For Elon University sophomore wide receiver Kierre Brown, it’s crucial.

“I do think we need to win out,” he said. “Everyone’s saying, ‘Five straight starts now.’"

But he’s cautious.

“I feel that we need to focus on one first, so we get this one, then week-by-week we’ll get the rest of the wins,” he said.

When Elon takes on Western Carolina University at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Rhodes Stadium, the Phoenix will be coming off a bye week following three straight losses to arguably the top teams in the Southern Conference. With that bye week, junior defensive back Ed Burns said it allowed the team to take a halftime. And what he saw, he said, was not a complete team failure that led to the 2-4 record Elon has right now, but little things that cost the Phoenix games it arguably could have won.

“You get to go back and look at what you did in the first half of the season,” he said. “And going back, it’s not that we haven’t been good enough to face the other team, it’s just simple mistakes that we have to learn to build upon and make sure everybody’s doing their job instead of trying to compensate for somebody else.”

Those mistakes include giving up big plays in key moments, most notably in the second half. Elon held a first-half lead over Georgia Southern University and a 17-14 advantage over Appalachian State University in the third quarter, but allowed big plays in both games on the way to heartbreaking losses.

“We just don’t know how to win a football game right now, late in the game,” said Elon head coach Jason Swepson. “That’s something that I always talked about when I took over the job is that we want to learn how to win football games in the fourth quarter and it just hasn’t happened this year. It’s just something that hopefully we can get done this week.”

This week, the Western Carolina Catamounts come to Rhodes Stadium on Elon’s homecoming weekend. After opening their season with a 42-14 win over Mars Hill Aug. 30, the Catamounts have dropped six straight, five against SoCon opponents.

Most notably, Western Carolina put up a cat and dog fight against The Citadel last weekend, falling 45-31 but putting up 298 rushing yards. The Catamounts were led by true freshman quarterback Troy Mitchell (20 carries, 117 yards and two touchdowns) and freshman running back Darius Ramsey (16 rushes for 118 yards).

Mitchell had been splitting time with sophomore quarterback Eddie Sullivan under center, but the freshman impressed and may get the start on Saturday, but Western Carolina head coach Mark Spier said Tuesday on the SoCon football conference call that both may see significant time.

Whomever takes snaps under center for the Catamounts, Swepson said the key on defense is slowing him down.

“If we can tackle the quarterback, they’re going to have a tough time beating us,” he said. “We’re going to keep it that simple. (Mitchell) had a hell of a game against The Citadel, running some quarterback draws and really almost won the game for Western (Carolina). If that’s the case, then we’ve got to stop the quarterback.”

Burns emphasized the same thing.

“Getting to the quarterback (is important),” he said. “We’ve got to get to him, keep coverage on our guys, get some coverage sacks, blitz the quarterback, get some interceptions. We have to create turnovers. We have to get the ball back to our offense and let them score it.”

The Phoenix may have to do that without senior linebacker and captain Blake Thompson, who had surgery for a dislocated thumb during the bye week and was in a sling in practice on Tuesday. Swepson did not say if Thompson would or would not play, but it would be a huge loss.

On the offensive side, Elon may be missing a key component of its offense. Starting senior quarterback Thomas Wilson has been nursing a bruised left shoulder that may keep him from starting Saturday’s game.

“Obviously, I hope, I want him to start,” Swepson said. “But we’ve got to look at the big picture. If he doesn’t start, maybe it’s a situation where Thomas came in for (former quarterback Scott) Riddle that one game to rest him.”

Wilson was 15-21 for 145 yards and had two rushing touchdowns in his first career start, a 27-16 victory over The Citadel on Nov. 6, 2010.

This time around, it would be sophomore quarterback Mike Quinn. In three appearances, Quinn is 16-23 for 77 yards and a touchdown.

“We’ve got all the confidence in the world in Quinny,” Swepson said. “Quinny’s got a lot of snaps early in the season. He’s ready. We’re not going to chance anything. We’re going to run our offense, do what we do and get the ball to (senior wide receiver Aaron) Mellette.”

Brown spoke to the importance of scoring in the red zone, something Elon struggled in doing against Appalachian State, especially in light of Western Carolina’s high-powered offensive attack.

“We have to score every time pretty much,” he said. “In the red zone, we’ve got to limit the field goals. Three points is better than none, but we’re trying to score every time. Our goal this week was 75 percent in the red zone. Out of four times, we’ve got to score three.”

While Swepson won’t say it’s necessary to run the table, he said the key to running the table is simple: win game one.

“We’ve got to win our first conference game and if that happens, that will give us some confidence,” he said. “I’m taking it one game at a time with these kids because it’s the game of football, you have ups and downs. Even if we don’t get this one, we still have a chance to have a winning season. So it’s not the end of all ends if we don’t get this one, but we want this one.”

 

Game Notes

  • Western Carolina has not won a Southern Conference game since a 24-13 win over The Citadel Oct. 2, 2010. That’s 19 straight losses.
  • Catamounts senior linebacker Rock Williams had a career-high 24 tackles against The Citadel last week.
  • Swepson said the Phoenix still plans to redshirt four scholarship freshmen: linebacker Corey Mitchell, wide receiver Justin Osborne and offensive linemen Harris Cesko and Gordon Acha.
  • Spier was an assistant at Elon from 2000-2002, coaching running backs, defensive line and special teams while serving as the Phoenix’s recruiting coordinator. Former Elon wide receiver Arketa Banks, who is ninth in all-time receiving yards for the Phoenix with 1,371, is in his fourth year on Western Carolina’s staff, currently the running backs coach.
  • Saturday is Elon's homecoming game. In its 11 previous Homecoming games, Elon is 5-6. As part of Homecoming festivities,  Elon will recognize legendary tight end Richard McGeorge at halftime.  McGeorge became the first-ever Elon player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this summer.  He ended his career as the Elon’s career record-holder with 224 receptions for 3,486 yards and 31 touchdowns.  The conference MVP also set single-season marks with 65 grabs for 1,081 yards, and single-game records with 15 catches, 285 receiving yards and four touchdowns.  He was the 16th overall pick of the 1970 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers and went on to enjoy a nine-year NFL career.