This year takes on a significance no other "Battle for the Old Mountain Jug" can match. It's the final jug battle between the two schools as conference mates.
As the Mountaineers depart the Southern Conference at the end of June 2014 for parts unknown, they are ineligible for both the NCAA playoffs or the SoCon championship this year. So, the Jug is the one and only trophy they or the Catamounts can win this season.
Both teams will enter the game with less than stellar records on Saturday afternoon. The Mountaineers are sporting a 3-8 record, while the Catamounts will come at 2-9. So, what would a victory mean for each team?
For the Mountaineers, who own a 58-18-1 record in the series, it will simply be a continuation of the status quo for them, just an embarrassment if they are not able to retain the Jug after winning 26 of the last 28 meetings, losing only in 1998 and 2004 since the 1985 season. To be marked as the team that lost the Jug.
For the Cats, winning the Battle not only will show definite improvement in the overall football program, but will put the jug permanently in the trophy case of the school not departing the conference, thus ending the trophy series. It will be a win this young Catamount team can build upon.
Actually, playing the Mountaineers this season with their scholarship advantage is not a level playing field for the Catamounts, a disadvantage that only get worse as the Mountaineers add the full 85 scholarships next season.
If the Catamounts win Saturday's game and bring the Old Mountain Jug back to Cullowhee, any future football games between Western Carolina and Appalachian State should only be played with the stipulation that the "Old Mountain Jug" does not change hands, until both teams are one again on the same NCAA division level.
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