Southern Conference Week 10 Power Rankings/Pick 'Em

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

I was 2-2 last week. Went out on a limb and fell off a cliff with Mercer and The Citadel. Here's where I have it after this week's games (Numbers of parentheses indicates the number of wins versus a number of games remaining for a chance of an at-large bid):

1) Wofford (1 of 3) - Got it done against Mercer.
2) East Tennessee State (1 of 2) - Should win the award for luckiest team in the SoCon.
3) Chattanooga (1 of 3) - Rode the train to Comeback City against VMI.
4) Samford (OUT) - Still has a chance at an autobid.
5) Mercer (3 of 3) - Got hammered on the road.
6) Furman (OUT) - Put together a great effort on the road.
7) The Citadel (OUT) - Fell apart at home.
8) Western Carolina (OUT) - Had nothing to be ashamed of.
9) VMI (OUT) - Coaching staff should be coaching for their jobs this week.

Autobid Status
Western Carolina and The Citadel were eliminated this week.
Chattanooga can be eliminated with either a loss or Wofford or ETSU win.
Samford, Furman and Mercer can be eliminated with a loss.

This Week's Games
Chattanooga @ Furman (Elimination Game) - Mocs win in a close one and hopes for help elsewhere.
Tusculum @ VMI - Wachenheim gets fired after this game.
Wofford @ Samford (Upset Special of the Week) - Bulldogs pull off a shocker.
ETSU @ Mercer - Bucs continue to defy expectations.
The Citadel @ Western Carolina - Catamounts see their losing streak come to an end.

[bonarae]

Chattanooga
Tusculum
Wofford
ETSU
WCU

[PaladinFan]

The UTC/Furman game will be an interesting one.

UTC isn't really a strong offensive team, but throws the ball around a lot. Furman has struggled in coverage assignments this season. The Paladins are stout against the run, so I'd expect this game will come down to UTC trying to pick apart the Paladin secondary.

Offensively, who knows what we will see from Furman. Roberts may be back. If he is, that'll help. If not, I think Lincoln showed his mettle in Charleston.

[Reign of Terrier]

Power ranking
Wofford
ETSU
Chatt
Samford
Furman
Citadel
Mercer
Western
VMI

Chattanooga vs Furman: I don't have enough confidence either way to pick this one. Furman has some vulnerability at pass defense that Chatt will certainly take advantage of, while Furman still has a great offense that will challenge Chatt. I will be pulling for Chattanooga, because I want the socon to have as many playoff teams as possible and I think they can win for the aforementioned reasons. But both teams are good and it will be close either way.

VMI beats Tusculum

ETSU vs Mercer: I can't pick this one either. Mercer is similar to Western in that they have a dynamic offense and a poor defense. From what I have seen, however, I think Mercer has a consistently better offense and the defense is slightly better. This will be a challenge for ETSU like all of the rest of them. ETSU is on a roll similar to Wofford last year. But this game is in Macon and ETSU spoiled any chance the bears had at an at large bid last year. I say I can't pick this one because it's unwise at this point to pick against the Bucs, but I was actually impressed by Mercer's offense yesterday (even if some of it was in garbage time). So, again, no pick for this one because Mercer isn't great this year, but at the same time ETSU's performance yesterday wasn't good either.

The Citadel over Western Carolina. Bulldogs aren't stopped on the ground and play keep away from Adams. I'm thinking Citadel 31 Western 21. Citadel defense is up and down.

Wofford vs Samford. I'm picking Wofford, but if we lose it's not a shocker. Samford is a good team that has had our number in recent years. The reason why I think the Terriers can win this one is defense. Yes, we has a bad game against Furman a few weeks ago, but I think the strength of our secondary is underrated. We throw more formations at you than we ever have. Hodges and company have struggled to score 30 on us over the last couple years and our defensive performances haven't been wild. If we get enough pressure up front (which we have been doing pretty well over the last 2 games, compiling 7 sacks and forcing 5 turnovers), I think we win this one. I think Wofford is going to play motivated and mad in this one. Samford has the benefit of the bye week and will play motivated as well, but I think my Terriers, so long as they don't turn the ball over, can win this one.

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[PaladinFan]

Chattanooga vs Furman: I don't have enough confidence either way to pick this one. Furman has some vulnerability at pass defense that Chatt will certainly take advantage of, while Furman still has a great offense that will challenge Chatt. I will be pulling for Chattanooga, because I want the socon to have as many playoff teams as possible and I think they can win for the aforementioned reasons. But both teams are good and it will be close either way.



The "conference only" stats are kinder to Furman than the overall statistics (which makes sense when you eliminate Clemson and Elon), but the Paladin offense has been a bit of an enigma.

As best I can tell, the Paladins have a decent rush attack, a hit or miss passing attack, are prone to droughts, have some fire power, and they are better when Harris Roberts plays. Other than that, who knows.

[woffordgrad94]

1. Wofford
2. East Tennessee State
3. Chattanooga
4. Samford
5. Furman
6. The Citadel
7. Mercer
8. Western Carolina
9. Virginia Military Institute

Samford upsets my Terriers. If you even consider it that big of an upset. Samford gets us in Birmingham and has two weeks to prep for us just like Furman did. Plus, SU just seems to have our number. Samford wins 24-21.

Furman wins a close one at home over the Mocs, 20-17.

ETSU squeaks by Mercer on the road 28-27.

I thought of picking WCU at home but the Catamount defense is just too bad. The Bulldogs of The Citadel find a way to win it, 42-35.

VMI gets a rare win as they defeat D2 Tusculum 35-24

[kdinva]

Tusculum @ VMI - Wachenheim gets fired after this game.


if anything he would have been fired last November......not now, tons of starters coming back, need to vastly improve the O-Line play, #1.

[SCPALADIN]

I think the bigger hotseat may be under Brent Thompson.

[Reign of Terrier]

The "conference only" stats are kinder to Furman than the overall statistics (which makes sense when you eliminate Clemson and Elon), but the Paladin offense has been a bit of an enigma.

As best I can tell, the Paladins have a decent rush attack, a hit or miss passing attack, are prone to droughts, have some fire power, and they are better when Harris Roberts plays. Other than that, who knows.And what's undersold is how good Chattanooga's defense is. We saw that they were bad running the perimeter against Wofford and Furman may take advantage of that, but they are likely comparable to Wofford and won't make the same mistakes after watching the Wofford film.

Chattanooga isn't flashy, but they are 2 TDs away from being 8-0 right now.

I think the over/under of this one will be in the 50s and another fun game to watch from Furman.

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[ElCid]

I think the bigger hotseat may be under Brent Thompson.

No. He has at least until the end of next year before reliably serious talk would even begin. Maybe even until end of 20. After that he would be concerned if things continue headed south. We just aren't that fickle.

[FUBeAR]

Chattanooga isn't flashy, but they are 2 TDs away from being 8-0 right now.They are also 2 TD’s and a 2 point conversion away from being 3-5.

....and ETSU is 2 TD’s with a missed XP away from being 0-6 in the SoCon

[sudog03]

I was 2-2 last week. Went out on a limb and fell off a cliff with Mercer and The Citadel. Here's where I have it after this week's games (Numbers of parentheses indicates the number of wins versus a number of games remaining for a chance of an at-large bid):

1) Wofford (1 of 3) - Got it done against Mercer.
2) East Tennessee State (1 of 2) - Should win the award for luckiest team in the SoCon.
3) Chattanooga (1 of 3) - Rode the train to Comeback City against VMI.
4) Samford (OUT) - Still has a chance at an autobid.
5) Mercer (3 of 3) - Got hammered on the road.
6) Furman (OUT) - Put together a great effort on the road.
7) The Citadel (OUT) - Fell apart at home.
8) Western Carolina (OUT) - Had nothing to be ashamed of.
9) VMI (OUT) - Coaching staff should be coaching for their jobs this week.

Autobid Status
Western Carolina and The Citadel were eliminated this week.
Chattanooga can be eliminated with either a loss or Wofford or ETSU win.
Samford, Furman and Mercer can be eliminated with a loss.

This Week's Games
Chattanooga @ Furman (Elimination Game) - Mocs win in a close one and hopes for help elsewhere.
Tusculum @ VMI - Wachenheim gets fired after this game.
Wofford @ Samford (Upset Special of the Week) - Bulldogs pull off a shocker.
ETSU @ Mercer - Bucs continue to defy expectations.
The Citadel @ Western Carolina - Catamounts see their losing streak come to an end.

Not sure why you list Samford as OUT or why we are in red on the how they fared poll. We got in the field in 2016 with only 6 D1 wins. It's not a threshold the committee uses on 11 game years. If we can rip off 6 straight wins, with one of the best players in the country at QB, I like our chances at an at large bid.

[Reign of Terrier]

It's basically elimination week in the socon. All of the top 6 teams still have a path to the auto bid (and it's actually not that messy)

The loser of the Chattanooga-Furman game is pretty much eliminated if ETSU or Wofford wins.

Mercer and Samford are eliminated with a loss.

The most parsimonious playoff scenarios:

Wofford needs to win out to earn the autobid and likely 1 of the next 2 to make the playoffs (call me arrogant, we will beat PC)

ETSU needs Wofford to lose one and win out to get the autobid, or win one more to make the playoffs

Chattanooga needs to win out to make the playoffs and ETSU and Wofford to lose out to get the autobid.

Mercer needs Wofford to lose out and to win out themselves to get the autobid.

If Samford wins out and Chattanooga/Mercer both lose one they get the autobid.

If Wofford and ETSU loses out, Furman wins out and Samford loses to the Citadel, Furman gets the autobid.

In this way, I think the most likely socon title contenders right now are ETSU, Wofford, and Samford. This doesn't preclude the various 6-2 tie breaker chaos scenarios.

As for playoff contenders, I think ETSU has a 70% chance right now. Wofford is probably 80%. Chattanooga probably 60%. Samford 50%. Furman 30%. Mercer 20%.

These are bull**** numbers on the top of my head but still.

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[Reign of Terrier]

Also, I think the Wofford-Samford game will be a de facto elimination game for every team but ETSU's autobid hopes just because of the high probability of Wofford beating Western the next week.

Mercer, Chattanooga and Furman could compete for an autobid, with Chattanooga having the best chances, but really if Chatt, ETSU and Wofford win Saturday Furman, Mercer and Samford are done

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[FUBeAR]

You may have ‘coverered’ this with the comment about the 6-2 chaos scenarios, but I don’t think some (well, at least 1) of the comments above that are completely accurate.

For example, I don’t think Mercer (assuming they won out) would need Wofford to lose out to get the Autobid...as long as Samford beats Wofford & ETSU (which means WC, SU, and MU could all be 6-2 with ‘rotational wins/losses’ & all with wins over ETSU) AND Furman stays ahead of Chatt, then Woffy would ‘fall out’ of the 3-way, due to their FU loss & the Head-to-Head between Samford & Mercer would go to Mercer. Right?

Mercer winning out is the least likely thing to occur in that scenario, but until it doesn’t happen, it could happen.

[Reign of Terrier]

You may have ‘coverered’ this with the comment about the 6-2 chaos scenarios, but I don’t think some (well, at least 1) of the comments above that are completely accurate.

For example, I don’t think Mercer (assuming they won out) would need Wofford to lose out to get the Autobid...as long as Samford beats Wofford & ETSU (which means WC, SU, and MU could all be 6-2 with ‘rotational wins/losses’ & all with wins over ETSU) AND Furman stays ahead of Chatt, then Woffy would ‘fall out’ of the 3-way, due to their FU loss & the Head-to-Head between Samford & Mercer would go to Mercer. Right?

Mercer winning out is the least likely thing to occur in that scenario, but until it doesn’t happen, it could happen.Yeah I intentionally left that out because there are so many hypotheticals and counterfactuals that could happen. Right now, I think ETSU and Wofford are solidly at the top and Furman, Chattanooga and Samford are fighting to be included in the same sentence. Mercer is fighting to be in the group as well. I think Mercer is a step below the aforementioned teams because their defense isn't as good.

Who gets into the playoffs for the socon will depend heavily on how Chattanooga and Samford plays. Furman could get in at 6-4 regardless of autobid if Samford wins out and ETSU/Wofford finish 8-3 and Chatt finishes 7-4. In that scenario, who gets in really just depends on how much the committee values the socon as you would have 5 teams at 6-4 or greater.

I put higher probability on Wofford, ETSU or Samford getting the autobid because it's less messy(which is probably an unscientific bias). I have no idea how well Furman, Mercer, or Chatt will play each other, and that side of the equation will have the most fluidity when it comes to predicting the outcome.



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[ETSUfan1]

There is no doubt that the bucs are the luckiest team in the conference. I’m afraid our luck may run out. Hopefully not.

[kdinva]

....and ETSU is 2 TD’s with a missed XP away from being 0-6 in the SoCon

.....one of those, VMI had the ball three times in 4th qtr inside the ETSU 35........got nothing...... xbangx

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

Not sure why you list Samford as OUT or why we are in red on the how they fared poll. We got in the field in 2016 with only 6 D1 wins. It's not a threshold the committee uses on 11 game years. If we can rip off 6 straight wins, with one of the best players in the country at QB, I like our chances at an at large bid.

If winning six D1 games were the case, then ETSU, Wofford and Chattanooga made the cut. The main reason why Samford is still in it to win it is mainly that they have yet to play Wofford (at home) and ETSU (on the road). Samford should have no problem with The Citadel. Samford has a tall order ahead of them.

[wcugrad95]

WCU tops that @kdinva. Kick the XP in the 1st half and ETSU has to go for 2 on both of their late TDs. Kick the 27 yard FG in OT1 and that is the game. But we didn't :)

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

if anything he would have been fired last November......not now, tons of starters coming back, need to vastly improve the O-Line play, #1.

Or at least get a new DC and OL coach in your case. VMI, hate to say this, is the unluckiest team in the league this year.

[Mocs123]

The question is does VMI want to win bad enough to fire their coach? I'm not sure they do. They seem to be content fielding a football team with little success. I'm not sure VMI gives enough resources to the football program for it to be successful. They are at a disadvantage anyway for recruiting as it is a military school.

[wcugrad95]

Regarding VMI and budgets, check the data. Maybe it is actually an amazing job being done in Cullowhee to win any games xconfusedx

Full credit to @The Cats for pulling these from The Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool:

Reporting Year: 2016-2017

1 Furman - $28,179,039
2 Samford - $21,921,217
3 Wofford - $19,822,191
4 Mercer - $18,731,628
5 Chattanooga - $17,660,119
6 Citadel - $16,964,499
7 ETSU - $15,587,269
8 VMI - $13,359,816
9 UNcG - $12,686,845
10 Western - $12,412,758

That is all athletics and obviously not just football. But think about that - WCU led the league in football attendance last year!!!

[Reign of Terrier]

Apparently citadel players get a break from cadet responsibilities to do football work. VMI doesn't. I think the reason why VMI isn't successful is because they don't want to be. The team is ornament to what they are as an institution, which neither bad nor good.

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[PaladinNation]

Regarding VMI and budgets, check the data. Maybe it is actually an amazing job being done in Cullowhee to win any games xconfusedx

Full credit to @The Cats for pulling these from The Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool:

Reporting Year: 2016-2017

1 Furman - $28,179,039
2 Samford - $21,921,217
3 Wofford - $19,822,191
4 Mercer - $18,731,628
5 Chattanooga - $17,660,119
6 Citadel - $16,964,499
7 ETSU - $15,587,269
8 VMI - $13,359,816
9 UNcG - $12,686,845
10 Western - $12,412,758

That is all athletics and obviously not just football. But think about that - WCU led the league in football attendance last year!!!

woah! Would love to put some layers on those numbers.
Tuition costs
Number of men's and women's teams
Lacrosse budget (Furman plays both Men's & Women)

Then I would love to see the budget numbers during Shi's last year as the king vs today? Sorry, personally I think Shi killed Lamb's ability to keep Furman competitive… there - I said it.

[wcugrad95]

woah! Would love to put some layers on those numbers.
Tuition costs
Number of men's and women's teams
Lacrosse budget (Furman plays both Men's & Women)

Then I would love to see the budget numbers during Shi's last year as the king vs today? Sorry, personally I think Shi killed Lamb's ability to keep Furman competitive… there - I said it.

Here is part of what you asked for. "The Cats" pulled Furman and Western's budget for the 2 big men's sports simply because Furman is at the top and WCU is at the bottom.

Furman expenditures:
basketball - $2,092,284
football - $6,675,863

Western Carolina expenditures:
basketball - $1,044,112
football - $3,132,692

Tuition costs obviously play a huge role in this. And another note - I do NOT believe these include facilities, which is a place where WCU does very little budgeting on the athletic front (almost all of our upgrades come from the private sector for recent things like locker room an weight room upgrades).

You can check it out at https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

[kdinva]

I think the reason why VMI isn't successful is because they don't want to be. The team is ornament to what they are as an institution,

VMI's Supe and 1/2 the B O V are stuck in the '60s regarding supporting the athletic teams.....although improvements have been made regarding strength and conditioning and nutrition......Supe must find/allocate existing $$$$ to recruit nationally.

Coach has "found" his O C.......defense will be much better next season. VMI loses only three from the 2-deep on defense.....and retains all the O-linemen and 7/8 WRs....

[PaladinNation]

Here is part of what you asked for. "The Cats" pulled Furman and Western's budget for the 2 big men's sports simply because Furman is at the top and WCU is at the bottom.

Furman expenditures:
basketball - $2,092,284
football - $6,675,863

Western Carolina expenditures:
basketball - $1,044,112
football - $3,132,692

Tuition costs obviously play a huge role in this. And another note - I do NOT believe these include facilities, which is a place where WCU does very little budgeting on the athletic front (almost all of our upgrades come from the private sector for recent things like locker room an weight room upgrades).

You can check it out at https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

That site is data rich… and I guess we need to shut up about Furman not paying it's coaches - compared to Wofford and the rest of the SoCon.

Average Annual Institutional Salary per Head Coach:

Wofford $99,120
ETSU $109,828
Citadel $112,089
Samford $113,494
Mercer $123,263
Western $125,992
UTC $147.463
Furman $167,362 - so, does this mean Clay Hendrix is the highest paid head coach in the SoCon? I know that's an average of an institution's head coaches, but it wouldn't surprise me if Arth and Hendrix have the highest salaries.


I'm curious, so I've pulled up JMU and NDST and Elon:
Elon $146,910
JMU $183,082
NDST $209, 095

found another shocker… Richmond
$300,365 I'd bet that is basketball and football head coach salaries driving that average.

[Reign of Terrier]

I'm pretty sure Wofford's numbers are kind of skewed by the fact that we poorly pay every coach except the head football and basketball coach

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[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

That site is data rich… and I guess we need to shut up about Furman not paying it's coaches - compared to Wofford and the rest of the SoCon.

Average Annual Institutional Salary per Head Coach:

Wofford $99,120
ETSU $109,828
Citadel $112,089
Samford $113,494
Mercer $123,263
Western $125,992
UTC $147.463
Furman $167,362 - so, does this mean Clay Hendrix is the highest paid head coach in the SoCon? I know that's an average of an institution's head coaches, but it wouldn't surprise me if Arth and Hendrix have the highest salaries.


I know Steve Forbes got one hell of a pay raise for his efforts on the hardwood a few months ago, only to see us on the outside looking in a few weeks later.

https://www.wjhl.com/local/etsus-steve-forbes-now-highest-paid-coach-in-conference/988737111

[longtimemocfan]

And what's undersold is how good Chattanooga's defense is. We saw that they were bad running the perimeter against Wofford and Furman may take advantage of that, but they are likely comparable to Wofford and won't make the same mistakes after watching the Wofford film.

Chattanooga isn't flashy, but they are 2 TDs away from being 8-0 right now.

I think the over/under of this one will be in the 50s and another fun game to watch from Furman.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using TapatalkIt drives me freaking nuts watching them play sometimes. Defensively we are giving up more yards than last year, but fewer points. Offensively we still don't run the ball very well, but do it effectively enough along with a complementary passing game to run clock and keep the defense off the field. Not a work of art to watch but a step in the right direction.

