College Football: Catawba-Carson-Newman preview box
Published 7:05 pm Friday, September 29, 2017
CATAWBA (4-0, 1-0 SAC) at CARSON-NEWMAN (2-2, 0-2 SAC)
Burke-Tarr Stadium, Jefferson City, Tenn.
Today, 1 p.m.
Radio: WSAT Memories 1280. Live stats: www.cneagles.com
Coaches — Catawba coach Curtis Walker (30-19) is in his fifth season as head coach and has the Indians moving up the Division II rankings at No. 23. Catawba is off to a 4-0 start for the first time since the 2007 campaign when the Indians went 11-2 and reached the second round of the playoffs. Walker is 3-1 coaching against Carson-Newman and 2-0 coaching the Indians on the road at Carson-Newman.
Mike Turner is in his first year as head coach at Carson-Newman. Turner was announced as the successor to retiring coach Ken Sparks last November. Sparks, one of the legends of Division II college football, passed away in March after an extended battle with cancer.
While he’s a first-year head coach, Turner has coached for decades, mostly as Carson-Newman’s offensive coordinator. He’s recognized as the architect of Carson-Newman’s veer-option offense.
Turner is a 1973 graduate of Carson-Newman and played center for the team that finished national runner-up in NAIA in 1972.
After coaching at Randleman High, Lees-McRae College and Catawba College — Turner worked as a defensive assistant for the Indians — he returned to Carson-Newman. He coached the offensive line for Sparks and the Eagles from 1980-84 and helped Carson-Newman win two NAIA national titles.
He’s spent some years at the University of North Alabama and in high school coaching, but he always came back to Carson-Newman. He was named the AFCA Division II Assistant Coach of the Year in 2003.
Turner is 2-2 as the head coach, including SAC losses to Wingate and Newberry, both contenders for the conference championship.
Last game: Catawba’s offense produced 465 balanced yards and the defense shut out Mars Hill in the second half for a 37-13 South Atlantic Conference victory. Carson-Newman lost to Newberry, 25-21 at home, after leading 21-10 at halftime. Carson-Newman ran the ball 48 times out of 68 snaps.
Series: This is the 51st meeting. Carson-Newman leads the series 37-12-1. Catawba won in 2015 and 2016 and will be trying to win three straight against the Eagles for the first time ever.
Players to watch: Catawba QB Patrick O’Brien leads the SAC with 10 touchdown passes. Eamon Smart leads the SAC with 108.3 rushing yards per game. Sam Mobley paces the SAC with five TD receptions. With seven sacks, linebacker Kyle Kitchens is tied for the lead in all of Division II. On kickoffs, keep an eye on Jimmy Henderson, Catawba’s special teams players of the week.
Even though the Eagles have the fewest pass attempts in the SAC, receiver Dorren Miller has four TD catches and has averaged 28.8 yards on his 16 receptions. Linebacker Sha’heem Stupart is among the SAC’s leading tacklers. With Antonio Wimbush out, Jared Dillingham carried the rushing load against Wingate and Newberry.
Worth mentioning: Catawba ranks seventh in D-II in scoring defense.
Catawba will be playing on turf for the first time this season. That should make speed players such as Mobley and back Kenyatta Greene even faster.
With Reid Carlton out for the season, former East Rowan star Samuel Wyrick and true freshman Ken Avent III, whom Catawba still hopes to redshirt, are the quarterbacks if anything happens to O’Brien.
Weather: The forecast is for a sunny day with temperatures in the 70s.
Outlook: The Eagles throw the ball more than they once did, but it’s still a ground-oriented and difficult to stop offense. Catawba’s fast, aggressive, attacking defense likes to run to the football, but it will have to be disciplined and assignment-based against the Eagles. Walker’s teams have defended well against the Eagles the last two seasons, and that should continue today. Carson-Newman’s defense is stout against the run, but Catawba’s gameplan will be to pound away on the ground with Smart to open up the passing game. Carson-Newman picked off three Newberry passes last week, but Catawba has been good in the turnover battle all season. The Indians are plus-6 in that department to rank among the nation’s top 20.
“Carson-Newman is Carson-Newman, and they’re doing the same things now as they did when I was a player,” Walker said. “It will be a challenge, as always.”
Catawba’s fast start has caught the attention of the SAC and they’ll get Carson-Newman’s best shot. The Indians were picked fourth in the SAC in the preseason, but a victory today would establish them as one of the three top contenders, along with preseason favorites Newberry and Wingate.
