SoCon 2021 Predictions and Power Rankings - Week 9

[FUBeAR]

It’s a SoConPalooza as all 8 Teams (that are playing) will be in action at the same time with 3 games kicking off simultaneously & the 4th just 30 minutes later. ESPN servers may crash from exceeding maximum demand!



Away
Home
Time
Lies FUBeAR Plans to Tell


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_wcu.png?width=30Western Carolina (https://catamountsports.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_wofford.png?width=30Wofford (http://woffordterriers.com/)
1:30P
TBD


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_samford.png?width=30Samford (http://www.samfordsports.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/logos/VMI_spider_four_color-2015.png?width=30VMI (https://vmikeydets.com/)
1:30P
TBD


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_furman.png?width=30Furman (http://www.furmanpaladins.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_chatta_91.png?width=30Chattanooga (http://www.gomocs.com/)
1:30P
TBD


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_mercer.png?width=30Mercer (http://www.mercerbears.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_citadel.png?width=30The Citadel (http://www.citadelsports.com/)
2:00P
TBD



This week’s Picks later in the week…

Last week: 3 of 4. Missed the game I called a 1 point difference & was in right range score-wise. Underestimated how far Woffy’s program has fallen & how comatose the Sammy D was, but proud to say FUBeAR called ahead & made sure the Cats kept a cooler of Gatorade full & icy cold for Coach Bell’s ‘reward.’

Power Ranking

1) VMI - a week off last week & a scout team scrimmage this week as Roos prepare for late season showdowns
2) Mercer - solid rebound from the floor of the abyss. Cannot overlook the luggage handlers
3) Chattanooga - pulled the plug on Sammy’s comatose D. Not particularly impressive. Shutting down the bullpup O is though.
4) ETSU - dream season still alive…escaped from Travelers Rest by the skin of their tooth
5) Furman - failed the final :09 of the test - a dropped TD pass, failure to preserve a late FG oppty, and a crucial snap infraction were circled in red, wrong answer ink. Oppty to climb this week.

6) Samford - season over
7) WCU - season just starting
8) Memory of a Citadel - season never started
9) Wofford - Season 4 of “Proud Program in a Death Spiral.” Episode 8 drops this Saturday

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

WTH is Josh Conklin doing?

[Reign of Terrier]

Yelling at all of his assistants and players. Interviewing at jobs that will take him. Losing the confidence of his players and staff.

Quite a bit actually, just none of it remotely associated with winning.

He's failed as a leader, and from what I hear, a total jerk. Everyone wants to fixate on how we don't run the flexbone anymore, but our defense is worse than our offense, and we still run quite a bit of option out of the gun. We just lack consistency on offense. Funny enough, I think we will be fine in the long term on offense, but right now we look more like a Western Carolina team of old that tries to get fancy spreading the ball around, but has a piss poor defense. Except unlike those teams, our offense is much less competent.

The only reason he will next year (if he does) is because we're too cheap for his buy out.

[bonarae]

WCU
VMI
Chattanooga
Mercer

[Reign of Terrier]

Conklin in his first two seasons:
2018: 9-4 (6-2), conference champs, playoff win
2019: 8-4 (7-1) conference champs
2020 spring (1-4)
2021 1-6. (0-5)

He started out 17-8. He's 2-10 since interviewing for the Illinois job in February/March. He's very likely going to finish this season below .500.

We're on a 6 game losing streak, the longest since the one Ayers broke in his third game as coach in 1988. We've lost 9 straight conference games. The way we're losing is even worse. We've not scored 25 points the whole year, we're being outrushed (and haven't played UNC or the Citadel yet). I'm not going to put effort into the research to see the last time we lost by 31 to an FCS opponents (maybe the 2008 App State game?), but we're obviously bad, not getting better and our very young coaching staff doesn't have a leader in front of it.

From what I hear, he throws everyone under the bus all the time. It's quite obvious to anyone who hears these "whispers" (they're not whispers anymore) that the reason why we're losing isn't because we are a bad team fundamentally (we lost in the spring each game by a score and led all of them!) it's because he's lost the team with his "leadership" style. He doesn't deal with adversity well. Just a lot of yelling by "Napoleon."

Yeah, we probably had some glaring flaws going into this season that would be hard to anticipate/predict, given the weirdness of the previous 18 months, but I don't think we are/were "1-10 (0-8) bad" or even "3-8 bad" which I think is the best case scenario at this point. You can blame Conklin's leadership for that.

