Cullowhee, N.C. – In addition to the traditional colors of fall adorning the hills surrounding Paladin Stadium in the Upstate of South Carolina, purple will be the dominant hue on Saturday as Western Carolina visits chromatic Southern Conference rival Furman in a crucial mid-season league matchup in Greenville, S.C. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
Western Carolina (3-3, 1-2 SoCon) looks to bounce back from a second tough road loss to a nationally ranked conference foe suffered at No. 12 Mercer last week, while Furman (4-2, 2-1 SoCon) looks to keep pace with the top three in the league standings.
 
Saturday's "Ingles SoCon Game of the Week" will be broadcast live over the air on the Nexstar family of stations with a simulcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). The game can also be heard through the Catamount Sports Network with the Pepsi Tailgate Show airtime at 1:00 p.m. Fans across western North Carolina can hear the broadcast locally on seven CSN affiliates: in Sylva, 105.7 FM and 540 AM WRGC "The River"; 104.9 FM and 1050 AM WFSC in Franklin; WISE Sports Radio 1310 AM and 102.9 FM in Asheville; and 970 AM WYSE in Canton, with live streaming audio online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Fans can also follow the game with live stats accessible online at CatamountSports.com with timely in-game updates on Twitter using @Catamounts and @CatamountsFB.
 
After winning four-straight road games between the end of the 2021 season and the 2022 season opener at Charleston Southern, Western Carolina has dropped three straight away from Cullowhee including at FBS-foe Georgia Tech and a pair against nationally-ranked FCS teams in Samford and Mercer.
 
Last Saturday, the Catamounts ran into a model of consistency and efficiency as Mercer rolled up a balanced 520 yards of offense – 257 rushing and 263 passing – in handing WCU a 49-6 loss at Five Star Stadium. WCU's high-powered, high-octane offense was stuck in neutral much of the first half, held to just 75 total yards – 57 passing, 18 rushing – over the opening two quarters. Back-up QB Cole Gonzales managed to orchestrate a pair of second-half scoring drives on two, 43-yard Richard McCollum field goals, but the six-touchdown deficit over the opening two frames was too much to overcome.
 
WCU looks for more efficiency across the board as it heads to Greenville, S.C., in all three phases of the game. On special teams, Mercer's squib kick game plan a week ago limited WCU's potent returners to just 33 total yards – an average of just 5.5 yards per return. Offensively, WCU was held 300 yards off its seasonal average by the Bear defense which put added pressure on the Catamount defense against Mercer's balanced attack.
 
Continuing to receive votes in both major NCAA FCS polls, Furman rebounded from a frustrating home loss to No. 16 Samford back on the first weekend of October to score a 21-10 road win over a resurgent side from The Citadel in Charleston. As they have done most of the season, the Paladins capitalized on a pair of early third-quarter turnovers and leaned on its run game to down one of its in-state rivals.
 
Tailback Dominic Roberto paces Furman's ground attack which ranks second in the SoCon at 192.2 yards per game. The redshirt junior from Fayetteville, N.C., sits fourth overall with an average of 72.2 rushing yards per game and has tallied five scores on the ground – half of the Paladins' ground scores this season including two in Charleston last Saturday. Roberto had a strong second half of 2021 that included rushing for 196 yards on a career-best 24 carries with four touchdowns in Cullowhee against WCU a season ago.
 
After missing the Samford game due to injury, Furman quarterback Tyler Huff – a transfer from Presbyterian – completed 14 passes for 113 yards but was sacked once and tossed two interceptions. Sophomore Jace Wilson has seen action in four games this year, throwing for 329 yards and three scores in the loss to Samford in Huff's absence.
 
Defensively, Furman enters the weekend having forced a SoCon-best 16 turnovers, sharing the lead in the NCAA FCS in that category. The Paladins have held three of their four FCS opponents to fewer than 20 points this season and rank fourth in the league in limiting teams to an average of 18.7 points per game.
 
Taking care of the football in limiting its turnovers and finishing drives with touchdowns will be paramount for WCU on Saturday as the Catamounts look for back-to-back wins over Furman for the first time since 2014-2015.
 
Western Carolina halted a five-game slide in the head-to-head series with last year's thrilling 43-42 victory over the Paladins in Cullowhee. All told, WCU trails Furman in the series 13-34-2 including a 6-18 mark with three-consecutive road defeats at Paladin Stadium in Greenville, S.C.
 
Following Saturday's second-consecutive road game, the Catamounts play three of their final four regular-season games inside the friendly confines of Bob Waters Field / E.J. Whitmire Stadium in Cullowhee. The first of back-to-back home games split by the team's bye week comes next Saturday, Oct. 22 as WCU hosts The Citadel on Heroes Day with a 2 p.m. kickoff in Cullowhee.
 
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Game 7: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022  •  2:00 pm
Location: Greenville, S.C. (Paladin Stadium – 14,518)
Records: Western Carolina (3-3, 1-2 SoCon) at Furman (4-2, 2-1 SoCon)
 
Additional game information: WCU Football Media Center

BROADCAST INFORMATION:
TV: Nexstar Media Group
  - ECBD / The Lowcountry's CW(Charleston)
  - WMUB 31 (Macon) WMYT/My 12 (Charlotte)
  - WWCW/The CW Virginia (Lynchburg/Roanoke)
  - WYCW/The CW62 (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville)
Video Stream:  ESPN+ (subscription required)
PBP: Pete Yanity; Color: Jared Singleton
 
Radio: Catamount Sports Network
PBP: Gary Ayers; Color: Daniel Hooker; Producer: Jeff Bryson
 
CSN Affiliates:
Sylva – 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC
Franklin – 104.9 FM / 1050 AM WFSC
Asheville – WISE Sports Radio 102.9 FM / 1310 AM
Canton – WYSE Sports Radio 970 AM
Online: CatamountSports.com
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports) and Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountsFB).