Eagles travel to High Point for Big Matchup

Coach speak says that all games count the same and that any conference game is by definition a “Big Game.” So, for the Eagles tonight’s game at High Point is no different than say the game at Gardner-Webb on Dec. 3. Coach Peele used the +1 analogy for road wins, -1 for home losses, and even for home wins and road losses. I would be interested to see how that plays out for a season. But my point is this. Tonight is a big game. It is far more important than the Dec. 3, game at Gardner-Webb and here is why.

On the Dec. 3, the Eagles were 1-0 in conference and coming off a win at PC. So splitting the opening trip was still considered a “good trip”. Today, the Eagles are 3-2 in the league and are playing well but beating Radford (0-5) and VMI (3-4) at home didn’t really give anyone a real read on the season. Winthrop is 0-4 at Millis Center under Coach Peele. High Point is 2-3 in the league and needs to win at home. A Winthrop loss, puts the Eagles back to .500 and says it is a middle of the pack team. A Winthrop win puts the Eagles at 4-2 heading into a winnable game in Lynchburg. The Eagles would jump into the top four in the league and set up a great stretch run with Asheville, Campbell, and Coastal Carolina.

This game tonight will go a long way to telling us if the Eagles are truly going to contend this season. You can’t be satisfied with winning at home and losing on the road and finishing at .500. Winthrop needs a “W” tonight and on Saturday and give the rest of the conference that, “Here comes Winthrop feeling” they felt for most of the decade.