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[dungeonjoe]

That site is data rich… and I guess we need to shut up about Furman not paying it's coaches - compared to Wofford and the rest of the SoCon.

Average Annual Institutional Salary per Head Coach:

Wofford $99,120
ETSU $109,828
Citadel $112,089
Samford $113,494
Mercer $123,263
Western $125,992
UTC $147.463
Furman $167,362 - so, does this mean Clay Hendrix is the highest paid head coach in the SoCon? I know that's an average of an institution's head coaches, but it wouldn't surprise me if Arth and Hendrix have the highest salaries.


I'm curious, so I've pulled up JMU and NDST and Elon:
Elon $146,910
JMU $183,082
NDST $209, 095

found another shocker… Richmond
$300,365 I'd bet that is basketball and football head coach salaries driving that average.

This part of the thread adds new meaning to the term "power rankings."

[SU DOG]

Some coaches have a distinct advantage because of their location. Samford for example is near a population that is great for supplying a tremendous number of campers for those summer camps that are offered.

[gofurman]

Here is part of what you asked for. "The Cats" pulled Furman and Western's budget for the 2 big men's sports simply because Furman is at the top and WCU is at the bottom.

Furman expenditures:
basketball - $2,092,284
football - $6,675,863

Western Carolina expenditures:
basketball - $1,044,112
football - $3,132,692

Tuition costs obviously play a huge role in this. And another note - I do NOT believe these include facilities, which is a place where WCU does very little budgeting on the athletic front (almost all of our upgrades come from the private sector for recent things like locker room an weight room upgrades).

You can check it out at https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

Right on w Tuition. IF tuition is a factor then a '60k' scholarship at FUrman and a '25k' scholarship at WCU. ... actually means Western has the bigger budget !! (since FU scholarships cost 2.5X as much and we only have 2X as much in the budget)

I am not saying they do, maybe someone can help me understand.

Is this TOTAL expenditure with coaches pay AND scholarships or what is included in this?

[gofurman]

The "conference only" stats are kinder to Furman than the overall statistics (which makes sense when you eliminate Clemson and Elon), but the Paladin offense has been a bit of an enigma.

As best I can tell, the Paladins have a decent rush attack, a hit or miss passing attack, are prone to droughts, have some fire power, and they are better when Harris Roberts plays. Other than that, who knows.

For some reason our offensive droughts are MUCH MORE LIKELY to hit in the second half. Think 20 points first half v ETSU.. then 7 second half.. Citadel we had 14 in 1st half and 7 in 2nd half (other was a defensive TD)... That's what's really hurting.. Then our D gets worn out.

Believe me, I was so proud of our guys for getting the W yesterday.. I was fearing the deja vu'

[FUBeAR]

FWIW - "Massey Matchup" says....Samford is getting the SoCon Autobid & Wofford/Fuman tie the Bulldogs for SoCon Championship...but Samford would have wins over both.



Place
Team
SoCon W
SoCon L
Overall W
Overall L


1
Wofford
6
2
8
3


1x
Samford
6
2
7
4


1
Furman
6
2
6
4


4
ETSU
5
3
7
4


5
Chatt
5
3
7
4


6
Mercer
4
4
5
6


7
Citadel
3
5
4
7


8
WCU
1
7
3
8


9
VMI
0
8
1
10



Odds of ETSU & Chatt getting bids and SoCon gets 4 in?...Heck...why not #FurmanToo (Tie for SoCon Championship with wins over Woffy & Chatt...and a 'mental' win over Colgate...and a decent performance against Clemson...finishing with 4 straight SoCon wins)...and make it 5 SoCon Teams. xthumbsupx

[Reign of Terrier]

FWIW Massey has Wofford and Samford at a virtual coin flip (Samford "favored" with 51% probability)



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[PaladinFan]

As someone noted on our board, Furman is essentially one miserable quarter at ETSU from leading the SoCon right now and holding the tiebreaker over Wofford.

I still think Furman would have a shot at the post season at 6-4. While 6 win teams do not normally get in, 4 loss teams often do.

The struggle, I think, is that the conference probably will have a handful of 7 win teams. While Furman’s shot for an autobid likely fades with each Wofford/ETSU win, I suspect the Paladins’ opportunity for a post season at large increases if they are the SoCon’s No. 3, which would require eliminating Samford and UTC from the conversation.

[PaladinFan]

Brent Thompson post game interview.

Lot of emotion in that post game clip. You know the Citadel is tired of losing close games.

https://twitter.com/DarenStoltzfus/status/1056688876574646272

I don't have a ton to be critical about with the Citadel on Saturday. The fought hard. The last fumble was obviously costly, but it didn't blow the game for them (they were already losing). I guess if you had to nitpick something is that they didn't do enough with what seemed like phenomenal field position all day. Not many teams get the good fortune of pinning an offense back inside their 1 yard line twice (I personally think both punts should have been touchbacks).

Curious as it might be, the biggest play of the game was probably a 16 yard carry by Kealand Dirks in the fourth quarter for a first down. Got Furman out of their own endzone, allowed the offense to string together a few more plays, kill some clock, and punt the Citadel back into their own zone. Without that run, Furman is likely punting out of their own endzone and giving the Citadel the ball back in plus territory.

[gofurman]

As someone noted on our board, Furman is essentially one miserable quarter at ETSU from leading the SoCon right now and holding the tiebreaker over Wofford.

I still think Furman would have a shot at the post season at 6-4. While 6 win teams do not normally get in, 4 loss teams often do.

The struggle, I think, is that the conference probably will have a handful of 7 win teams. While Furman’s shot for an autobid likely fades with each Wofford/ETSU win, I suspect the Paladins’ opportunity for a post season at large increases if they are the SoCon’s No. 3, which would require eliminating Samford and UTC from the conversation.

Interesting. So are you saying - as a Furman fan - we should pull for Wofford and ETSU to win out and if we win out that put us solidly at number three (we beat Chatt, Woff beats Samford, )'.
You think that's better for us? Obviously, none of this matters if we lose. (And I am happy if we go 5-5 this year w 5-3 SoCon record)

i was thinking pull for Woffd and ETSU to,lose so we could tie them as two loss teams in SoCon play ...

hmm. Interesting. I hadn't thought of it that way. I see your point. Force the committee to see us as clearly the SoCon number three team and a team that was shorted a game. Makes them think at least

[PaladinFan]

Interesting. So are you saying - as a Furman fan - we should pull for Wofford and ETSU to win out and if we win out that put us solidly at number three (we beat Chatt, Woff beats Samford, )'.
You think that's better for us? Obviously, none of this matters if we lose. (And I am happy if we go 5-5 this year w 5-3 SoCon record)

i was thinking pull for Woffd and ETSU to,lose so we could tie them as two loss teams in SoCon play ...

hmm. Interesting. I hadn't thought of it that way. I see your point. Force the committee to see us as clearly the SoCon number three team and a team that was shorted a game. Makes them think at least

So, assuming Furman wins out, they'll be 6-4 (6-2).

Samford still has to play ETSU and Wofford. If Samford wins both, you probably have four teams finish 6-2 (Furman, Samford, ETSU, and Wofford).

In that scenario, Samford is the autobid. They'll be 3-1 against the other tied teams.

Then you go to at large bids. Furman would be 6-4. Wofford likely 8-3. Wofford played a much weaker schedule and got trounced by Furman. Does that make up for the two game difference in the win column? ETSU won't have a win over a top 10 team like Furman, but beat the Paladins head to head.

There are still a lot of scenarios, but the clearest path for Furman to get the autobid is to end up only tied with Wofford. There are a number of other scenarios for three way ties that may come down to how UTC/Samford finish.

Assuming Furman is not the autobid, though, Furman would probably prefer UTC finish 4th and Samford 5th. I think we are pulling for Samford against Wofford, then anyone other than Wofford against Samford, and anyone against ETSU.

As a SoCon fan, I think the most likely scenario for three playoff teams is ETSU, Wofford, and UTC. As a Furman fan, we'll need to knock UTC out.

[wcugrad95]

On Furman, the committee is not ***supposed to*** look at last year. Colgate is undefeated, a top-25 team, has obviously won their other OOC games, and the Massey matchup tool (everybody likes to use Massey) shows that even at Furman they would have a 70% probability to win by 7 (21-14). Most likely, they would focus on the games you did play and I don't think there is anyway the Paladins get in unless they are somehow tied for the SoCon championship.

[PaladinFan]

On Furman, the committee is not ***supposed to*** look at last year. Colgate is undefeated, a top-25 team, has obviously won their other OOC games, and the Massey matchup tool (everybody likes to use Massey) shows that even at Furman they would have a 70% probability to win by 7 (21-14). Most likely, they would focus on the games you did play and I don't think there is anyway the Paladins get in unless they are somehow tied for the SoCon championship.

I don't disagree with that position. It's annoying to have a game cancelled that could make or break the difference in the season, but it is what it is at this point.

I don't think Furman is a playoff team. While our margin of error is slimmer due to the Colgate game, we had ETSU beat and had a massive let down. That's on us.

I'd like to see us make the playoffs just because it gives guys a few extra weeks of practice and more games to play.

[Reign of Terrier]

Furman will get the most looks of any 6-4 team. Paladin fan is framing the question wrong. If they finish 6-4, Wofford is listed as a quality win and Wofford would probably not have a bad loss

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Milktruck74]

At the beginning of the season I said my Mocs are probably the first team in the SoCon out of the playoffs. I still think that is right... If we can win out, we go 6-2 in the conference, 8-3 (8-2 FCS) against D1 teams, We finish behind Wofford and ETSU...SoCon gets TWO teams in this year and one is not UTC. I do think it is interesting that with 2/3 weeks left in the season we have 6 teams that still have a shot at the title.

[Milktruck74]

This week has 3 big games in Greenville, B'ham and Macon.....the picture gets a whole lot clearer on Sunday.

[walliver]

That site is data rich… and I guess we need to shut up about Furman not paying it's coaches - compared to Wofford and the rest of the SoCon.

Average Annual Institutional Salary per Head Coach:

Wofford $99,120
ETSU $109,828
Citadel $112,089
Samford $113,494
Mercer $123,263
Western $125,992
UTC $147.463
Furman $167,362 - so, does this mean Clay Hendrix is the highest paid head coach in the SoCon? I know that's an average of an institution's head coaches, but it wouldn't surprise me if Arth and Hendrix have the highest salaries.


I'm curious, so I've pulled up JMU and NDST and Elon:
Elon $146,910
JMU $183,082
NDST $209, 095

found another shocker… Richmond
$300,365 I'd bet that is basketball and football head coach salaries driving that average.

Richmond should not be a shocker .. they are in the A-10 for all sports except football.

Are these averages for all sports? If so, that makes FU's numbers more impressive since the privates generally play more sports than the public schools.
ETSU, VMI and UNCG are the only publics playng men's soccer. (Sammy doesn't play either).
Chatty doesn't play baseball
Only FU, Mercer and Wofford play women's lacrosse.
Only FU, Mercer and VMI play men's lacrosse (It is rumored that Wofford will add this in a few years).
Only Wofford, VMI and the Citadel have rifle teams. - I'm sure Wofford ain't spending big bucks here.
How much does Furman play the volleyball coach, golf coaches, tennis coaches, lacrosse coaches, track coaches, women's basketball coach etc.?

Do the numbers do explain why Wofford is only competitive in football and men's basketball. The other coaches must be paid in food stamps to get a $99K average.

[woffordgrad94]

It ‘s kind of hard to wrap my head around, but the truth is that if Wofford does not find a way to get a win at Samford there’s a possibility of not making the playoff field. Win, and we probably wrap up the conference autobid and perhaps get a seed and a home playoff game. So it’s a very big game coming up Saturday. We’ll see what the Terriers are made of.

[woffordgrad94]

Richmond should not be a shocker .. they are in the A-10 for all sports except football.

Are these averages for all sports? If so, that makes FU's numbers more impressive since the privates generally play more sports than the public schools.
ETSU, VMI and UNCG are the only publics playng men's soccer. (Sammy doesn't play either).
Chatty doesn't play baseball
Only FU, Mercer and Wofford play women's lacrosse.
Only FU, Mercer and VMI play men's lacrosse (It is rumored that Wofford will add this in a few years).
Only Wofford, VMI and the Citadel have rifle teams. - I'm sure Wofford ain't spending big bucks here.
How much does Furman play the volleyball coach, golf coaches, tennis coaches, lacrosse coaches, track coaches, women's basketball coach etc.?

Do the numbers do explain why Wofford is only competitive in football and men's basketball. The other coaches must be paid in food stamps to get a $99K average.
Wofford has actually improved a lot lately in baseball and volleyball. Women’s basketball still stinks and soccer and tennis who cares.

[SU DOG]

With all this ciphering going on about Playoff scenarios, there is something that may be overlooked. Even if Samford wins Saturday, a trip next week to The Citadel is no easy task. The Citadel is a very dangerous team especially at home. We definitely have our work cut out for us both at home against that Terrier defense, and then the next 2 weeks on the road. We will see.

[Reign of Terrier]

At the beginning of the season I said my Mocs are probably the first team in the SoCon out of the playoffs. I still think that is right... If we can win out, we go 6-2 in the conference, 8-3 (8-2 FCS) against D1 teams, We finish behind Wofford and ETSU...SoCon gets TWO teams in this year and one is not UTC. I do think it is interesting that with 2/3 weeks left in the season we have 6 teams that still have a shot at the title.The good news is that the bubble is so weak this year that 8-3 with 8 D1 wins should get you in, especially if your losses are quality. I agree that Chattanooga is probably a year away from where they want to be, but from an outsiders perspective, y'all are too hard on them. Blame Huesman for building a culture of high expectations I guess

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[walliver]

As far as SoCon coaches on the hot seat, I don't see any imminent firings, but there are a few feeling some warmth.
Conklin, Hendrix, Arth, and Sanders are safe. They may all be gone in 5 years, but likely moving up not out.
VMI has low expectations, and has played close games so Wachenheim is relatively safe.
The Citadel expects a great team once a decade or two, so there shouldn't be any rush to fire. It is interesting that El Cid's best recent years with Houston and Thompson were with players recruited by Kevin Higgins.
Hatcher seems to have hit a glass ceiling, but the team is entertaining and has done too well to let him go.
Bobby Lamb has done a great job starting up Mercer's program. This year's team has been somewhat of a letdown. If the Bears sit at home watching ETSU in the playoffs this year, people may get a little antsy. BL has always seemed to be a good coach, but not a great coach.
Spiers is the coach who should worry. It had seemed that he had turned things around in Cullowhee, but has never made the playoffs. Some of that can be blamed on playing 2 FBS games many years, but still disappointing to a team that once played in the National Championship game. Right now the program is heading in the wrong direction.

[Reign of Terrier]

With all this ciphering going on about Playoff scenarios, there is something that may be overlooked. Even if Samford wins Saturday, a trip next week to The Citadel is no easy task. The Citadel is a very dangerous team especially at home. We definitely have our work cut out for us both at home against that Terrier defense, and then the next 2 weeks on the road. We will see.Also ETSU is tough as nails at home, undefeated this year. Last year, they lost close ones to Wofford and the Citadel and beat Mercer. And as you probably know, they beat Samford at home two years ago.

I'm not joking when I say they probably have the best home field advantage in the conference. They probably have the best local support in the conference and pack their admittedly small stadium (I think it sits <10k), which is a great strategy.

Socon better watch out for the Bucs. They're already here.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Reign of Terrier]

As far as SoCon coaches on the hot seat, I don't see any imminent firings, but there are a few feeling some warmth.
Conklin, Hendrix, Arth, and Sanders are safe. They may all be gone in 5 years, but likely moving up not out.
VMI has low expectations, and has played close games so Wachenheim is relatively safe.
The Citadel expects a great team once a decade or two, so there shouldn't be any rush to fire. It is interesting that El Cid's best recent years with Houston and Thompson were with players recruited by Kevin Higgins.
Hatcher seems to have hit a glass ceiling, but the team is entertaining and has done too well to let him go.
Bobby Lamb has done a great job starting up Mercer's program. This year's team has been somewhat of a letdown. If the Bears sit at home watching ETSU in the playoffs this year, people may get a little antsy. BL has always seemed to be a good coach, but not a great coach.
Spiers is the coach who should worry. It had seemed that he had turned things around in Cullowhee, but has never made the playoffs. Some of that can be blamed on playing 2 FBS games many years, but still disappointing to a team that once played in the National Championship game. Right now the program is heading in the wrong direction.I think Houston was in his third year when he was successful. I would guess, knowing absolutely nothing about these institutions internally, that Hatcher is probably on the hot seat if they don't win a conference title or playoff game by 2020.

I don't think Western will fire Spier. He is their best coach since that one legendary coach they had in the 80s that I can't remember his name.

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[PaladinFan]

As far as SoCon coaches on the hot seat, I don't see any imminent firings, but there are a few feeling some warmth.
Conklin, Hendrix, Arth, and Sanders are safe. They may all be gone in 5 years, but likely moving up not out.
VMI has low expectations, and has played close games so Wachenheim is relatively safe.
The Citadel expects a great team once a decade or two, so there shouldn't be any rush to fire. It is interesting that El Cid's best recent years with Houston and Thompson were with players recruited by Kevin Higgins.
Hatcher seems to have hit a glass ceiling, but the team is entertaining and has done too well to let him go.
Bobby Lamb has done a great job starting up Mercer's program. This year's team has been somewhat of a letdown. If the Bears sit at home watching ETSU in the playoffs this year, people may get a little antsy. BL has always seemed to be a good coach, but not a great coach.
Spiers is the coach who should worry. It had seemed that he had turned things around in Cullowhee, but has never made the playoffs. Some of that can be blamed on playing 2 FBS games many years, but still disappointing to a team that once played in the National Championship game. Right now the program is heading in the wrong direction.

As I noted previously, I'd be surprised to see Hendrix go anywhere. He's 55, just moved closer to home and is probably not an ideal "climb the ladder" candidate at this stage. I would think Furman is a fairly cushy gig if you are content with being an FCS coach.

Lamb's an interesting case. His teams consistently finish around .500. His last 8 win SoCon season was 2006 (the last time his team made the FCS playoffs). Mercer is no longer the plucky upstart. How long will the administration be content with a program that seems to be spinning its wheels a bit?

Some of that may depend on ETSU. If the Bucs make the post season having started their program after Mercer, that probably isn't a great vote of confidence for Coach Lamb.

[FUBeAR]

I think Houston was in his third year when he was successful. I would guess, knowing absolutely nothing about these institutions internally, that Hatcher is probably on the hot seat if they don't win a conference title or playoff game by 2020.

I don't think Western will fire Spier. He is their best coach since that one legendary coach they had in the 80s that I can't remember his name.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using TapatalkHouston’s 2015 ElCid Team won the SoCon (6-1) & went to the 2nd round of the Playoffs in his 2nd (and final) year there. The Players recruited by the previous staff were Sr’s in 2016. Since those Players have departed, CIT is 7-11 overall & 5-9 in the SoCon.

Bob Waters was the Head Football Coach at Western Carolina from 1969-1988 & AD there from 1971-1986...and a heckuva Coach & a great man, who was stricken with & died in 1989 of ALS, at only 50 years of age. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Waters

[ETSUfan1]

I don’t think Chattanooga is out of it yet. ETSU could very well lose their last two games which would put them out and a team like Chattanooga possibly in. I will say that if ETSU beats Mercer, and Wofford beats Samford, I think ETSU gets in. That will make ETSU most likely finish as the second-place team.

[ETSUfan1]

Another interesting scenario for the bucs. Much like the Wofford scenario where they could stay at home. Let’s imagine ETSU beats Mercer and Samford beats Wofford. That would make ETSUs game with Samford a win and youre conference champions scenario for ETSU. But if the Bucs lose, you could have a bunch of teams sitting right there at 6-2. And somebody is not going to make it. ETSU probably has the weakest resume.

[Reign of Terrier]

ETSU, and any Socon team finishing 8-3 or better is in. Period.