What's funny is that people want to say Mike Ayers or Vince Lombardi were hardasses, but my response is obviously that their players liked them? And those coaches won. No one cares if you're a jerk and you win, but if you lose, it just looks bad and makes things worse. Conklin is more like Dennis Wagner at Western or Brent Thompson (and BT btw is definitely a better coach who deals with adversity better and gets more out of his players than Conklin does). He's a hardass (Wagner) and caught some fire early with a good foundation that was given to him (Thompson).

But all-in-all, I don't see why he needs to be the coach now. I don't like finger pointing or oversimplifying causes or advocating someone being fired. But this is definitely Conklin's fault and he should deal with the consequences.

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR prefers to view it as Wofford has only won 2 of their last 16 scheduled games.

[Reign of Terrier]

FUBeAR prefers to view it as Wofford has won 2 of their last 16 scheduled games.

Could you fax that to our AD? At this point, I'd throw the kitchen sink for a change

[UpstateBison]

Could you fax that to our AD? At this point, I'd throw the kitchen sink for a change

When you hire a coach for political reasons, you have to deal with the fall out. Hopefully, the money will pay the buyout. Josh Conklin has not won at any program he has been associated with as far as I can tell.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ElCid]

Do not fret Reign of Terror, I promise you will be ready to crown your coach after you play us. And you L streak will end. As PODKnows says, BOOK IT!

[Reign of Terrier]

When you hire a coach for political reasons, you have to deal with the fall out. Hopefully, the money will pay the buyout. Josh Conklin has not won at any program he has been associated with as far as I can tell.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

He wasn't hired for political reasons. Someone made that up (conspiracy theory style) and it stuck *this season,* in fact, *on this board.*

Everyone thinks because someone has a Wofford connection that they have the inside scoop. My guy, the defensive coordinator in 2017, Shiel Wood, was the son of the most senior dean on campus. He interviewed for the job. Didn't get it. People are saying Conklin got the job because his wife's brother works for Jimmy Gibbs. That suggests Gibbs has a lot more time and energy committed to this program (in terms of W's and L's) than he actually does (which is more "give money when we ask please". If he did care, RJ would have the check for Conklin's buyout today and he would already be fired.

Everyone who interviewed for the job (including multiple coaches who were on staff at the time) had one or two degrees of separation from a big donor because Wofford is a small ass place. Conklin got hired because he was an P5 DC and enough removed from the program to give us new blood.

No one was talking about his "connections" until literally this year. You can go back to every message board post in the last 4 years, the first mention of this possible theory was *this year.* Which suggests desperate Wofford fans looking for a just-world fallacy answer (we got a bad coach because the process was corrupt) as opposed to an actual answer to what's going wrong based on the data (we hired a bad leader who doesn't deal with adversity in a productive way).

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

Conklin in his first two seasons:
2018: 9-4 (6-2), conference champs, playoff win
2019: 8-4 (7-1) conference champs
2020 spring (1-4)
2021 1-6. (0-5)

He started out 17-8. He's 2-10 since interviewing for the Illinois job in February/March. He's very likely going to finish this season below .500.

We're on a 6 game losing streak, the longest since the one Ayers broke in his third game as coach in 1988. We've lost 9 straight conference games. The way we're losing is even worse. We've not scored 25 points the whole year, we're being outrushed (and haven't played UNC or the Citadel yet). I'm not going to put effort into the research to see the last time we lost by 31 to an FCS opponents (maybe the 2008 App State game?), but we're obviously bad, not getting better and our very young coaching staff doesn't have a leader in front of it.

From what I hear, he throws everyone under the bus all the time. It's quite obvious to anyone who hears these "whispers" (they're not whispers anymore) that the reason why we're losing isn't because we are a bad team fundamentally (we lost in the spring each game by a score and led all of them!) it's because he's lost the team with his "leadership" style. He doesn't deal with adversity well. Just a lot of yelling by "Napoleon."

Yeah, we probably had some glaring flaws going into this season that would be hard to anticipate/predict, given the weirdness of the previous 18 months, but I don't think we are/were "1-10 (0-8) bad" or even "3-8 bad" which I think is the best case scenario at this point. You can blame Conklin's leadership for that.

What's funny is that people want to say Mike Ayers or Vince Lombardi were hardasses, but my response is obviously that their players liked them? And those coaches won. No one cares if you're a jerk and you win, but if you lose, it just looks bad and makes things worse. Conklin is more like Dennis Wagner at Western or Brent Thompson (and BT btw is definitely a better coach who deals with adversity better and gets more out of his players than Conklin does). He's a hardass (Wagner) and caught some fire early with a good foundation that was given to him (Thompson).

