This week, the shoe will be on the other foot when Catawba hosts Gardner-Webb in the school’s 1:30 p.m. Homecoming game Saturday at Shuford Field.

Before the Presbyterian game last week, Catawba coach David Bennett asked his troops, “Raise your hand if you’ve beaten Presbyterian?”

No one did.

“I’m sure Gardner-Webb is asking their kids, ‘Has anybody beaten Catawba?’ ” Bennett mused Tuesday during his weekly press conference at Western Steer. “Nobody in that room has beaten Catawba.”

That’s right. The Bulldogs have not defeated Catawba since 1994. But the teams come in with identical 5-1 records. Gardner-Webb is touting its defense as the South Atlantic Conference’s best, although Catawba might argue that point.

“It’s going to be a good challenge for our offense,” said Bennett. “This is possibly their last year in Division II. They’re talking about going Division I-AA. So I know they want to go out with a bang.”

Defensive lineman DeVonte Peterson said he is ready to take on a great challenge for the third straight week.

“It’s going to be a lot of physical contact, a lot of trash talking and a long, hard football game,” he said.

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THE RANKINGS: Catawba did not move up in the South Region and still stands seventh. The Indians need to be ranked at least fourth to make the national playoffs. If they do, their first round opponent would most likely be Carson-Newman, the SAC leader.

“We’re disappointed we’re not ranked higher,” said Bennett. “We can’t get that (28-17) loss back from Carson-Newman. But if we take care of business and win out, we’ll get another shot at them.

“That’s what this team would really like because we know we’ve got as good, or better of a football team than they do.”

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OFFENSIVE PLAYER: Quarterback Mitch Ellis was not only Catawba’s offensive player of the week but the league’s best too, after his career 264-yard passing day and three TD passes.

“We were counting on getting that from Mitch every game when we recruited him,” said Bennett.

Ellis credited his offensive line for giving him time to look at more than one receiver. He also said he is loving a game plan that has him in the shotgun, as well as running the bootleg and sprinting out.

“We had to prove we were for real,” Ellis said of the 24-10 win over Presbyterian, a team that had beaten Catawba three straight years before Saturday. “Everybody’s clicking now.”

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GETTING DEFENSIVE: Watch Peterson play and you think he’s the baddest man since Leroy Brown.

Then, you talk to him and realize the jovial, 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive tackle is nothing but a big ol’ teddy bear who loves playing for one of the best defenses in Division II.

“This is one of the best I’ve been a part of,” Peterson said. “Everybody has input on what happens. If something goes wrong, we all talk to each other and get the problem fixed. We stick with one heartbeat.”

On every play last week, it seemed as if the defensive front was in on Blue Hose quarterback Todd Cunningham in a heartbeat. Peterson, who leads the SAC with tackles for losses, finished with seven stops, three sacks and two hits for negative yardage.

“We tried to put pressure on (Cunningham) as a group,” Peterson said. “We’ve found out most quarterbacks don’t like to take a lick.”

The Sack Pack finished with six, bringing its conference-leading total to 26.

Peterson joined other DL teammates Derrick Montgomery and Radell Lockhart in Salisbury all summer working out. He said they don’t try to outdo each other, rather feed off each other.

“We’re out to win together,” Peterson said. “As long as I get a pat on the back from (line coach Jim) Tomsula, I know I’m doing my job.”

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THAT DADBLAME 17: After showing his disdain for the No. 17 (Catawba lost a 17-0 lead last year against Presbyterian and this year against Carson-Newman) Bennett found his team leading by (what else?) 17-0 against Presbyterian before the Hose closed to within seven.

“We got that dadblame sucker sitting on 17-0 again,” marveled Bennett. “But we’ll take that lead any day. We just need to play better in the second half.”

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STATS: Of the 22 team statistics listed by the SAC, Catawba or Gardner-Webb lead in 10 of them. In total defense, the teams are 1-2.

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INJURIES: Tailback Kevin McKenzie is still rehabbing his high ankle sprain that kept him out against the Hose. He is still questionable for this week.

Shawn Crump, his replacement, broke a bone in his hand Saturday and continued playing until finally confessing to the coaches. Eric Westbrook took up most of the load, running for 75 yards before leaving with cramps. And Joe Hilliard, who was fighting nagging injuries entering the game, took over in the fourth quarter, churning for valuable, time-consuming first downs.

Defensively, Montgomery, a senior lineman, may miss his second straight game with an ankle injury.

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SECOND TO NONE: Darrell Erby, Alvis James, Ryan Norman, Anthony Spencer, Dyran Peake, Ben Westmoreland, Courtney Boler and Corey Reese — defensive backs, one and all.

They may not get the attention of Peterson & Company, but they were vital to the win over Presbyterian. The defensive backs picked off two passes and allowed Cunningham just 190 yards on his 21 completions.

“We feel the secondary is a special group,” said Bennett.

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SPEAKING OF SPECIAL: The special teams player of the week is Darris Morris, a sophomore who is just now finding the limelight. He had three tackles on special teams Saturday, also forced a fumble and recorded two sacks from his defensive end spot.

“You look at him and think he’s a wiry ol’ thing but he’ll knock the living hound out of you,” said Bennett of the 6-foot-5, 215-pounder from Batesburg, S.C.

“This is the tightest I’ve been with a group of guys,” said Morris. “There is no selfishness on defense and that’s why the stats are so spread out.”

Clemson was eying Morris but Catawba got in on the recruiting.

“Going bigger is not always better,” said Bennett, who went to the University of South Carolina for one semester before transferring to Presbyterian. “We tell recruits it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than to be a minnow in an ocean. You come here and get a great education and play great football — and everybody knows who you are. You’re a name. Not a number.”

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WHERE’S DARRIS? Bennett told the story of signing day and expecting to have Morris signed, sealed and delivered. But a high school coach in Batesburg, was trying to persuade Morris to go to Willie Jefferies and South Carolina State at the last minute.

Bennett recalls, “At 3 in the afternoon, he still hadn’t signed and we’re like, ‘What in the world is going on down there?’ But Jefferies had a surplus of outside linebackers and Darris decided to come to Catawba. We’re glad he did.”

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THE H WORD: What does Bennett — or any football coach, for that matter — think of Homecomi...

Shhh! That’s a bad word.

“Our guys are not allowed to say the ‘H’ word,” Bennett said when asked if Homecoming Week would be a distraction. “I told the players don’t get in any dunking booths and don’t kiss any pigs. They can do all the hugging of family members and friends when the ballgame is over. They concentrate on who’s wearing what and who’s seeing who and all that stuff. We’ve got a football game to play.”

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TRIBE TIDBITS: Westbrook’s 75 yards gave him 202 on the year. ... Ellis has thrown for 1,094 yards and has bettered his career-high three times this season. ... Eleven different Indians have at least three catches, led by Means’ 16, Ryan Millwood’s 12 and O.J. Lennon’s 11. ... Millwood has three TD catches.

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AROUND THE SAC: This Saturday’s games include Mars Hill (3-1, 4-2) at Carson-Newman (4-0, 6-0), University of Virgina-Wise at Presbyterian (1-3, 3-3), Wingate (1-3, 2-4) at Lenoir-Rhyne (2-1, 4-2) and Newberry (1-2, 3-3) at Tusculum (0-5, 1-5).