The only team that didn't have those numbers was probably Chattanooga in 2013, when they played a 12 game schedule (I think?) And didn't have a quality win, so they were like a 7-4 team. I'm going on memory here so I could be wrong. Also, the socon was perceived as down because Wofford finished 5-6 that year and App State and GSU were both not on par to what they had been.

Wofford didn't make the playoffs twice at 8-3 or better (2002/2004), but that was with a 16 team playoff. With 24 teams, it's just not likely to happen again.

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[PaladinFan]

ETSU, and any Socon team finishing 8-3 or better is in. Period.

The only team that didn't have those numbers was probably Chattanooga in 2013, when they played a 12 game schedule (I think?) And didn't have a quality win, so they were like a 7-4 team. I'm going on memory here so I could be wrong. Also, the socon was perceived as down because Wofford finished 5-6 that year and App State and GSU were both not on par to what they had been.

Wofford didn't make the playoffs twice at 8-3 or better (2002/2004), but that was with a 16 team playoff. With 24 teams, it's just not likely to happen again.

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Potentially related, but I also think a few of the CAA teams have backloaded schedules.

Rhode Island, who has been a surprise, still has to play Elon and James Madison, which could easily knock them off the bubble.

Maine still has Towson and Elon.

Towson still has JMU, Elon, and Maine.

So, there's a pretty good chance that the CAA cannibalizes itself the last three weeks of the season.

[PaladinFan]

Two Paladins named SoCon POTW. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=211778061&_ga=2.56319211.1533557611.1540829959-1406335793.1516044874

Hard to argue against Perryman. 12 tackles, sack, and a scoop and score.

Grayson Atkins wins his second consecutive STPTW. A week after hitting 3 50+ yard field goals, he averaged over 50 yards a punt, including an 81 yarder. I wonder how many players have won special teams player of the week for their work as both a kicker and punter.

The 81 yarder was an impressive boot. Of course any kick of that distance is going to have a nice bounce. However, unlike a lot of super long punts, this one was probably at least 50 in the air and sailed over the Citadel return man's head. I don't know if he just underestimated Atkins' leg, but that ball went flying past him, hit the turf, and probably rolled for 25 yards.

Not often you see a team punt on their own 10 yard line and then the offense take over on the other 10 yard line.

[Reign of Terrier]

You would think Wofford, sitting at 6-2 (5-1) with the inside shot at the autobid would have more players recognized as POTW but there's literally 0

[PaladinFan]

You would think Wofford, sitting at 6-2 (5-1) with the inside shot at the autobid would have more players recognized as POTW but there's literally 0

It has very little to do with how good the team is. There's really not an agenda. Teams like Wofford and Furman, whose offense distributes the ball to more players than most offenses, likely won't put up video game numbers for a single player on offense.

Besides, Wofford players were recognized a bunch last season. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=211686444

[wcugrad95]

Agree - this is primarily a stats-driven award. Adams did actually win for the second week in a row, but I suspect he would trade both of those awards for a couple of wins. YT - from the cheap seats, you really want to be 5-1 with no POTW versus 1-5 with I think 3 or 4 POTWs :)

[Catamount87]

As far as SoCon coaches on the hot seat, I don't see any imminent firings, but there are a few feeling some warmth.
Conklin, Hendrix, Arth, and Sanders are safe. They may all be gone in 5 years, but likely moving up not out.
VMI has low expectations, and has played close games so Wachenheim is relatively safe.
The Citadel expects a great team once a decade or two, so there shouldn't be any rush to fire. It is interesting that El Cid's best recent years with Houston and Thompson were with players recruited by Kevin Higgins.
Hatcher seems to have hit a glass ceiling, but the team is entertaining and has done too well to let him go.
Bobby Lamb has done a great job starting up Mercer's program. This year's team has been somewhat of a letdown. If the Bears sit at home watching ETSU in the playoffs this year, people may get a little antsy. BL has always seemed to be a good coach, but not a great coach.
Spiers is the coach who should worry. It had seemed that he had turned things around in Cullowhee, but has never made the playoffs. Some of that can be blamed on playing 2 FBS games many years, but still disappointing to a team that once played in the National Championship game. Right now the program is heading in the wrong direction.

No, Speir is safe but some of the assistants might be feeling a warming seat. Overall special teams have been an issues. We've have a couple of great punters who's talents went to waste in some regards by less than ideal coverage. We've not had a super strong PKer in a good while. A lot of fans are growing tired of the short kickoffs that are giving opponents decent field position and our less than average kickoff returns.

[Reign of Terrier]

It has very little to do with how good the team is. There's really not an agenda. Teams like Wofford and Furman, whose offense distributes the ball to more players than most offenses, likely won't put up video game numbers for a single player on offense.

Besides, Wofford players were recognized a bunch last season. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=211686444

One could argue Andre Stoddard got hosed a couple times this year for Adams recognition. Stoddard is on pace to rush for 1000 yards and then some this year.

Also TJ Luther caught 2 passes for 121 yards and 2 TDs Saturday.

[wcugrad95]

As far as SoCon coaches on the hot seat, I don't see any imminent firings, but there are a few feeling some warmth.
Conklin, Hendrix, Arth, and Sanders are safe. They may all be gone in 5 years, but likely moving up not out.
VMI has low expectations, and has played close games so Wachenheim is relatively safe.
The Citadel expects a great team once a decade or two, so there shouldn't be any rush to fire. It is interesting that El Cid's best recent years with Houston and Thompson were with players recruited by Kevin Higgins.
Hatcher seems to have hit a glass ceiling, but the team is entertaining and has done too well to let him go.
Bobby Lamb has done a great job starting up Mercer's program. This year's team has been somewhat of a letdown. If the Bears sit at home watching ETSU in the playoffs this year, people may get a little antsy. BL has always seemed to be a good coach, but not a great coach.
Spiers is the coach who should worry. It had seemed that he had turned things around in Cullowhee, but has never made the playoffs. Some of that can be blamed on playing 2 FBS games many years, but still disappointing to a team that once played in the National Championship game. Right now the program is heading in the wrong direction.

The WCU staff is getting plenty of heat on the Catamount message boards. Speir has been here 7 years, and the three 7-win seasons give him some slack given the historical ineptitude of Western football. But we have upped what we pay football coaches and there is a thought that we should be making it to the playoffs and not having 2 or 3 good years, 1 or 2 bad ones, and no really good ones. Bob Waters is the legendary coach at Western, and he took us to our ONLY playoff appearance that led all the way to the championship game in 1983. Since then, we have only had one other coach match Speir's 7 years (Steve Hodgin was there in the early to mid-90s). Oddly, Speir was an assistant on that staff. Hodgin was let go after 7 years and a 31-45 record. Speir through 6 years and 8 games has an eerily similar 29-48, but he struggled through 2 full-on reclamation projects coming off the last clown of a coach we had.

The consensus is Speir is a heckuva nice guy, great representative of the school, good leader of men, and came with a history of a good position coach and strong recruiter. But the question is can he get over the hump? I personally admire him as a man, but Western supporters are wondering how good of a head coach he is given we have neglected the defensive side of the ball, tend to make lots of mental mistakes (penalties, turnovers, etc.). I don't condone firing any FCS coach during the year unless there is something going on that is detrimental to a school or program, but I no doubt think he is on the hot seat at the end of his current contract (runs through 2020) if we aren't back pushing for a playoff spot next year.

[wcugrad95]

One could argue Andre Stoddard got hosed a couple times this year for Adams recognition. Stoddard is on pace to rush for 1000 yards and then some this year.

Also TJ Luther caught 2 passes for 121 yards and 2 TDs Saturday.

Again - stat-driven. Adams accounted for nearly 400 yards and 5 TDs.

[The Cats]

One could argue Andre Stoddard got hosed a couple times this year for Adams recognition. Stoddard is on pace to rush for 1000 yards and then some this year.

Also TJ Luther caught 2 passes for 121 yards and 2 TDs Saturday.


In 8 games, Tyrie has 784 yards rushing. Tyrie also has 1,714 yards passing, 16 passing TDs, 7 rushing TDs, and a total of 2392 yards of total offense.

In 8 games, Stoddard has 730 yards rushing and has 9 TDs.

If Stoddard is on pace for 1000 yards rushing, I think you can count Tyrie in on that as well.

So, tell me how Stoddard has been hosed a couple of times this year by Tyrie Adams selections?

[Reign of Terrier]

In 8 games, Tyrie has 784 yards rushing. Tyrie also has 1,714 yards passing, 16 passing TDs, 7 rushing TDs, and a total of 2392 yards of total offense.

In 8 games, Stoddard has 730 yards rushing and has 9 TDs.

If Stoddard is on pace for 1000 yards rushing, I think you can count Tyrie in on that as well.

So, tell me how Stoddard has been hosed a couple of times this year by Tyrie Adams selections?

So what you're saying is the week to week player of the week should be applied based on yearly stats and we should only allow dual threat QBs to be awarded. Gotcha. No one is saying that Adams isn't a good player, but it's kind of maddening to give the award constantly to just QBs, especially in losing efforts.

Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball, it's almost as if the media, etc only knows Devon Watson exists. He's had minimal highlights this year, and yet he's the one who gets recognition. Maybe he's a shut down corner and has his own island, but I think looking at just stats is lazy.

[The Cats]

So what you're saying is the week to week player of the week should be applied based on yearly stats and we should only allow dual threat QBs to be awarded. Gotcha. No one is saying that Adams isn't a good player, but it's kind of maddening to give the award constantly to just QBs, especially in losing efforts.

Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball, it's almost as if the media, etc only knows Devon Watson exists. He's had minimal highlights this year, and yet he's the one who gets recognition. Maybe he's a shut down corner and has his own island, but I think looking at just stats is lazy.


No, you made the statement that Stoddard was on his way to a 1,000 yard rushing season as justification, I just showed you that Tyrie was ahead of him in that race, as well as the many other things Adams had done to date.

Had you named a specific week(s) where you thought Tyrie had "hose" Stoddard, I'd have utilized only the statics for that week(s) you brought up.

[Reign of Terrier]

he had 200 yards rushing against GW, for 10 ypc. I know he threw for 400 yards against Furman on that day, but it was in a loss.

[Milktruck74]

With all this ciphering going on about Playoff scenarios, there is something that may be overlooked. Even if Samford wins Saturday, a trip next week to The Citadel is no easy task. The Citadel is a very dangerous team especially at home. We definitely have our work cut out for us both at home against that Terrier defense, and then the next 2 weeks on the road. We will see.

The best thing Citadel has in it's favor against the ALabama Bulldogs is their ability to eat away clock.....The best way to keep Hodges from finding an open receiver is to keep him over on the sidelines.

[Milktruck74]

Also ETSU is tough as nails at home, undefeated this year. Last year, they lost close ones to Wofford and the Citadel and beat Mercer. And as you probably know, they beat Samford at home two years ago.

I'm not joking when I say they probably have the best home field advantage in the conference. They probably have the best local support in the conference and pack their admittedly small stadium (I think it sits <10k), which is a great strategy.

Socon better watch out for the Bucs. They're already here.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

I like the smaller FILLED stadium over a Big one with more empty seats than full. I went to Chattanoga at ETSU a few weeks back and the atmosphere was very nice (not too much a fan of the outcome, though). I live in JC, and the city has embraced the Bucs. They have solid supporrt. I see lots of Blue and Gold on Gameday. It is not quite like App State was, but getting close. While you still see some of that awful Orange around campus and even in the stadium during a game, they are solidly Blue and gold....My Wife is back in school at ETSU and my HS Junior is dual enrolled....I might actually root for the Bucs as a second, when not playing the Mocs!!!!! Maybe....Still not quite there!!!! I will say, Brian Noland is doing the right things here athletically!!!!

[Reign of Terrier]

I wish Wofford's stadium seated 2k less so we could have that atmosphere

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[FUBeAR]

I know he [Adams] threw for 400 yards against Furman on that day

...and threw for 5 TD’s...and ran for another 66 positive yards...and played the entire 2nd half with broken/cracked rib(s) or sternum while being battered relentlessly by Furman’s D.

Skinny dude may be the toughest Football Player in the SoCon, if not all of FCS...maybe all college football.

A real shame his Coaches didn’t trust him enough to leave the ball in his hands, in the 4th quarter, on the 3rd & 1 or 4th & 2, that would have all but closed out their game with ETSU, who had no timeouts remaining. Sure, they were at their own 33, which would mean Punting on 4th down would be the right/safe call for most Teams, but NOT for WCU in 2018, with their Special Teams & D, and WITH Tyrie Adams. He was the ‘safe money’ to pick up 1 or 2 yards there.

BTW - Paladin Fan’s HS’s backup RB could go for over 200 against Gardner Webb’s D.

[ETSUfan1]

Everyone ETSU has played in conference this year, aside from Wofford, can play the what-if game with ETSU. I still can't believe it....ETSU has won 5 conference games by a TOTAL of 13 points.

[ETSUfan1]

What's going on with Mercer's injuries. Top 2 QB's possibly out along with RB Mitchell?

[Reign of Terrier]

Everyone ETSU has played in conference this year, aside from Wofford, can play the what-if game with ETSU. I still can't believe it....ETSU has won 5 conference games by a TOTAL of 13 points.

Just like Wofford last year

[gofurman]

What's going on with Mercer's injuries. Top 2 QB's possibly out along with RB Mitchell?

How about Furman? Top two QBs couldn't play this week. (Appears number two is not available because we are red shirting him?). Plus top RB Morehead. Plus best OL. Plus most athletic cornerback Trapp (our Clemson transfer out last 2 weeks ). Plus maybe one or two LB


THis post just caught me bc it's exactly - the two QB plus top RB where Furman is plus A lot more

we we were playing 7 sophomore and freshman on offense at times v Citadel. And one senior

[FUBeAR]

What's going on with Mercer's injuries. Top 2 QB's possibly out along with RB Mitchell?

Correct.
#1 QB Riddle went down vs. CIT with less than 20 seconds left in the game - probably will not return this season
#2 QB Riley sprained ankle (apparently, badly) on Mercer's 2nd series @ Wofford. Continued to play, but was seriously 'hobbled'
#1 RB Mitchell injured shoulder also on Mercer's 2nd series @ Wofford. Left game after being tackled on 10 yard carry and did not return.

FUBeAR's opinion for ETSU game...
#1 QB Riddle - OUT
#1 RB Mitchell - OUT
#2 QB Riley - Doubtful

#3 QB is a R-FR walk-on, who did not start for his HS Team. Other than as the FG/XP Holder this season, he took his 1st College snap in 'mop up' time @ Wofford (Final possession of the game, beginning with 3:08 on the clock). He did fairly well against mostly Wofford's 2nd Team Players, playing with mostly Mercer's 2nd & 3rd Team 'skill players' (with the exception of the OL - Mercer left a few of their Starting OL in the game for Frost's debut, which I think was a wise decision).



Player
Cmp
Att.
Yds.
TD
INT
Long
Sack


Harrison Frost (https://mercerbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5343)
5
8
61
1
0
25
0




Took them on a nice scoring drive...



TOTAL
10 plays , 89 yards Time of Possession: 3:03

[gofurman]

Correct.
#1 QB Riddle went down vs. CIT with less than 20 seconds left in the game - probably will not return this season
#2 QB Riley sprained ankle (apparently, badly) on Mercer's 2nd series @ Wofford. Continued to play, but was seriously 'hobbled'
#1 RB Mitchell injured shoulder also on Mercer's 2nd series @ Wofford. Left game after being tackled on 10 yard carry and did not return.

FUBeAR's opinion for ETSU game...
#1 QB Riddle - OUT
#1 RB Mitchell - OUT
#2 QB Riley - Doubtful

#3 QB is a R-FR walk-on, who did not start for his HS Team. Other than as the FG/XP Holder this season, he took his 1st College snap in 'mop up' time @ Wofford (Final possession of the game, beginning with 3:08 on the clock). He did fairly well against mostly Wofford's 2nd Team Players, playing with mostly Mercer's 2nd & 3rd Team 'skill players' (with the exception of the OL - Mercer left a few of their Starting OL in the game for Frost's debut, which I think was a wise decision).



Player
Cmp
Att.
Yds.
TD
INT
Long
Sack


Harrison Frost (https://mercerbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5343)
5
8
61
1
0
25
0




Took them on a nice scoring drive...



TOTAL
10 plays , 89 yards Time of Possession: 3:03




FUBeAR. Any chance you think Riley and Mitchell are out a good while ?

[gofurman]

Question for Chattanooga fans . Who is out injured for the Mocs? What position. Were they starters?

i watched you play Wofford. They said Tavon Lawson was out. Is he back at LB?

Furman is IFFY (it's in our game notes) as you probably know with our QB. Our fifth year senior QB jersey #15 got a concussion and hasn't played in a week or so.. So at Citadel we played our third QB Lincoln # 12 because our second QB Grainger jersey #4 is - it appears ? Being redshirted. So you will either get out top QB jersey 15 or our third string jersey 12. We may be missing our best OL _ he is number 66 ...and our best RB jersey #3 Morehead hasn't played in two weeks.

Think We are basically healthy on D but our best athlete - Clemson transfer - Trapp at CB hasn't played in two weeks

[PaladinFan]

Everyone ETSU has played in conference this year, aside from Wofford, can play the what-if game with ETSU. I still can't believe it....ETSU has won 5 conference games by a TOTAL of 13 points.

They are essentially doing what Wofford did last year. Plenty of chances to lose games, but find ways to win them.

[PaladinFan]

Re Samford and Wofford.

I like Samford.

Samford is coming off a bye week and plays Wofford and Citadel back to back. So, you know they've had a heavy dose of practice against the option.

The Bulldog defense is, surprisingly, 3rd in the SoCon against the rush (conference only stats). I think those numbers are a bit skewed, of course, because Samford has not faced either of the top two rushing offenses yet (Citadel/Wofford). They did fare well against Furman and WCU, the 3rd and 4th rated rush offenses.

Samford also is probably the closest team that can replicate how Furman was able to attack the Wofford defense. Samford is less deceptive than Furman in their use of formations, shifts, and motion, but does have the personnel to attack the Terrier defense on the edge, which is where they seem most vulnerable. The Bulldog offense can avoid the Terrier's greatest strength defensively (the interior front seven) and can get after perhaps their biggest weakness (pass coverage linebackers).

I expect a 27-24ish type game with Samford coming out a winner.

[Milktruck74]

Question for Chattanooga fans . Who is out injured for the Mocs? What position. Were they starters?

i watched you play Wofford. They said Tavon Lawson was out. Is he back at LB?

Furman is IFFY (it's in our game notes) as you probably know with our QB. Our fifth year senior QB jersey #15 got a concussion and hasn't played in a week or so.. So at Citadel we played our third QB Lincoln # 12 because our second QB Grainger jersey #4 is - it appears ? Being redshirted. So you will either get out top QB jersey 15 or our third string jersey 12. We may be missing our best OL _ he is number 66 ...and our best RB jersey #3 Morehead hasn't played in two weeks.

Think We are basically healthy on D but our best athlete - Clemson transfer - Trapp at CB hasn't played in two weeks


We are surprisingly health....Well, as healthy as you can be in week 9. I may be missing someone, but off hand I can't think of any body that is out. Lawson is back, so that is good. We are very thin at DL, but have been all year. Mahaffey was tossed early in the VMI game and that one stung (the Kid from VMI had a beautiful flop....Oscar worthy), but he should be well rested!!!!

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR. Any chance you think Riley and Mitchell are out a good while ?
LOL - you mean like thru 11/17?

JUST MY OPINION / GUESS - ABSOLUTELY ZERO KNOWLEDGE - I think Mitchell is done for the season/college career (too bad :( - hopefully, regardless of the Team one might ‘pull for,’ no one is happy if that is the case) and Riley could be done for the season as well...or he could be back this week - ankle sprains are ALWAYS uncertain.

But...Riddle may be back by 11/17...who knows?

[Reign of Terrier]

Storyline to watch Saturday is Wofford's backup Miller Moseley. He got a concussion against Mercer and the Terriers only have a walk on as Newman's backup.

