SoCon Pick'em & Power Ranking Week 1 2021

[FUBeAR]

Welp…we’re inside 10 days before our Young Men will be in our stadiums buttin’ heads like billy goats with their opponents. Well, I guess they don’t butt heads so much anymore, but y’all know what I mean…

FUBeAR saw this picture today, was inspired to begin this thread, and thought it appropriate to include to honor our reigning SoCon Football Champions - the Rootin’ Tootin’ Roos of the Virginia Military Institute.




Here is the Week1 Schedule…no Intra-Conference games in Week 1…that’s good!!

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Away	Home	Time	Location	Links
The Citadel	Coastal Carolina	7:00 P.M.	Conway, S.C.
Point	Mercer	7:00 P.M.	Macon, Ga.	Stats
Tennessee Tech	Samford	7:00 P.M.	Birmingham, Ala.
Austin Peay	Chattanooga	7:30 P.M.	Chattanooga, Tenn.

Saturday, September 4, 2021

Away	Home	Time	Location	Links
Davidson	VMI	1:30 P.M.	Lexington, Va.	Stats
North Carolina A&T	Furman	2:00 P.M.	Greenville, S.C.	TV: Nexstar Stats
Wofford	Elon	2:00 P.M.	Elon, N.C.
Eastern Kentucky	Western Carolina	6:00 P.M.	Cullowhee, N.C.	TV: Nexstar
ETSU	Vanderbilt	8:00 P.M.	Nashville, Tenn.

Who ya got?

Don’t forget to include your Power Rankings…


FUBeAR will be back later with his Picks/Rankings…got some more cogitatin’ to do 1st.

[Catamount87]

2021 season start is a crapshoot at best. So, I'll fire away, winners in bold.



The Citadel at Coastal Carolina - CCU thinks they'll coast to a victory but it'll be a dog fight for a bit.
Point at Mercer - Mercer makes an exclamation point.
Tennessee Tech at Samford - The dawgs flood the air and the end zone.
Austin Peay at Chattanooga - The governor pees the bed like a passed out drunk.
Davidson at VMI - The Roos enjoys a scrimmage to open the season.
North Carolina A&T at Furman - The Aggies plow over the Paladins in front of maybe 1,000 fans.
Wofford at Elon - The loser officially has no wheels on their bus and has to walk home. Elon is glad to play home because their walk won't be far.
Eastern Kentucky at Western Carolina - There won't be a repeat of 2020. Cats scratch out the win in the end.
ETSU at Vanderbilt - The commodore commands a big win.

[FUBeAR]

North Carolina A&T at Furman - The Aggies…Paladins in front of maybe 1,000 fans.

Very nice work overall…but (barring gubmint mandate limiting attendance), I’ll gladly take the OVER on this (goofy) projection. This should be a great contest well-attended by both Furman & Aggie Fans.

[The Cats]

The Citadel at Coastal Carolina
Point at Mercer
Tennessee Tech at Samford
Austin Peay at Chattanooga
Davidson at VMI
NC A&T at Furman
Wofford at Elon
Eastern Kentucky at Western Carolina
ETSU at Vanderbilt


Preseason Rankings

[Libertine]

Coastal
Mercer
Samford
AP
VMI
A&T
Elon
EKU
ETSU (yeah, ETSU)

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

Coastal
Mercer
Samford
AP
VMI
A&T
Elon
EKU
ETSU (yeah, ETSU)

I like your optimism. Unfortunately, I just don't see it.

[Reign of Terrier]

Give me
Coastal Carolina
Mercer
Samford
Chattanooga
VMI
NC A&T
Wofford
Eastern Kentucky
Vanderbilt

If the Socon can come out strong this weekend and run the table, it'll look really good for our OOC. Hardest FCS games are probably:

I'm very confident in my prediction for the Citadel, Mercer, ETSU games, simply because the teams playing aren't on the same level

I'm not very confident in my prediction of these games at all:
Samford vs Tennessee Tech: just because TTU looked good in the spring, and they're hard to predict; Samford always looks bad in August/September - unless they play Wofford - and great in October
NC A&T vs Furman: because NC A&T is good and Furman still hasn't learned how to put it together and win big games consistently...though this could be the year
Austin Peay vs Chattanooga: I think Chattanooga is back, as they're my preseason favorite to win it all, but Austin Peay is a couple years removed from a great quarterfinalist team. I wouldn't put anything past them.

