By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — Catawba College football squad plays a team from New Haven, Connecticut, this Saturday, although it’s not Yale.
Southern Connecticut State University will visit Shuford Stadium for a 4 p.m. kickoff against the Indians (3-1), who are taking a well-deserved break from South Atlantic Conference play with a non-conference matchup with the SCSU Owls.
There are quite a few Owls out there in the sports world. Temple, Florida Atlantic, Rice and Kennesaw State quickly come to mind. But SCSU will be a D-II version of the Owls.
Owls are a surprisingly popular mascot because the first thing you think of when someone mentions Owls is that they are wise and no sports team wants to be known as a bunch of guys who hang out in the library. But besides being smart, Owls also are ornery and aggressive predators. They don’t back down from eagles, and they have been known to tear their prey to pieces before consuming it.
The SCSU Owls’ mascot is Otus the Owl. It’s not known if Otus makes road trips with the team. Otus is not the ideal name for an owl, but Hooter, the perfect name for an owl mascot, was already taken by Temple.
While it’s certainly possible that you had never heard of the Owls before you looked at Catawba’s schedule, they are a fine school that has cranked out a long assembly line of graduates in admirable professions such as nursing and teaching. It’s a well-regarded academic school that is considered to be on the cutting edge of autism research.
As far as athletics, the SCSU sports tradition was built on the backs of men’s soccer. The school won six national championships in that sport in the 1980s and 1990s. SCSU also has won a national championship in women’s basketball.
As far as football, SCSU can boast that it produced Joe Andruzzi, a very large fellow who won three Super Bowl rings playing guard for the New England Patriots.
It’s not known if SCSU has anyone comparable to Andruzzi on the roster this season. The Owls only have played twice. They are 1-1. They had a high-scoring loss and a low-scoring win.
The Massey Ratings give Catawba the advantage in this unusual intersectional matchup by 10 points. The Indians have been given a win probability of 76 percent.
Catawba (3-1) is in the best place it’s been in quite a while, 3-1 for the first time since 2017. Catawba displayed efficient and balanced offense to win at Newberry and also made serious defensive stands.
The Indians, coached by Tyler Haines, will look to continue to build on last week’s road success against the Owls.