[sudog03]

Re Samford and Wofford.

I like Samford.

Samford is coming off a bye week and plays Wofford and Citadel back to back. So, you know they've had a heavy dose of practice against the option.

The Bulldog defense is, surprisingly, 3rd in the SoCon against the rush (conference only stats). I think those numbers are a bit skewed, of course, because Samford has not faced either of the top two rushing offenses yet (Citadel/Wofford). They did fare well against Furman and WCU, the 3rd and 4th rated rush offenses.

Samford also is probably the closest team that can replicate how Furman was able to attack the Wofford defense. Samford is less deceptive than Furman in their use of formations, shifts, and motion, but does have the personnel to attack the Terrier defense on the edge, which is where they seem most vulnerable. The Bulldog offense can avoid the Terrier's greatest strength defensively (the interior front seven) and can get after perhaps their biggest weakness (pass coverage linebackers).

I expect a 27-24ish type game with Samford coming out a winner.

On a yard per rush basis, using league games only WCU is 2nd, Mercer is 3rd. Just because you do something alot (Citadel), doesn't mean your actually good at it. Samford's rush defense is 2nd using the yard allowed per rush metric. With that said, Wofford will be able to run the ball Saturday, just don't think Samford's rush defense is as porous as some would like to portend.

[PaladinFan]

On a yard per rush basis, using league games only WCU is 2nd, Mercer is 3rd. Just because you do something alot (Citadel), doesn't mean your actually good at it. Samford's rush defense is 2nd using the yard allowed per rush metric. With that said, Wofford will be able to run the ball Saturday, just don't think Samford's rush defense is as porous as some would like to portend.

I agree on the Citadel. You have to wonder if they need to stick with the option. It's a unique offense in college football, but they aren't particularly dangerous running it and do so in a league where every team is used to seeing it.

[Reign of Terrier]

The thing with the citadel is that they are just as good on offense as they are on defense, by almost all measure. You could say they are average, or if you're being less charitable, medicore.

I'd like to think of them as the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Socon.

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[sudog03]

Storyline to watch Saturday is Wofford's backup Miller Moseley. He got a concussion against Mercer and the Terriers only have a walk on as Newman's backup.

Newman scares me to death. His athleticism/quickness allows him to make something out of nothing. Several times in the game last season in the 2nd half, we would have him dead to rights and he would make something out of it.

[Reign of Terrier]

Also WRT to Wofford vs Samford, I don't know what to expect. Apparently Samford has implemented more quick passing over the last few weeks and Wofford has incorporated more wrinkles in our defense progressively over the year.

It'll be unlike any game either has played thus far, except maybe Kennesaw

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[longtimemocfan]

Everyone ETSU has played in conference this year, aside from Wofford, can play the what-if game with ETSU. I still can't believe it....ETSU has won 5 conference games by a TOTAL of 13 points.Hey if we'd just managed the the clock better in our game with you guy's I think it goes OT or we win. Not hardly the fact of the matter Is ETSU won the game and their is absolutely nothing anyone can do or say to change the outcome. You'll find out a lot of posters on here are all about shoulda coulda woulda.

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[sudog03]

Also WRT to Wofford vs Samford, I don't know what to expect. Apparently Samford has implemented more quick passing over the last few weeks and Wofford has incorporated more wrinkles in our defense progressively over the year.

It'll be unlike any game either has played thus far, except maybe Kennesaw

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I don't think its really as simple as just more quick passing. We went a few weeks where I think we were trying to do too much. Using a TE formation heavily, moving some of our WR's around, and calling way too many run plays. We actually had more runs than passes against KSU, where we had to play come from behind virtually all game. We run an option offense too, just by throwing. Meaning our WR's have option routes based on what the defense is doing. When we started playing inside guys outside and vice versa, I think we caused our kids to think too much. This offense is best when it's finding it's balance between different numbers of WR's catching passes in a game instead of trying to find balance between run/pass. Since the KSU game, we've gotten back to 4/5 wide sets, playing guys at their original positions, and running our plays at a quicker pace.

[Scrappy94]

1. Wofford
2. Chattanooga
3. ETSU
4. Samford
5. Furman
6. Mercer
7. The Citadel
8. Western Carolina
9. VMI

Chattanooga @ Furman - 24-20
Tusculum @ VMI - 41-21
Wofford @ Samford - 28-27
ETSU @ Mercer - 30-24
The Citadel @ Western Carolina - 38-35

[Reign of Terrier]

I don't think its really as simple as just more quick passing. We went a few weeks where I think we were trying to do too much. Using a TE formation heavily, moving some of our WR's around, and calling way too many run plays. We actually had more runs than passes against KSU, where we had to play come from behind virtually all game. We run an option offense too, just by throwing. Meaning our WR's have option routes based on what the defense is doing. When we started playing inside guys outside and vice versa, I think we caused our kids to think too much. This offense is best when it's finding it's balance between different numbers of WR's catching passes in a game instead of trying to find balance between run/pass. Since the KSU game, we've gotten back to 4/5 wide sets, playing guys at their original positions, and running our plays at a quicker pace.Someone on Wofford's message board made the comment that Samford is at their best when there's minimal pre-snap deception by the defense and when the defense plays zone. Most of Samford's completions come from within 15 yards or so. And if you can cover Hodges' first two options, he'll run with it and you win that play. Supposedly that's the template that Kennesaw showcased and that's why Samford has reverted to a more quick-pass oriented game plan

I don't feel it's too arrogant to say that Wofford may have the most talented secondary in the conference. At the very least, it's among the best and in years past we have criminally underused their potential with a simplistic scheme.

I'm looking forward to this one because I have confidence that we can dial something up and execute it better than we have in years past. Will that mean a win? Who knows, but I don't think it'll be a shoot out.



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[sudog03]

Someone on Wofford's message board made the comment that Samford is at their best when there's minimal pre-snap deception by the defense and when the defense plays zone. Most of Samford's completions come from within 15 yards or so. And if you can cover Hodges' first two options, he'll run with it and you win that play. Supposedly that's the template that Kennesaw showcased and that's why Samford has reverted to a more quick-pass oriented game plan

I don't feel it's too arrogant to say that Wofford may have the most talented secondary in the conference. At the very least, it's among the best and in years past we have criminally underused their potential with a simplistic scheme.

I'm looking forward to this one because I have confidence that we can dial something up and execute it better than we have in years past. Will that mean a win? Who knows, but I don't think it'll be a shoot out.



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I would imagine any option based offense works best with minimal pre-snap deception from the defense. And yes, a hallmark of this offense is to get our playmakers the ball in space. But anybody that spends much time watching Samford over the 3 game stretch of Mercer, UTC, and KSU vs. WCU, VMI, Furman can see much more significant differences than just utilizing quick passes. For instance, no TE formation, 1 and 6 back playing exclusively slot positions, running our offense at a quicker pace, etc.

[walliver]

Power Rankings:
1) Samford - not the best record overall, but playing well now, although I expected them to play better against Furman
2) Wofford - Still at the top in the standings
3) ETSU - They haven't impressed me in any way other than winning football games (which is what really matters)
4) Furman - It depends on which FU team shows up this week
5) Chattanooga - no big wins or dramatic losses come to mind
6) Mercer - somewhat of a let-down year
7) The Citadel - they try harder
8) WCU - ETSU finds a way to win, WCU finds a way to lose
9) VMI - at least some things are constant in the poll

Chattanooga at Furman - The Puke offense is running full blast, but the train-bird's isn't either. Furman wins 28-17
Tusculum at VMI - VMI has scored points lately, and fights to a 56-52 win
Wofford at Samford - Ayers's defenses always struggled against Samford - their offense plays to our great weakness. Hopefully Conklin has stirred things up enough for a 27-21 Terrier win.
ETSU at Mercer - I anticipate a defensive struggle - out at least offensive weakness on both sides. The cubbies complete a few long ones downfield and beat the Mountain Pirates 24-20 (but somehow ETSU still finds a way to win?).
The Citadel at Western Carolina - The team with the fewest turnovers wins, and I'll go with the Chucktown Pups over the Cants, as WCU somehow finds a way to lose.

Playoffs:
I predict Wofford and ETSU.
Samford can only get to 6 D-I wins (and no OOC D-I wins) and needs the autobid
Chattanooga needs to beat FU or Mercer to grab the third spot.

[FUGameBreaker]

Furman's 7 game path to the autobid (lol)

Furman beats UTC at home
Samford beats Wofford at home
Mercer beats ETSU at home

Furman wins at VMI
Citadel beats Samford at home

Furman wins at Mercer
Samford wins at ETSU


Booooom! xthumbsupx

[sudog03]

Can someone please explain to me how Samford got in the playoffs in 2012 with only 6 D1 wins??? I'll hang up and listen, thanks.

[PaladinFan]

Someone on Wofford's message board made the comment that Samford is at their best when there's minimal pre-snap deception by the defense and when the defense plays zone. Most of Samford's completions come from within 15 yards or so. And if you can cover Hodges' first two options, he'll run with it and you win that play. Supposedly that's the template that Kennesaw showcased and that's why Samford has reverted to a more quick-pass oriented game plan

I don't feel it's too arrogant to say that Wofford may have the most talented secondary in the conference. At the very least, it's among the best and in years past we have criminally underused their potential with a simplistic scheme.

I'm looking forward to this one because I have confidence that we can dial something up and execute it better than we have in years past. Will that mean a win? Who knows, but I don't think it'll be a shoot out.



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Samford is effectively a ball control offense, much like Wofford. They just prefer to control the ball by passing and using space whereas Wofford prefers to constrict the space and run it.

Wofford has a good secondary. Where I think Furman was able to confuse the Terrier defense a bit was by mixing changing their assignments. Now, I think Furman is a lot more likely to shift personnel than Samford is, but the Paladins seemed to know Wofford's defensive keys and ended up finding matchups.

We all realize how good McKnight is, but I really thought Samford's secret weapon was Jai'rus Creamer. Creamer is called a WR in Samford's offense, but every other program in the country would call him a TE. He's a big body with great receiving skills and works the first down line well.

[FUBeAR]

Can someone please explain to me how Samford got in the playoffs in 2012 with only 6 D1 wins??? I'll hang up and listen, thanks.I hope the caller is still listening. Samford was 7-4, with 6 D1 wins, in 2012. They did not make the Playoffs. So, the answer to “...how Samford got in the Playoffs in 2012 with only 6 D1 wins” is, “They didn’t.”

We have time for 1 more caller on the FUBeAR FCS AnswerLine.

[Reign of Terrier]

Well they did get in in 2016 at 7-4 and 6 D1 wins. They accomplished that by beating Wofford (and UCA?) as a quality win(S).

They lack a quality win this year. Beating Wofford won't be enough. 6-5 with that win won't be good enough.

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[woffordgrad94]

Furman's 7 game path to the autobid (lol)

Furman beats UTC at home
Samford beats Wofford at home
Mercer beats ETSU at home

Furman wins at VMI
Citadel beats Samford at home

Furman wins at Mercer
Samford wins at ETSU


Booooom! xthumbsupx
It could all happen. The SoCon can be a crazy conference sometimes!

[SU DOG]

OK, 2016 then. But hey, does it really matter the year? After all, according to so many posters on AGS, seven is a minimum by the rules. Usual, yes, but a set in stone rule? NO!
Did you get that answer line?

[FUBeAR]

Furman's 7 game path to the autobid (lol)

Furman beats UTC at home
Samford beats Wofford at home
Mercer beats ETSU at home

Furman wins at VMI
Citadel beats Samford at home

Furman wins at Mercer
Samford wins at ETSU


Booooom! xthumbsupxIf Mercer wasn’t (most likely) down to starting a 3rd Team R-FR QB, who didn’t even start for his HS Team AND (most likely) without their All-Time leading rusher, I’d say all games have a good probability of going FU’s way, except Samford @ CIT.

As it is, I think there are 2 ‘long reaches’ & 1 (Woffy @ SAM.), maybe 2 (Sam. @ ETSU) Toss-ups in that mix of 7 games.

Long odds FUGB...

[PaladinFan]

An aside.

I've been really impressed with Furman's young trio of backs, Devin Wynn, Corey Watkins, and Darius Morehead. They are used far more sparingly than the fullback battery Furman displayed last year, but each is averaging over 6.6 yards per carry. Morehead, arguably the fastest of the three, averages 7.6 yards per carry. I don't think Morehead qualifies statistically, but if he did, those three guys would all be top 10 in ypc in the SoCon.

These aren't just scat backs either. Wynn and Watkins, in particular, "run angry." They get to the end of their run, pick out a guy, and lower their shoulder to finish a run. Not a lot of running out of bounds with those two.

[FUBeAR]

OK, 2016 then. But hey, does it really matter the year? After all, according to so many posters on AGS, seven is a minimum by the rules. Usual, yes, but a set in stone rule? NO!
Did you get that answer line?I think someone made up “7” and it stuck around these parts. There was some language in something published by the Committee at one time, which stated something to the effect of ‘Teams with less than 6 D1 wins will have a devil of a time being considered.’ I believe they have since removed even that ‘6 win’ language from those selection guidelines.

But...I could be wrong about this one. I know that’s shocking, but FUBeAR is ALWAYS honest.

If someone provides other info, just be sure they cite a reliable source for their info to avoid today’s ever-present confirmation bias.

Next Caller.

[PaladinFan]

I think someone made up “7” and it stuck around these parts. There was some language in something published by the Committee at one time, which stated something to the effect of ‘Teams with less than 6 D1 wins will have a devil of a time being considered.’ I believe they have since removed even that ‘6 win’ language from those selection guidelines.

But...I could be wrong about this one. I know that’s shocking, but FUBeAR is ALWAYS honest.

If someone provides other info, just be sure they cite a reliable source for their info to avoid today’s ever-present confirmation bias.

Next Caller.

I think it just depends on the field. The 7 D1 wins may just be a vestige of the 16 playoff team era. Sometimes you are going to need a 6 win team to fill our a 24 team field.

The interesting case, I think, will be if Furman ends up 6-4 and Wofford 8-3 and neither is the autobid. Wofford has a better record against a much weaker schedule. They played more games due to no fault of Furman's. Furman beat Wofford by three touchdowns.

[kdinva]

UTC 21 @ Furman 23
Tusculum 17 @ VMI 49
Wofford 21 @ Samford 35
ETSU 27 @ Mercer 14
The Citadel 23 @ WCU 28

[FUGameBreaker]

UTC 21 @ Furman 23
Tusculum 17 @ VMI 49
Wofford 21 @ Samford 35
ETSU 27 @ Mercer 14
The Citadel 23 @ WCU 28



Good luck to VMI Saturday and hopefully you guys end the streak xthumbsupx

[sudog03]

I hope the caller is still listening. Samford was 7-4, with 6 D1 wins, in 2012. They did not make the Playoffs. So, the answer to “...how Samford got in the Playoffs in 2012 with only 6 D1 wins” is, “They didn’t.”

We have time for 1 more caller on the FUBeAR FCS AnswerLine.My selective dyslexia struck again. Thankfully my point was salient enough, that you knew what I meant anyway.

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[PaladinNation]

An aside.

I've been really impressed with Furman's young trio of backs, Devin Wynn, Corey Watkins, and Darius Morehead. They are used far more sparingly than the fullback battery Furman displayed last year, but each is averaging over 6.6 yards per carry. Morehead, arguably the fastest of the three, averages 7.6 yards per carry. I don't think Morehead qualifies statistically, but if he did, those three guys would all be top 10 in ypc in the SoCon.

These aren't just scat backs either. Wynn and Watkins, in particular, "run angry." They get to the end of their run, pick out a guy, and lower their shoulder to finish a run. Not a lot of running out of bounds with those two.

Wynn and Watkins showed some metal against The Citadel.
Both broke a bunch of tackles and pretty consistently ran through the first attempted tackle.
I hope we get Morehead back for Chatty, he hasn't played since he's great game against Wofford.
These three will be around a long time - 2 sophomores and one freshman.
I could see both Wynn and Watkins becoming 200-pound tailbacks.

I'm also digging the formations with two tailbacks in the backfield.

[FUBeAR]

My selective dyslexia struck again. Thankfully my point was salient enough, that you knew what I meant anyway.

Sent from my SM-G950U using TapatalkOf course I did, but it was more fun to respond as if I didn’t

[sudog03]

Samford is effectively a ball control offense, much like Wofford. They just prefer to control the ball by passing and using space whereas Wofford prefers to constrict the space and run it.

Wofford has a good secondary. Where I think Furman was able to confuse the Terrier defense a bit was by mixing changing their assignments. Now, I think Furman is a lot more likely to shift personnel than Samford is, but the Paladins seemed to know Wofford's defensive keys and ended up finding matchups.

We all realize how good McKnight is, but I really thought Samford's secret weapon was Jai'rus Creamer. Creamer is called a WR in Samford's offense, but every other program in the country would call him a TE. He's a big body with great receiving skills and works the first down line well.Nobody has benefited more from us putting Mcknight back in the slot exclusively than Creamer. In our 3 game losing stretch of Mercer, UTC, KSU, 4 catches. 18 catches in the 3 game winning streak after. You can bracket two inside receivers fairly effectively, but when you do that, it's going to leave you exposed out wide. Creamer has taken advantage.

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[gofurman]

No, Speir is safe but some of the assistants might be feeling a warming seat. Overall special teams have been an issues. We've have a couple of great punters who's talents went to waste in some regards by less than ideal coverage. We've not had a super strong PKer in a good while. A lot of fans are growing tired of the short kickoffs that are giving opponents decent field position and our less than average kickoff returns.

Can I have the DC job at Western? They apparently give you a lot of leeway ... jk with you man

[gofurman]

We are surprisingly health....Well, as healthy as you can be in week 9. I may be missing someone, but off hand I can't think of any body that is out. Lawson is back, so that is good. We are very thin at DL, but have been all year. Mahaffey was tossed early in the VMI game and that one stung (the Kid from VMI had a beautiful flop....Oscar worthy), but he should be well rested!!!!

Man. How is anyone not missing one or two plYers in week 8 or so ?

What would you say your strength and weaknesses are on O and D ? I watched you play Wofford some. You appeared to struggle defending the option some though you have now played Woff and Citadel. Have you improved Vs the option any?

Looked like you struggled running Vs a Woff but passed moderately well?

Our strength on O is a question bc our QB is an unknown. Varies based on who can play. We are decent at option runs either way

Our D is definitely better at stopping the run. We held Wofford to their season low of 14 pts. We held Citadel to
Their season low of 17 pts. But we have trouble defending the pass. We allowed Western to score 38 and Samford also scored 38 though part of that was our QB got knocked out of the game so our O
Couldn’t stay on the field. ETSU who is a 50 50 run pass scored 29 on us. Definite pattern

[gofurman]

Someone on Wofford's message board made the comment that Samford is at their best when there's minimal pre-snap deception by the defense and when the defense plays zone. Most of Samford's completions come from within 15 yards or so. And if you can cover Hodges' first two options, he'll run with it and you win that play. Supposedly that's the template that Kennesaw showcased and that's why Samford has reverted to a more quick-pass oriented game plan

I don't feel it's too arrogant to say that Wofford may have the most talented secondary in the conference. At the very least, it's among the best and in years past we have criminally underused their potential with a simplistic scheme.

I'm looking forward to this one because I have confidence that we can dial something up and execute it better than we have in years past. Will that mean a win? Who knows, but I don't think it'll be a shoot out.



Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

No dog in this fight. I was very Impressed with Hidges running when he had to. Yes, he wants to throw but when necessary he can both run for a few yds AND run laterally and keep his head looking to his receivers. This is very tough to defend. Now his recvrs have had 6 seconds to get open. It was this - running to the sideline and then making a throw just before going out I was impressed with.

Like an Armanti Edwards light. Extending plays. Throws better than Edwards but less athlete. Very dangerous when the OL breaks down. You have to be careful if you blitz. He has seen it all and will hit a hot recvr or find a lane to get 3+ yards w legs. Can't blitz him too much with reckless abandon. Have to keep lane assignments

[FUBeAR]

PowerPoll

Still callin' 'em like I see 'em THIS WEEK (only) - with injuries, etc. all factored in...

