The Sports Arsenal

The Citadel vs. Western Carolina, to be played at historic Johnson Hagood Stadium, with kickoff at 2:00 pm ET on October 12, 2019.

The game will be streamed on ESPN3. Kevin Fitzgerald will handle play-by-play, while former Bulldogs quarterback Dominique Allen supplies the analysis. Emily Crevani is the sideline reporter. 

It is also part of this week’s “ESPN College Extra” package, available on some cable/satellite systems. On DirecTV, the game will be broadcast on Channel 792.

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 “Voice of the Bulldogs”) calls the action alongside analyst Ted Byrne.

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The Citadel Sports Network — 2019 radio affiliates

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

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Links of interest:

– Preview from The Post and Courier

– “Jeff’s Take” from The Post and Courier

– Game notes from The Citadel and Western Carolina

– SoCon weekly release

– “Gameday Central” on The Citadel’s website

– Game preview on Western Carolina’s website

– Brent Thompson’s weekly radio show (10/9)

– Brent Thompson’s weekly press conference (10/7)

– The Dogs:  Episode 7

– Noah Dawkins signs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

– The story behind the memorial

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Brief thoughts on the game against VMI…

The Bulldogs’ performance was dispiriting; there was very little that was positive about it, result aside. The fact that it happened in front of one of the larger crowds in recent years to see a game at Johnson Hagood Stadium just seemed to make it worse.

The early TD drive may have been fool’s gold, because it suggested that The Citadel could successfully move the ball by throwing it on a regular basis. That proved not to be the case.

The offense completely got away from what it does well, and what it has to do. The Citadel is not going to beat anyone, including VMI, if it does not control the ball, loses the turnover battle, and has more pass plays than rushes (if you take sacks into account).

The defense wasn’t much better. VMI averaged six yards per play, and did not commit a turnover. Reece Udinski completed 71.4% of his passes.

Incidentally, I don’t really want to hear about how tall the Keydets’ receivers are, either. Short or tall, they were open more often than not (that was especially true on VMI’s final pass play).

It was all very frustrating.

Maybe some of the Bulldogs did not understand the nature of the rivalry between the two military colleges. However, I’m going to guess that over the next twelve months, they are going to find out just how important it really is.

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Okay, let’s talk about this Saturday’s game. The opponent is Western Carolina. The Catamounts are currently 1-4, 0-2 in the SoCon.

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Key statistics for Western Carolina (through five games):

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WCU’s game results:

• lost at home to Mercer, 49-27 (disappointing opener)
• lost at North Carolina State, 41-0 (understandable)
• beat North Greenville, 20-17 (close win vs. a D-2 squad)
• lost at Chattanooga, 60-36 (despite the best fake punt I’ve seen all season)
• lost at home to Gardner-Webb, 24-21 (just a brutal loss)

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– The season didn’t start off well for Western Carolina. Mercer ran the opening kickoff back to the WCU 18-yard line and scored three plays later. After a three-and-out by the Catamounts, the Bears returned the ensuing punt back 38 yards and Mercer scored on the next play.

Mercer led that game 42-14 at halftime.

– Against North Carolina State, the Catamounts only managed 106 yards of total offense (including just one yard in the second half). Four WCU players, including star quarterback Tyrie Adams, were suspended for the contest and didn’t play.

– Adams didn’t see the field against North Greenville, either, and Western Carolina was fortunate to escape with a victory. The Crusaders were only 3 for 17 passing, but one of those three completions was a 72-yard TD that gave NGU the lead late in the third quarter. WCU scored the game-winning touchdown with 5:04 to play.

That broke a 10-game losing streak which dated back to last season. Western Carolina is currently on a nine-game losing skid in SoCon play.

– The Catamounts trailed Chattanooga 7-6 after the first quarter of that matchup. At halftime, the score was 37-21 Mocs. The first half featured scoring plays of 28, 24, 69, 73, and 36 yards — four of those by Chattanooga.

Then WCU rallied to get within 44-36 after three quarters, but UTC scored 16 points in the final period.

