The Sports Arsenal

The Citadel at Western Carolina, to be played to be played in Cullowhee, North Carolina, on the grounds of Bob Waters Field at E.J. Whitmire Stadium, with kickoff at 3:30 pm ET on Saturday, November 3.

The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Daniel Hooker will handle play-by-play, while Dan Gibson supplies the analysis. Summer McMahan is the sideline reporter.

The contest can be heard on radio via the various affiliates of The Citadel Sports Network. WQNT-1450 AM [audio link], originating in Charleston, will be the flagship station.

Luke Mauro (the new “Voice of the Bulldogs”) calls the action alongside analyst Cal McCombs. The sideline reporter will be Jay Harper.

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The Citadel Sports Network — 2018 radio affiliates

Charleston: WQNT 1450AM/92.1 FM/102.1 FM (Flagship)
Columbia: WQXL 1470AM/100.7FM
Greenville: WLFJ 92.9FM/660AM
Sumter: WDXY 1240AM/105.9FM

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Links of interest:

– Game preview in The Post and Courier

– Game notes from The Citadel and Western Carolina

– SoCon weekly release

– Preview on The Citadel’s website

– AFCA Coaches’ poll

– Brent Thompson’s 10/30 press conference

– Brent Thompson’s 10/31 radio show (video)

– Catamount Football Weekly

– Countdown to tip-off: The Citadel basketball (video)

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– My review of last year’s game between the two teams

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The Citadel announced on Wednesday that the football team will face Georgia Southern on September 2, 2023.

To date, The Citadel’s future FBS foes are as follows (with the guarantees in parenthesis):

• 2019: Georgia Tech ($400,000)
• 2020: Clemson ($300,000)
• 2021: Coastal Carolina ($315,000)
• 2023: Georgia Southern ($320,000)
• 2024: Clemson ($300,000)
• 2025: Mississippi ($500,000)

My main issue with this game (and the matchup with Coastal Carolina in 2021) is that there is less of a guarantee when The Citadel plays G5 schools instead of P5 opponents. That concern is alleviated to an extent by the news that the department of athletics will receive more than $300,000 from both Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern (and the travel should be fairly easy).

I think the Clemson guarantee will also include tickets, but I’m not sure.

Also of note: in 2019 and 2024, FCS schools will have the option of scheduling 12 regular-season games, instead of the standard 11 contests.

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Just a couple of quick observations about the Furman game:

– I’ve pointed out the lack of big gains in the running game all season. This was a factor again last Saturday, as the longest rush from scrimmage by a Bulldog was only 14 yards.

The Citadel has to have more “chunk” running plays. Obviously the passing attack took up some of the big play slack versus the Paladins, but an option team has to break off long gainers on the ground from time to time.

The Citadel led the league in yards per rush in both 2015 (5.6 yds/rush) and 2016 (5.2), thanks in part to long gainers. The Bulldogs were second (5.0) in that category last season.

In league play, the Bulldogs are averaging 4.4 yards per rush. That is 5th-best in the conference.

– Defensively, The Citadel did a lot of good things last week. What the Bulldogs didn’t do, though, was force a turnover. Against a Furman squad missing its starting quarterback, that has to be considered to be something of a disappointment.

In six SoCon matchups this season, The Citadel has forced eight turnovers.

• 2015: 18 forced turnovers in seven league games
• 2016: 15 forced turnovers in eight league games
• 2017: 12 forced turnovers in eight league games

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Western Carolina plays Wofford next week. There has been some discussion about whether or not it is an advantage for The Citadel that the Catamounts have yet to play a true option team. I don’t know if that really matters (it probably does), but I did notice one other interesting scheduling wrinkle.

This will be the third conference game in 2018 in which The Citadel’s opponent has played a road game before facing The Citadel. In all three cases (Mercer, VMI, and Western Carolina), the opponent is following up a road game by hosting the Bulldogs.

So far in that scenario, The Citadel is 2-0.

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Western Carolina is 3-5, 1-5 in the SoCon. The Catamounts won their first three games, but have lost five in a row.

It doesn’t take a whole lot to sum up WCU. Actually, just the scores of its league games tell a lot of the story:

52-50, 38-44, 28-66, 6-26, 46-59, 43-45 (3OT)

The 26-6 loss to Chattanooga is the outlier. Not counting the matchup versus the Mocs, Western Carolina is averaging 41.4 points per game, but allowing 52.8 points per contest.

As you might imagine, the Catamounts are at or near the top of the league in many offensive categories, while their defensive statistics tend to go in the other direction.

In SoCon games, Western Carolina is second in total offense, third in offensive plays from scrimmage, fourth in yards per play, second in yards per rush, and fifth in yards per pass attempt. WCU has committed 14 turnovers, second-most in the league; eight of those are lost fumbles.

