Nov. 12, 2009

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina will step out of Southern Conference play on the gridiron this Saturday, Nov. 14, as it travels to Eastern Kentucky of the Ohio Valley Conference. Kickoff from Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, Ky., is set for 1:00 pm.

Saturday's game will be broadcast by the Catamount Sports Network. Fans can hear the game, beginning with a 90-minute pregame at 11:30 am, on five stations across Western North Carolina including locally on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee and 680 AM WRGC in Sylva; 920 AM WPTL in Canton; 1480 AM WPFJ in Franklin; and 1600 AM WTZQ in Hendersonville.

Fans can also catch all of the play-by-play action online with streaming audio through Stretch Internet at www.CatamountSports.com.

Saturday's meeting in Richmond is the fifth all-time between Western Carolina and Eastern Kentucky with the Catamounts trailing, 1-3, in the head-to-head series which includes being winless in two previous meetings at EKU. The Catamounts dropped the most recent meeting in Richmond, 45-21, back in 2007. Western Carolina's last win in the series came back in 2006 with a 20-17, come-from-behind victory over the then 19th-ranked Colonels in Cullowhee.

WCU holds a 16-16-1 all-time record against current members of the Ohio Valley Conference, facing the most common foe, Tennessee Tech, 14 times all told.

Eastern Kentucky (5-4 overall, 5-2 OVC) is coming off a 37-12 road loss at commonwealth foe, Kentucky, in Lexington. This week, the Colonels are not only vying for their 32nd-consecutive winning season, but continue to have post-season hopes alive out of the OVC. The Colonels need to win at least one of its two final games to keep its winning season streak alive, while EKU needs to win its finale at Jacksonville State and have Eastern Illinois lose one of its final two games to claim the 2009 OVC title and playoff berth.

EKU is tied with Montana with 19 NCAA FCS playoff appearances, the most all-time.

In three of EKU's four losses this season, the Colonel defense has not been able to force a turnover. Eastern Kentucky is a plus-8 in the turnover margin in its five victories and minus-6 in its four losses. Sophomore DB Jeremy Caldwell ranks first nationally in FCS football with seven interceptions on the year, although he missed last week's game at UK due to a concussion. Also, the Colonel special teams unit has blocked a kick (punt, field goal or PAT) in six-straight games and seven of the last eight contests.

Western Carolina (1-8, 1-6 SoCon) will try and snap a three-game seasonal slide and its current eight-game road losing skid that dates back to the 2008 season and a win at Presbyterian. The Catamounts are coming off a tough home loss to No. 6 Elon where the Phoenix broke a 14-all tie with 21-straight points and stifled the improved WCU offense in the second half, limiting the Catamounts to 41 yards of total offense after intermission.

The Catamount defense is spearheaded by a pair of seniors. Linebacker Adrian McLeod leads the Southern Conference - and ranks second in all of FCS football - with 116 tackles, averaging nearly 13 stops per game. McLeod is just 29 tackles shy of tying WCU's single-season record for tackles at 145 set by Marcus Bradley back in 1996-97. Classmate Chris Collins ranks third in the SoCon - and 20th nationally - in tackles at 10.2 per game, while leading the SoCon with 11.5 tackles for loss.

Offensively, the Catamounts are led by a youth movement. True freshman Michael Johnson was named SoCon Freshman of the Week last week after becoming the first opposing rusher to eclipse the 100-yard mark against Elon, which boasts the nation's fourth-best defense against the run. Johnson tallied 93 of his career-best 116 yards in the first half, adding 31 yards receiving on four catches for a team seasonal-high 147 all-purpose yards. He is flanked by backfield mates Dion Wilson (red-shirt freshman) and Nate Harris (sophomore).

Through the first five games this season, Western Carolina only averaged 58.6 yards per game on the ground, a number that is skewed because of a minus-12 rushing total at Georgia Southern which included three sacks. During that span, Johnson was only averaging 19.8 rushing yards per game and Wilson was at 18.2. However, over the past three games, the Catamounts have averaged 117.3 yards on the ground, with Johnson averaging 79.7 yards with three touchdowns and Wilson scoring with four of his five seasonal touchdowns.

All told, nearly 93 percent (685/738) of Western Carolina's rushing yards this season have come from freshmen.

After going five games - and encompassing 151 combined pass attempts over a 22 quarter span - without a touchdown pass, redshirt freshman quarterback Zack Jaynes has three TD strikes in his past two games including two to tight end Chris Everett. Junior WR Marquel Pittman has the other touchdown reception giving him 12 for his career, just three shy of a six-way tie for sixth-place on WCU's career charts. Pittman's 108 career catches are 31 shy of 10th on the WCU career charts with his 1,557 yards in his third season are 689 yards shy of 10th on the school's career ledger.

Getting off to a fast start will be one key to Saturday's game at Eastern Kentucky. WCU has been outscored 143-to-44 in the first half this season, including a 58-to-13 margin in the first quarter alone. The Catamounts did light the scoreboard with their first, first quarter touchdown a week ago against Elon, though.

Another key will be to take care of the football against the opportunistic Colonel unit. WCU ranks 115th out of 118 NCAA FCS teams with a minus-15 turnover margin having lost 11 of its 16 fumbles and tossing 10 interceptions against just six takeaways (five fumbles, one INT).

Kickoff on Saturday afternoon is set for 1:00 pm.

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Western Carolina Head Coach Dennis Wagner

On this week's opponent, Eastern Kentucky:
"(Eastern Kentucky) is a football team that is sitting there at 5-4. If they win their last two conference games and Eastern Illinois loses a game, they win their conference. That will put them in position for a playoff spot from their conference. It's important for them to remember that they are not playing their last game because they have other things at stake. For us, we are just trying to get that second win and try to improve."

On the play of EKU:
"They are a real opportunistic football team. I believe they have 12 interceptions and eight fumbles on the season. That is 22 takeaways they have gotten this season. Their turnover margin is a plus and that has been a big benefit for them. If they win the turnover column, they are winning those games. In games they haven't won in that column, they have lost. It's important for us to be efficient and hang on to the ball."

"They are a team that is relatively young on defense. They have a redshirt freshman quarterback who does some good things. Their leading receiver has over 50 catches. They are throwing the ball better than they are running it right now. Their special teams are a solid group. I believe they have blocked five extra points or field goals this year. We are going to have to be prepared for that phase also."

On keeping the team motivated in the latter half of the season:
"All you can do each week is challenge your players to work hard and to do the things you ask them to do in practice. They have done that. For us as a staff when we came in, we inherited 24 seniors last year. Now, our senior group is 10. Next year, it's a group of seven. We don't have a lot of older guys on our team. What we have to do is make sure that they younger returning players understand it's not acceptable to lose. We are going to be bigger and stronger in the weight room. We need some momentum going into the offseason to propel this team to go to another level next year."

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