– Gardner-Webb converted a 33-yard field goal on the game’s final play to beat Western Carolina. G-W actually committed one more turnover than WCU, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs outgained the Catamounts en route to the upset victory.

The one thing you can say for Western Carolina is that it has some very loyal supporters. In three home games, the Catamounts are averaging 9,874 fans. There were 11,865 spectators in attendance for the game against Gardner-Webb.

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Team rankings comparison in select statistical categories:

– Time of possession: The Citadel remains first in FCS (36:54 per game). Western Carolina is 29th nationally.

– Turnover margin: The Bulldogs are tied for 88th, while the Catamounts are tied for 91st. Both are at -3 for the season, but Western Carolina has played one fewer game.

– Offensive 3rd down conversion rate: The Citadel is 32nd (at 42.3%), while WCU is 60th (39.0%).

– Defensive 3rd down conversion rate: Western Carolina is 72nd; The Citadel is 76th (40.8%).

– 4th down attempts: The Citadel is tied for 5th nationally, with 17 fourth down attempts (the Bulldogs’ 11 successful conversions is tied for 4th). WCU has 11 fourth down tries, which is tied for 40th-most in FCS. The Catamounts have made seven of those.

– Yards per rush (does not account for sacks): The Citadel is 86th in FCS (3.50), obviously not good enough for the Bulldogs. Western Carolina is tied for 45th (4.42).

– Net punting: The Bulldogs are 8th (41.28), while WCU is 98th (33.03).

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Tyrie Adams (6’2″, 185 lbs.) was the preseason SoCon Offensive Player of the Year. The redshirt senior quarterback from St. Petersburg has started two games this season (Mercer and Gardner-Webb) and entered in relief against Chattanooga.

For the season, Adams is completing 66.7% of his passes, averaging 6.8 yards per attempt (not including sacks), with four touchdown tosses against three interceptions.

Last year against The Citadel, Adams was 12 for 21 passing for 148 yards and a pick. He also added 74 yards rushing. In the 2017 matchup at Johnson Hagood Stadium, Adams threw three TD passes.

Starting running back Connell Young (6’0″, 210 lbs.), a senior from Greensboro, had 217 rushing yards against Chattanooga. His backup, redshirt junior Donnavan Spencer (5’10”, 190 lbs.) had 122 rushing yards last season against the Bulldogs, including a 75-yard TD.

Redshirt junior wide receiver Daquan Patten (5’6″, 185 lbs.) leads WCU in receptions, with 22. He is also the Catamounts’ primary punt and kick returner. The native of Columbia (Blythewood High School) is the son of former WCU and NFL wideout David Patten (who earned three Super Bowl rings while with the New England Patriots).

Nate Mullen (5’9″, 185 lbs.) is currently second on the team in catches, with 15. Mullen, a redshirt senior who began his college career at Charlotte, caught 55 passes last season.

Tight end Owen Cosenke (6’3″, 235 lbs.) was an all-SoCon performer in 2018 after catching eight touchdown passes. This season, the junior from Aldie, Virginia has 11 receptions, two for TDs.

The projected starters on the Catamounts’ offensive line average 6’4″, 300 lbs. Junior left guard Grady Thomas (6’5″, 305 lbs.), who went to Spartanburg High School, has started 16 games for WCU.

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Jarquavius Wortham (6’1″, 225 lbs.) is a senior who lines up at defensive end, though he played linebacker last season for the Catamounts. The transfer from Georgia Military leads WCU in sacks, with 2 1/2.

Junior linebacker Trevor Childers (6’1″, 215 lbs.) leads Western Carolina in tackles, with 46. His 5 1/2 tackles for loss is also tops for WCU.

Michael Murphy (6’2″, 200 lbs.) is listed as a linebacker on the depth chart, but the redshirt junior (another Spartanburg High School product) played in the Catamounts’ secondary last year. He returned a fumble 48 yards for a TD against The Citadel (one of two defensive touchdowns Murphy scored in 2018). This year, he has 29 tackles (fourth-most on the team), an interception, and a forced fumble.

Redshirt senior JerMichael White (6’1″, 190 lbs.) is second on the roster in stops (with 45). The native of Johnson City, Tennessee was injured most of last season.