But all-in-all, I don't see why he needs to be the coach now. I don't like finger pointing or oversimplifying causes or advocating someone being fired. But this is definitely Conklin's fault and he should deal with the consequences.


Looks like Con Man Conklin achieved Full Jeremy Pruitrash

[FUBeAR]

He wasn't hired for political reasons. Someone made that up (conspiracy theory style) and it stuck *this season,* in fact, *on this board.*

No one was talking about his "connections" until literally this year. You can go back to every message board post in the last 4 years, the first mention of this possible theory was *this year.*

Not no one …
January 13th, 2018, 03:29 AM - SoCon Offseason 2017-18
Yeah - Just learned that Coach Conklin’s father-in-law is EVP of Gibbs International. Wofford’s Stadium is named after Mr. Gibbs, who is, reportedly, Woffy’s 2nd largest donor (after Carolina Panthers’ soon-to-be-Former owner, Jerry Richardson).

With Coach Ayers not publicly (that I have seen) supporting Conklin’s hire & 5 or 6 fairly long-term Assistants pulling the Ejection seat lever within 2 weeks or so of the hiring announcement, I would be a bit antsy if I were a RatDog Fan. This whole situation just doesn’t seem to pass ‘the smell test’ to me, especially in light of Wofford Football’s history of stability & success. Also, if Conklin and the revamped staff don’t do well, the decision to make a change might be a rather difficult one to make considering his family ties to such deep black & gold-lined pockets.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe all of this is just part & parcel of “The Wofford Way” and it’s going to work out just great.

Stay tuned...

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

I was 4-0 this past week. No trips to Crow-Fil-A until late last night. Only four one conference loss teams remain, who could be the next one to go? This is where I have it after this week.

1) VMI - Comes off the bye week controlling its own destiny
2) Chattanooga - Laid Bobby Bowden Field to waste
3) East Tennessee State - Steals a win at the last minute
4) Mercer - Laid punchless Terriers to waste
5) Furman - Lost to the Bucs at home for the first time since 1997
6) Samford - Came this close to being burninated
7) Western Carolina - Finally wins their first game under Kerwin Bell
8) A Citadel - Showed some punch in defeat
9) Wofford - Con Man Conklin is the SoCon's version of Pruitrash

This Week's Games
Western Carolina @ Wofford (Toilet Bowl Series) - Catamounts get "eliminated" from bringing home the toilet.
Samford @ VMI - Keydets keep the inside track to repeating
Furman @ Chattanooga - Mockingbird-dogs keep their conference title hopes alive
Mercer @ A Citadel - Bears march through Charleston like they own the city

[apaladin]

Yelling at all of his assistants and players. Interviewing at jobs that will take him. Losing the confidence of his players and staff.

Quite a bit actually, just none of it remotely associated with winning.

He's failed as a leader, and from what I hear, a total jerk. Everyone wants to fixate on how we don't run the flexbone anymore, but our defense is worse than our offense, and we still run quite a bit of option out of the gun. We just lack consistency on offense. Funny enough, I think we will be fine in the long term on offense, but right now we look more like a Western Carolina team of old that tries to get fancy spreading the ball around, but has a piss poor defense. Except unlike those teams, our offense is much less competent.

The only reason he will next year (if he does) is because we're too cheap for his buy out.

No problem, just call uncle Jerry. 👍

[Mocs123]

Picks:
Western Carolina – 28 - I could see this game going either way in Spartanburg but I wonder if Conklin has lost his team.
Wofford - 24

Samford - 24
VMI – 34 – I thought this might be a high scoring affair, but VMI’s pass D is pretty good.

Furman - 17
Chattanooga -21 – Old Fashion defensive slugfest

Mercer – 31 – Charleston is a tough place to play, but the Bears are the better team, so I’ll take them in a close game.
The Citadel - 28


Power Rankings:

1.) VMI (+1)
2.) Chattanooga (+1)
3.) ETSU (+1)
4.) Mercer (+1)
5.) Furman (-4)
6.) Samford (0)
7.) Western Carolina (+2)
8.) The Citadel (-1)
9.) Wofford (-1)

Division 1 Wins Possible:
ETSU – 9
VMI – 9
Furman -8
Chattanooga – 8
Mercer – 7
Samford – 6 - Out
The Citadel – 5 - Out
Western Carolina - 5 – Out
Wofford – 4 - Out

SoCon Wins Possible:
ETSU – 7
Mercer – 7
Chattanooga – 7
VMI -7
Furman – 6
Samford – 5
Western Carolina - 5
The Citadel – 4
Wofford – 3

[SU DOG]

SoCon Power Outlook From 'The Spread'

https://thespreadfootball.com/2021/10/25/socon-football-2021-power-rankings-following-week-8/

[Reign of Terrier]

No problem, just call uncle Jerry. 

