Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
Extremely proud of Samford. Wofford got very little with their offense and had to resort to two trick plays to score their 2 touchdowns. After a very slow start to conference play, Samford has gotten off the mat and showed why they were picked to win the league. Still may do that.
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
What a mess. This is a conference bursting with parody-mainly because it’s overall just an average conference. I don’t think the SoCon has anyone who can really make a lot of noise in the playoffs. Right now, though ETSU tops the standings, I think Samford and Furman may be playing the best ball at this moment...the SoCon’s best hopes in the postseason. The Bucs have done a lot of squeaking by, though you have to give them a tremendous amount of credit for coming as far as they have with their program. Furman is kind of a question mark to get a bid for reasons discussed here ad nauseum. Wofford is now on the bubble even if they win their last two. It is difficult to rank the teams right now. But in a three-their system. I would put ETSU, Samford, Furman, and with some reservation Wofford in the top tier as teams with playoff hopes. Then Mercer, The Citadel, and Chattanooga in the second tier...these teams are average and likely have no realistic shot at the playoffs. Finally WCU and VMI go in the third tier as below average teams.
Wofford 48, WCU 21...The Terriers should be able to run at will on the defenseless CANTamounts.
Furman 52, VMI 14...total blowout
Chattanooga 21, Mercer 17...give the Mocs the edge at home in a good matchup
Samford 28, The Citadel 14...second week in a row facing the option for Samford
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
Quote:
Originally Posted by
woffordgrad94
What a mess. This is a conference bursting with parody-mainly because it’s overall just an average conference. I don’t think the SoCon has anyone who can really make a lot of noise in the playoffs. Right now, though ETSU tops the standings, I think Samford and Furman may be playing the best ball at this moment...the SoCon’s best hopes in the postseason. The Bucs have done a lot of squeaking by, though you have to give them a tremendous amount of credit for coming as far as they have with their program. Furman is kind of a question mark to get a bid for reasons discussed here ad nauseum. Wofford is now on the bubble even if they win their last two. It is difficult to rank the teams right now. But in a three-their system. I would put ETSU, Samford, Furman, and with some reservation Wofford in the top tier as teams with playoff hopes. Then Mercer, The Citadel, and Chattanooga in the second tier...these teams are average and likely have no realistic shot at the playoffs. Finally WCU and VMI go in the third tier as below average teams.
Wofford 48, WCU 21...The Terriers should be able to run at will on the defenseless CANTamounts.
Furman 52, VMI 14...total blowout
Chattanooga 21, Mercer 17...give the Mocs the edge at home in a good matchup
Samford 28, The Citadel 14...second week in a row facing the option for Samford
Yeah, I am getting sick of playing teams after they get a Wofford warm up.
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
Quote:
Originally Posted by
citdog
The D line was fantastic in the 2nd half. #10 checked out weeks ago and Rainey runs MAD. I'd play Rainey next week and then throw #10 at 'Bama and let him get beat up. Bring Rainey back against ladson northern.
Getting Rainey some more reps would be great. Need to curb those fumbles. No doubt he was a bit rusty holding on. Not sure what #10 intentions are. Rumor has it he is off to the AF. Not sure he can even do his eligible 5th year. We owe him at least the start at Alabama. I think getting Rainey some reps in the second half is in order though.
The other thing we have to do is clean up penalties. I think we had a "decade high" penalty game yesterday...9-112...geez!
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ElCid
We started a new QB today. It was like night and day. Not that our previous was bad, but the new starter (last year's starting B-Back) seemed to be able to run much harder and it showed. Had we used him previously I think the outcome of at least a couple games might have been different. But I am not sure if the success was due to just the change or WCU's not too difficult defense. I think it is probably somewhere in between the two. Not sure if we start him again next week or go with our regular. Apparently our starter was suspended for the game along with a couple other of our starting backs. So we had some youth out there today. But they rushed for 421 yards even with 5 fumbles. Bodes well in any event.
Samford will be tough but doable if we can contain Hodges. Our D stepped up in the second half big time against WCU as well. 8 second half drives by WCU ended with 4 punts (2 blocked), 2 forced fumbles, an INT, and turnover on downs. Also had 5 sacks. That is turning things around on D for sure. Especially considering how prolific their O is. We did give up some big plays though in the first half and that worries me against Samford. At least we have them at home.
That new QB was made to look VERY good by the worst defensive unit in the SoCon, possibly in the entire FCS. I wouldn't brag too much on his accomplishments until he does something against a team with a real defensive coaching staff.