John Brannon III (6’2″, 195 lbs.), a senior from Charlotte, has 25 tackles from his cornerback spot. He also has a fumble recovery and two interceptions, including a pick-six against Mercer.

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Western Carolina has used two punters and three placekickers this season (and for what it is worth, WCU also has an “or” situation on its two-deep at long snapper).

Redshirt sophomore Caleb Ferguson (5’11”, 185 lbs.) had a 69-yard TD run off a fake punt against Chattanooga (in which he outran the Mocs’ return man). It was definitely one of the highlights of the season for WCU. Not surprisingly, Ferguson is listed as a running back on the roster.

Fort Mill’s Brandon Dickerson (5’11”, 195 lbs.) has actually had the most punts for Western Carolina this season. Dickerson attended Indian Land High School.

One of the three placekickers employed this year by the Catamounts is no longer on the roster. That leaves either Richard McCollum (5’9″, 170 lbs.) or Julian Pletz (5’10”, 190 lbs.) to do the job.

Pletz is listed as the starter this week; he is 5-5 on PATs this season, but has never made a field goal in his short career at WCU (0 for 1).

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Odds and ends:

– The weather forecast for Saturday in Charleston, per the National Weather Service: sunny, with a high of 82 degrees. The low temperature on Saturday night is projected to be 68 degrees.

– Per one source that deals in such matters (as of Wednesday evening), The Citadel is a 17-point favorite over WCU, with an over/under of 64 1/2.

– Other lines involving SoCon teams: Samford is a 7-point favorite at VMI. That’s it, that’s the list. Five SoCon teams are off this week.

– Also of note: Elon is a 3 1/2 point underdog versus Delaware; Charleston Southern is a 24-point underdog at Kennesaw State; and Towson is an 11-point favorite against Albany.

Georgia Tech is a 17 1/2 point underdog at Duke.

In games between FCS schools, the biggest spread is 29, with Princeton the big favorite over Lafayette.

– Massey Ratings: The Citadel is ranked 64th in FCS, falling 25 spots from last week, the largest drop in FCS. The Catamounts are 108th.

Massey projects the Bulldogs to have a 85% chance of winning, with a predicted final score of The Citadel 38, Western Carolina 24.

The top five teams in Massey’s FCS rankings this week: North Dakota State, Montana, South Dakota State, James Madison, and Dartmouth.

Other rankings this week of varied interest: Villanova is 8th, Sacramento State 11th, Towson 14th, Furman 17th, Kennesaw State 20th, North Carolina A&T 27th, Southeast Missouri State 32nd, Elon 40th, Wofford 43rd, Samford 45th, Columbia 51st, Chattanooga 54th, Georgetown 58th, Florida A&M 63rd, South Carolina State 66th, Drake 72nd, East Tennessee State 79th, Campbell 80th, VMI 82nd, Richmond 83rd, Mercer 91st, Charleston Southern 93rd, Davidson 94th, Gardner-Webb 96th, North Alabama 102nd, Howard 106th, Robert Morris 111th, Jacksonville 119th, and Presbyterian 126th (last).

– Western Carolina’s notable alumni include actor Sean Bridgers, comedian Rich Hall, and college basketball pioneer Ronnie Carr.

– WCU will play Alabama later this season. Next year, Western Carolina will play non-conference games against Liberty, Eastern Kentucky, and Gardner-Webb. Other future non-league opponents for the Catamounts include Oklahoma (in 2021), Georgia Tech (2022), Arkansas (2023), North Carolina State (2024), and Wake Forest (2025).

WCU also has home-and-home series in the future against Montana and Charleston Southern. You decide which one is stranger for Western Carolina — a two-game set in which it has to travel to Missoula, Montana, or one in which it plays at Buccaneer Field in North Charleston.

– Western Carolina’s game notes roster includes 54 players from the state of North Carolina. Other states represented:  Georgia (17 players), South Carolina (15), Florida (6), Tennessee (4), Alabama (2), Ohio (2), and one each from Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The 15 Palmetto State products on WCU’s squad represent 13 different high schools (two each from Spartanburg H.S. and Blythewood H.S.). However, in an incredible anomaly, none are from internationally renowned gridiron force Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School. This bizarre oversight by Western Carolina’s coaches will prove the undoing of its football program for at least a generation (and probably much longer).

