Coming off two consecutive conferences losses the Bucs will see if “third time’s a charm” when they face The Citadel on Thursday night at Memorial Center in a game that will be televised by Comcast/Charter Sports.
The Buccaneer football team will be looking to get its’ first conference win of the season after losses to Western Carolina, 20-6, two weeks ago and to Appalachian State, 33-14, last Saturday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
“We did not play a good football game last Saturday,” said head coach Paul Hamilton. “I have to give Appalachian State credit, they beat us in all phases and are worthy of their ranking.
“I’m not pleased with the execution of our football team, offensively or defensively. We succeeded at times on defense, but we did not play the defense we’re capable of.”
The Bucs’ frustration after a 1-3 start showed against the Mountaineers, with 12 penalties for 91 yards and with the controversial ejection of cornerback Tony Tiller.
“Our youth showed (in Saturday’s games),” Hamilton said. “It was a unique situation, I’ve never had a problem with Tony Tiller.
“Tony will be the first to tell you he should have maintained his poise. He just got caught up in the emotion of what was happening.”
Hamilton said the frustration stems from the team’s struggle to get anything going offensively and having lost the first two SoCon games.
“We need to get back on the winning note,” Hamilton said. “We’re not used to being 1-3, we’ve been winning for several years and we expect to win.
“We don’t expect to be where we’re at record-wise.”
Much of the responsibility of getting the offense on track will fall on the shoulders of quarterbacks Matt Wilhjelm and Jatavis Sanders.
“Both (Wilhjelm and Sanders) did some good things (against ASU), both had difficult things happen to them,” Hamilton said. “We have to get both ready to play (against The Citadel).”
Even though the quarterback position tends to take the brunt of the attack when things are not going right, Hamilton was impressed with the way both his quarterbacks kept battling and encouraging each other against ASU.
“I was impressed with their attitude, talking to each other back and forth and helping each other so we could be productive,” he said. “Both have a strong desire to be successful, they’re not concerned with who’s playing or who gets credit.”
Both quarterbacks will be ready to share time against The Citadel, as whoever gets the job done should be playing said running back Andrew Nuckolls.
“We want the quarterback that will get the job done,” Nuckolls said. “Whoever is the best should be playing, whoever gets the job done should be starting.”
Nuckolls also feels another problem for the Bucs’ offense has been lack of enthusiasm rather than their inability to get first downs.
“It’s not first downs, it’s enthusiasm,” said Nuckolls, who had three carries for 11 yards against Appalachian State. “We’ve not played a game yet that we’re capable of playing.
“We have a bunch of athletes that have not showed their potential.”
The pressure will also be on the defense to keep The Citadel’s Maurice Murphy under control and not allow another running back to rush for over 100 yards.
The Bucs’ defense allowed Western Carolina’s Fred Boateng (186 yards) and App’s Jerry Beard (118) to gain over 100 yards on the ground and will have to do better against Murphy, who had 152 yards on the ground against South Carolina State last weekend.
“He’s (Murphy) a strong running back,” Hamilton said. “We have to continue to work and tackle better and move people to get to the ball.
“Another thing that will help them (defense) is not putting them on the field as much.”
Even though the Bucs’ defense has spent much of its time on the field, including over 36 minutes against Western and over 31 against App, linebacker Lamar Beam feels it’s the defense’s job to stop the opposition no matter how long they have been on the field.
“No matter what happens on the field, our job is to get the offense the ball so they can do what they have to do,” he said. “We’ve been focusing this week on tackling and wrapping them up and doing a better job against the run.”
The Bucs will go into Thursday’s game with a 7-3 record against The Citadel in Memorial Center and a 13-8 advantage in the all-time series, but Hamilton and his players know they will be facing a Citadel team that is much improved from years past and that only lost a two point game to App State, 8-6.
“They have a lot of players that have been with them for several years,” Hamilton said. “They have got good football players and are playing with a lot of confidence.”
Nuckolls said: “The Citadel has changed and has one of the toughest schedules in Division I-AA football. They’re a good team and it will be a tough game, but we have to do what it takes to win.”
With Thursday’s game being televised some of the Buccaneer players will have their first chance to be in the spotlight.
“We’re excited about playing on television Thursday night,” Beam said. “Some people will see us for the first time and we want to give a good first impression.”
Nuckolls said: “We’re going to show a different ETSU than we’ve shown all year.”
The Bucs will need to get a victory Saturday night as tough matchups loom with Furman and Georgia Southern on ETSU’s schedule.
“We’re 1-3 and we need to win this football game,” Hamilton said.

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