The defense ranks last in total defense, next-to-last in yards allowed per play, 7th (of nine teams) in yards allowed per rush, and fifth in yards allowed per pass attempt. WCU has forced 13 turnovers on defense, tied for the most in the league.

A few tidbits:

• VMI and Western Carolina combined for exactly 1100 total yards on 191 total plays.
• Western Carolina averaged 7.0 yards per play versus Furman, but the Paladins averaged 8.5 yards per play against WCU.
• Mercer and Western Carolina combined to score 48 points…in the second quarter.
• Samford scored 35 points in the first quarter and averaged 9.4 yards per play for the game.
• ETSU scored 15 points in the final 5:02 of regulation; WCU missed a field goal that would have won the game in the first OT.

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“We don’t want to get into a shootout with them.”

– Brent Thompson during his press conference, discussing the Catamounts’ offense

Western Carolina’s offense is led by quarterback Tyrie Adams (6’2″, 180 lbs.), who has received the last two SoCon offensive player of the week awards. Adams, a redshirt junior from St. Petersburg, Florida, is completing 64.6% of his passes, averaging 8.2 yards per attempt (not accounting for sacks), with 16 TD throws against just four interceptions.

In addition, Adams leads WCU in rushing, as the dual-threat QB averages 5.4 yards per carry, and has scored seven rushing touchdowns. Against The Citadel last season, he threw for a relatively modest 133 yards, but three of his tosses went for touchdowns.

Running back Connell Young (6’0″, 205 lbs.), a junior from Greensboro, averages 5.1 yards per rush. Young also has 26 receptions out of the backfield, with three of those catches going for TDs. He had a TD reception last year versus the Bulldogs.

Wide receivers Nate Mullen (5’9″, 185 lbs.) and Daquan Patton (5’6″, 185 lbs.) have combined for 76 receptions and seven touchdowns. Mullen, a redshirt junior from Harrisburg, North Carolina, has 46 of the catches.

Patten (5’6″, 185 lbs.), the son of former WCU and NFL player David Patten, has five of the TDs. The native of Columbia is a redshirt sophomore who went to Blythewood High School.

While tight end Owen Cosenke (6’3″, 240 lbs.) has only 19 catches, eight of them have resulted in touchdowns. During his radio show, Brent Thompson noted the sophomore’s ability to find the end zone.

The projected starters on Western Carolina’s offensive line average 6’4″, 312 lbs. I believe the group is the largest in the SoCon.

Three of them were preseason all-conference picks, with center Zach Weeks (6’3″, 290 lbs.) a first-team selection. Weeks was a first-team choice by the coaches after last season.

Left guard Andrew Miles (6’4″, 310 lbs.) and right tackle Nathan Dalton (6’6″, 340 lbs.) were both preseason second-team picks. Weeks, Miles, Dalton, and right guard Chase Stehling (6’4″, 335 lbs.) are all redshirt seniors. Three of the four are from North Carolina (Miles is from Flowery Branch, Georgia).

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“They’re very young.”

– Brent Thompson during his press conference, discussing the Catamounts’ defense

He isn’t wrong. On its current two-deep, Western Carolina lists 14 defensive players who are freshmen, redshirt freshmen, or sophomores.

(I should point out here that The Citadel has 11 such defensive players on its depth chart.)

That said, it is a senior, linebacker Mitchell Chancey (6’0″, 225 lbs.), who leads Western Carolina in tackles, with 90, far more than any other Catamount. The native of Asheville has had 10 or more stops in every game this season.

Marvin Tillman (6’1″, 195 lbs.), a senior safety from Durham, is second on the squad in tackles. Tillman, a preseason first-team all-SoCon selection, intercepted two passes against The Citadel in last year’s contest.

Starting noseguard Solomon Clark (6’0″, 270 lbs.), a senior from Richmond, California, leads the Catamounts in tackles for loss (8.5) and sacks (5).

Another senior, linebacker Jacquez Williams (6’3″, 220 lbs.), has 7.5 tackles for loss and four sacks. Williams, who has also been credited with a team-leading 10 quarterback hurries, began his college career at Georgia Military.

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Redshirt senior Ian Berryman (6’0″, 200 lbs.) has had an outstanding career at WCU as the team’s punter. He was a preseason first-team all-league pick at that spot after being the consensus first-team punter in the SoCon last year. He was also a first-team pick by the coaches as a freshman and a sophomore.

Last year’s game against The Citadel may have been the worst of Berryman’s career, as he had two punts blocked and shanked another one under duress.

Sophomore placekicker Will Horton (5’10”, 165 lbs.) is 9 for 12 in field goal attempts this season, with a long of 47. Horton also handles kickoffs for the Catamounts. Six of his 27 kickoffs have resulted in touchbacks.