1) Samford - I think they beat Wofford this week, so I gotta put 'em here. As FUBeAR predicted, their D is improving and it's enough to put them in the lead here...not sure if they'll make the playoffs with the help they need and only (maybe) 6 D1 wins...But, with wins over FU, Wofford (as projected below), and (possibly) ETSU, they might be able to make a case.

2) Wofford - Good all-around Football Team - If QB situation begins to become similar to Mercer's - i.e., if backup is out for any extended period (as is often the case with concussions these days) or even just this week, based on what I saw last Sat., they BETTER put the reins on Newman - and that O...without a QB threat to run the ball...just does not work. Defense is good, but not good enough to win against Samford or in the Playoffs without their O clicking on all cylinders.

3) Furman - I have faith in Lincoln and in FU's Staff to tweak the FU O to optimize the use of his skills. I also have faith in Roberts. Defense is playing good ball - 2nd half letdown vs. Samford notwithstanding and I think they do a pretty good job of shutting down Chatt this week. VMI, coming off a BIG win and starting a NEW WINNING STREAK, the following week may be more of a challenge, but I think the 'Dins rise to that occasion too. By the time, they get to Mercer, the Bears may be playing with one of their Champion Debate Team kids at QB, so the path looks like good for the Paladins. Some help and/or some Red Cross/FEMA-like compassion by the Committee....and we may be playing Football for a while! EDIT: If I knew Roberts were healthy, I would have Furman at #2 and Wofford at #3. Might make that same switch if I KNEW Woffy’s back-up QB is out.

4) Chatt - I don't know how much better, if any, Chatt is than ETSU - they seem fairly similar to me, but I'm ranking them ahead of the Bucs because they didn't almost lose to WCU AND VMI. Well, they did almost, almost lose to VMI, but you feelin' me, right?

5) ETSU - a bevy of shoulda's and shouldn't-a's associated with this Team...but they keep winning. They aren't great, but they do have some talented Players who seem DRIVEN to win (or not lose - which is even more powerful).

6) CIT - Hard-luck Team this year. Actually better than I expected, but all-around...still not great. They just seem like CIT Teams of old - several good Players, but not real threatening anywhere.

7) WCU - Their PLAYERS overall effort against ETSU was fantastic. That alone, and the fact that Tyrie Adams still plays for them...and finished the game upright last Saturday, moves them up this week.

8) Mercer - BIG drop this week for the Bears - without Riddle, Riley (probably), and Mitchell (probably), their Offense is...well...it ISN'T. The performance of the Defense remains baffling to FUBeAR. Special Teams are GOOD though!!!

9) VMI - lose to Tusculum and FUBeAR is OFFICIALLY dropping the Keydets from his PowerPoll entirely, until they win a D1 game. Win against them and finish STRONG...and I could see this Team moving up as high as #4 in the FUBeAR PowerPoll. They 'shoulda' beat Chatt, ETSU, and WCU..and maybe CIT (have never watched the end of that game - don't know).


PICK 'EM

As ol' FUBeAR seems to have his chakras in serious need of alignment, he is allowing his good friend, Vito, to pick the games this week...

Chattanooga @ Furman - FUBeAR Favorite, JeMar Lincoln, has another strong game and playing the part of Tony Manero/Barry Gibb/John Travolta leads the Paladins to a Saturday Early Afternoon Fever-esque 24-20 Victory ("And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Ah, ha, ha, ha, staying alive. Ah ha ha, ha, stayin' alive!")

Tusculum @ VMI - Coach Wachenheim channels his inner Gloria Gaynor in this one ("Oh no, not I, I will survive. Oh, as long as I know how to win, I know I'll stay alive!"). Keydets end their 25 game losing streak after over 2 years without a victory (VMI beat ETSU 37-7 on 10/8/16 in their most recent win - UNTIL SATURDAY!) Keydets send the Pioneers down the dusty road 43-25 (and the entire SoCon breathes a collective sigh of relief!!!)

Wofford @ Samford - Phil Collins gets inside Coach Hatcher's skin for the duration of this battle and calls on Samford's passing attack and Baptist affiliation to vanquish those near-heathen Methodists out of Homewood and back to SparkleCity ("I can feel it coming IN THE AIR tonight, oh Lord. And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord. Can you feel it coming IN THE AIR tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord!"). Ahmad Gooden also has a BIG game and disrupts what may become a very depleted QB battery for the RatDogs. Woffy's talented, experienced, & wily secondary Players are much better at concealing their holding and interfering than others (Yale, for example) from the, as always, inept SoCon Officials, but that's not going to be enough this week against a Starting QB, who can move & run to enable him to distribute the ball to his talented cadre of Retrievers OR take off down the field, if needed or the opportunities to do so arise...and they will. Bulldogs take this one 31-27.

ETSU @ Mercer - Mercer will probably be starting a R-FR QB, who did not start for his High School Team and has a grand total of 11 college snaps as a QB under his belt. Based on the way the season has gone, I expect him to be forced to exit the game after he gets Maduafokwa'd up in the 1st series to be replaced by either the R-FR walk-on son of a former Furman WR, who has never played a down or a True FR QB from Georgia, Bryce "I'm not Trevor" Lawrence, who has never played a down. But the good news is (not) that Mercer's all-time leading rusher will probably not play either. Right now, to be honest, I hope the Bears are working on some 1st Down Punt strategies, to optimally utilize their SoCon Leading Punter, Matt Shiel. Wonder if he can run or pass? He is an Aussie Rules guy...they do both in that, don't they? Has a native Aussie ever started an NCAA Football game @ QB? Call ESPN - we may have a 1st in Macon! Well, maybe the Offense won't be clicking on all cylinders, but the next piece of good news is (not) that Mercer's Defense is 7th, 8th, or 9th in almost every Defensive Category except Avg Fumble Return Yards (#1) and Red Zone Defense (#2). So, maybe the right strategy for Mercer's "Offense" is to give ETSU the ball on Mercer's 20 and hope for a Fumble/Fumble Return for a TD. It could work....But WAIT...What's that Vito hears? It's Coach Lamb channeling Lindsey Buckingham ("Been down one time. Been down two times. I'm never going back again. You don't know what it means to win. NEVER GOIN' BACK AGAIN!") Vito says the Bears are going to give the MountainPiratesOfGreatFortune some of their own medicine and find a way to win this one, 30-26. (FUBeAR ain't buyin' it, but Vito is not easy to refuse...y'know.)

The Citadel @ Western Carolina - Unfortunately, in this one, we have Tyrie Adams, perhaps oddly, summoning Jackson Browne & part of WCU's Medical Staff to tell us Mr. Adams' story ("Doctor, my eyes have seen the years and the slow parade of fears without crying...I'VE DONE ALL THAT I COULD...you must help me if you can...tell me what is wrong...People go just where they will (on our Defense)...I hear their cries...Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry"). Wasting another amazing effort by Tyrie Adams, in Cullowhee, perhaps his penultimate one there, the Catamounts’ lights fade out as the bellhops ask Mr. Adams if they can carry his luggage to where he'll be playing as a G-TR next year (don't shoot FUBeAR - that's what Vito is planning to lay odds on as part of his off-season FCS "Prop Bets" card). bellhops win 39-35.

[PaladinNation]

Bear, related to comments in your power poll.

JeMar Lincoln has gotten zero respect and quickly fell to the 3rd QB for most of this season. Against the Dogs IMO we saw a QB that has a great presence - he stays calm and appears to not get rattled.

Would I call him an explosive QB - not yet - but he's steady and elusive, and he compliments a loaded backfield of horses.

[PaladinFan]

3) Furman - I have faith in Lincoln and in FU's Staff to tweak the FU O to optimize the use of his skills. I also have faith in Roberts. Defense is playing good ball - 2nd half letdown vs. Samford notwithstanding and I think they do a pretty good job of shutting down Chatt this week. VMI, coming off a BIG win and starting a NEW WINNING STREAK, the following week may be more of a challenge, but I think the 'Dins rise to that occasion too. By the time, they get to Mercer, the Bears may be playing with one of their Champion Debate Team kids at QB, so the path looks like good for the Paladins. Some help and/or some Red Cross/FEMA-like compassion by the Committee....and we may be playing Football for a while!



I don't think there's any serious debate that Furman's best option at QB this season is Harris Roberts. If he is in the game, I'd give Furman a better than average shot of beating just about anyone. He's struggled to stay healthy this year, which is a bummer for him and the team.

The backup question is a bit more interesting. It seems to me the coaching staff is more bullish on Grainger than Lincoln. Lincoln, though, seems like a better fit in the offense as currently constructed.

Of the three QBs we've seen primarily this year (not counting Sisson's ill-fated series), Grainger certainly seems behind the other two in running the option. I give him a bit of a pass there simply because he only played QB a single season in high school, missed significant time to injury, and even as a QB ran a very different type of system. His physical tools, arm, and makeup appear undeniably good, though.

The question I have is whether Furman ends up molding an offense to Grainger's skill sets, or trying to develop him into a QB that will run Furman's current offense. I presume there is a reason you don't see a lot of 6'4 QBs under center and running the option around college football. One of my major criticisms of the last coaching staff is that they seemed insistent on running an offense designed for PJ Blazejowski with Reese Hannon.

Personally, if Furman were inclined to take a transfer QB, this would be the offseason to do it. Furman has 6 QBs on roster (two of which seem unlikely to ever see playing time at QB) and they are all either freshmen or seniors. Without a transfer, Furman goes into next season with, I presume, 2 sophomores (Lincoln and Hardin) and two freshmen (Grainger and Sisson). It'd be nice to have a guy come in that could play a year or two and hand the starting reigns over to Grainger/Sisson/Lincoln after a few years in the program.

[FUBeAR]

Bear, related to comments in your power poll.

JeMar Lincoln has gotten zero respect and quickly fell to the 3rd QB for most of this season. Against the Dogs IMO we saw a QB that has a great presence - he stays calm and appears to have a not get rattled.

Would I call him an explosive QB - not yet - but he's steady and elusive, and he compliments a loaded backfield of horses.

- - - Updated - - -

Bear, related to comments in your power poll.

JeMar Lincoln has gotten zero respect and quickly fell to the 3rd QB for most of this season. Against the Dogs IMO we saw a QB that has a great presence - he stays calm and appears to have a not get rattled.

Would I call him an explosive QB - not yet - but he's steady and elusive, and he compliments a loaded backfield of horses.
Yeah - just listening to Coach Hendrix’ post-game comments after the CIT game, something came thru there that tells me there is something about what Lincoln has done or has not done at practice and/or, PERHAPS, the way he responded to not being awarded the Starting job before/after Spring Practice, that has been holding him back. Just to be clear, Coach Hendrix didn’t say ANYTHING like that and I have NO KNOWLEDGE of these things, I just try to listen very carefully when Head Coaches are talking about QB’s - listen to what they say & what they don’t say...and I form an OPINION. If I am correct, any/all of these things can be overcome with solid performances on gameday. I expect, if Roberts doesn’t play, Mr. Lincoln puts some more weight on the good side of that ledger.

[wcugrad95]

@FUBeAR - regarding Adams, earlier your reasoning for his transfer was because of the budding "QB controversy" between him and Will Jones. That was never the case - Jones primarily played a series or two here or there until Tyrie was injured. And now it will be because he is called upon to be the best player and do too much?

I kinda get what you are saying about winning, but if he graduates this Spring the only transferring I think he would do is up to FBS - and I don't know how many good, winning teams at that level are looking for an RPO QB out of the SoCon that weighs ***maybe*** 185. Adam's will finish this season just a little shy of the all-time WCU total offense record, and will have a handful of other school records left to claim (he has a few already). So I think he is back with basically all the skill guys other than Mathis returning.

[FUBeAR]

@FUBeAR - regarding Adams, earlier your reasoning for his transfer was because of the budding "QB controversy" between him and Will Jones. That was never the case - Jones primarily played a series or two here or there until Tyrie was injured. And now it will be because he is called upon to be the best player and do too much?

I kinda get what you are saying about winning, but if he graduates this Spring the only transferring I think he would do is up to FBS - and I don't know how many good, winning teams at that level are looking for an RPO QB out of the SoCon that weighs ***maybe*** 185. Adam's will finish this season just a little shy of the all-time WCU total offense record, and will have a handful of other school records left to claim (he has a few already). So I think he is back with basically all the skill guys other than Mathis returning.I’ll send you a link to Vito’s FCS Off-season Prop Bets Parlay, when he releases it. Depending upon the odds he lays, you may be able to make a bundle bettin’ on “Stays” then!

Oh...and I don’t believe I ever said my hunch about Adams’ impending departure was ALL about the WCU Coaches & Fans positioning of Mr. Jones vs. Mr. Adams. That’s just a part of the whole tapestry.

[walliver]

...

ETSU @ Mercer - Mercer will probably be starting a R-FR QB, who did not start for his High School Team and has a grand total of 11 college snaps as a QB under his belt. Based on the way the season has gone, I expect him to be forced to exit the game after he gets Maduafokwa'd up in the 1st series to be replaced by either the R-FR son of a former Furman WR, who has never played a down or a True FR QB from Georgia, Bryce "I'm not Trevor" Lawrence, who has never played a down. But the good news is (not) that Mercer's all-time leading rusher will probably not play either. Right now, to be honest, I hope the Bears are working on some 1st Down Punt strategies, to optimally utilize their SoCon Leading Punter, Matt Shiel. Wonder if he can run or pass? He is an Aussie Rules guy...they do both in that, don't they? Has a native Aussie ever started an NCAA Football game @ QB? Call ESPN - we may have a 1st in Macon! Well, maybe the Offense won't be clicking on all cylinders, but the 2nd piece of good news is (not) that Mercer's Defense is 7th, 8th, or 9th in almost every Defensive Category except Avg Fumble Return Yards and Red Zone Defense (#2). So, maybe the right strategy for Mercer's "Offense" is to give ETSU the ball on Mercer's 20 and hope for a Fumble/Fumble Return for a TD. It could work....But WAIT...What's that Vito hears? It's Coach Lamb channeling Lindsey Buckingham ("Been down one time. Been down two times. I'm never going back again. You don't know what it means to win. NEVER GOIN' BACK AGAIN!") Vito says the Bears are going to give the MountainPiratesOfGreatFortune some of their own medicine and find a way to win this one, 30-26. (FUBeAR ain't buyin' it, but Vito is not easy to refuse...y'know.)

...

You just need to remember to remind the punter that he can advance the ball by throwing, not punching, the ball. That bouncing the ball while running is not good. And not to stop short of the goal line and kick the ball.

[FUBeAR]

You just need to remember to remind the punter that he can advance the ball by throwing, not punching, the ball. That bouncing the ball while running is not good. And not to stop short of the goal line and kick the ball.
https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-07-2015/ZbUrIr.gif

[PaladinNation]

no way I think this happens… but I would love to see Adams in a different color purple for one season.

[wcugrad95]

Not that this really fits in this thread, but even with the 2 injury-plagued games against Samford and Chattanooga, Adams needs 705 total yards in the last 3 games to set the single-season total offense record for WCU. That is an average of 235 combined passing and rushing yards. The problem - two triple option teams who by design frequently limit the number of possessions in a game. And then an FBS team at the end (even though UNC is awful, they still took out a season's worth of frustrations against the Cats in the last game last year where Adams only played part of it). So it might be tough to get there, and he may need to come back next year to get that record and the few that will be left that he needs (just shy of the total TDs accounted for, climbing on the completions/completion percentage list, and is already #2 on the all-time total offense that is easily within grasp with another good year).

Again, I think he would trade a bunch of those stats and POTW awards for wins, though. But I at least want to recognize him for how special he is, and also hope that our SRs have at least 1 more win in them after how heartbreaking the ETSU ending was.

[ElCid]

Not that this really fits in this thread, but even with the 2 injury-plagued games against Samford and Chattanooga, Adams needs 705 total yards in the last 3 games to set the single-season total offense record for WCU. That is an average of 235 combined passing and rushing yards. The problem - two triple option teams who by design frequently limit the number of possessions in a game. And then an FBS team at the end (even though UNC is awful, they still took out a season's worth of frustrations against the Cats in the last game last year where Adams only played part of it). So it might be tough to get there, and he may need to come back next year to get that record and the few that will be left that he needs (just shy of the total TDs accounted for, climbing on the completions/completion percentage list, and is already #2 on the all-time total offense that is easily within grasp with another good year).

Again, I think he would trade a bunch of those stats and POTW awards for wins, though. But I at least want to recognize him for how special he is, and also hope that our SRs have at least 1 more win in them after how heartbreaking the ETSU ending was.

Well we will do our best to limit his chances. I really want to go, but my wife can't go and I would have to go solo. I may still just show up. The leaves are awesome right now as well.

[PaladinFan]

Yeah - just listening to Coach Hendrix’ post-game comments after the CIT game, something came thru there that tells me there is something about what Lincoln has done or has not done at practice and/or, PERHAPS, the way he responded to not being awarded the Starting job before/after Spring Practice, that has been holding him back. Just to be clear, Coach Hendrix didn’t say ANYTHING like that and I have NO KNOWLEDGE of these things, I just try to listen very carefully when Head Coaches are talking about QB’s - listen to what they say & what they don’t say...and I form an OPINION. If I am correct, any/all of these things can be overcome with solid performances on gameday. I expect, if Roberts doesn’t play, Mr. Lincoln puts some more weight on the good side of that ledger.

Obviously the coaches know these players better than I do. I didn't see anything about Lincoln's performance on Saturday against a pretty good Citadel defense in what has historically been a tough venue for Furman to suggest he shouldn't be a fine option going forward.

I think the new redshirt rules change that whole equation of course. If Furman was going to lose Grainger's redshirt by playing him, I suspect they either would have played him to begin with and kept him in there, or played Lincoln to begin with and kept him in there.

[PaladinFan]

Not that this really fits in this thread, but even with the 2 injury-plagued games against Samford and Chattanooga, Adams needs 705 total yards in the last 3 games to set the single-season total offense record for WCU. That is an average of 235 combined passing and rushing yards. The problem - two triple option teams who by design frequently limit the number of possessions in a game. And then an FBS team at the end (even though UNC is awful, they still took out a season's worth of frustrations against the Cats in the last game last year where Adams only played part of it). So it might be tough to get there, and he may need to come back next year to get that record and the few that will be left that he needs (just shy of the total TDs accounted for, climbing on the completions/completion percentage list, and is already #2 on the all-time total offense that is easily within grasp with another good year).

Again, I think he would trade a bunch of those stats and POTW awards for wins, though. But I at least want to recognize him for how special he is, and also hope that our SRs have at least 1 more win in them after how heartbreaking the ETSU ending was.

It has got to be monumentally frustrating for him in particular. Adams is essentially carrying Western Carolina, but he can't play defense for them.

[The Cats]

he had 200 yards rushing against GW, for 10 ypc. I know he threw for 400 yards against Furman on that day, but it was in a loss.


I don't recall the award being titled "SoCon Offensive Player of the Week (but only for a team that won)"

[Reign of Terrier]

I don't recall the award being titled "SoCon Offensive Player of the Week (but only for a team that won)"

You must like participation trophies as well.

[PaladinFan]

You must like participation trophies as well.

I mean, Furman lost to Samford, but are you honestly going to argue that Atkins, who tied a D1 record with three 50+ yard field goals, shouldn't have been the special teams player of the week because his team lost?

There have been four major league baseball players that have won the MVP while playing on last place teams. (Bonus points if you can name them without googling - I got two).

[Reign of Terrier]

I mean, Furman lost to Samford, but are you honestly going to argue that Atkins, who tied a D1 record with three 50+ yard field goals, shouldn't have been the special teams player of the week because his team lost?

There have been four major league baseball players that have won the MVP while playing on last place teams. (Bonus points if you can name them without googling - I got two).

