D2Football.com South Atlantic Conference Column

The second release of the Super Regional 2 Rankings provided no drama this week.

Carson-Newman is finally ranked at number 10, but the concerning news for South Atlantic Conference fans is the placement of Benedict and Albany State at seventh and eight respectively. It is almost completely certain that the SIAC will have one representative in the playoff field this season.

After establishing that, only five spots remain. Three of the top five teams are from the Gulf South Conference in No. 1 Delta State, No. 3 Valdosta State, and No. 4 North Alabama.

It is looking like only two SAC teams will receive bids this year at a best case scenario. As of now, Wingate, Tusculum, Newberry, and Carson-Newman are the players in this game.

Week Seven Recaps

Actual Score: Mars Hill: 27 Newberry: 6
Timmy's Predicted Score: Newberry: 33 Mars Hill: 21

Newberry was thumped by two individuals, running back George Stripling and outside linebacker Zach Johnson.

Stripling, (I know, I know, that Louisville transfer) had 13 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns, but his final score was a 70-yard run early in the fourth quarter that had Newberry fans flocking towards the exits.

What is so special about Lion outside linebacker Zach Johnson? Well, he earned league defensive player of the week accolades for bruising up Tharry Salley quite a bit, all the while racking up nine tackles and pair of sacks.

Oh yeah, a first quarter interception by Johnson helped to set up the Lion's first points of the contest too.

Actual Score: Carson-Newman: 21 Catawba: 14
Timmy's Predicted Score: Carson-Newman: 42 Catawba: 17

A blocked punt for a touchdown and holding the Eagles to a mere seven points in three quarters just wasn't enough to contain Carson-Newman last Saturday night.

Alex the Good, (He wasn't great by any means) threw a pretty 29-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mo Whitten to essentially end the game with 44 ticks left.

Not only did the Eagles force two turnovers, but five different Carson-Newman defenders recorded sacks against Catawba's pair of quarterbacks.

Actual Score: Wingate: 35 Lenoir-Rhyne: 27
Timmy's Predicted Score: Wingate: 38 Lenoir-Rhyne: 17

Wingate is still the lone unbeaten team in the SAC, and rightfully so.

JD Moore is really starting to challenge Tusculum QB Corey Russell as the conference's most feared pistol-shooter, throwing for 292 yards and a trio of touchdowns on Saturday.

Although Nelson Woods, perhaps a dark-horse Harlon Hill candidate, rushed for 83 yards on nearly twenty attempts, it is tight end Delric Ellington that is becoming a huge asset for the 'Dawgs.

Ellington hauled in the game's opening touchdown pass on Wingate's first drive that set the tone for the afternoon.

Actual Score: Tusculum: 55 Brevard: 42
Timmy's Predicted Score: Tusculum: 42 Brevard: 7

There were good and bad things to take away from this victory for Tusculum.

We all know that Corey Russell totaled six touchdowns on the afternoon and 400 yards of total offense, but what happened to their talented defense?

Trey Wilborn went back to his duties at quarterback for the injured Kye Hamilton, a role he excelled at last season.

Wilborn helped Brevard pound the football for an astonishing 356 yards and four scores.

Week Eight Previews

My record is now 29-11 in predicting South Atlantic Conference games in 2008. I went 3-1 last week with my only loss being the Newberry-Mars Hill upset.

And for those of you that love "Dumb and Dumber", you might recall this infamous Jim Carrey line after he was robbed by a sweet old lady on a motorized cart.

"I didn't even see it coming."

#16 Wingate (7-0, 3-0) at Newberry (3-3, 2-1)

October 18th 7:00 PM ET Weather Forecast: 60 degrees, partly cloudy, 10 MPH wind, 30% chance of rain

Newberry's terrible showing at Mars Hill last week has severely impacted its playoff chances. Of course the Scarlet and Gray must win out, but it may also need extra help the rest of the way through this season.

Wingate is in the most advantageous position of all South Atlantic Conference teams right now as it sits at No. 2 in the regional rankings. The teams remaining on the Bulldog's schedule won't make this finishing stretch easy by any stretch. Wingate must go to Newberry, host Catawba, go to Carson-Newman, and host Mars Hill.

If WU head coach Joe Reich's team can win at least two of their four remaining games, they should be in the postseason.

It all starts this Saturday night at Setzler Field where opponents rarely win. Then No. 1 ranked Valdosta State counted its blessings as it walked away with a very close win to open the season at Newberry.

Also, it doesn't help matters that Newberry is coming off a rather embarrassing loss to Mars Hill 27-6 last week.

Newberry quarterbacks Eric McCollom and Brandon Gantt played awful games, combining for two interceptions, 10-26 passing for 84 yards, and four sacks.

While Scarlet and Gray head man Zak Willis won't see that performance repeated at home, he is probably more concentrated with his defense at the moment.

Wingate comes to town with clutch players at its disposal in tailback Nelson Woods and receiver Jordan Softcheck. I still recall a very Wes Welker type play from Softcheck against UNC-Pembroke in the fourth quarter. It was a third and six deep in UNC-P's territory with the Bulldogs nursing a 17-13 lead. He created great separation on the right side of the field to give JD Moore an easy toss for six points.

Wingate will need plenty of clutch plays this Saturday night. Newberry's fast and hard hitting defense will force Reich's offense into uncomfortable third down situations and distances that are too far for Woods to handle.