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Odds and ends:

– The weather forecast for Saturday in Cullowhee, per the National Weather Service: sunny, with a high of 57 degrees. The low on Saturday night will be 36 degrees.

– The Citadel is 11-10 all-time in Cullowhee.

– Per one source that deals in such matters, The Citadel is a 5-point favorite at Western Carolina, with an over/under of 66.

The spread and over/under listed above are as of Thursday night. When the lines were first posted on Tuesday afternoon, the Bulldogs were a 4-point favorite, and the over/under was 73 1/2.

– Other lines involving SoCon teams (all as of Thursday night): Samford is a 5 1/2 point over Wofford; VMI is a 19-point favorite over Tusculum; Furman is a 4 1/2 point favorite over Chattanooga; and Mercer is a 4 1/2 point favorite over East Tennessee State.

– Also of note: Towson is an 11 1/2 point favorite over Maine, while Charleston Southern is a 3-point underdog at Monmouth. Alabama is a 14 1/2 point favorite at LSU.

– Massey Ratings: The Citadel is ranked 65th in FCS, down two spots from last week. Western Carolina is 75th (a ten-spot move up from last week).

Massey projects the Bulldogs to have a 59% chance of winning, with a predicted final score of The Citadel 38, Western Carolina 35.

Other FCS rankings of note in Massey: Colgate (10th), Elon (13th), Towson (14th), Kennesaw State (15th), Wofford (20th), Samford (28th), Yale (30th), Furman (33rd), Chattanooga (37th), North Carolina A&T (39th), East Tennessee State (41st), Mercer (54th), Youngstown State (55th), San Diego (64th), Southeastern Louisiana (66th), Charleston Southern (76th), South Carolina State (90th), Savannah State (91st), Campbell (95th), Gardner-Webb (96th), VMI (99th), Hampton (110th), Presbyterian (117th), Davidson (120th), Mississippi Valley State (125th and last).

Massey’s top 5 FCS squads: North Dakota State, James Madison, UC Davis, South Dakota State, and Dartmouth.

Biggest movers in FCS this week: Gardner-Webb moved up 21 spots after beating Campbell 35-7 (the loss dropped the Camels 14 positions). Meanwhile, Youngstown State fell 20 places after losing 43-17 to Indiana State; Bo Pelini’s squad now has to play North Dakota State in Fargo, where the Penguins will be a 35-point underdog.

Massey’s top ten FBS teams (in order): Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Florida, Kentucky, and Ohio State. Some other notables: UCF is 13th, Washington State 15th, Mississippi State 17th, Texas A&M 18th, Texas 20th, Auburn 22nd, South Carolina 23rd, North Carolina State 25th, Missouri 26th, Boston College 28th, Syracuse 31st, Army 32nd, Virginia 39th, Mississippi 41st, Duke 43rd, Tennessee 46th, Maryland 48th, Georgia Tech 51st, Florida State 54th, Appalachian State 57th, Wake Forest 58th, Virginia Tech 59th, Colorado 64th, Georgia Southern 65th, Toledo 73rd, North Texas 79th, Air Force 87th, North Carolina 94th, Coastal Carolina 99th, Navy 104th, Liberty 105th, Charlotte 112th, Old Dominion 119th, UTEP 130th and last.

Biggest movers in FBS this week: Oregon State jumped from 120th to 103rd after beating Colorado; conversely, the Buffaloes fell 20 spots after blowing a 28-point lead and losing to the Beavers. Appalachian State also dropped 20 positions after losing to Georgia Southern (which moved up 16 places).

– Among Western Carolina’s notable alumni: football coach (and triple option maestro) Paul Johnson, actress Bobbi Baker, and comedian Rich Hall.

– Western Carolina’s roster includes 48 players from North Carolina. Other states represented on its squad: Georgia (27 players), South Carolina (11), Tennessee (4), Florida (3), Alabama (2), Ohio (2), and one each from California, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The eleven Catamounts from the Palmetto State represent nine different high schools (including two each from Blythewood H.S. and Spartanburg H.S.), but none are from supreme gridiron superpower Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School. This is an oversight on the part of Western Carolina that will undoubtedly prove detrimental to its football program for decades to come. Ronnie Carr cries himself to sleep every night just thinking about it.

It isn’t like WCU can claim not to be familiar with the region, either. Freshman offensive lineman Torrion Stevenson went to Branchville High School, located in the same county as the famed maroon and orange.

Of note: Stevenson is also a volunteer firefighter in Branchville. At 6’1″, 315 lbs., he is probably the largest firefighter in the local area.