Counterpoint: Baseball is for old people

[PaladinFan]

Counterpoint: Baseball is for old people

I'd disagree with you, but I don't want to leave here in handcuffs.

[The Cats]

You must like participation trophies as well.

Nope, just award the offensive player of the week to the player that earns it, not just the best player on some team that won that week.

I hate participation trophies, but you must like 'em, since you don't want the best player to get the award.

[wcugrad95]

So back to week 10...

All home teams EXCEPT my Catamounts are favored (at least according to the wise guys). Is anybody surprised with ETSU, Wofford, and Chattanooga (the three teams leading the conference standings) ALL getting points this weekend?

[Reign of Terrier]

Massey has Samford favored by 2% probability. That's a coin flip.

[woffordgrad94]

I mean, Furman lost to Samford, but are you honestly going to argue that Atkins, who tied a D1 record with three 50+ yard field goals, shouldn't have been the special teams player of the week because his team lost?

There have been four major league baseball players that have won the MVP while playing on last place teams. (Bonus points if you can name them without googling - I got two).
Andre Dawson of the Cubs was one, back in 1987 I think. Would have to Google for the others...

[woffordgrad94]

So back to week 10...

All home teams EXCEPT my Catamounts are favored (at least according to the wise guys). Is anybody surprised with ETSU, Wofford, and Chattanooga (the three teams leading the conference standings) ALL getting points this weekend?
Not really. All three are on the road, for starters. Wofford hasn’t beaten Samford since 2014. Samford has has two weeks to prep for Wofford. ETSU is still an unproven team to some and the Bucs play much better at home. And Furman seems to be hitting their stride right now, playing much better than earlier.

[wcugrad95]

Massey has Samford favored by 2% probability. That's a coin flip.

I said the wise guys. Betting lines have Samford favored by 7 points last I saw. So I am asking if the top 3 teams in the standings being underdogs surprises anybody? With how the SoCon season has gone, I am not surprised by anything. I would probably only be surprised by WCU and Citadel playing in a low-scoring defensive battle (primarily because of WCU's D) or ETSU being involved in a blowout!

[Reign of Terrier]

Mercer-ETSU should be close because Mercer may start their walk on at QB and is down their all time leading rusher. They still have great athletes on offense that will push ETSU but the more i think of it the more I think ETSU should be favored just because of all the question marks.

Wofford-Samford is about right. We haven't beaten them in 4 years, they have a bye, and they are at home. From what I can tell the Terriers are more focused on this one than any other game we've played this year and I think Conklin and his mad scientist defensive brain is the man to do it. But they should be favored over Wofford for the aforementioned reason.

Chattanooga has a good defense that struggled against teams that ran option principles this year. Furman runs option principles and, with a healthy QB, is the best offense at doing it. Chattanooga's offense is good for taking advantage of Furman's defense. That one should be close as well.

It's gonna be a close week of football either way.

[wcugrad95]

Not really. All three are on the road, for starters. Wofford hasn’t beaten Samford since 2014. Samford has has two weeks to prep for Wofford. ETSU is still an unproven team to some and the Bucs play much better at home. And Furman seems to be hitting their stride right now, playing much better than earlier.

Counterpoint: Wofford (per YT) has a better D than normal and a much better O, Mercer very well might be starting a RS FR with 11 plays of experience (and they didn't look normal even with the hobbled Riley last week), and if Furman's #15 isn't back I think they might struggle against a UTC defense that in my opinion is better than Citadel's.

Again, I am not surprised with anything in the SoCon this season. So every underdog very well might win.

[FUBeAR]

ETSU being involved in a blowout!Really?

If Mercer had played WCU with a walk-on RS-FR who didn’t even start for his High School Team as their Starting QB & without Mitchell (over 200 yards total o & 2 TD’s), what do you think the score of the WCU @ Mercer game would have been?

[wcugrad95]

My point FUBeAR is more based on the season so far - ETSU has scored EXACTLY the same amount of points as they have given up (+13 in their wins and -13 in their loss). I get your downplay attempt, but Mercer might do something crazy like run the single-wing with either Irvin or Durden or Devezin taking the direct snap. But I am not going to be surprised if Riley plays. I just think it is not in ETSU's DNA to NOT play a close game :-)

[gofurman]

I mean, Furman lost to Samford, but are you honestly going to argue that Atkins, who tied a D1 record with three 50+ yard field goals, shouldn't have been the special teams player of the week because his team lost?

There have been four major league baseball players that have won the MVP while playing on last place teams. (Bonus points if you can name them without googling - I got two).

Being from the Sumter SC area I have a baseball signed by Bobby Richardson. He is the ONLY WORLD SERIES MVP EVER - ever - to be selected from the losing World Series team

his team didn't win. But he was the best player and they all knew it

PF. You might want to give it a quick read. He is a great guy. Signed baseballs for my children

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Richardson

[PaladinFan]

Andre Dawson of the Cubs was one, back in 1987 I think. Would have to Google for the others...

I believe the others are Ernie Banks, Alex Rodriguez, and Cal Ripken. I think Banks did it twice.

[PaladinFan]

Doesn’t mean much, but Harris Roberts is listed as the starter on Furman’s depth chart released yesterday.

Against the Citadel, he was listed as an “OR” on the depth chart.

[wcugrad95]

Not always, but ***usually*** listed as the starter and not an -OR- is a good indication the guy will play. Of course WCU had a game where Adams was the -OR- and I really didn't expect him to dress out and he started. So you never know.

[PaladinFan]

Not always, but ***usually*** listed as the starter and not an -OR- is a good indication the guy will play. Of course WCU had a game where Adams was the -OR- and I really didn't expect him to dress out and he started. So you never know.

My understanding is Roberts went out with a concussion against Samford. So, he missed most of that game, and the Citadel game. I don't know what the concussion protocol is, but two weeks seems like it would probably be typical.

Last week Furman had all four QBs listed as "or." It seems like if Roberts is playing, Furman is content to leave JeMar Lincoln as the backup and continue with their plan to redshirt Grainger and Sisson. I think that's a fine strategy. Roberts is your best option at QB, Lincoln showed himself plenty capable last week, and the coaching staff can get an entire other season out of Grainger, who they clearly like a lot.

[FUBeAR]

My understanding is Roberts went out with a concussion against Samford. So, he missed most of that game, and the Citadel game. I don't know what the concussion protocol is, but two weeks seems like it would probably be typical.

Last week Furman had all four QBs listed as "or." It seems like if Roberts is playing, Furman is content to leave JeMar Lincoln as the backup and continue with their plan to redshirt Grainger and Sisson. I think that's a fine strategy. Roberts is your best option at QB, Lincoln showed himself plenty capable last week, and the coaching staff can get an entire other season out of Grainger, who they clearly like a lot.Not the same everywhere & FUBeAR is anything but a medical professional...but recovery time from concussions varies WIDELY - from 1 week to, um, never. The way I believe most Teams assess this these days is using a series of diagnostic tests during the pre- or off-season to establish a baseline for each student-athlete. When concussion symptoms arise, they are placed into ‘protocol’ which means treatment (to some & varying extent), limited activity, careful observation of symptoms, and regular assessment against the established baseline. When symptoms abate AND the baseline score (or close to the baseline score - not sure) can be attained, they are ‘released’ from ‘protocol,’...but not until...and may return to practice & competition. I’m sure there is much more to it than that explanation. Perhaps, some actual Athletics Medical Professional posts here and can truly enlighten us.

Good sign to see Roberts listed as the Starter. I was standing next to where he walked from the field back around to the Football Offices/Training Room (not to the end zone field house) during the 2nd quarter of the Samford game and he was definitely ‘on queer street’ as it used to be called in boxing lingo - glassy-eyed and unsteady. Wouldn’t have minded seeing Lincoln get another solid performance and win under his belt though. I think FU beats Chatt with either of them behind Center.

[PaladinFan]

Not the same everywhere & FUBeAR is anything but a medical professional...but recovery time from concussions varies WIDELY - from 1 week to, um, never. The way I believe most Teams assess this these days is using a series of diagnostic tests during the pre- or off-season to establish a baseline for each student-athlete. When concussion symptoms arise, they are placed into ‘protocol’ which means treatment (to some & varying extent), limited activity, careful observation of symptoms, and regular assessment against the established baseline. When symptoms abate AND the baseline score (or close to the baseline score - not sure) can be attained, they are ‘released’ from ‘protocol,’...but not until...and may return to practice & competition. I’m sure there is much more to it than that explanation. Perhaps, some actual Athletics Medical Professional posts here and can truly enlighten us.

Good sign to see Roberts listed as the Starter. I was standing next to where he walked from the field back around to the Football Offices/Training Room (not to the end zone field house) during the 2nd quarter of the Samford game and he was definitely ‘on queer street’ as it used to be called in boxing lingo - glassy-eyed and unsteady. Wouldn’t have minded seeing Lincoln get another solid performance and win under his belt though. I think FU beats Chatt with either of them behind Center.

We've come a long way.

[FUBeAR]

We've come a long way.So...you see that as being somewhat different than, “He knows his name, more or less where he is, and he has some response to an ammonia capsule placed directly under his nose. He’s good to go. Let’s get him back in there NOW!”

[PaladinFan]

So...you see that as being somewhat different than, “He knows his name, more or less where he is, and he has some response to an ammonia capsule placed directly under his nose. He’s good to go. Let’s get him back in there NOW!”

I never got hit so hard I couldn't remember what town I was in (we had a few guys that fell into that category). I do remember some games where my head wouldn't stop buzzing for most of the contest, though.

[FUBeAR]

I think Conklin and his mad scientist defensive brain is the man to do it.Interesting assessment. How 'bout breaking down for us just what the mad scientist was trying to do on D on this play?

The situation is early 4th quarter, Wofford up 35-7, but mostly Starters still in the game for both Teams. Mercer's ball 2nd & 10 at Wofford's 36 yard line.

https://twitter.com/MercerFootball/status/1056278108892872704


Note to Coach Hatcher - If they do that, do this.

[Reign of Terrier]

Interesting assessment. How 'bout breaking down what the mad scientist was trying to do on this play for us?

The situation is early 4th quarter, Wofford up 35-7, but mostly Starters still in the game for both Teams. Mercer's ball 2nd & 10 at Wofford's 36 yard line.

https://twitter.com/MercerFootball/status/1056278108892872704

Safety took a step in the wrong direction. We played too loose for much of the 4th quarter, Conklin said as much post-game.

Meanwhile, the only thing consistent this year is that, sans the Furman game, we're holding teams below their averages. Especially unbalanced teams.

[FUBeAR]

Safety took a step in the wrong direction. We played too loose for much of the 4th quarter, Conklin said as much post-game.

OR...3 Down Lineman - an extra DB in the game (I think)...making this a 3-3-5...and walking what has become the Mike LB to the field and sending him off the edge with no LB's in the middle of the field against 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE - 8 in the box vs., essentially, 3). Mercer only had to block 3 guys - the NG (Center did a very nice job), the LDE (good job by the RT also), and the R-OLB (who the LG screened fairly well). Hard to be much more unsound on D than this, honestly.

[Reign of Terrier]

OR...3 Down Lineman - an extra DB in the game (I think)...making this a 3-3-5...and walking what has become the Mike LB to the field and sending him off the edge with no LB's in the middle of the field against 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE - 8 in the box vs., essentially, 3). Mercer only had to block 3 guys - the NG (Center did a very nice job), the LDE (good job by the RT also), and the R-OLB (who the LG screened fairly well). Hard to be much more unsound on D than this, honestly.

And yet...it was only one play

[SU DOG]

FUBeAR, we probably need defensive tips much more than offensive ones. LOL!

[PaladinFan]

OR...3 Down Lineman - an extra DB in the game (I think)...making this a 3-3-5...and walking what has become the Mike LB to the field and sending him off the edge with no LB's in the middle of the field against 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE - 8 in the box vs., essentially, 3). Mercer only had to block 3 guys - the NG (Center did a very nice job), the LDE (good job by the RT also), and the R-OLB (who the LG screened fairly well). Hard to be much more unsound on D than this, honestly.

I think Conklin likes his defense to play with a bit of swagger. He wants a lot of man coverage and to get guys up in the offensive players face. I also think he doesn't particularly care if he disguises what he's doing.

If you've got the defensive players to pull that off, great. Better offenses will beat the crap out of you with that sort of thing, though.

On a related note, Wofford has faced one decent offense and got hammered. With Samford and WCU up, I wouldn't be signaling to those offenses that you are going to surrender the middle of the field to them presnap.

[Reign of Terrier]

I think Conklin likes his defense to play with a bit of swagger. He wants a lot of man coverage and to get guys up in the offensive players face. I also think he doesn't particularly care if he disguises what he's doing.

If you've got the defensive players to pull that off, great. Better offenses will beat the crap out of you with that sort of thing, though.

On a related note, Wofford has faced one decent offense and got hammered. With Samford and WCU up, I wouldn't be signaling to those offenses that you are going to surrender the middle of the field to them presnap.

Mercer has a great offense. Didn't get hammered in that one.

Arguably, we played a lot better against the pass happy teams (Chattanooga, VMI) on our schedule than the balanced or run/centered teams (Citadel, Furman). I don't know where you would group Mercer in there.

[FUBeAR]

Mercer has a great offense. Didn't get hammered in that one.

Arguably, we played a lot better against the pass happy teams (Chattanooga, VMI) on our schedule than the balanced or run/centered teams (Citadel, Furman). I don't know where you would group Mercer in there.LOL - Mercer vs. Woffy was neither. Mercer’s Offense played Wofford with a 1-legged backup QB & without their All SoCon / All-Time Leading Rusher in a Single Back Offense. They ran 1 running play - Inside Zone & pretty much 1 pass play (single WR Go/Fade) the entire game. As someone texted me during the game, “Inside run/deep ball on sideline. Playbook is a sheet of paper with 72 size font on each side.” A comparable Woffy example would be to take Newman out, have Mosley play on 1 leg without Stoddard, McAfee, or Morgan in the backfield. How “great” would Woffy’s Offense be in that case?

If you want to count that as a great performance by Wofford’s Defense, then I bet you would cheer for the lions when they are taking down the little baby zebras.

Regardless of all that, doing the crap I see on that Tweet video is a great way to get beat. That’s the kind of stuff you see in Rec Ball when some Coach/Dad wants to see Little Johnny make a BIG play to impress Grandpa.

[Reign of Terrier]

LOL - Mercer vs. Woffy was neither. Mercer’s Offense played Wofford with a 1-legged backup QB & without their All SoCon / All-Time Leading Rusher in a Single Back Offense. They ran 1 running play - Inside Zone & pretty much 1 pass play (single WR Go/Fade) the entire game. As someone texted me during the game, “Inside run/deep ball on sideline. Playbook is a sheet of paper with 72 size font on each side.” A comparable Woffy example would be to take Newman out, have Mosley play on 1 leg without Stoddard, McAfee, or Morgan in the backfield. How “great” would Woffy’s Offense be in that case?

If you want to count that as a great performance by Wofford’s Defense, then I bet you would cheer for the lions when they are taking down the little baby zebras.

Regardless of all that, doing the crap I see on that Tweet video is a great way to get beat. That’s the kind of stuff you see in Rec Ball when some Coach/Dad wants to see Little Johnny make a BIG play to impress Grandpa.

And yet your backup running back had a spectacular game (I think better than the starter ever had against us), your backup QB (hobbled as he was) was the starter last season on a team that almost beat Wofford.

Our front 3 got pressure and our secondary forced some coverage sacks: that wasn't on the QB or running back.

I love how I sandbag before the game and you get bullish and then afterwards our roles reverse.

[FUBeAR]

And yet your backup running back had a spectacular game (I think better than the starter ever had against us), your backup QB (hobbled as he was) was the starter last season on a team that almost beat Wofford.

Our front 3 got pressure and our secondary forced some coverage sacks: that wasn't on the QB or running back. if you don’t possess the basic level of understanding of how a seriously hobbled QB (especially one whose ‘pocket presence’ and ‘response to defensive pressure’ are the weakest parts of his skill set anyway) in a single-back Offense AND how not having 2 RB’s with different styles (especially without the 1 who is a known threat as a receiver out of the backfield), impacted those aspects of the game, then there’s really not much point in me tryin’ to ‘splain it to you.

It was lions vs. baby zebras.

That’s football though. Absolutely part of the game and Mercer definitely ‘earned’ their L, but Woffy’s D was in no way (or at least shouldn’t have been) challenged by what Mercer could bring to the battle after their 2nd Offensive series.

[Reign of Terrier]

if you don’t possess the basic level of understanding of how a seriously hobbled QB (especially one whose ‘pocket presence’ and ‘response to defensive pressure’ are the weakest parts of his skill set anyway) in a single-back Offense AND how not having 2 RB’s with different styles (especially without the 1 who is a known threat as a receiver out of the backfield), impacted those aspects of the game, then there’s really not much point in me tryin’ to ‘splain it to you.

It was lions vs. baby zebras.

That’s football though. Absolutely part of the game and Mercer definitely ‘earned’ their L, but Woffy’s D was in no way (or at least shouldn’t have been) challenged by what Mercer could bring to the battle after their 2nd Offensive series.

Sounds like a depth problem. I know one-back offenses aren't expected to have the same level of depth and rushing by committee as an option team, but if it's as important as you say it is, you'd think there would be more depth. Next man up is the mantra.

[Reign of Terrier]

One thing I didn't realize this year is how young Wofford is. Obviously, we're not Furman, but we have no seniors (in terms of eligibility) on the OL or among the tight ends, our leading receivers are juniors and a freshman. We lose Stoddard and McAfee, but they're the only seniors on the two deep. Only 4 of the 16 listed linebackers are upperclassmen.

Granted, some of this is probably what your average team looks like, but in terms of long-term development, Wofford's in a good spot and it contextualizes the program Ayers built and has given to Conklin. Right now, we already have something like 17 or 19 verbal commitments already, which is much earlier than usual.

Between this, Furman's growth, ETSU's growth, and Chattanooga's rebounding, I like where the socon is going to be over the next few yearsxthumbsupx

[FUBeAR]

Sounds like a depth problem. I know one-back offenses aren't expected to have the same level of depth and rushing by committee as an option team, but if it's as important as you say it is, you'd think there would be more depth. Next man up is the mantra.
Like I said, the L was earned, but the topic is Wofford’s D & your description of Coach Conklin as a mad scientist. We already saw what Furman’s excellent & innovative Offensive Coaches/Attack did to that lab experiment (on quite a few more plays than 1) and, when I saw this Tweet and what Woffy did on that play - how absolutely unsound they were, I was floored. Not much else to say, really. We’ll see how it plays out, but if they keep doing ish like this, I already know the answer.

[dungeonjoe]

if you don’t possess the basic level of understanding of how a seriously hobbled QB (especially one whose ‘pocket presence’ and ‘response to defensive pressure’ are the weakest parts of his skill set anyway) in a single-back Offense AND how not having 2 RB’s with different styles (especially without the 1 who is a known threat as a receiver out of the backfield), impacted those aspects of the game, then there’s really not much point in me tryin’ to ‘splain it to you.

It was lions vs. baby zebras.

That’s football though. Absolutely part of the game and Mercer definitely ‘earned’ their L, but Woffy’s D was in no way (or at least shouldn’t have been) challenged by what Mercer could bring to the battle after their 2nd Offensive series.
and it really doesn't matter because week to week, there has always been those on this board who will find ways to denigrate an opponent's win, especially if is their team who loses, and blows up a loss if their favorite team wins without considering any of the factors that seem good enough when their favorites lose. So be it. I guess that is the nature of football messageboards. I get weary of it.

[Reign of Terrier]

Like I said, the L was earned, but the topic is Wofford’s D & your description of Coach Conklin as a mad scientist. We already saw what Furman’s excellent & innovative Offensive Coaches/Attack did to that lab experiment (on quite a few more plays than 1) and, when I saw this Tweet and what Woffy did on that play - how absolutely unsound they were, I was floored. Not much else to say, really. We’ll see how it plays out, but if they keep doing ish like this, I already know the answer.You seem to prize anecdote over data. Looking at one play as if it were the course of the game or one game as if it were the course of the season.

