Quote Originally Posted by PaladinFan View Post
Both teams present a lot of complications for a defense.

Yet to be seen how effective it is, but Furman did put in a little prep work for Samford during their bye week. Prior to the bye, Furman saw a similar stylistic team in Western Carolina, who like Samford, wants to quickly get the ball out to their playmakers in space. While the WCU game itself is a bad indicator given the terrible weather, I do think that the Paladins have probably spent a good bit of time preparing for the sorts of complexities the Bulldogs throw at you.

I'm not sure really how you best defend Hodges. I noticed that the Samford OL surrenders roughly 2 sacks a game, which given the volume of passes, probably is not much. A lot of that is because Hodges simply isn't going to hold the ball long enough for a defender to get home. Furman's pass rush, though, really isn't one guy just streaking around the end. The defensive front is well coached and tends to collapse the pocket around the QB from the front and sides. One big matchup to watch is how Samford's interior OL handle Furman's two very talented NGs, Reid and Stokes. Those guys are high motor players and a handful for most blockers.

By the same token, I'm not sure how you schematically stop Furman's inside run game. I've concluded that it may be an instance where you just need superior athletes in the defensive front who plays with a lot of physicality. It's not even really a situation where you can load the box, as Blazejowski is plenty capable of reeling off a 300+ yard passing day.

Furman really did not start using the Dirks/Wilcox combination until the NC State game. Neither Wofford nor Elon saw both of those backs. Since week three, though, really no team has figured out how to slow down that part of Furman's offense. I imagine by now if something was going to work, it would have.

I do agree with you, though, that Samford and Furman are talented enough to play with anyone in the country. I'd love it if both of them could make the post season (but I doubt both can).
I think people underestimate the role of the interior DL when it comes to stopping the run (FWIW, Wofford didn't have our all-freshman NT in the first two games due to a two game suspension or the last two as he has Mono).

Samford probably won't be able to run the ball against Furman just as they weren't able to run the ball against Chattanooga or Wofford. I think Chattanooga, Wofford and Samford probably have the best defensive fronts in the conference. The only reason I don't put Furman up there is because I honestly haven't seen them enough. I know they lead the league in sacks, but often sacks are a measurement of the strength of the front 7, not the DL.

The fact that Samford has let up 183 ypg running the ball on the surface looks bad, but when you factor in the fact that they've played Georgia, Kennesaw State, Western Carolina and Wofford and they only average that much, that's not bad at all.

I imagine Furman will run for at least 200 on them, but how well that does for them in terms of points is another story. I think Blazejowski's passing ability is more of a key than people think as he's been very efficient in the last month. If he continues that efficiency/consistency, I think they win. But if he has a day where he's below 65% or so and Furman throws 20 times, they could be in trouble. From what I can tell it looks like he's learned how to throw on the run better in boot legs or has got in the habit to setting his feet before throwing (it sounds basic, but he was a pocket passer before this year and I think it took an adjustment) and that's probably why he's more accurate.

The more I think about this game, the more I think Furman should be favored but at the same time, that's when Samford thrives historically.