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Cats look to end streaks Saturday against Eagles
Western Carolina’s football team will be looking to end a pair of streaks Saturday when Georgia Southern (3-4, 1-3) visits E.J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field for a 1 p.m. game.
The Catamounts (2-6, 0-4) have dropped 19 straight Southern Conference games and have lost 13 in a row to GSU. The Eagles have dominated the series 16-2.
GSU’s three league losses have been by a total of four points, including Saturday’s 37-36 setback to three-time defending national champion Appalachian State.
“We were disappointed with our performance at Wofford,” WCU Coach Dennis Wagner said of last week’s 42-14 loss. “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. Wofford’s just too good of a football team to make mistakes against. They are going to take advantage of them, and they certainly did. Before we knew it, we were down by 28 points.”
The Cats led 7-0 before yielding 42 unanswered points.
“We had every opportunity to keep that game close, especially in the first half,” Wagner said. “We came out in the third quarter, and I didn’t think we played well on either side of the ball.”
Looking ahead to GSU, he said, “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.”
He added, “They have some great athletes. They put a lot of points up offensively. Defensively, they are very aggressive and come after you, bringing as much pressure as they can using those athletes to chase you down.”
Zack Jayens made his second straight start at quarterback with former starter Andy Horn seeing some action in the second half.
“The starting job is not up for grabs,” Wagner said. “We are not going to get into a quarterback rotation. We needed to do something different just to give ourselves an opportunity to maybe get a little spark. We got an opportunity to put (Andy) into the game at the start of the fourth quarter and to give him some time.”
In his first season as coach, Wagner has repeatedly said he is trying to change the culture at WCU.
“Team morale has not taken a hit,” he said. “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.”
He said the players have continued to work hard.
“The positive of this whole thing is our guys aren’t quitting,” Wagner said. “The guys show up every day and work hard for us. We’ve 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.”
“I think they have some good players and Coach Wagner has done a good job,” GSU Coach Chris Hatcher said. “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.”
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