Western Carolina Football Team Accomplishes Rare Feat

On Monday, January 8 the much-maligned Western Carolina football became a part of history. With the University of Florida’s 41-14 victory over Ohio State in the BCS National Championship, the Cats accomplished a rare piece of history in losing to two National Champions in one season. Western Carolina played both Division I-A national champion Florida and Division I-AA national champion Appalachian State this season and lost both times by a combined score of 93-9. Western may be the only school to ever accomplish the feat of losing to two national champions in one season. In any case, at least our football program finally has something to hang their hat on. That makes two straight seasons that Western has lost to a national champion, as Appalachian State won their first title last year. All of this information has to look really good for both Georgia and Alabama. The Catamounts will play both the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide next year and that should automatically make both teams contenders for the National title, not to mention Appalachian State and the rest of the SoCon. Western apparently brings good luck to whoever they play. In more serious news, Athletic Director Chip Smith is launching a “comprehensive review of the football program.” He hopes to figure out the problems of a program that has struggled to win in the last 12 years and find ways to improve the program in the future. The review, however, will not include Coach Briggs. This is an interesting thought because it would seem that the coach is an integral part of the success and failure of a program. It would seem like this non-inclusion in the review is a glowing endorsement for Coach Briggs even with all the turmoil surrounding him and the program. Also, sources inside the football program are saying that next year’s Catamount offense will look to have the quarterback scrambling more often. The increased scrambling is not due in part to the poor offensive line play, but instead may be a concession to the success of Appalachian State who has shown what damage a mobile quarterback can do in the SoCon. With games at Georgia and Alabama near the beginning of the season the Cats may want to save the scrambling idea for a while or else they may be down to playing a walk-on at quarterback. Either way, the Cats can only go up next year as this season was rock bottom.