 |
 WCU head football coach Dennis Wagner |
 |
Sept. 30, 2008
Western Carolina Homecoming 2008
Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina head football coach Dennis Wagner again took part in the weekly Southern Conference Head Football Coaches Teleconference on Tuesday morning. He talked about last week's conference opener at The Citadel, as well as looked ahead to Saturday's Homecoming match-up against Samford at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field.
In addition, the new turf on Waters Field was a major topic of discussion as the two-week project nears completion for Saturday's game slightly ahead of schedule.
Western Carolina (2-3, 0-1 SoCon) opens the home portion of its SoCon slate this weekend against conference newcomer, Samford (2-2, 0-1), at 1:00 pm. WCU trails in the all-time series with the Bulldogs, 1-4, with four-straight losses including a 35-32 loss in overtime in the last meeting back in 1999 in Cullowhee. The Catamounts' lone victory in the series came in 1969 - at 47-13 decision in Birmingham, Ala.
Saturday's game will be televised live locally on WLOS-TV in Asheville, which has a reach across Western North Carolina and the northern Upstate of South Carolina.
Festivities for Homecoming 2008 kick off with the annual Homecoming Parade on Friday evening at 6:15 pm in downtown Sylva. Also on Friday, the Catamount women's soccer team hosts Wofford at 6:00 pm at the Catamount Athletic Complex (CAC).
On Saturday, WCU will crown its annual Homecoming Queen and King, as well as recognize its annual alumni award winners, at halftime.
The athletic weekend will conclude on Sunday as WCU hosts Furman at 2:00 pm at the CAC in conference action. Sunday's match will also feature the celebration of Western's 10th anniversary of women's soccer including public recognition of the 11-member, 10th-anniversary team.
Here are excerpts from Tuesday's SoCon Football Head Coaches' Teleconference.
Western Carolina head coach, Dennis Wagner:
|
|
 |
"Just felt like we didn't do anything offensively to help our defense. The defense was on the field way too long. Offensively, we didn't get the ball moving until the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth - and that was just too late. We have got to come out of the gate a lot faster. The Citadel is too good of a football team to have a slow start like that."
On Samford:
"We are excited about our first conference game here at home. We just got our new turf in the stadium; this will be our first game on the new turf. Should be a good crowd on a Saturday here in Cullowhee, with Homecoming. Samford has done a great job and is representing our conference very well. It is good to have them in our conference. This should be a heck of a game here in Cullowhee."
More on Samford:
"They are a well-coached football team. They play hard. Elon has a very good football team and they went there (last week) and gave them a game for four quarters. They've done a good job in all of their games - they've routed the two opponents they are supposed to and took their others right down to the wire. We are playing a team that is very capable of being in the upper echelon of our conference if they can just finish some games. That will be a key for us - we have got to play four quarters of football because this team does a very good job of managing the ball on offense and getting it in the end zone. And defensively, they have a lot of takeaways - they strip the ball well, run to the ball well. They are big up front on both sides and so we are going to have our hands full."
On adjustments offensively:
"I don't think that we will make any adjustments because if you keep changing things around all of the time, you never get consistent at anything you do. It is about us doing what we are already doing correctly. The players have to be committed to their techniques and the plan and stay with it. When the ball is thrown to the end zone and you drop it, there is nothing wrong with the plan - it's about catching the football. As I told the guys, we are all in this together and we need to accept responsibility for things."
"We didn't run the ball as well as we need to (last week) to be effective, so if we make any adjustment it will be to balance it out a little better."
On team adjustments:
"When something goes wrong, we have to respond in the right way - and we haven't responded in the correct way. That's part of the learning process of this program. For so long, it has been ok to be close or stay close - and that's not acceptable any more. They have got to find a way to fight through ups and downs. There are going to be peaks and valleys and when something goes wrong instead of dropping into the valley, you have to plateau and bounce back up."
On the new turf:
"The quality is better. It's brand new; it's going to be nice. Practice time for us will be fairly limited on the new surface because we probably won't get on it until Wednesday or Thursday as they finish up the job. It is a needed thing for our facility. It certainly improves our facility. This turf is as modern and new as any that there is, so we are looking forward to the chance to play on it and open up with a conference game here at home."
Samford head coach, Pat Sullivan:
On Western Carolina:
"For the last two days, we have been studying them. The first thing that you see on any of the teams when you turn on Southern Conference film, there is no quit in them. They play hard and continue to play hard. They've got the big receiver in (Marquel) Pittman - he is someone they can throw it up to and he will make a play. They have a running back in (Quan) Warley - he seems to always make the first person miss. And like a lot of the team's, they have the hybrid-type of player in (Adam) Hearns."
"Defensively, they are a 4-3 and come at you with some 3-3 looks. Jeff Bradley is a good player who plays hard along their defensive front. And in the kicking game, their punter (Blake Cain) hangs it up there."
"I know that they will be excited about us coming into their stadium. We certainly have our hands full with trying to get better."
On last week's solid performance at nationally-ranked Elon (falling 23-17):
"We didn't go to Elon to have a good showing - we went to win a football game."