– The Citadel’s geographic roster breakdown (per the school’s website) is as follows: South Carolina (47), Georgia (28), Florida (9), North Carolina (5), Texas (5), Tennessee (4), Pennsylvania (3), Alabama (2), New York (2), and one each from Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

– This week’s two-deep changes: Ryan McCarthy is now listed as the starter at one of the wide receiver positions. McCarthy caught three passes against Furman last week in his first action as a wideout.

Incidentally, on his radio show Brent Thompson stated that McCarthy has a 39-inch vertical jump. Of course, McCarthy’s regular position is quarterback, and he also plays on The Citadel’s baseball team.

Dante Smith is officially the starter at one of the A-back slots. At the other A-back position, Grant Drakeford and Keyonte Sessions are both listed as potential starters, probably a reflection of Drakeford’s uncertain injury status.

– The Citadel has an all-time record of 8-4-1 for games played on November 3. The Bulldogs are 3-2 away from home on that date, 5-3 in SoCon play. A brief review of a few of the contests, as we travel back in time via the TSA Wayback Machine:

• 1909: The Citadel and Davidson played to a scoreless tie at the state fairgrounds in Columbia. The longest play from scrimmage, 25 yards, came on a fake punt by the Wildcats. While Davidson never got closer than the Bulldogs’ 30-yard line, The Citadel managed to advance the ball to the opposing 10-yard line late in the first half, but eschewed a field goal and failed to convert on third down (back then, teams had three plays to gain five yards for a first down).
• 1956: Trailing 13-0 early in the second half, The Citadel stormed back to beat Presbyterian, 20-13, in a Homecoming game at Johnson Hagood Stadium. Quarterback Jack Griffin rushed for a 25-yard TD, which was followed by a three-yard Joe Chefalo touchdown run (set up by a 60-yard pass to Paul Maguire). Connie Tuza’s PAT tied the contest. After PC went for it on 4th down on its own 23-yard line and failed to pick up a first down, the Bulldogs took advantage, scoring the game-winner on a Ray Woodworth one-yard run. A last-ditch pass by the Blue Hose was intercepted by Bobby Schwarze.
• 1979: The Bulldogs survived a late field goal attempt and edged Marshall, 17-16, in a game played in Huntington, West Virginia. Stump Mitchell rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns, but The Citadel trailed 16-10 after two special teams miscues (including a blocked punt and a safety on a kickoff return). In the third quarter, Tim Russell gained 20 yards on a fourth-down play, setting up a first-and-goal that resulted in Mitchell’s second TD. That score proved to be the winner, as Marshall missed a 28-yard field goal try with 2:08 to play. The Bulldogs would hold on from there.
• 1990: Before a crowd of 19,754 fans at Johnson Hagood Stadium, The Citadel walloped VMI 23-3. Erick Little rushed for 129 yards, while Ray Wimbush and Everette Sands both scored touchdowns. Howard Barnard added three field goals, while the Bulldogs’ D held the Keydets 25 points under their season average. Tony Skole blocked a punt to set up Barnard’s third field goal.
• 2012: The Citadel defeated Elon, 28-24. Hey, I wrote about this game. Darien Robinson rushed for 178 yards; the game also featured a Hail Mary TD for the Bulldogs on the final play of the first half, courtesy of Aaron Miller. Brandon McCladdie intercepted a pass and had a fine all-around performance as the Bulldogs prevailed at home.

– The referee for that 1909 game between The Citadel and Davidson was Frank “Shag” Shaughnessy, who (among many other things) was the football team captain at Notre Dame, where he also acquired degrees in pharmacy and law; served as Clemson’s head football coach for one season; played nine games in the major leagues; managed hockey’s Ottawa Senators in the forerunner to the NHL; was president of baseball’s International League for 24 years; and created a playoff system that was eventually adopted by the minor leagues (and led to the modern-day divisions in the major leagues).

– The last time the Bulldogs played on the road on November 3, they defeated Chattanooga 20-17 in double overtime. That day was the Mocs’ Homecoming.

Saturday will be Homecoming at Western Carolina. Hmm…

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The Citadel can win this game. The Bulldogs have to control Tyrie Adams; they may not be able to completely stop him, but they have to prevent him from dominating the game.

One way to do that is by keeping Adams off the field. The offense has to maintain possession for long drives. It can’t give the ball away (as was the case in last year’s meeting, when the Bulldogs committed five turnovers).

When the defense has a chance to make a big play, it has to do so — whether that is forcing a turnover or stopping the Catamounts on third (and fourth) down. WCU is probably going to get its yards. The Bulldogs have to prevent the Catamounts from getting points to go along with those yards.

There is opportunity in Cullowhee this Saturday. The Bulldogs have to take advantage; playmakers have to make plays.

Go Dogs!

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: Brent Thompson, Mark Speir, SoCon, The Citadel, Tyrie Adams, Western Carolina |