October 1, 2021

Potent Bulldog ground game awaits C-N in Wilson

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (0-3) will have to contend with the country’s number one rusher when it makes its longest roadtrip of the year Saturday to take on Barton (2-2) at 2 p.m. from Truist Field.

Carson-Newman

0-4

Barton

3-2

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Carson-Newman (0-4)	0	10	0	7	17
Barton (3-2)	14	3	0	14	31

C-N Game Notes

VIDEO: Mike Clowney press conference

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (0-3) will have to contend with the country's number one rusher when it makes its longest roadtrip of the year Saturday to take on Barton (2-2) at 2 p.m. from Truist Field.

The Bulldogs boast Jordan Terrell – a redshirt freshman tailback from Ramseur, N.C. He averages 192.5 yards per game and has 770 rushing yards, both figures lead NCAA Division II. He enters the contest with the Eagles off a 24-carry, 256-yard day against Limestone. He also topped 200 yards against Erskine when he tallied 231 yards on 29 carries against the Flying Fleet. The 256 yards against the Saints are the fifth-highest single-game total in NCAA Division II this season.

"They're big up front, got some guys who are big foot to foot," Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney said. "They do a really good job of staying on blocks and keeping their feet moving to drive guys off the football. Terrell does a good job of being patient, finding holes, and then creasing the defense for big runs. It's very similar to Wingate. I think it's a lot is based on what they have been able to achieve out of it."

The Bulldogs have the fifth-best rushing attack in the country, tallying 263.2 yards per game on the ground. In Barton's two wins over Erskine and Limestone, the Bulldogs gained more than 300 yards on the ground and averaged more than eight yards per carry.

A familiar face stands on Barton's sidelines. The second-year program's head coach is former Catawba head man Chip Hester. Hester guided the Indians for 11 years, taking Catawba to three SAC titles and four NCAA playoff appearances from 2001-12. He beat C-N in 2006 and 2007. Carson-Newman is 9-2 all-time against Chip Hester-coached teams. The Eagles last win over a Hester team came 42-7 in 2012 over Catawba.

"Chip's a good dude and we've spent a lot of time talking while he was at Catawba," Clowney said. "He actually offered my son a scholarship when he was two years old, but my son doesn't play football (Clowney's son is a standout golfer), but I'll be holding Chip accountable to that. He's a great guy, really good football coach. Even when he left Catawba, he had a lot of success at North Carolina A&T. Guys respond to him and he does a great job on offense which we have seen from what they have been doing so far this season."

Meanwhile, Carson-Newman will still be in search of its offensive footing. Carson-Newman has mustered just 17 points through three weeks and only has one game where the Eagles have generated more than 200 yards of total offense.

So when is the last time Carson-Newman scored 17 points over a three-game span? 1974. Carson-Newman finished the season with back-to-back shutouts at the hands of Lenoir-Rhyne and Western Carolina before finding a TD in a 52-7 defeat to Mars Hill to close the year with a grand total of seven points in three games.

"We're still talking process, as one of the kids said after the game 'it's back to the drawing board,'" Clowney said. "We're never going to quit and never going to stop fighting, we're going to continue to push ahead. We watched the video and see where the breakdowns are and equate it to getting to the promised land at some point. We're got to believe, we have to buy in, and continue fighting so we can get to where we want to be."

Carson-Newman is 0-3 to start a season for the first time since 1978. That team got in the win column with a 44-19 shelling of Newberry. The Eagles are looking to avoid an 0-4 start for the first time since 1959.

Carson-Newman started year eight of the Roy Harmon era with five straight losses to Western Carolina, Southeast Missouri, Emory & Henry, Newberry and Georgetown before righting the ship with a 26-22 triumph over Appalachian State. There have been six, 0-4 starts all-time in C-N football history (1927, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1959). Only the 1959 team (0-5) and the 1927 team (0-6) started worse than 0-4.

Carson-Newman kicker Christian Erwin has sent six consecutive kickoffs out of the back of opponent's end zones. He is the only kicker in the country who has yet to allow an opposing team to return a kickoff.

The Eagles have the top two tacklers in the SAC. Alonzo Houston (11.7) and Rondrow Peebles (10.0) are the league's two leaders in tackles per game. Houston is seventh in the country in tackles per game.

Michael Harrah is sixth in the country and first in the SAC with 43.4 yards per punt. He owns an 81-yard blast that is tied for the second longest punt in the country this season.

Carson-Newman is playing on Oct. 2 for the first time since 2010 when C-N came away with a 35-17 win over Brevard in Asheville, N.C. Carson-Newman has won three straight games played on Oct. 2. The last lost came in 1993 when New Haven dealt C-N a 62-31 defeat in Jefferson City. Carson-Newman is 7-5 all-time on the date.

Kickoff between the Eagles and Bulldogs is set for 2 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 1 p.m. with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.