On Saturday the Wofford Terriers will come into the Mini-Dome to face the 4-6 Buccaneers at 6 p.m.
The game will be a reunion of sorts, as Wofford head coach Mike Ayers coached the Bucs from 1985-87.
“He’s a good football coach and I’m proud of the success that Mike and the team are having,” ETSU head coach Paul Hamilton said. “He’s doing a great job and is having a great season.He’s a good friend and I don’t like to compete against good friends.”
Hamilton was Ayers’ offensive coordinator at ETSU in 1986-87 and also for two seasons at Wofford in 1988 and ’89.
“When I was there (at Wofford), they had a dream and a vision and Coach Ayers has done a great job of realizing that dream and taking them to where they wanted to go,” Hamilton said.
Ayers was the Southern Conference Coach-of-the-Year in 2000 and will try for his 100th career win this weekend.
“The number isn’t the thing,” Ayers said. “Our number is eight, as in eight wins.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s win number 100 or win number 23, it’s not important. It’s never about ‘I’ in winning a game, it’s about the players, the coaches, the managers.”
The Terriers have won three straight games over ETSU including a 24-23 win in Spartanburg last year.
But the Bucs lead the Terriers 7-5 in wins in Johnson City and have a 13-9 overall advantage in the series that originated in 1957.
“They’re very well coached,” Ayers said. “They’ve had an up and down year.
“We need to get this win because it’s a Southern Conference game and it’s a step closer to winning a Southern Conference championship.”
The Terriers have won three straight games over ETSU including a 24-23 win in Spartanburg last year.
“Our kids understand where we are right now and they can’t afford to not be focused on East Tennessee State because they’re a quality football team,” Ayers said. “They can see that East Tennessee State has the ability to be explosive.”
The high-scoring series last year was the only time the winning team did not score at least 31 points since the two have faced each other as SoCon opponents.
Wofford is last in the league in passing offense, gaining an average 52 yards a game this season, while the Bucs have averaged 120 yards.
In nine games, the Terriers have completed 41-of-86 passes with three interceptions for 469 yards. The ETSU offense has connected on 99-of-207 passes for 1205 yards and 10 interceptions this year.
“When you have a quarterback who can run and throw the ball you can do a lot of things,” Hamilton said. “While they may not throw the ball much, they’re in formations where they can throw the ball and you have to honor that.”
Wofford QB Jeff Zolman has thrown 52 passes and connected on 28.
“A great quarterback may not be the guy who puts up the best numbers but who gets you in the right play and gives you a chance to win and a chance to win a championship,” Ayers said. “He understands the offense.He wasn’t an option quarterback.In high school he probably threw the ball more than he ran it.But he’s worked hard to learn our offense, checking plays and reading the defense.”
Zolman will look to halfback Jesse McCoy and fullback Melvin Jones to help him move the ball. McCoy and Jones have combined for 1379 yards on 216 carries.
The Terriers as a team have rushed for 3208 yards and gave up only 203 yards.
“The way they’re running the ball right now, it’ll take 12 guys to stop them,” Hamilton said. “We’ll try to stop the fullback and the quarterback and that will be a real challenge.”
The Terrier running attack is ranked second nationally and averages 341.9 yards per game.
“They’ll go for it on fourth down,” Hamilton said. “My first year here they went for it on 11 fourth downs.And when you get an extra down out of it, that makes it a challenge.”
The ETSU offensive line, which has allowed a SoCon high 33 sacks this season, will have to contend with the Terrier defensive unit which has recorded 19 sacks so far this season.
“The last three weeks we’ve kept three really good offenses on the boundary,” Ayers said. “When our defense came out, they played very well.”
Wofford is coming off a 27-14 victory at home against The Citadel which put them at 5-1 in the conference.
“Last week (against The Citadel) we had a 98-yard drive and a 90-yard drive,” Ayers said. “That takes its toll and helped us be in the position we’re in now. If we do what we’re capable of, we’ll have an opportunity to win.”
The Bucs dropped a 40-7 decision to Georgia Southern last week to fall to 2-4 in the SoCon.
“We thought Georgia Southern’s defense was the best we’d seen since North Carolina State,” Hamilton said. “Our kids came off the field and thought Georgia Southern was very physical and their secondary was really good.”
ETSU turnover margin is +10, the best in the SoCon.

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