A match up featuring linebackers Mike Grase or Will Newell on tight end Delric Ellington will summarize the night for the two playoff hopeful teams.

Newberry is due for a good game.

You can't pick against an angry team with speed playing at home.

Newberry: 27 Wingate: 21

Lenoir-Rhyne (3-4, 1-2) at # 17 Carson-Newman (4-2, 2-1)

October 18th 3:00 PM ET Weather Forecast: 60 degrees, partly cloudy, 7 MPH wind, 20% chance of rain

This has the potential to be one of the quickest games this season in college football.

Lenoir-Rhyne may throw eight or nine passes on Saturday, while Carson-Newman could pass around 15 times.

The rest of the afternoon will be spent like college football Saturdays should.

Watching the line of scrimmage turn into a battlefield for every yard.

Carson-Newman had great difficulty with the "give" on its split back veer attack. With the exception of a Buck Wakefield touchdown run, the Eagles had trouble gaining more than 2 yards on the handoffs.

Quarterback Alex Good also had trouble completing the deep pass and going down the line on option runs.

Lenoir-Rhyne's defense is not built to stop the veer, but LRU head coach Fred Goldsmith's team will focus mainly on keeping the C-N offense off of the field. The quarterback position should be shared between Major Herron and Justin Sanders for yet another week as it is a difficult to continually get knocked down play after play. Running back Anthony Silvers played one of his best games ever last week against Wingate by tallying 114 yards on 17 carries.

Carson-Newman will be able to incorporate Otis Miller and Reggie Hubbard this week in the deep passing game off of playaction.

Lenoir-Rhyne will be able to shorten this game quite a bit with its forceful running game.

Carson-Newman: 38 Lenoir-Rhyne: 21

Tusculum (5-2, 2-1) at Catawba (3-3, 1-2)

October 18th 1:30 PM ET Weather Forecast: 60 degrees, partly cloudy, 10 MPH wind, 30% chance of rain

Tusculum cannot afford to lose to Catawba this week if it wants to make the playoffs because they still have to play Carson-Newman later on in the season.

The Indians will be playing spoiler the rest of the way after a close loss to Carson-Newman last Saturday.

TC head coach Frankie DeBusk has owned the Tribe lately by winning the past two nail biters.

The job this week for Catawba head coach Chip Hester will be for his Indians to pressure senior all-conference quarterback Corey Russell. The defensive line of Marqus Davis, Melquan Fair, Brandon Sutton, and Julian Hartsell controlled the line of scrimmage last week against the Eagles.

The Tribe's secondary is not a weakness but certainly not the strength of the defense like its front seven. It will come down to whether Russell has enough time to exploit Catawba on Saturday afternoon.

Russell's numbers this season include 2,243 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, and nine interceptions. He is also the Pioneer's leading rusher with 315 yards and four scores.

There are two things that Tusculum should be worried about when arriving to play the Indians for its homecoming.

First, Russell was sacked four times in each game by Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne, and Elizabeth City State. Urbana was able to bring him down three times in the backfield. Catawba's defensive line may be the best in the conference this year by far.

Second, Tusculum was not able to slow down Lenoir-Rhyne's running game or Brevard's. Catawba is very one-dimensional this season like L-R and BC, but not by choice.

Catawba quarterback Howard Williamson has only played two complete games, while usually suffering an injury in the first half against his opponents such as Mars Hill, Newberry, and Carson-Newman.

This game will come down to the impressive running of senior running back Jamelle Cuthbertson for Catawba. Tusculum will get big plays from Ryan Tallent, but the Indians are determined to not make this a shoot out.

Catawba: 24 Tusculum: 14

Brevard (1-5, 0-3) at Mars Hill (4-3, 1-2)

October 18th 1:30 PM ET Weather Forecast: 57 degrees, partly cloudy, 9 MPH wind, 20% chance of rain

Mars Hill sent a message loud and clear last Saturday. They are not giving up on this season just yet.

Lion head coach Tim Clifton has two winnable games on the docket and can up its record to a possible 6-3 overall. It sounds nice and it can most definitely be done with its offensive weapons.

Brevard is another story entirely. A bright spot is the reemergence of running back John Taylor last week at Tusculum. While the Tornados aren't a threat in the airwaves, their damage on the ground is most definitely severe.

A nice coaching adjustment by head coach Paul Hamilton is the switch at quarterback. He has brought sophomore Trey Wilborn back as the signal caller.

He has responded.

Wilborn carried for 116 yards for a score and passed for a touchdown against the regionally ranked Pioneers on the road.

Brevard's 42 point output is light years away from its shutout loss to UNC-Pembroke and its collapse at Chowan earlier in the season.

The game will not be won on offense for Brevard. Mars Hill will be able to trade scores with the Tornados easily. Brevard does not have an answer for the speed of Tyrea Allen at receiver or the two tailbacks of George Washington and George Stripling. Expect Washington and Allen to have several plays longer than 40 yards on Saturday.

Mars Hill continues to click on all cylinders.

Mars Hill: 42 Brevard: 21

The Passing of a Strong Woman

My grandmother, Elizabeth Hall Readling, passed away at the age of 83 on Tuesday, the morning of October 14th. She was the mother of two sons, one being my father Gary Readling. Even at a very young age, she was a mother figure to her sisters.

I will always miss her.