By Manning Snyder
SouthernPigskin.com

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Manning Snyder previews The Citadel and Western Carolina.

nOverview
nThe Citadel is on the road Saturday as they face Western Carolina in Cullowhee, North Carolina. The Bulldogs (0-6, 0-2) are desperately looking for their first win in well over a year. The Catamounts (0-6, 0-3), also a struggling team, have not won a game in 487 days (November 9, 2019). Last Saturday, Western Carolina was beaten handily by VMI, 30-7. The Citadel, contrastingly, lost in a heartbreak overtime contest to 18th-ranked Chattanooga. Both teams need a win to hang their hat onxe2x80x93 a sign that things are going in the right direction.

nWhy To Watch
nOn paper, this matchup looks like two unsuccessful teams with little incentives to play. And while there are some reasons to believe that, I would disagree. I understand that even if the Bulldogs and the Catamounts were to win every game the rest of the spring season, neither team would likely make the FCS Playoffs. Yet for the Bulldogs (and for the Catamounts), each SoCon game is an opportunity to work on improving for the fall.

nThe Citadel Players To Watch
nB-Back Nathan Storch
nThe freshman B-back started in the place of injured B-Back Clay Harris last weekend and had a productive game rushing for 50 yards. Storch, 6xe2x80x990, 230-pounds, was seemingly fired up after every runxe2x80x93pumping his fist and motioning first downxe2x80x93 and seemed to give the offense some energy and explosiveness. The Spartanburg, South Carolina, native will be making his second career start on Saturday against the Catamounts.

nMIKE Palmer Story
nThe redshirt sophomore middle linebacker might be making a start Saturday in place of the injured Willie Eubanks III. Eubanks exited last weekendxe2x80x99s game with an upper body/shoulder injury (his status is unknown for this Saturday). Should Eubanks be unavailable, the 6xe2x80x990, 225-pound Story will get the start at middle linebacker. The Six Mile, South Carolina, native has yet to appear in a game on the defensive side this season.

nWestern Carolina Players To Watch
nWR Daquan Patten
nThe redshirt-senior 5xe2x80x996, 185-pound wide receiver caught two catches for 55 yards last weekend against VMI. The Columbia, South Carolina, native has six catches for 92 yards so far this season. Patten needs to have a big game for the Catamounts to efficiently move the ball on offense.

nLB Ty Harris
nHarris, a 6xe2x80x991, 245-pound senior linebacker, had a team-high 14 tackles (11 solo) against VMI. The Dacula, Georgia, native leads a depleted Catamount defense that is allowing 46.0 points and 569.7 yards per game. Harris has been efficient so far this season, totaling 56 tackles and four sacks over six games.

nKeys to Game
nThe Citadel must not, and this canxe2x80x99t be emphasized enough, allow WCU to score on their first offensive play from scrimmage. The Bulldogs gave up identical 75-yard TD passes to both Mercer and Chattanooga in their first two games. If I was Coach Brent Thompson, I would set up a hail mary protection defense just to make sure WCU doesnxe2x80x99t score on the first play. In all seriousness, The Citadel has played poorly in both first halves of their two SoCon games. In the second half of each game, they arguably look like the best team in the SoCon. The Bulldogs must play a full game on Saturday if they want to knock off the Catamounts for their first win in a long time. Also, it will be interesting to see how The Citadel defense plays without Eubanks. He is a tough guy to replace as the Preseason SoCon Defensive Player of the Year , but the Bulldogs looked good in the second half without him last weekend.

nManningxe2x80x99s Fun Fact
nWestern Carolina has 20 players on their roster from South Carolina; The Citadel has 47 players from the Palmetto State.

nConclusion
nThe Citadel and WCU both need a win. Badly. The Bulldogs are two touchdown favorites (-13.5) on Saturday. With a loss this weekend, The Citadel will be in full panic mode and might return home to an angry bunch of Bulldog fans.xc2xa0 But going against a Catamount defense giving up nearly 260 rushing yards per game, The Citadel rushing attack should have no problem establishing a rhythm and scoring on Saturday. I think the Bulldogs will prevail.