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
I thought this week's games would help us clear up the conference standings.....and I was WRONG!!!! As cloudy as the SoCon is right now....so is the CAA, Southland, and several others....The committee is going to have to put in some work this year. In the past they pretty much knew who was going at this point and could fill in the holes with the recognizable "names"....Not this year, the usual suspects are sucking, and the conferences are a mess.....The canceled games have to be taken into account too....Lots of Heartburn for the committee coming from the SOCon!!!!
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
I've been impressed with how Furman's defense has come along. They had the somewhat unenviable task of playing option and then pass heavy teams back to back for the last month or so (Wofford, Samford, Citadel, UTC). Probably not easy to shift gears between completely different offenses.
What seemed like a concern early on has turned into a pretty solid unit. Furman held Wofford (14), UTC (10), and the Citadel (17) to season lows in scoring. We looked stout against Samford early on, and then just wore out by the end of the game. The offense isn't nearly as explosive as last year's group, of course.
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
Adrian Hope has been a revelation. With 2.5 sacks yesterday, he now has hit the double-digit sack plateau after only 8 games. With sack-prone VMI and Mercer still to come, 15 or so sacks isn't out of the realm of possibility. It is early, but he is currently on pace to obliterate the SoCon career sack records.
As best I can tell, he is as close to "unblockable" as any player we've seen in a while from a pass rush perspective. He's in the Davis Tull/Marques Murrell territory on that front-guys you simply cannot leave in 1 v 1 matchups against an offensive linemen. He's incredibly strong and has just bull rushed guys that outweigh him by 100 pounds. Even when he doesn't get a sack, you can see him disrupting the play by redircting the pass or often drawing a holding call.
I'm left with a question I didn't think I'd be asking at the beginning of the season. The SoCon doesn't have too many "dominant" defensive players with the exceptions of Horton and Gooden. Is Adrian Hope, who as a reserve leads the SoCon in sacks (by a wide margin), is fourth in tackles for loss, and is tied for first in forced fumbles the Defensive Player of the Year?
Remember, he's put up these league-leading numbers as (1) a backup and (2) playing fewer games than everyone else.
Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
Everyone saying the socon is bad or average should realize that from 2015-2018, 2/3 of the conference will make the playoffs and if ETSU and samford win a game, we will have just as many win in the playoffs than the CAA.
And we have less teams than them.
We don't have 1 dominant team, and that will bite us in the playoffs. But that will come in time.
Also, credit to Samford, they have had our number in ways no team has had since Furman in the early 2000s. I joked earlier this year that Hatcher is the biggest con man in the FCS. He still may be if he can't make the playoffs this year and win a game. He plays option teams really well, with exception of Kennesaw for some reason.
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Re: Southern Conference Week 11 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em
Quote:
Originally Posted by
youngterrier
Everyone saying the socon is bad or average should realize that from 2015-2018, 2/3 of the conference will make the playoffs and if ETSU and samford win a game, we will have just as many win in the playoffs than the CAA.
And we have less teams than them.
We don't have 1 dominant team, and that will bite us in the playoffs. But that will come in time.
Also, credit to Samford, they have had our number in ways no team has had since Furman in the early 2000s. I joked earlier this year that Hatcher is the biggest con man in the FCS. He still may be if he can't make the playoffs this year and win a game. He plays option teams really well, with exception of Kennesaw for some reason.
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Sometimes a coordinator has to be given credit for a team's performance even more so than a HC. Bill D'Ottavio has been at Samford a lot longer than HCCH. Bill is a wily old veteran who really knows how to coach the 4-3. I believe the game yesterday was the least rushing yards this year for the Terriers.
The KSU TO is a tough animal to defend(Capt. Obvious statement). No disrespect to Wofford or The Citadel, but the Owls are SO much faster to the perimeter than either of our conference brethren. As for our game against them this year, what we did remains a huge mystery to us Samford fans. More rushing attempts than passing attempts????? Granted some of these were QB scrambles, but still I think our coaches were hampered with brain farts in not turning Hodges and our receivers loose.
Often the game after the Wofford game is tough to prepare for. The Terriers will just inflict punishment with how hard they play, especially their cut blocking on the LOS. I don't know the status on Gooden, his backup, and numerous other Samford players downed in the game yesterday. Of course our FS is done and hopefully not permanently, but that was one serious injury with a bone protruding from that right ankle. I have no idea who who our defensive personnel will be against The Citadel Saturday.