Wofford has been in the top of the division on multiple defensive statistics, clearly improving on multiple measures from last year to this.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[PaladinFan]

Sounds like a depth problem. I know one-back offenses aren't expected to have the same level of depth and rushing by committee as an option team, but if it's as important as you say it is, you'd think there would be more depth. Next man up is the mantra.

Mercer is a bit like UTC, I think, with their offense. At full speed, the Bears have a pretty good unit. They tend, though, to distribute the ball to a far smaller number of players.

Just an example, Mercer's third leading rusher is Robert Riddle, a QB that hasn't played in a month. 7 Bears have registered a carry this season, only 3 are running backs (two are WRs and two are QBs - one who is injured and the other who has negative yardage on 21 attempts).

With the exceptions of Tyrie Adams and Devlin Hodges, there may not be a SoCon player as needed by his offense than Tee Mitchell is by Mercer.

[FUBeAR]

and it really doesn't matter because week to week, there has always been those on this board who will find ways to denigrate an opponent's win, especially if is their team who loses, and blows up a loss if their favorite team wins without considering any of the factors that seem good enough when their favorites lose. So be it. I guess that is the nature of football messageboards. I get weary of it.If you choose to incorrectly view my posts about the lack of technical soundness of what Wofford did on Defense vs. Furman & on this 1 play from the Mercer game that just completely made my jaw drop when I saw it today, as having the nature you have chosen to ascribe to them, then I don’t doubt you find your persistent perception tiresome.

On the other hand, if you view the commentary as tactical analysis of ‘X’s & O’s’ AND you really enjoy that aspect of the game of Football, then you might find the discussion interesting, enlighting, and even invigorating.

Completely your choice.

[FUBeAR]

You seem to prize anecdote over data. Looking at one play as if it were the course of the game or one game as if it were the course of the season.

Wofford has been in the top of the division on multiple defensive statistics, clearly improving on multiple measures from last year to this.I prize a sound X over an unsound O & vice-versa.

Furman’s O’s made Wofford’s X’s look like the Keystone Kops video I posted earlier this year to illustrate Paladin Fan’s text description of Mercer’s Defense @ Memphis.

I have read (endured?) many posts made by you and a few other Woffy fans, I believe, about how that’s all behind them now and how they learned their lesson, blah, blah, blah. Then I stumbled across this SHOCKINGLY unsound Defensive alignment from last week’s game. Doesn’t seem to me that those ‘ lessons’ took. THAT IS THE TOPIC / POINT of my posts; not what you and DJ want to make them out to be.

Perhaps, the RatDog D was 100% sound on every other play of the game. I don’t know, but I do know they didn’t really have to be as Mercer’s O was rendered completely impotent during their 2nd series and Wofford’s Players are talented enough to hold an impotent Offense at bay...most of the time...even if they were not tactically sound.

On the other hand, a full-strength Samford O & most Playoff Teams’ O’s will LIGHT UP a Defense as unsound as what Woffy showed against Furman AND still put out there 2 weeks later, on this play...and, thus, were torched ON THIS PLAY by an impotent Offense because Wofford’s tactics put them in a position to fail when only 3 Players needed to be blocked.

[FUBeAR]

Mercer is a bit like UTC, I think, with their offense. At full speed, the Bears have a pretty good unit. They tend, though, to distribute the ball to a far smaller number of players.

Just an example, Mercer's third leading rusher is Robert Riddle, a QB that hasn't played in a month. 7 Bears have registered a carry this season, only 3 are running backs (two are WRs and two are QBs - one who is injured and the other who has negative yardage on 21 attempts).

With the exceptions of Tyrie Adams and Devlin Hodges, there may not be a SoCon player as needed by his offense than Tee Mitchell is by Mercer.Your premise is invalid, as Mercer had 9 & 7 different receivers catch balls in their games with Samford & CIT, respectively...when they were running their full offense...BUT your conclusion is ‘not invalid.’ I won’t say it’s 100% correct, without the qualification that “once Riley sprained his ankle, there wasn’t a SoCon Player as needed by his offense that day than Tee Mitchell was by Mercer.” A healthy Riddle, with a healthy Riley backing him up, would have been just fine with Mitchell out - certainly better with him, but still high functioning without. It was the combination of all 3 of those injuries AND Mercer’s chosen overall Offensive strategy/structure that rendered the Bears completely impotent that day...against a Defense with many very talented PLAYERS.

[dungeonjoe]

I prize a sound X over an unsound O & vice-versa.

Furman’s O’s made Wofford’s X’s look like the Keystone Kops video I posted earlier this year to illustrate Paladin Fan’s text description of Mercer’s Defense @ Memphis.

I have read (endured?) many posts made by you and a few other Woffy fans, I believe, about how that’s all behind them now and how they learned their lesson, blah, blah, blah. Then I stumbled across this SHOCKINGLY unsound Defensive alignment from last week’s game. Doesn’t seem to me that those ‘ lessons’ took. THAT IS THE TOPIC / POINT of my posts; not what you and DJ want to make them out to be.

Perhaps, the RatDog D was 100% sound on every other play of the game. I don’t know, but I do know they didn’t really have to be as Mercer’s O was rendered completely impotent during their 2nd series and Wofford’s Players are talented enough to hold an impotent Offense at bay...most of the time...even if they were not tactically sound.

On the other hand, a full-strength Samford O & most Playoff Teams’ O’s will LIGHT UP a Defense as unsound as what Woffy showed against Furman AND still put out there 2 weeks later, on this play...and, thus, were torched ON THIS PLAY by an impotent Offense because Wofford’s tactics put them in a position to fail when only 3 Players needed to be blocked.
I don't know about your posts, frankly I quit reading them a few weeks ago. Because, inevitably, Wofford is inferior in every comparison. Then when Wofford (somehow luckily) wins it, well, there must have been some momentarily inferior in the opposition. You are very knowledgeable about football, and there are moments you are spot on. But I sense a definite blind spot where Wofford is concerned.

[gofurman]

One thing I didn't realize this year is how young Wofford is. Obviously, we're not Furman, but we have no seniors (in terms of eligibility) on the OL or among the tight ends, our leading receivers are juniors and a freshman. We lose Stoddard and McAfee, but they're the only seniors on the two deep. Only 4 of the 16 listed linebackers are upperclassmen.

Granted, some of this is probably what your average team looks like, but in terms of long-term development, Wofford's in a good spot and it contextualizes the program Ayers built and has given to Conklin. Right now, we already have something like 17 or 19 verbal commitments already, which is much earlier than usual.

Between this, Furman's growth, ETSU's growth, and Chattanooga's rebounding, I like where the socon is going to be over the next few yearsxthumbsupx


One thing we probably. ALL. Get tired of as SoCon Fans is the MVFC yapping etc. some fans are better winners than others (I mean both intra and extra conference)

Point being I think Wofford, Citadel and Furman all return their entire starting OL next year. That's amazing. Most OL have a senior or two. At least. Heck Furman returns all TEN OL next year barring a departure.

I'd like to hear from others but I think Furman, Wofford , ETSU (though the other QB was not impressive), Citadel, VMI, could all be better next year. mercer could improve with both r-FR QBs back though I don't about OL etc there.

I don't know much about Chattanooga ?

i would have to think Samford less Hhodges, McKnight and Gooden would be worse. Western graduates all five starting OL - that may really hurt them.


Thoughts? I hope the SoCon wins a lot as a conference and wins some OOC games. Will SoCon be better next year? I think so

[PaladinFan]

Finally found the tv angle of the Citadel’s 91 yard pass and the holding call that never was.

11:30 mark

The hold didn’t have anything to do with the blown coverage, but man alive, the RT grabbed the defender around the neck and slung him down. How the ref didn’t see that is beyond me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEozuNAW9WM

[Milktruck74]

So...you see that as being somewhat different than, “He knows his name, more or less where he is, and he has some response to an ammonia capsule placed directly under his nose. He’s good to go. Let’s get him back in there NOW!”

A few years back I got to go to a HOF induction with my pops (played 13 yrs in the NFL 60s,70s & 80s) and a few of his team mates were telling stories..they were laughing at a time when he ran down the sidelines to line up for the next play, holding his helmet together (which had split into two pieces) and yelled, "Hey, Run Run (the Equipment guy) I'm gonna need a new helmet for the second half!" There was 4 minutes left in the game...if they came out, they may never get their spot back. He is 73 and has 7 documented concussions from football and once when I was 12, I had to drive him 7 miles home from our farm after a cow kicked him in the head.... He had a CTE baseline last year taken care of from the NFL players Assn... He is not bad for 73, but I can tell he is fading...He repeats the same stories quite often, and has ABSOLUTLY NO FILTER!!!!!

[dungeonjoe]

Finally found the tv angle of the Citadel’s 91 yard pass and the holding call that never was.

11:30 mark

The hold didn’t have anything to do with the blown coverage, but man alive, the RT grabbed the defender around the neck and slung him down. How the ref didn’t see that is beyond me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEozuNAW9WM
I wish they had called the penalty. I have a friend who held the Citadel's longest TD pass on record, 30+ years. That play Saturday erased his record. He is ok with it... he says! LOL

[FUBeAR]

I don't know about your posts, frankly I quit reading them a few weeks ago. Because, inevitably, Wofford is inferior in every comparison. Then when Wofford (somehow luckily) wins it, well, there must have been some momentarily inferior in the opposition. You are very knowledgeable about football, and there are moments you are spot on. But I sense a definite blind spot where Wofford is concerned.LOL

You’ll need to jump in line behind the CIT, Chatt, WCU, and Samford fans who have each made similar claims.

The truths, instead, are:
1) FUBeAR goes VERY lightly regarding any negative comments about any individual Player from ANY Team; tries to avoid it altogether, but sometimes the claws might just barely, inadvertently, go over the line.
2) FUBeAR goes VERY lightly regarding any negative comments about the Coaching/Coaching Staffs of Furman & Mercer because he has many personal friends on both of those Staffs. Occasionally, claws creep over the line here too, regretfully.
3) FUBeAR is a Furman Alum & Football Fan. FUBeAR is a Mercer Football Fan. Criticisms of those programs are going to be fewer and more measured than any criticisms or negative comments about any other programs as FUBeAR is a Fan; not a responsible journalist. Do those still exist?
4) All other SoCon programs are liked AND disliked fairly, but not perfectly, equally. Some exceptions noted below.
a) FUBeAR (figuratively) swore a lifetime blood oath of HATRED against all things bellhop, so that must be honored & maintained. FUBeAR does (secretly, shhhhh!) respect the young men & women who choose to attend school there (and also those who choose VMI) some measure more than those of other schools, including Furman & Mercer. And FUBeAR really likes some bellhop alums personally, but only individually. If 2 or more of them get within 5 feet of one another, they immediately morph into insufferable bellhops and are, thus, rightfully, shunned.
b) FUBeAR once lost an ACL in Whitmire Stadium in Cullowhee, as a result of an after-the-whistle ‘cheapshot’ from a cantamount defensive player. FUBeAR once watched a horde of cantamount hooligans unlawfully vandalize a component of Furman’s beautiful campus. FUBeAR once became personally engaged in a bloody 1,000 on 10 (roughly) brawl with a similar mass of cantamount hooligans when they tried to repeat their heinous crime a year later. FYI - none of the blood shed was FUBeAR’s. Thus, FUBeAR is challenged not to deliver a slightly elevated level of animus when commenting negatively on things cantamount-related.
c) FUBeAR likes VMI. The Keydets have always been very generous to him; so generous that he has even been able to forgive them for alllowing their, now former, Head Coach’s son to steal FUBeAR’s long-time girlfriend during the summer of ‘79. 'Stealing' their most recent opportunity for a SoCon Championship (and winning it ourselves) in Lexington in '81 went a long way in assuaging the pain of that transgression. FUBeAR even 'discussed' the situation with their Head Coach on the sidelines during the game. Yep - a lot of funny stuff goes on out there.
5) Criticisms & negative comments about other SoCon programs may (or may not) rise in proportion to their level of success on the field.
6) FUBeAR is always just having fun here & within any other online venues. If you’re not, you just may be taking FUBeAR’s comments WAY TOO seriously.

[FUBeAR]

Finally found the tv angle of the Citadel’s 91 yard pass and the holding call that never was.

11:30 mark

The hold didn’t have anything to do with the blown coverage, but man alive, the RT grabbed the defender around the neck and slung him down. How the ref didn’t see that is beyond me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEozuNAW9WM

LOL - That QB was SO blind-side sacked without that hold...and McCoy was running free right there to scoop & score with the inevitable fumble that blind-side sack would have caused. 14 point swing because of an obvious and blatant hold. I'd say that OLman (in tandem with just another inept SoCon Official) did the bellhops quite a solid with that effort. Hats off to him! (It's the RG, btw, not the RT.) And speaking of hats, I know where I'd like to stick that Ref's white one!

[FUBeAR]

I wish they had called the penalty. I have a friend who held the Citadel's longest TD pass on record, 30+ years. That play Saturday erased his record. He is ok with it... he says! LOLYour friend should lobby for an asterisk!

[wcugrad95]

One thing we probably. ALL. Get tired of as SoCon Fans is the MVFC yapping etc. some fans are better winners than others (I mean both intra and extra conference)

Point being I think Wofford, Citadel and Furman all return their entire starting OL next year. That's amazing. Most OL have a senior or two. At least. Heck Furman returns all TEN OL next year barring a departure.

I'd like to hear from others but I think Furman, Wofford , ETSU (though the other QB was not impressive), Citadel, VMI, could all be better next year. mercer could improve with both r-FR QBs back though I don't about OL etc there.

I don't know much about Chattanooga ?

i would have to think Samford less Hhodges, McKnight and Gooden would be worse. Western graduates all five starting OL - that may really hurt them.


Thoughts? I hope the SoCon wins a lot as a conference and wins some OOC games. Will SoCon be better next year? I think so

For WCU, it is true we graduate 4 of the 5 starting lineman (Grady Thomas is a starter as a SO). But we have 2 or 3 other guys who are getting multiple series every game. At the skill-positions, we return the top-2 RBs, our TE, every WR except Mathis, and Tyrie Adams (despite FUBeAR's prognosis I believe he will be at WCU for his RS SR season). Offense once again should not be the problem. We lost guys like Newsome, Robinson, and Hill and got statistically better this season.

Defense - the good news is we will return 16 of the 22 guys listed on our last 2-deep. The bad news is that is from an all-time bad unit. The hope is all those FR and RS FR will be a year older, wiser, bigger and stronger.

With a healthy Adams I would project WCU to be better in 2019. With a middle-of-the-road defense even this season we would probably be 5-3, so the Cat's faithful will hope for strides on that side.

[PaladinNation]

Almost missed this little nugget in the Furman/Chattanooga game notes:

Furman's two-deep against The Citadel
Offense 2-Deep
2 seniors
2 juniors
10 sophomores
8 freshmen

Defense 2-Deep
5 seniors
6 juniors
8 sophomores
3 freshmen

Furman's starters against The Citadel
Offense
1 senior
2 juniors
5 sophomores
3 freshmen

Defense
5 senior
4 juniors
2 sophomores
0 freshmen

[PaladinFan]

Furman is almost inconceivably young on offense. I have no idea how we ended up with zero seniors on the offensive line two deep.

What's strange too is that the seniors they do have are not exactly guys that are key cogs. Harris Roberts is the best QB, but has really only been healthy for two games. The other two seniors are both fullbacks, which is a position under George Quarles that has moved from the primary ball carrier to more of a traditional blocking back.

[PaladinNation]

Furman is almost inconceivably young on offense. I have no idea how we ended up with zero seniors on the offensive line two deep.

What's strange too is that the seniors they do have are not exactly guys that are key cogs. Harris Roberts is the best QB, but has really only been healthy for two games. The other two seniors are both fullbacks, which is a position under George Quarles that has moved from the primary ball carrier to more of a traditional blocking back.

Thinking about your point… Schmidt and Bush played as true freshmen and never redshirted, it would have been nice to have those two as redshirt seniors this season. Hopefully next season Furman can start redshirting a group of linemen. Tomlin (6-5 275) is listed as a#2 but he's not played so he'll redshirt.

Right now Furman has three o-line comments, and another that I'm guessing is a PWO or partial offer.
Evan Jumper 6-4 255 Myrtle Beach, SC full offer
Pearson Toomey 6-3 250 Boles School, FL full offer
Jacob Johanning 6-4 255 St Joe's Catholic, SC full offer
Wyatt Hughes 6-4 290 McCallie School, TN PKO

Hopefully, all four will redshirt in 2019 and provide the depth (2020) and become starters in 2022. Having seen two play Jumper and Johanning in person. To me it's obvious Hendrix and Lusk want linemen that are athletes, Johanning could easily play defensive end at the SoCon level, Jumper could play tight end.

[PaladinFan]

I think you can argue that a lot of Bruce Fowler recruits just never panned out.

If you look back at the recruiting classes in 2015 and 2016, you sort of see the problem. In the 2015 class, Bockhorst has never really played. Breedlove has been primarily a reserve and special teams player. Evan Horst is no longer with the team (I forget why).

In the 2016 class, Tim Coleman transferred. Jacob Conrad quit the team earlier this season. Cody Wyatt is a depth player at this stage.

So, in those two classes, only two OL really see any significant playing time for Furman (Godwin and Kroeber). That, I guess, explains the problem somewhat.

Also, when you look at that 2015 class, I count only four guys (Anoor, Weems, Godwin, and Washington) that have panned out as starters. You have gotta hit on more players than that in a class. You can't take recruiting classes that mostly end up as roster filler.

[Reign of Terrier]

Interesting sidenote: those OL you mentioned are smaller than the ones Wofford has gotten commitments from. That's not to say Wofford's are better (size isn't the best measure for that), but it demonstrates the different directions the two teams are going for: Furman with probably a more mobile cut-centered offense, lots of pulling, etc. I dunno, just a thought (and I imagine these OL will beef up so maybe it's a null point)

[PaladinNation]

Interesting sidenote: those OL you mentioned are smaller than the ones Wofford has gotten commitments from. That's not to say Wofford's are better (size isn't the best measure for that), but it demonstrates the different directions the two teams are going for: Furman with probably a more mobile cut-centered offense, lots of pulling, etc. I dunno, just a thought (and I imagine these OL will beef up so maybe it's a null point)

I think this is a perfect example of what you're saying, Pearson Toomey a de-commit from Army now a Furman commit.
I'm not sure he'll play at a weight over 270. He's very mobile, aggressive also plays DE just like Johanning.
Who by the way is coached by two ex-terrier coaches.
https://youtu.be/L9xhmiY6WuM

[Reign of Terrier]

So far, Wofford has 2 OL verbal commitments that I know of and they are both at 300ish lbs

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[SU DOG]

Seems really early, BUT, since the talk is about returning O-Linemen, I'll chime in. Of Samford's 2 deep, we have exactly ONE senior. We should also get back the services of big Nate Lee who was a starter before an early season injury sidelined him for this season. Sure, it is impossible to replace the 3 of Hodges, McKnight and Gooden, but consider that the returning WRs are far above average, and Welch at QB is going to be a good surprise IMO. He may lack game experience, but he has been in the program a long time, and he really has a talented passing arm. I liken him somewhat to Furman's Harris Roberts, who also had limited playing time before this year, and has performed at a very high level. Gooden will be sorely missed, but only 3 others are seniors, and we will have several VERY good players returning from injuries. Don't pencil in a W against this team on your future schedule just yet, LOL!

[FUBeAR]

...and Welch at QB is going to be a good surprise IMO. He may lack game experience, but he has been in the program a long time, and he really has a talented passing arm...limited playing time before this year, and has performed at a very high level.
You SURE it’s going to be Welch taking the Starting snaps for the Bullpups in Montgomery on 8/24/19 vs. Youngstown State?

FUBeAR sees a different reality.

