[Sly Fox]

We host Western Carolina Saturday at 1pm in our final non-conference matchup of the fall. Here's a preview:


Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, North Carolina

Founded in 1893
Member of the UNC System Since 1972
Enrollment: 8500
Conference: Southern
Mascot: Catamount

WCU Official Football Site

Catamount Crazies - Fan Board

Catamount Pride - Delphi Forum That Gets More Traffic

2006 Schedule/Results:

08/31 - Chowan ............................. W (42-0)
09/16 - Eastern Kentucky ............... W (20-17)
09/23 - @ Furman .......................... L (42-7)
09/30 - Georgia Southern .............. L (24-14)
10/07 - @ Elon ............................... L (37-19)
10/14 - Chattanooga ..................... L (17-14 in OT)
10/21 - The Citadel ......................... L (30-27 in OT)
10/28 - @ Wofford .......................... L (35-7)
11/04 - @ Liberty
11/11 - Appalachian State
11/18 - @ Florida

Key Players:


Bennett Swygert
SeniorQuarterback
Thru 8 Games: 80-of-140 for 815 Yards with 5 TDs and 4 INTs
Transfer from University of South Carolina




Darius Fudge
Senior Running Back
Thru 8 Games: 802 Yards Rushing, 5.0 YPC, 4 TDs




Michael Hines
Junior Wide Receiver
Thru 8 Games: 48 Catches for 402 Yards with 5 TDs




#14 Shelton Gaffney
Senior Linebacker
Thru 8 Games: Team-Leading 58 Tackles including 3 for loss, 1 INT, 1 Forced Fumble




#8 Mordy Ornguze
Junior Safety
Thru 8 Games: 48 Tackles Including 6 for loss, 1 Sack, Blocked Kick




#6 Mitchell Dukes
Senior Safety
Thru 8 Games: 48 Tackles and 3 Interceptions

[LUconn]

ouch, I thought they were supposed to be good. Is their record not a good indicator to how good they are?

[TDDance234]

A good friend of mine, and current Carolina Panthers FB Brad Hoover played at WCU and if I remember correctly is the all-time leading rusher there.

[bigsmooth]

i think they are better than their record, but so are we. this should be a good game....did you see who they close the season with??? ouch!!

[LUconn]

That looks like an Karcher schedule in reverse.

[whmatthews]

Some of them on their board don't look too optimistic.
I think we break out of the slump in this one.

[Rocketfan]

In my opinion not only do we need to break out of a slump we need to do it in convincing fashion to help the team gain some confidence. I mean i don't care of the score is 30-3 entering the fourth quarter i dont' want the dogs called off, after all those tough losses we need to start and finish a game strong so these players can try to dominate someone for 60 minutes. I know its not the respectable thing to do sometimes, but in front of the home crowd you need it, for the young players they need to experience it. I really want to see us score 30+ points on these guys.

[A.G.]

I would prefer to win a close game, to teach the fellas they can win a close one. A blowout win won't learn them nuthin.

[jcmanson]

I would prefer a win period. Any way it comes.

[bigsmooth]

agreed.

[SuperJon]

I would prefer to win a close game, to teach the fellas they can win a close one. A blowout win won't learn them nuthin.

I said that earlier on AGS. A close win would be what was the turning stone for this team.

As long as we have more points than the Purple Kitties on Saturday I'm ok.


(Kinda funny I call them that since my high school uses their logo in football and we're purple...)

[Chris Lang]

Western has really struggled lately. They've given up a ton of rushing yards in their last three losses and have been bad on offense.

[Rocketfan]

Western has really struggled lately. They've given up a ton of rushing yards in their last three losses and have been bad on offense.

Yep i saw that, but didn't we say/hear the same thing about G-W?

[Chris Lang]

Not really. G-W really only struggled in its two losses, which were to ranked I-AA teams.

[Chris Lang]

Wofford had 337 rush yards (granted, they run the option, so that's going to happen)
The Citadel ran for 292 yards against WCU
Chattanooga had 245 yards rushing
Elon threw for 305 yards against WCU

This Darius Fudge kid looks like the real deal, though. Had 151 rushing yards against Chattanooga, 129 against El Cid and 132 against Wofford.

[The Cats]

Wofford had 337 rush yards (granted, they run the option, so that's going to happen)
The Citadel ran for 292 yards against WCU
Chattanooga had 245 yards rushing
Elon threw for 305 yards against WCU

This Darius Fudge kid looks like the real deal, though. Had 151 rushing yards against Chattanooga, 129 against El Cid and 132 against Wofford.

WCU Game Notes

[PAmedic]

very nice CATS, thanks for the heads up.

BTW- I liked that pronunciation guide.

great idea

[Sly Fox]

That's too easy for me to even bother with a witty reply.

Thanks for coming by the board, The Cats. It'd be great to get some perspective from WCU fans on what we need to be watching for on the field Saturday.

[The Cats]

That's too easy for me to even bother with a witty reply.

Thanks for coming by the board, The Cats. It'd be great to get some perspective from WCU fans on what we need to be watching for on the field Saturday.

Well, the team is pretty beat up at this point. WCU has gone in one year from the top defensive team in the Southern Conference to the worse defensively (mostly due to injuries that have plagued the DL since the Furman game). The one workhorse we still have is Darius Fudge, who as moved into the WCU top ten for career rushing yardage. If Bennett Swygert (QB) can stay healthy for an entire game (he's left the last 4 in the 3d or 4th quarter) and Fudge can establish his running game, Swygert will put some points on the board. Our DL, while walking wounded has been able to plug some of the holes - but this has been a bad over all year on the defensive side of the ball (mostly DL).

I know you guys have had your problems as well, so good luck.

[SuperJon]

My high school stole your helmet logo. Please don't hate me. Our coach graduated from Western.

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for the rundown. As you can probably tell from skimming our board, our biggets problem is closing outgames. If we had accomplished that this season, we very well could be 7-1 right now. Its been extremely frustrating. Otherwise, our biggest weakness is stopping the pass. We've shown a chink in our armor stopping the run after our best DE went down a couple of weeks ago. But to be honest, most of us believe we SHOULD win this Saturday at home. We have a young but extremely talented roster right now. But we don't have a great track record against SoCon competition so we'll be keyed up no matter what your record.

[LU'sbestmanager]

very nice CATS, thanks for the heads up.

BTW- I liked that pronounciation guide.

great idea

we had that in our bball media guide 2 years ago

[The Cats]

I was impressed by your game with the beach chickens at their place. Since they are ranked 17th this week, says a lot about your program. I would have loved to see you guys beat both CCU and CSU.

I personally think they are ranked a little high, but hey.... we were ranked in the top 25 after our win over Eastern Kentucky.

feel free to stop by and join in our misery on the Catamount Pride board.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/catamountpride/messages

After a few minutes on our board... you'll feel good about your program, guaranteed.

[The Cats]

My high school stole your helmet logo. Please don't hate me. Our coach graduated from Western.

I'd love to see a pick of your HS helmet logo. Do they use the old logo or the newer verson we've had the last few years? I also hope he's a good coach.....lol.

[Sly Fox]

feel free to stop by and join in our misery on the Catamount Pride board.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/catamountpride/messages

After a few minutes on our board... you'll feel good about your program, guaranteed.

I've been by there but they have this ridiculous rule that you have to wait a month after joining in order to post. That sort of takes the thrill out of gameweek visits.

And we know very well from our own experience how you guys feel. We were right with you this time last year. Our head coach had just been given a contract extenion and we couldn't beat any of our I-AA opponents. Thankfully our fortunes have since changed. They could change for you as well in a short period of time ... just hopefully not this Saturday.