– The Citadel’s geographic roster breakdown (per the school’s website) is as follows: South Carolina (53 players), Georgia (29), Florida (8), Texas (5), North Carolina (3), Pennsylvania (3), Alabama (2), New York (2), and one each from Virginia, Nebraska, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Ohio, and Kentucky.

In addition, there are two Bulldogs with listed hometowns in other countries — junior tight end Elijah Lowe (Abaco, Bahamas), and freshman linebacker Hayden Williamson (Okinawa, Japan).

– This week’s two-deep for The Citadel is almost exactly the same as the one for last week. The only change is that Raleigh Webb is now listed as one of the kickoff returners.

– The Citadel has an all-time record of 5-8 for games played on October 12. (Note: the record book lists 14 games played on that date, but the Bulldogs’ 1946 matchup against Newberry was actually played on Friday, October 11.)

Among the highlights from past contests:

• 1935: At the original Johnson Hagood Stadium, The Citadel defeated Wofford, 20-7. Arthur “White Top” Ferguson scored the first of three touchdowns for the Bulldogs. The other TDs were scored by Ed Hall and Claude McCredie (the latter on a 60-yard punt return; McCredie also made two extra points). Teal Therrell recovered two fumbles for The Citadel.
• 1963: The Citadel shut out Presbyterian, 24-0, in the “Georgia Peach Shrine Game”, held at Beacon Memorial Park Stadium in Savannah, Georgia. It was a benefit for the Greenville Shriners Hospital. Jim Parker rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown (on only seven carries), with Bruce Whitney and Vince Petno also finding the end zone (Petno’s score came on a pass from Wade St. John). Pat Green added a 28-yard field goal and all three PATs.
• 1985: The Citadel clubbed Davidson, 31-0, in a steady drizzle at Johnson Hagood Stadium before 8,741 fans. Kip Allen threw three TD passes, two to Lee Glaze and one to Tom Frooman. Warren McGrier rushed for 81 yards, and four different Bulldogs intercepted passes — Joel Thompson, Brian Graves, J.D. Cauthen, and Pete Long.
• 1991: At West Point, New York, The Citadel defeated Army, 20-14, spoiling the Black Knights’ Homecoming game. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 20-0 lead behind touchdowns from Jack Douglas and Everette Sands, with Rob Avriett adding two field goals. Army attempted a comeback, but The Citadel’s defense forced five turnovers — an interception by Shannon Walker and four fumbles, recovered by (in order) Jim Wilson, Lance Cook, Geren Williams, and Lester Smith.
• 2002: The Bulldogs won at home versus East Tennessee State, 26-7. Nehemiah Broughton scored twice and rushed for 99 yards, while Scooter Johnson caught five passes for 85 yards. Jeff Klein added a one-yard rushing TD, and Travis Zobel kicked two field goals (and also had a 43-yard run after a botched would-be punt). The defense sacked ETSU quarterbacks seven times; four of those sacks were authored by Cliff Washburn.

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There isn’t really much to say at this point. The Citadel needs to win this game.

Frankly, the Bulldogs should win this game. Western Carolina has had a difficult season, and the loss to Gardner-Webb could prove to be a backbreaker for the Catamounts.

That doesn’t mean this will be an easy game, though. Far from it. Nothing is easy at The Citadel, and that is before considering the way the last two games have gone for the Bulldogs.

The Citadel needs to start fast and not let up.

There is still hope for this season. That starts with a victory on Saturday.

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: Brent Thompson, Claude McCredie, Everette Sands, Geren Williams, Jack Douglas, Jim Wilson, Joel Thompson, Kip Allen, Lance Cook, Lee Glaze, Lester Smith, Nehemiah Broughton, Pete Long, Rob Avriett, Shannon Walker, SoCon, Teal Therrell, The Citadel, Tom Frooman, Travis Zobel, Tyrie Adams, Warren McGrier, Western Carolina | Leave a comment »