The Bucs will have to regroup after a difficult loss to Western Carolina last Saturday, as the road only gets tougher this weekend against Appalachian State.
The 20-6 loss was the Bucs first against Western Carolina in Memorial Center since 1991.
“The team played very hard,” said ETSU head coach Paul Hamilton. “We worked hard to try to win the game and we played with a lot of intensity and emotion.
“It was a game where we felt we had the opportunity to win. I don’t know how good a football team we can be, but we’re not a good football team right now.
“We have to look at our personnel and do a lot of studying and searching, we’re not going to win a lot of games with the offense we had against Western.”
Some of the Bucs’ problems stemmed from the offense’s inability to put points on the board, which usually reflects on the team’s quarterback.
In this case the Bucs’ starting quarterback Matt Wilhjelm, who completed eight of 23 passes for 83 yards with two interceptions, is not solely to blame for the team’s offensive struggles.
“Obviously we are not a good football team at this point,” Hamilton said. “You can’t point to one individual, sometimes the situation is magnified on the quarterback, but the problems do not reflect solely on Matt.
“Each player has to look at themselves and see if they are doing everything they can to help the football team, there’s a lot of soul searching going on (right now) looking for answers.”
One other of problem that the Buccaneer offense faces is finding a way to run the football successfully.
“Right now we have no running game,” Hamilton said. “If we could run the football a little better we could take some pressure off the quarterback.”
The return of running back Corey Carter, who missed the first two games of the season due to injury, was supposed to spark the Bucs’ running attack against Western Carolina. Carter only managed 31 yards on 10 carries against the Catamounts.
Carter did not seem to be 100 percent and may have to continue to sit out until he is completely healthy said Hamilton
“He’s (Carter) still showing signs of being injured,” he said. “If he can’t play at 100 percent, we’ll probably have to sit him and get him well.”
Hamilton did take a few positives away from last Saturday’s game, as the Bucs had only one penalty and four takeaways on the defensive side.
“Those (positives) we need to build on and do what it takes to win the ball game,” he said.
The task will only get tougher when they face one of the top Division I-AA teams in the country, Appalachian State University on Saturday in Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C.
“They play with football players that can matchup with a lot of I-A teams,” Hamilton said. “They have a chance to win against anyone with the way they play defense.”
“We’ve got our hands full on Saturday.”
The Bucs will also have to deal with the Mountaineers starting quarterback Joe Burchette, who passed for 158 yards with one touchdown in the air and one on the ground in last year’s contest against ETSU, igniting Appalachian State to a 30-13 win at Memorial Center.
“There quarterback has a gun for an arm,” Hamilton said. “He plays with a lot of confidence and he came into the game last year and turned the game around when we were winning.”
Another aspect of the offense that the Bucs will have to figure out is protecting Wilhjelm, as the Bucs lead the Southern Conference in sacks against with 11, almost doubled what any other team in the conference has allowed.
“The kids are not playing consistently each and every down,” Hamilton said. “We have to evaluate what we are doing.”
Appalachian State will certainly be gunning for the Buccaneer quarterback and senior offensive lineman Chip Pearson knows the line will have to do a better job holding off the defensive attack.
“It’s been one person breaking down here and one breaking down there,” Pearson said. “A lot of the defenses (we’ve faced) have been coming with more guys than we have blocking.”
Pearson also believes it will be the job of the seniors to encourage their teammates and bring the team’s spirit back up after last weekend’s loss.
“The seniors have to take it upon ourselves to pick the spirits up of the younger players who might be down after last week,” he said.
ETSU and Appalachian State have met each other 44 times, the most the Bucs have played against any opponent.
The Mountaineers lead the series with a record of 29-13-1, with a 15-6 advantage in games played in Boone and 13-3 record in games played at Kidd-Brewer Stadium.
The Bucs have won just once at Appalachian State since 1978, that being a 51-28 victory in 1997 in which ETSU set a school record of 707 yards of total offense.
“You don’t have to tell our kids we’re capable of playing against the best (Division) I-AA football teams,” Hamilton said. “I’m concerned with going out and being a better football team and we’re determined to be a better team than last week.”
The kickoff for Saturday’s game is set for 2 p.m.
Appalachian State defeated The Citadel in its conference opener, 8-6, at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston, S.C.

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