Nov. 14 (Saturday)
Western Carolina at Liberty (ESPNU*/
ESPN online), 12 p.m.
* Game was previously slated to appear on ESPN3
Notes:
• The Southern Conference returns to action on Saturday when Western Carolina opens its fall slate at FBS No. 22 Liberty on ESPNU.
• The Catamounts’ young roster includes 50 true or redshirt freshmen and just 10 seniors. Western Carolina returns 19 starters, including nine on offense, seven on defense and three specialists.
• Entering this season, Western Carolina must replace graduated quarterback Tyrie Adams, who finished his career fifth in SoCon history with 11,525 yards of total offense.
• Two of Western Carolina’s three fall opponents have appeared in the national rankings this season. At 7-0, Liberty is up three spots in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 after topping Virginia Tech last time out, while North Carolina is the first team out of the poll but has reached as high as high as No. 5 this fall.
• Western Carolina and Liberty have met six times, with the series tied 3-3. The Flames have won the last two meetings, in 2006 and 2008.
• Liberty, which has won nine straight dating back to last season, earned a dramatic 38-35 win at Virginia Tech on Saturday. The teams combined for 17 points in the last two minutes of the contest, with the Hokies seeming to have won the game when they returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown as time expired. The Flames got a second chance when it was ruled that Virginia Tech had called a timeout just before the kick, and Liberty converted a 51-yard kick with one second left for the win.
• Western Carolina’s Nov. 21 road meeting with Ohio Valley Conference member Eastern Kentucky is being billed as the inaugural Opportunity Bowl. The game is dedicated to the late Dr. Sheila Davidson Pressley, a 1989 Western Carolina graduate and the former Dean of Health Sciences at EKU who also served as the Faculty Athletics Representative.
• Two SoCon student-athletes have been named the Stats Perform FCS Co-Player of the Week so far this season. Mercer sophomore safety Lance Wise had a career-best 20 tackles against Abilene Christian on Oct. 31 to earn the honor, while The Citadel’s Sean-Thomas Faulkner did so after recording 16 tackles at FBS Army West Point on Oct. 10.
• Mercer’s Isaac Dowling leads the FCS with 13.3 tackles per game, while The Citadel’s Willie Eubanks III is fourth with 10.8 and Wise is fifth at 10.7. Chattanooga’s Jay Person paces the FCS with 2.0 sacks per game and he and teammate Rashun Freeman are tied for second with 3.0 tackles for loss per game.
• The Citadel’s Jaylan Adams is second in the FCS with a kickoff return average of 20.4 yards and teammate Dominick Poole is third in punt returns at 2.0 yards per return.
• Chattanooga’s Ailym Ford is fifth in the FCS with 92.0 rushing yards per game.
Recent news:
WCU at Liberty football game moved to ESPNU (11/11/20)
SoCon Goes Pro: NFL Week 9 (11/10/20)
Commish Chat Episode 4: Lance Wise (11/4/20)