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 Red-shirt sophomore Marquel Pittman eclipsed the 1,000-yard career receiving mark on Saturday at Wofford. |
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Oct. 21, 2008
Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina head football coach Dennis Wagner took part in the weekly Southern Conference Head Football Coaches Teleconference where he talked about last week's game at Wofford, and looked ahead to this week's home date with Georgia Southern.
Western Carolina (2-6, 0-4 SoCon) hosts the Eagles at 1:00 pm on Saturday at E.J. Whitmire Stadium looking to snap a couple of skids. The Catamounts have dropped 19-straight conference games, the third-longest winless streak in conference history. To end that drought, it will have to come against a team in which WCU has not fared well against in recent years. Georgia Southern (3-4, 1-3 SoCon), which holds a 16-2 overall series advantage, has won 13-straight over Western in the series including six-straight in Cullowhee.
Saturday's game will be broadcast by the Catamount Sports Network and can be heard locally in Cullowhee on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 or in Sylva on 680 AM WRGC. Fans can also tune in on 1480 WPFJ, the Dove in Franklin; 1590 AM WBHN in Bryson City; and 1600 AM WTZQ in Hendersonville. Air time is 12:30 pm.
Fans can also listen to the live network stream online at www.WWCUFM.com, www.WRGC.com, or www.WPFJ.com.
WCU is coming off back-to-back losses to nationally-ranked teams in the Upstate of South Carolina. The Catamounts' rally fell just short against Furman, 28-21, and missed opportunities early cost WCU last weekend in Spartanburg in a 42-14 loss to the Terriers.
Georgia Southern, a team which has graced the national rankings several times this season, has also had its fair share of tough games. The Eagles opened the season against the top ranked NCAA Division I FBS team - and in-state rival - Georgia before picking up non-conference victories at home over Austin Peay and Northeastern. GSU has also dropped three in SoCon play to the top three teams in the standings by a combined mere four points (L, 22-20 to Elon; L, 38-37 in OT to Wofford; L, 37-36 to Appalachian State).
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Western Carolina head coach, Dennis Wagner:
On the Wofford game:
"We were disappointed with our performance at Wofford. We felt like early in the game, we moved the ball up and down the field but failed to put it in the end zone twice with a fumble and a pick. We also fumbled a punt which gave them great field position. And Wofford's just too good of a football team to make mistakes - they are going to take advantage of them, and they certainly did. Before we knew it, we were down by 28 points."
"We had every opportunity to keep that game close, especially in the first half. We came out in the third quarter and I didn't think we played well on either side of the ball."
"Overall, I thought Wofford played a great game. They are a good football team, which I have said before on many occasions. They've got a heck of a football team."
On playing Georgia Southern:
"(They are the) best team with four losses that I've ever seen. They look great getting off the bus and look good on the field. They have just fallen short a couple of times. It's a tribute to their coaching staff and their players the way they have fought in every game. It'd be easy to get down after those close losses and to not perform, but every week they come back and play hard and have done a tremendous job."
"They have some great athletes. They put a lot of points up offensively. And defensively, they are very aggressive and come after you, bringing as much pressure as they can using those athletes to chase you down."
On the quarterback situation:
"The starting job is not up for grabs. We are not going to get into a quarterback rotation, that's not what we are looking for. (In the second half of the Wofford game), we needed to do something different just to give ourselves an opportunity to maybe get a little spark. Plus, the fact that you always have to have your number two quarterback prepared in case there is an injury. We got an opportunity to put (Andy) into the game at the start of the fourth quarter and to give him some time. And as I've said many times before, Andy Horn is a very good quarterback. He was our starter early in the year and is capable of being our starter at any point this season. We didn't put him in as a clean-up role, we put him in to see if he could help our football team get in the end zone again."
On the team morale:
"It team morale has not taken a hit. Now, that's good and that's bad. It's good because they keep working hard for us and doing what we are asking them to do. But the bad part is, we want them to feel the pain of losing. It's important to not enjoy losing. That doesn't mean you sit around and sulk or pout about it. But it's got to bother you. (Losing is) a disease and we've got to cut it out. We've got to find a way to get rid of this and get on the right track. And we are going to."
"The positive of this whole thing is our guys aren't quitting. The guys show up every day and work hard for us. We just got to quit making mistakes at critical times. I thought we took a step forward in the Furman game when we got behind and came back and made that a good football game right down to the wire. I was expecting us to do the same thing Saturday against Wofford, but we didn't do that. Now, that, again, is a tribute to Wofford's football team and them not allowing us to, but it just tells me that we are not where we need to be."
On playing at home:
"There's no question, there is nothing like home cooking - you want to get home, be in your environment and be were you are comfortable. You've still got to play football. Both teams are going to show up and the teams we are going to play are good football teams. We are looking forward to play in front of our home crowd. We've been very fortunate that our fans have traveled with us, especially to Furman and Wofford. I think we had great turnouts there, and we anticipate good crowds here at home. But we have got to give them something to cheer about in these next few weeks."
Georgia Southern head coach, Chris Hatcher:
On playing Western Carolina:
"I think they have some good players (at Western Carolina), and Coach (Dennis) Wagner has done a good job. He has his team playing extremely hard. With their short passing game, they really have found something to hang their hat on. Defensively, they are very good against the pass, which is something we like to do.
"We expect it to be a tough battle. This is my first time in making the trip up to Cullowhee. Our goal is not to let Appalachian State beat us twice - try and get things thing rolling in the right direction."
Wofford head coach Mike Ayers
On last week's game against Western Carolina:
"The game started out a little shaky. I think Dennis (Wagner) and his team came prepared and they executed. They took their first drive and quite frankly, we couldn't slow them up. They scored and got out on top and we kind of bounced around and didn't do a whole lot. They got the ball again and proceeded to drive right down on us again. But then defensively, we got them stopped, forced a fumble and kind of took control from there."
"I was pleased with the way we responded. We played hard and for the most part, played well and we needed it to have a chance to beat Western Carolina. It was a big win. Every win in conference is big, each week it's like a championship game."