I'm confident in my prediction for these games, but wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong:
Wofford vs Elon: I don't know how good Wofford is this year. I think they'll be good, but if we're bad we'll lose to Elon. No idea how good Elon is either. But I think we have more confidence as a program, and this Elon team isn't as good as when Cignetti was coach. They did show flashes of greatness in the Spring though. I think this is a game Wofford should win. But I thought that about a lot of games in the Spring, as well as against, say SC State a couple years back.

VMI vs Davidson: You can go ahead and brand me as a VMI skeptic. They won games last year, in many ways, by outscoring their opponents, and they lose quite a bit of playmakers on defense going into this year. Yes, Davidson is in the Pioneer, but they're a damn good team for that level, and can match a mid-tier FCS team blow-for-blow. They did it against Elon in the spring, and I'm not sure if VMI has the defense to stop them as much as they'd like. Again, I think VMI wins this game, but it's going to be within a score or two. But I wouldn't be all that surprised by an upset.

Eastern Kentucky and Western Carolina: I think EKU wins this game. They beat the Catamounts like a drum in the fall of 2020. Granted, there was all of these weirdness and COVID stuff (that won't be nearly as prominent now), and I think Western will improve with their new coach. It's just really hard to win in Cullowhee and I don't expect to see the effects overnight. EKU was 3-6 last fall but played 3 FBS games, one of which was very competitive. WCU was not good. I think the baseline improvement you can expect from EKU is higher.

[bonarae]

The Citadel at Coastal Carolina
Point at Mercer
Tennessee Tech at Samford
Austin Peay at Chattanooga
Davidson at VMI
NC A&T at Furman
Wofford at Elon
Eastern Kentucky at Western Carolina
ETSU at Vanderbilt

[Milktruck74]

The Citadel at Coastal Carolina - The dogs keep it interesting for a while, but the Beach Chickens prevail
Point at Mercer - Mini Bears take beat the HS team
Tennessee Tech at Samford - TTU score more than they usually do, but SAMMY scores more.
Austin Peay at Chattanooga - MOCS MOCS MOCS
Davidson at VMI - Keydets do what they can to keep from completely humiliating Davy, but they are just not good enough at holding back
North Carolina A&T at Furman - FURPLE does what they can to restore some SoCon pride....FuBear gets to call plays for the first two series of each half for his $1MM anony donation, and Furple still gets it done!!!!
Wofford at Elon - Head says the Fighting Christians, but we need some more SoCon OOC cred....so Woffy
Eastern Kentucky at Western Carolina - Gonna find out what KB can do with a his crew and the Whee Nation plays inspired and John Peacock's boys show their plume...Cants
ETSU at Vanderbilt - Bucs bring home a check, but the Victory stays with the Dores

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

To kick off the season, I am placing the teams in groups of 3, from most likely to least likely to make the playoffs.

MOST LIKELY
VMI - they won the title in the spring, they end up here
ETSU - the first team out of the playoffs also end up here
Mercer - had a great season in the spring

HAVE A CHANCE WITH A LITTLE LUCK
Furman - can the Paladins shake off the funk that bemired them
The Citadel - Bulldogs have the potential to be deadly
Samford - Bammerdogs could make some noise

NOT LIKELY
Western Carolina - won the coaching search lottery with Kerwin Bell
Chattanooga - not buying the hype surrounding them
Wofford - could Conklin be on his last legs here?

Week 1 Games
The Citadel @ Coastal Carolina - Chanticleers pick up right where they left off
Point @ Mercer (Beatdown of the Week) - Bears make this game pointless
Tennessee Tech @ Samford - Bammerdogs clip the Eagles' wings
Austin Peay @ Chattanooga - Governors rule the day
Davidson @ VMI - Keydets pick up right where they left off
North Carolina A&T @ Furman (Game of the Week) - Paladins win in a close one
Wofford @ Elon - Phoenix own the day
Eastern Kenturkey @ Western Carolina - Catamounts stuff the Kenturkey
ETSU @ Vanderbilt - really want to pick ETSU but Vandyland is more talented