Wingate At Tusculum Football Game Selected For NCAA National Television Package

ROCK HILL, SC - For the third year in a row, a football game involving South Atlantic Conference teams will be nationally televised.

The Wingate University at Tusculum College game has been selected as one of four Division II games to be shown on CBS College Sports. The game will be played on Thursday, September 24. The game will also be carried on FSN South. Kickoff for the game will be 8 p.m.

"We are very excited about having the opportunity to represent Tusculum College and the South Atlantic Conference in the televised football game against Wingate University," said Tusculum athletic director and head football coach Frankie DeBusk. "The game will be between two great institutions from one of the best Division II conferences in the country. We feel privileged to have this opportunity for our student-athletes to be viewed by a national audience with a chance to showcase the Niswonger Sports Complex, the Tusculum campus and the Greeneville community."

"This is a tremendous opportunity to showcase not only two of the top football programs in the league, but the entire South Atlantic Conference," said Commissioner Patrick Britz. "We would like to thank the NCAA and CBS College Sports for selecting this game and providing such great exposure for these student-athletes, schools and the SAC."

Wingate posted an 8-3 record and finished tied for fourth in the SAC. The Bulldogs jumped out of the gate winning its first seven games of the 2008 campaign, including a thrilling 37-33 victory over Tusculum in a contest that came down to the final play of the game.Wingate

University head football coach Joe Reich welcomes back 10 starters on defense and six starters on offense in 2009. Bulldog redshirt junior running back Nelson Woods returns in 2009. The Lawndale Burns High School graduate rushed for 1,238 yards in 2008. On defense, junior linebacker Ben Hinson had 105 tackles and seven tackles for losses during the 2008 campaign.

Tusculum posted a 9-4 record last season, while capturing the program's second South Atlantic Conference title. Tusculum won four of its last five outings, while advancing to the NCAA Division II Playoffs for the first time in school history. Tusculum head coach Frankie DeBusk, the 2008 SAC and AFCA Region Coach of the Year, returns 20 starters from last year's squad, including 2009 Preseason All-Americans John Gregory (punter), Jarrell NeSmith (tight end) and Ryan Tallent (wide receiver).

Tusculum will have a tall chore ahead of them in replacing All-American quarterback Corey Russell. Russell smashed the school and SAC record books in 2008 as he accounted for a nation's best 49 touchdowns (37 pass, 12 rush). While the Tusculum quarterback will be new in 2009, nearly the entire group of receivers returns. Tallent, a 5-10, 200-pound rising senior from Maryville, Tenn., established a pair of school records in 2008 with 92 receptions, including nine touchdowns. He also posted 989 receiving yards on the year. Also back in the receiving corps is a rising senior Nate Binder, who led the SAC in receiving yards per game (78.7 ypg).

On defense, the Pioneers return five starters. Gregory, a 6-2, 210-pound native of Ooltewah, Tenn., finished third in the nation in punting average booting 43.52 yards per kick, which also established a new school single season record that lasted since 1941.

CBS College Sports is widely available on cable systems across the country, including Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Insight, Time Warner, and Verizon FIOS. It currently reaches 30 million households and is also available on DIRECTV and DISH Network. FSN South reaches 12.2 million households throughout the southeast in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky. The game will also be streamed over the internet at NCAAsports.com/dii.

This is the third time a SAC conference game has been selected as part of the DII television package. Mars Hill College and Catawba College played in Salisbury in 2007. Last year, the University of North Alabama at Carson-Newman College game, which featured two traditional powers ranked in the top 10, was selected by the NCAA.

The 2009 package - the fourth since Division II and CBS College Sports established their partnership to give Division II schools live TV exposure for their football and basketball programs - is the first to feature both premium-game match-ups and "conference rotation games" that league commissioners help select.

The 2009 schedule opens Thursday, August 27, with last year's runner-up, Northwest Missouri State, visiting 2008 Lone Star Conference Champion Abilene Christian in a rematch of a 2008 quarterfinal game. Central Washington, a playoff team a year ago, visits defending national champion Minnesota Duluth on September 3.

Two West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference powers collide when Shepherd visits Glenville State on November 5. An intriguing match-up of in-state rivals from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association in Virginia Union and Virginia State occurs on October 15. North Alabama and new coach Terry Bowden visit Valdosta State (the 2007 national champion) in a rivalry game October 22.

Division II and CBS College Sports also televise an annual package of men's and women's basketball games. In all, the football and basketball packages have given live TV exposure to more than 70 Division II institutions. The 2010 basketball package will be announced at a later date.