October 31, 2025

Consequential SAC clash set for Saturday between Carson-Newman, Catawba

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – While all the marbles and an entire enchilada may not be at stake Saturday, the winner of the Carson-Newman (5-2, 4-2 South Atlantic Conference) and Catawba (6-2, 4-2 SAC) game certainly moves a step closer to laying a claim to a top prize.

Catawba

6-3

RV Carson-Newman

6-2

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Catawba (6-3)	3	3	0	10	16
RV Carson-Newman (6-2)	3	7	7	7	24

C-N Game Notes

VIDEO: Ashley Ingram Interview

VIDEO: C-N v. UVA Wise Homcoming Cinematic Highlights

VIDEO: In The Booth

VIDEO: 2024 C-N at Catawba Full Broadcast Replay

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – While all the marbles and an entire enchilada may not be at stake Saturday, the winner of the Carson-Newman (5-2, 4-2 South Atlantic Conference) and Catawba (6-2, 4-2 SAC) game certainly moves a step closer to laying a claim to a top prize.

Saturday's 1 p.m. kick from Burke-Tarr Stadium likely serves as an elimination game for contention for a SAC title and a berth in the NCAA playoffs.

"All you can do is control what you can control," Carson-Newman head football coach Ashley Ingram said. "We're just trying to focus on getting better each and every day and then we're trying to take it one game at a time. We're very thankful that we're going to be at home this week to play a very good football team."

The Eagles are in control of their own destiny. Should C-N win out, the Eagles would have no worse than a share of the SAC regular season title and would own the requisite tiebreakers to lay claim to the SAC's autobid to the NCAA playoffs (this is the first year football has introduced autobids to champions of leagues).

Meanwhile, Catawba needs to win out and for Newberry to lose to either Anderson or Carson-Newman for its path to open up to a share of a regular season title. The AQ is also in play for the Indians, and would require another loss from Wingate to drop the Bulldogs from a potential tiebreaker with the Indians (Wingate beat Catawba 41-28 on Oct. 12).

In the chaotic SAC, there is still a path where there could be a six-way tie for the SAC title. This scenario hinges on Anderson beating Newberry this weekend. A win by Newberry this weekend at Anderson would guarantee the Wolves a share of the SAC regular season title.

"We need our fan support." Ingram said. "I think we're putting a good product on the field and there's some entertainment value there. But we've got a very, very tough opponent coming in, so we need all the help we can get."

The home team hasn't won a game in the series between the Eagles and Indians since 2021 when Catawba held serve at home 33-27. The road team has won three straight games in this series. Catawba will be looking for a second straight win in Jefferson City, something the Indians have accomplished one other time with back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2015.

The matchup pits the conference's top scoring defense (C-N allowing 14.4 points per game) against its top scoring offense (Catawba averaging 36 points per game). The Eagles have held opponents to 12 points per game since Mars Hill put up 31 in a 31-24 OT win over C-N on Sept. 13. Catawba is averaging 39.3 points per game over the last six weeks since Emory & Henry held the Indians to seven points in a week two loss.

Carson-Newman enters Saturday's game with Catawba in a three-way tie for second in the SAC standings with the Indians and Wingate. Unbelievably, with three weeks left, there is a path for six teams to share the South Atlantic Conference championship, although C-N would probably prefer to avoid that scenario as it requires a Catawba win.

Catawba has one of the most balanced and efficient offenses in the nation. The Indians are 11th nationally in total offense, averaging 453.3 yards per game. Catawba has gained more than 600 yards of offense in two games (Southern Connecticut State and UVA Wise). The Indians were held under 400 yards in their two losses to Emory & Henry and Wingate (304 and 307, respectively).

"The have a very good football team," Ingram said. "Coach (Tyler) Haines does a great job with them. We played a classic against them last year. Very good offensively. They've got a great quarterback, probably the best offensive line we'll see. Or one of the better offensive lines we'll see. They love to run the football. Obviously got a great little slot receiver. They're very athletic on defense. So we're going to have to play well to win this game."

Catawba QB Preston Brown is third in the nation in completion percentage. He completes 72.3 percent of his passes. He has thrown 17 touchdowns against just two interceptions. Brown leads the SAC and is sixth nationally with a 178.1 pass efficiency rating. His 17 pass TDs are second in the league and 19th nationally.

"He's got a lot of experience" Ingram said. "He's a great player. He's surrounded by very good players. Like I said, really good offensive line. So when you can run the football, you have an opportunity to make those passes. Obviously they're a big RPO team as well. So he's a very good player with good people around him and he's very well coached."

The Indians lead the nation in third down coversions at 58.9 percent. Catawba hasn't converated worse than 50 percent of its third downs since going 4-for-9 in a 21-10 win at Newberry. Since then, Catawba has converted on 31-of-47 third downs (65.9 percent) over its last four weeks of football.

Catawba has clinched a winning season, the first in the Tyler Haines era and the first six-win season since 2017.

Carson-Newman has kept the defensive pressure dialed up. With a sack in every week of the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the last two years's teams are the fourth and fifth this century to tally a sack in every week of the season. C-N has registered a sack in 30 straight weeks and 38 of the last 39.

Mekhi Brown has 17.5 career sacks, good for eighth among active players in NCAA Division II. Brown is 11th all-time in school history for career sacks. He needs 0.5 more sacks to move into the top-10 all-time in school history - 18 for a career to be tied with Eric Rice and David Roberts.

Jayden Sullins has 1,945 yards rushing for his career. A 55-yard day would make him Carson-Newman's 22nd all-time 2,000-yard rusher for a career. Sullins six-career 100-yard performances are tied for the 24th-most all-time. Sullins has 20-career rushes of 20 yards or longer. The big play back also has five career rushes of 40 yards or longer that didn't score touchdowns.

C-N has won eight consecutive home games. The Eagles longest home win streak since winning 10 straight home games from the 2008-09 seasons. C-N won its final three home games of 2008 before going 7-0 at home in 2009. C-N has nine all-time home winning streaks of nine games or longer, including seven that have hit double digits. Carson-Newman is unbeaten at home under second-year head coach Ashley Ingram. Catawba is the last team to beat C-N at Burke-Tarr Stadium, doing so in the 2023 season finale.

Kickoff between the Eagles and Catawba is set for 1 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at noon with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloCollege at cneagles.com/FloFB. The ESN also allows you to go "Inside the Radio Booth" with a live feed of the ESN crew on YouTube.