I suppose you can characterize a grand total of 4 carries for 10 yards & 4 completions in 6 attempts for 1 TD during almost 3 seasons in the program as performing “at a very high level.” With that small of a sample size, though, I think that bold of an assessment is a bit premature. I get the comparison to Roberts, but I don’t think anyone (even Paladin Fan), prior to this season, was terming Roberts’ 2017 on-field work in mop-up duty as “high level performance.” Just seems a bit presumptuous. Maybe I’m wrong.

[Reign of Terrier]

Let's be real, Hatcher Jr. Will start next season.

Dude is like 5 '5.

He probably won't but I hope he does and is successful just because that's so rare

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[SU DOG]

Are we misunderstanding here? My high level reference was to Robert's work this year, which HAS IMO, been at a high level. And NO, I don't expect Hatcher to start Hatcher against YSU.

[PaladinFan]

You SURE it’s going to be Welch taking the Starting snaps for the Bullpups in Montgomery on 8/24/19 vs. Youngstown State?

FUBeAR sees a different reality.

I suppose you can characterize a grand total of 4 carries for 10 yards & 4 completions in 6 attempts for 1 TD during almost 3 seasons in the program as performing “at a very high level.” With that small of a sample size, though, I think that bold of an assessment is a bit premature. I get the comparison to Roberts, but I don’t think anyone (even Paladin Fan), prior to this season, was terming Roberts’ 2017 on-field work in mop-up duty as “high level performance.” Just seems a bit presumptuous. Maybe I’m wrong.

Here would be my concern with Welch.

Samford currently has the best passer in the history of the conference. Maybe the best FCS passer ever. In spite of all of that, Samford doesn't really blow teams out or put up gobs of points. In fact, most of their games the last few years have been pretty close affairs. Samford puts up points in the mid-high 20s and is rarely in complete control of the game.

Next year, someone other than the best passer in the history of the conference will be Samford's QB. Welch may be perfectly fine at the position, but will his "non-Hodgeness" draw closer the already relatively close gap between Samford and their competition? Factor in also that Welch will not have the luxury of throwing to the best receiver in school history.

[FUBeAR]

Are we misunderstanding here? My high level reference was to Robert's work this year, which HAS IMO, been at a high level. And NO, I don't expect Hatcher to start Hatcher against YSU.
This comma...

“...year, and...”

...threw me off.

I see your meaning now.

I’m thinking FUBeAR and the Interwebs might need to take a break in our relationship.

[Reign of Terrier]

to be clear, I don't think Hatcher will start and the reason I want him to is because I want him to be successful simply because of his size.

That would be an ESPN story overnight.

[ElCid]

1) Wofford
2) Samford
3) East Tennessee State
4) Furman
5) Chattanooga
6) Mercer
7) The Citadel
8) Western Carolina
9) VMI

Expect lots of weirdness this week


The Citadel @ Western Carolina - Dogs find a way to win - 34-24
Chattanooga @ Furman - Furman keeps improving - 24-17
Wofford @ Samford - Samford keeps rolling - 31-21
Tusculum @ VMI - VMI stomps - 45-20
ETSU @ Mercer - Cinderella season hits a bump - 31-21

[PaladinFan]

to be clear, I don't think Hatcher will start and the reason I want him to is because I want him to be successful simply because of his size.

That would be an ESPN story overnight.

To be fair, I've played on at least 4 or 5 teams where the coach's son ended up starting at key positions for no particularly good reason. I'm sure it happens elsewhere.

[gofurman]

I think you can argue that a lot of Bruce Fowler recruits just never panned out.

If you look back at the recruiting classes in 2015 and 2016, you sort of see the problem. In the 2015 class, Bockhorst has never really played. Breedlove has been primarily a reserve and special teams player. Evan Horst is no longer with the team (I forget why).

In the 2016 class, Tim Coleman transferred. Jacob Conrad quit the team earlier this season. Cody Wyatt is a depth player at this stage.

So, in those two classes, only two OL really see any significant playing time for Furman (Godwin and Kroeber). That, I guess, explains the problem somewhat.

Also, when you look at that 2015 class, I count only four guys (Anoor, Weems, Godwin, and Washington) that have panned out as starters. You have gotta hit on more players than that in a class. You can't take recruiting classes that mostly end up as roster filler.

This is an issue that is biting us right now. None of the 2015 OL you mention. really panned out. 2016 Coleman is great but left for JMU (type of blocking scheme) and Conrad quit - not sure the reason as he was in the rotation

so from Fowler classes we have 2 of the 8 OL pan out - have to hit a better rate than that

I call it like it is. Hendrix is doing amazingly well when you look at how young ... and stats like these where only two of eight OL panned out. Two of 8? Man. Not sure what the average is but I bet for every 8 OL you bring in 4 or more turn out to be players usually. And that's why we have all sophomores and one junior on OL. And our OL is learning - two of them we converted from DL

[FUBeAR]

Coleman is great but left for JMU (type of blocking scheme)

Working right to left..

* Body-type more than blocking scheme, but there is some correlation
* Richmond
* Surely some, but definitely not all, concur with this assessment

[PaladinFan]

It is difficult to determine sometimes whether a player recruited by a former coaching staff “isn’t good enough” or whether the new coach just wants to go with “his guy.”

Relatedly, I think Clay Hendrix has particularly done well recruiting defensive linemen. I think the DL is the toughest spot for FCS teams to recruit, and a primary reason you see so many teams switch to a 3-4 defensive scheme - you need fewer quality defensive linemen and linebacker types are more widely available at this level.

What is a little unique is that Hendrix has been filling out his offensive line depth chart with guys moved from other positions of depth. Caleb Auer was a TE. Jordan Harris and Ross Detamore from DL.

The good news is all of the Hendrix recruits/repurposed players are on the two deep. We’ve gotten some commitments from a few really good looking linemen in this class as well.

[PaladinNation]

Sorry guys for starting this turn into depth charts and offensive linemen.

Back to TODAY, I'm really excited about today's game with the MOCS. I know there's a long thread brewing on Furman getting votes and a shot at the playoffs this season. Our best days are ahead. All this youth, another class of athletes and skill types to run the Hendrix/Quarles/Staggs system coming in - this PALADIN fan is patient.

I expect fireworks today - Furman has the potential to light up the scoreboard and it seems like the coaches have started to figure out how they want to use the skill position players. I think the MOCS are going to get the best Furman team of the year today, I say that because I think the team got a big shot of confidence beating the Bellhops in Chucktown.

I'm doing my part today… my wife and I have three Gamecock couples joining us for the game today. Go Dins!

[Milktruck74]

Sorry guys for starting this turn into depth charts and offensive linemen.

Back to TODAY, I'm really excited about today's game with the MOCS. I know there's a long thread brewing on Furman getting votes and a shot at the playoffs this season. Our best days are ahead. All this youth, another class of athletes and skill types to run the Hendrix/Quarles/Staggs system coming in - this PALADIN fan is patient.

I expect fireworks today - Furman has the potential to light up the scoreboard and it seems like the coaches have started to figure out how they want to use the skill position players. I think the MOCS are going to get the best Furman team of the year today, I say that because I think the team got a big shot of confidence beating the Bellhops in Chucktown.

I'm doing my part today… my wife and I have three Gamecock couples joining us for the game today. Go Dins!



I wrote this on our board when my Mocs were 4-0 and the Furple was 0-3......Every now and again I get one right....throw enough turds at the wall and one sticks. Haha.



Milktruck74 (https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mocnation/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=10407914)

Posts
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11:35 PM - Sep 23, 2018 #1 (https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mocnation/looking-forward-t6277.html#p20965)
I really prefer to take the season a single game at a time, but this start has me playing "What if".... If we can get past the next two weeks, which is a tall order, ETSU has a solid team and Wofford just wins....but if we could get to 6-0, or even 5-1...we will beat VMI and WCU.....so 8-0 or 7-1....but Furman scares the mess out of me. They are a wounded dog and they are going to bite someone. They are a good football team and if they can get it together, they are going to be tough towards the end of the season. Mercer is scary too, they may have lost Riddle, but Riley (his back up) was the SoCon Freshman of the year last season....I think a 9 win season is possible, and 8 win season is probable, a 10 win season is not out of the realm of possibilities and a 7 win season (at this point) would be a disappointment. Thoughts

[Reign of Terrier]

This is a somewhat random comment but if I were to compare ETSU to any team in the FBS, it would be Kentucky.

Tough defense, suspect offense, vulnerable to blow outs against playoff teams (IMO) BUT on Any Given Saturday....

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[ElCid]

This is a somewhat random comment but if I were to compare ETSU to any team in the FBS, it would be Kentucky.

Tough defense, suspect offense, vulnerable to blow outs against playoff teams (IMO) BUT on Any Given Saturday....

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I think a good FCS comparison for ETSU is McNeese. They have a pretty good D, but absent O. They have won 5 of 6 by less than 1 score, usually by 3. Sound familiar?

Kind of like Wofford in 17 and ElCid in 16..... But just don't think ETSU has the experience/tradition yet to sustain it. Maybe. Hence their loss to you and probably to Mercer and most likely to Samford. But who knows.

[Reign of Terrier]

Change my mind: the best thing for the conference is Wofford, ETSU, and Chattanooga win this week, chatt to beat Mercer and Samford finish 6-5

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[Reign of Terrier]

And Wofford is playing like garbage. Down 14-0 against Samford.



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[Milktruck74]

And the SoCon Starts to shake out.......Uhhhhhhh, NEVERMIND!!!!

[Reign of Terrier]

Wofford has the momentum, but down 21-17 at half. Wofford will receive the second half.

Looks like Miller Moseley may be the QB for the duration of this one. He's scored on 2 of 3 drives compared to Newman's 1 of 4.

Defensively, Wofford appears to be adjusting. Samford is burning our guys in man coverage, but Wofford is winning third downs. Dropping 8, for some reason, appears to be a more effective strategy.

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[PaladinFan]

Interesting little thing. At WCU, the scoreboard says "Cats" and "Dogs"

[PaladinFan]

Newsflash: It's almost halftime and WCU has only surrendered 10 points.

[Milktruck74]

Coach Spier wearing a big ring (assuming a NC at ASU) during the halftime interview.....I like him, think he is a good dude, so this is not an attempt to bean ass....but DUDE????? You are a Cat???? Don't do that....Be Sold out for YOUR team!!!! Not a big fan of any coach wearing anything from their previous teams...my HS HC use to wear a coat on the Sidelines with a big white block of tape and FOOTBALL underneath.....the white block was his previous school....at least they were the same color!!! hahaha. Am I wrong in this?

[Reign of Terrier]

Gooden hurt. Good luck watching this game right now ESPN+ is in full ESPN+ mode

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[ElCid]

Newsflash: It's almost halftime and WCU has only surrendered 10 points.

A pair turnovers does that. The sad part is we are moving pretty easily, but dropping it. Also lots of penalties. Using new QB today. He has 144 yards at half. TOP at half was like 22 to 8. Sad to be down by 14.

[Reign of Terrier]

Is anyone else ESPN3/ESPN+ terrible today? I missed the entire third quarter of the wofford/Samford game

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[Reign of Terrier]

Congrats to Samford for beating us.

We may get 4 in the playoffs after all.

I hate Samford.

[ETSUfan1]

ETSU does it again by 3. Prognosticators wrong once more.

[Reign of Terrier]

If Samford gets by the Citadel next week, it'll be a Socon championship game in Johnson City the week after.

[ElCid]

If Samford gets by the Citadel next week, it'll be a Socon championship game in Johnson City the week after.

We have had a pretty good second half. Down 24-10 at half, now 38-24. Two blocked punts helped. But 28 unanswered points is always nice. We will give Samford our best shot.

[Reign of Terrier]

Wofford is going to be the 8-3 team left out of the playoffs. Book it.

[ETSUfan1]

Why? They’d be in over ETSU I bet.

[ElCid]

ETSU does it again by 3. Prognosticators wrong once more.

Good win. Stood up when needed.

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

I will say it before and I will say it again, I knew ETSU would be improved and I also mentioned they might be 10-1 if everything fell into place a few months ago. I was met with snickering and laughter. This is what happens when you hire someone who has known to win in the form of two FBS titles as your head coach. Any questions?

[Reign of Terrier]

Why? They’d be in over ETSU I bet.

Wofford only has one quality win. Arguably 2. ETSU will have at least a share of the socon title. Wofford's loss to Furman will bite use. I just don't see us getting into the playoffs over Furman if we're both at 6-2, with them at the tiebreaker.

Put another way, no matter how you slice the standings it's going to look like this:
ETSU
(maybe Samford)
Furman
Wofford

I do not see Furman getting in at 6-4. They could, but I just don't. And I don't see Wofford getting in over them, being in fourth place

[FUGameBreaker]

YoungTerrier Ive got a question dude

If Furman beats VMI and Mercer
Wofford beats WCU
Samford loses at Citadel and wins at ETSU


You have a 3 way tie of Furman Wofford ETSU at 6-2

All lost to Samford and beat everyone else, furman beat wofford, wofford beat etsu, etsu beat furman


WHO GETS AUTOBID????

[Reign of Terrier]

YoungTerrier Ive got a question dude

If Furman beats VMI and Mercer
Wofford beats WCU
Samford loses at Citadel and wins at ETSU


You have a 3 way tie of Furman Wofford ETSU at 6-2

All lost to Samford and beat everyone else, furman beat wofford, wofford beat etsu, etsu beat furman


WHO GETS AUTOBID????

I do not know.

[FUGameBreaker]

I do not know.



Same here, kinda crazy

[Smitty]

We have had a pretty good second half. Down 24-10 at half, now 38-24. Two blocked punts helped. But 28 unanswered points is always nice. We will give Samford our best shot.

It is usually a surprise to give up 28 unanswered points in the half, unless you are a f***ing western fan. This crap happens every week...

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

I do know this, if Samford wins out, they steal the autobid. If Samford and Wofford both lose next week, ETSU claims the autobid.

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

And another thing, Harrison Frost had nothing to be ashamed of today.

[FUGameBreaker]

I do know this, if Samford wins out, they steal the autobid. If Samford and Wofford both lose next week, ETSU claims the autobid.


Very unlikely Wofford loses to WCU, however I could see Citadel knock off Samford in Chucktown

[PaladinFan]

Very unlikely Wofford loses to WCU, however I could see Citadel knock off Samford in Chucktown

That'd be fun.

Wofford/ETSU/Furman all need Samford out of the picture.

[citdog]

Very unlikely Wofford loses to WCU, however I could see Citadel knock off Samford in Chucktown

It's THE Citadel you furple schmeckle nuzzler

[gofurman]

Sorry guys for starting this turn into depth charts and offensive linemen.

Back to TODAY, I'm really excited about today's game with the MOCS. I know there's a long thread brewing on Furman getting votes and a shot at the playoffs this season. Our best days are ahead. All this youth, another class of athletes and skill types to run the Hendrix/Quarles/Staggs system coming in - this PALADIN fan is patient.

I expect fireworks today - Furman has the potential to light up the scoreboard and it seems like the coaches have started to figure out how they want to use the skill position players. I think the MOCS are going to get the best Furman team of the year today, I say that because I think the team got a big shot of confidence beating the Bellhops in Chucktown.

I'm doing my part today… my wife and I have three Gamecock couples joining us for the game today. Go Dins!

PaladinNation, I agree our best days are ahead. 100%!!!

i was excited we won as our D was phenomenal today - esp vs pass where we often struggle

that said, I think it was you - AND I AGREE - that was saying we would try to get outside (like we did v Wofford as we opened up our offense ) vs UTC. I watched Woff vs UTC and Woff killed UTC on the edges. UTC is fairly strong in the middle and we didn't have Dirks either.

I couldn't see all the game (so maybe I am way off) but it seemed we went to the middle a lot and weren't super successful. I.E., middle run for two yards ...outside run 6 yards. Inside run two yards for maybe a first down. I just woulda thought if our outside runs were getting 5+ yards we woulda run that more

thougts from anyone???

Did I perceive the game wrong? I may have - I only saw some of it. . Did we kill them in the middle w runs between tackles? Did we go to the edge a lot without much success?

[citdog]

PaladinNation, I agree our best days are ahead. 100%!!!

i was excited we won as our D was phenomenal today - esp vs pass where we often struggle

that said, I think it was you - AND I AGREE - that was saying we would try to get outside (like we did v Wofford as we opened up our offense ) vs UTC. I watched Woff vs UTC and Woff killed UTC on the edges. UTC is fairly strong in the middle and we didn't have Dirks either.

I couldn't see all the game (so maybe I am way off) but it seemed we went to the middle a lot and weren't super successful. I.E., middle run for two yards ...outside run 6 yards. Inside run two yards for maybe a first down. I just woulda thought if our outside runs were getting 5+ yards we woulda run that more

thougts from anyone???

Did I perceive the game wrong? I may have - I only saw some of it. . Did we kill them in the middle w runs between tackles? Did we go to the edge a lot without much success?

furman sucks

[gofurman]

. Furman sucks.

So Citadel is 11 points WORSE than 'sucks'. Man

[citdog]

So Citadel is 11 points WORSE than 'sucks'. Man

vermins sucking is generational. Even when you win it doesn't matter because you are all losers. Especially Caskey...

[SCPALADIN]

vermins sucking is generational. Even when you win it doesn't matter because you are all losers. Especially Caskey...

60–35–3



"Generational sucking"

[ElCid]

60–35–3



"Generational sucking"


Ancient history mostly.

Last 10 games???????

5-5.

[SCPALADIN]

Ancient history mostly.

Last 10 games???????

5-5.

"vermins sucking is generational"

10 years would be one generation...and your mention of the 5-5 record is perfectly applicable for one generation. You want to change the narrative go right ahead.
Want to talk generational sucking, like the master of hyperbole and weak ass arguments (citdog), then it's appropriate to bring up the cross-generational record...which is 60–35–3.

[apaladin]

Sometimes you have a magical season, the stars align and everything goes your way. To say that is the case with ETSU this year is an understatement. 6 conference wins by a total of 16 points with the biggest win by 3 points. Here is the way I see the SoCon bid(s).
Sammy- 2 wins =auto bid or one loss and out.
ETSU- Has a bid wrapped up, win or lose their last game and they are in.
Wofford- Beat WCU and they are in.
Furman- Even if they win their last 2 games come up short. Cancellation of Colgate hurts. Blowing 21 point lead late at ETSU hurts more.

Furman bid longshot. ETSU beats Sammy and wins title and bid leaving FU and WC in second place. Since FU beat Wofford handily you would think FU gets the second bid but not so fast my friend. WC's 8-3 to FU's 6-4 and top 25 ranking would outweigh the head to head FU win in the committees mind even if they actually look at it that much which I doubt. I think the committee would just look at overall record and not give FU even a look. I said it was a longsh

[citdog]

60–35–3



"Generational sucking"

Mark Sanford

[PaladinNation]

Thoughts on the Furman/Nooga game…

I watched the Wofford/Nooga game and I underestimated the Mocs, I shouldn't. The team I saw Saturday played tough defense, and every run was a white-knuckler hoping the Mocs didn't strip the ball, which they did often.

Furman, on the other hand, shot itself in the foot quite often. I counted five fumbles at least (lost two) and six penalties for 75 yards double Chatanooga's three penalties for twenty yards. Those penalties also cost Furman two touchdowns.

I also thought Roberts struggled to get into a rhythm, Furman could have put the game away leading 16-3 on fourth and four, but Roberts rushed a throw and threw a hot missile that Walker couldn't handle.

the good news for Furman…

Devin Wynn is the real deal - I had a field view of his fifty-yard touchdown run - he's explosive, and he's got upside. Hendrix said pre-game that he's excited to see Wynn's development this off-season. My guess Wynn will add some weight and muscle up a good bit into a nice 200+ pound tailback.

Adrain Hope is a beast if he wasn't 6-1 218, Hope would be in the SEC. Hope lined up against #75 Harrison Moon (MissSt) and whipped him on just about every play. Hope had 2.5 sacks now has 10.5 for the season.

Grayson Atkins has become a big weapon… he just goes out there and kicks fifty-yard field goals like its a thirty yarder. Not sure I've ever seen anything like it in person. The real good news we've got him for two more years.