”They’re going to hit you in the gut and hit you in the gut and then hit you in the chin. So you better be ready to fight back. Every single time that ball is snapped, it’s going to be a battle.”

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Sparks thinks a lot of the recent production is due to Presbyterian’s 45-42 win in Week 4.

“That hurt our feelings,” he said. “We realized we had to play better.”

Catawba has incentive, not just to beat Carson-Newman but perhaps to knock the Eagles out of the playoffs. And that’s almost unheard of. Carson-Newman has made the national postseason in 17 of the last 18 years, a remarkable feat.

Sparks was asked if the intimidation factor helped the Eagles in their recent run.

“I don’t see intimidation,” he said. “I see other teams’ best efforts.”

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It’s the top small college game in the nation and it’s right here in Salisbury.

Of 27 team stats listed by the South Atlantic Conference, Catawba or Carson-Newman lead in 20 of them.

Ironically, of 17 individual categories, the teams lead in only two: Catawba quarterback Mitch Ellis in quarterback efficiency and kicker Matt Gross in field goal percentage.

Which means that you don’t have to stop one or two people. You have to stop the team.

Maybe that’s what makes this matchup so intriguing. It isn’t a game of two teams who hate each other.

It’s about two teams who respect one another.

“Hey, give them credit,” Bennett said. “They’ve played for the national championship three out of the last four years.”

Sparks, who is gunning for his 205th win at the school, returns the compliment to Bennett, who has won 48 of his 62 games as head coach. That’s a winning percentage of 77 percent, folks.

“David’s doing a great job of bringing stability and strength to that program,” Sparks said.

OK, that’s it guys. Let’s stop the schmoozing. It’s third-ranked Catawba vs. fifth-ranked Carson-Newman.

Let’s play ball.

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Ronnie Gallagher is sports editor of the Post.