May 24, 2021

Clowney unveils 2021 football slate

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney has revealed a 10-game schedule for the fall of 2021 featuring five dates within the friendly confines of Burke-Tarr Stadium.

"The craziest question I get being out in the community is, 'Are you playing football in the fall?'" Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney said with a laugh. "The answer is, 'we better be.' We started looking at schedules once we got pushed in the fall of 2020, we tried to replace what we had last year with this year."

For the eighth time in nine seasons, Carson-Newman will open the year on a Thursday night under the lights at Burke-Tarr Stadium. The contest is part of a two-game homestand to open the season.

The Eagles will welcome the Gulf South's West Georgia Wolves to open the year on Sept. 2. Carson-Newman and the Wolves will match wits for the first time in 16 years. C-N has won all five of the previous meetings. The series started in 1995 with a 37-26 win for the Eagles in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

"That'll be an exciting opener," Clowney said. "David Dean and his squad will do a great job. Those were always exciting games when we played them at Valdosta. I expect the same thing here in the first week."

After an off week in week two, SAC play gets rolling in week three, which also closes out the home stand to open the season. The Eagles welcome Wingate to town for a 1 p.m. kick. The Eagles lead the all-time series 25-7 with the teams alternating wins in the last three meetings. The road team hasn't prevailed since the Bulldogs tallied a 29-16 win in Burke-Tarr Stadium in 2016.

"It's still a big question mark for us, what's in our best interest," Clowney said. "Do we take that (bye) week to figure out and clean up some things, or do we just go play. We'll continue to weigh our options and if the right opponent presents itself, we may fill week two with another game."

After the home stand to open the year, the Eagles hit the road for three straight to close the month of September and open October.

Sept. 25 and week four will take Carson-Newman to Wise, Va. for the second time in school history to match wits with the University of Virginia's College at Wise and the Highland Cavaliers.

The Eagles won the first meeting between the two programs in 2019 42-7 before winning a four-OT thriller in March in the Eagles' lone game of the spring.

The first week of October takes Carson-Newman to a first-year program and its final non-conference game. Barton is in the first year of a scheduling alliance with the South Atlantic Conference and begins its tenure as a football playing school as an independent.

Carson-Newman wraps up the three-game road trip on Oct. 9 to take on the Catawba College Catawba Indians. The Eagles have won three consecutive in the series, and lead the all-time ledger 40-12-1.

Week seven returns the Eagles back to Mossy Creek to challenge the defending fall SAC champion Lenoir-Rhyne Bears on Oct. 16. Carson-Newman will be looking for its first home win over Lenoir-Rhyne since 2012. The weekend is also Hall of Fame weekend and C-N will induct seven new members into its athletics hall of fame, including former football All-Americans Jay Floyd and Mike Schlechter the night before the game.

Week eight features a similar hopeful first when the Eagles travel to Setzler Field to take on Newberry. That's a venue the Eagles haven't collected a win in since 2010. Carson-Newman does lead the all-time series 32-23.

Carson-Newman wraps up the month of October the day before Halloween with Homecoming against Mars Hill.

"It's always been special," Clowney said of the homecoming tradition at C-N. "But it's also something we probably took for granted. To know that we'll be able to invite our friends and family to games and know that we can be together, it really is something that we took for granted. It'll be great to have people here. We've missed the fellowship surrounding our football games. We want these to be family moments."

The Eagles wrap up their home schedule on Nov. 6 taking on Limestone for Senior Day. The Eagles are unbeaten all-time against the Saints.

The regular season wraps up Nov. 13 at Tusculum, the defending spring SAC champs. Carson-Newman will be looking for its first win at Pioneer Field since 2014.

All Carson-Newman football games are broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network on flagship station Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville) and The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) as well as online at cneagles.com/live. Coverage begins one hour prior to kickoff with the AEC Tailgate Show.