Saturday afternoon’s contest will make three consecutive seasons that these teams have met, but head coach Ruffin McNeill refuses to call the game a rivalry matchup.
“They do play us a lot,” McNeill said. “They keep coming back. I think a lot of coach Beamer. I would like our program to model theirs. They win for seasons and that’s what I’d like for us to do.”
Still, compared to other non-conference games, there’s a lot more at stake for both programs when these teams meet up. Recruiting, specifically, is always on the back of McNeill’s mind.
“Winning the game is great for our current team, but we do hit the same areas [while recruiting] hard,” said McNeill.