Oct. 28, 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 took a moment to talk about last week's heart-breaker against Georgia Southern, and also turned his attention to this Saturday's home date with Chattanooga.
The Catamounts (2-7, 0-5 SoCon) host the Mocs (1-7, 0-4 SoCon) in Cullowhee with kickoff from E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field set for 1:00 pm.
Western Carolina trails in the all-time series with Chattanooga, 15-19, and has dropped two-straight - and four of the last five - with the Mocs since 2003. The series in Cullowhee is tied all-time at eight apiece, but the Catamounts have dropped two-straight to UTC at home, falling in overtime, 17-14, to the Mocs two seasons ago (2006).
WCU will celebrate its Hall of Fame Day this weekend, honoring its five newest inductees into its Athletics Hall of Fame - former football players John Ruta (1962-65), Alonzo Carmichael (1983-86) and Brad Hoover (1996-99) along with track and field star Tony McKennie (1986-90) and baseball standout Jason Beverlin (1992-94).
Also, there will be a special recognition of the 1983 Catamount Football team celebrating the 25th anniversary of its appearance in the NCAA Division I FCS (I-AA) National Championship game.
Here is an excerpt from Tuesday's SoCon teleconference:
Western Carolina head coach Dennis Wagner:
On last week's game against Georgia Southern in Cullowhee:
"It was the tale of two halves against Georgia Southern. It was really a frustrating situation for us. We had many opportunities in the first half to put more points on the board. Our defense created some turnovers and I didn't feel as though Georgia Southern was at its best in the first half of the game. We capitalized on most of the situations the defense gave us, but not all of them. At halftime, we talked about going out and playing to win, not playing just to hold the lead. We had a touchdown pass (swing pass to freshman Levon Curtis) called back and that just seemed to deflate us on offense. And from that point, we did not move the ball on offense."
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"We just did not function at all on offense in the second half. And I thought our defense played well, except for giving up big plays including two trick plays for touchdowns and that allowed the momentum to change. But I think the real turning point for us was two plays; the touchdown that was called back on a clip - and it was a good call - and also the blocked punt."
On last week's GSU loss having adverse affects moving forward:
"We don't have time to worry. Every Sunday, the sun comes up; and win or lose, you've got to move to the next game because if you spend too much time on the winning and the losing, you forget about what's ahead of you. I keep telling our kids that we can't change the past; learn from it but change the future. We are not going to let (last week) bother us; we can't let it bother us. We have three football games left and Chattanooga has good players that want to come in here and win the game for their program and their coach. We are going to have to be at our best."
On the Chattanooga Mocs:
"As we prepare to play Chattanooga, I'm sure their team will come in here prepared and rested. They've had a week off and a chance to gather their thoughts about the things that are going on there. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of emotions. We have got to just do our job and play football. We've got to ask our guys to play for 60 minutes and finish the football game."
On the progress of the WCU Football Program:
"I think the (culture change) is going to be an ongoing process for as long as we are here. But we are getting much closer than we were. Our situation is now that you have to understand that you play football for 60 minutes, and that there are three phases of the game; offense, defense and special teams. We have yet to play all three phases well and put it together for 60 minutes. And when that happens, we will be fine because we've been close several times. But it's like I tell our guys, close only counts in horseshoes."
"We keep talking to our guys about `keep fighting, don't give up.' I'm proud of the fact that we haven't had anyone quit the team since fall camp. Guys are still working hard and we are being very demanding. We've got to cross the bridge, make a change to get some positives to have something to build upon for the off-season."
Chattanooga head coach Rodney Allison:
On the events of last week:
"Because of some of the events of last week, we didn't get to do things as we normally would have planned. It was just a point in time the decision was made not to bring me back, it's hard to put some things together and we were hard pressed to get things done. We got one good day in and it was just as good to have our guys get away from it and come back. We didn't get accomplished during the bye-week what we would normally. But, we did get a bunch of rest, got some guys back from injury."
"We're not going to change anything (over the last couple weeks of the season). I'm not going to be here next year and I want them to have something to build on for the future. There is no animosity on my part. I'm just pulling for these kids right now and want them to end this thing on a positive note."
On Western Carolina:
"I think they have improved. Obviously, they have put themselves in a situation to win games. You look at them from start to finish, they've improved and done some nice things. From the Florida State game until now, they've gotten better. I tip my hat to them and their coaching staff."
Georgia Southern head coach Chris Hatcher:
On last week's game in Cullowhee:
"I thought that we played very well defensively. The 31 points was not indicative of how we played. We threw one interception for a touchdown and two others that they took back into our red zone. We just couldn't get a break to go our way early in the game. We had a whole lot of penalties - 12 penalties, seven turnovers. And everything we tried to do just didn't work. But, it was a great win for our team and hopefully that is the one we will look back at and say, `that's where we turned the corner.'"