We've already milked him for a quarter billion dollars, what's another 6 figures between friends.

[Reign of Terrier]

Not no one …
January 13th, 2018, 03:29 AM - SoCon Offseason 2017-18

okay so a completely separate conspiracy theorist actually drew it once 3 years ago and everyone forgot about it until this year, you got me.

There's no evidence that there was impropriety in the hiring process. Conklin had just as much experience as anyone else interviewed.

[The Cats]

Furman at Chattanooga
Samford at VMI
Western Carolina at Wofford
Mercer at The Citadel


This week's Power Rankings (https://catamountsportsblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/2021-socon-football-power-rankings_25.html)

[FUBeAR]

okay so a completely separate conspiracy theorist actually drew it once 3 years ago and everyone forgot about it until this year, you got me.

There's no evidence that there was impropriety in the hiring process. Conklin had just as much experience as anyone else interviewed.Even after 25+ years of active employment involved with structuring / managing / leading Hiring Processes for hundreds of Sr. Executives for organizations from Start-ups to Fortune 50 companies, FUBeAR’s assessment of the optics (and scent) of this situation, just days after the hire was announced, doesn’t rise above that of a “conspiracy theorist?”

Dang, thought I might have attained ‘Expert’ status by now and had my opinions in this realm considered to be ‘Science.’

Seems a few other “theories” expressed in that post (that you didn’t quote) are looking rather valid these days…

”I would be a bit antsy if I were a RatDog Fan”

“the decision to make a change might be a rather difficult one to make considering his family ties to such deep black & gold-lined pockets”

”Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe all of this is just part & parcel of “The Wofford Way” and it’s going to work out just great. …which, in FUBeAR-speak really means, “Y’all done f’d up now! I’m really gonna enjoy watchin’ this poop show for the next several years.”

[walliver]

Not no one …
January 13th, 2018, 03:29 AM - SoCon Offseason 2017-18

Jimmy Gibbs is a Citadel graduate.
Our AD, Richard Johnson, is a Citadel graduate.
My conspiracy theory is that the two of them have orchestrated the ultimate long con.

Of the assistants who left when JC arrived, only one was unexpected - the assistant who should have been made Head Coach. Most of the defensive coaches who left moved to FBS positions. Wade Lang's unexpected retirement this Summer probably reflected discord within the program. I have never bought the idea he just thought it was a good time to retire

Conklin reminds me at times of Brian van Gorder at GSU, except BVG immediately imploded a program while Conklin had two decent years before the collapse. Our new offense just feels awkward, as if it is a RPO scheme run by people who don't understand the RPO scheme.

On the bright side, we are 1-0 against the CAA.

[Reign of Terrier]

Wofford hasn't lost to a CAA team in over a decade, don't let these FCS folks tell you differently.

[Mocs123]

It sounds like General George D. Johnston's cadets are undertaking some covert missions to undermine the Terrier football team.

[kdinva]

UTC 27; Furman 17
Mercer 28; The Citadel 26
VMI 35; Samford 26
WCU 34; Wofford 27

[FUBeAR]

It’s a SoConPalooza as all 8 Teams (that are playing) will be in action at the same time with 3 games kicking off simultaneously & the 4th just 30 minutes later. ESPN servers may crash from exceeding maximum demand!



Away
Home
Time
It could happen


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_wcu.png?width=30Western Carolina (https://catamountsports.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_wofford.png?width=30Wofford (http://woffordterriers.com/)
1:30P
Shot-up Sopwith Camel trying desperately to gain altitude vs. F22 Raptor trying to pull out of a flaming death spiral. Most peeps were impressed with WCU’s O last week. The game announcers awarded the Payton to WCU’s backup QB. The guy has a high ceiling & he played well…but FUBeAR was more impressed with the Catamount D. Most of the effort issues observed in the past seemed to have migrated to the opposing sideline and the 5-2 SnakeEye D hasn’t been often seen since Bobby Johnson invented it to shut down GaSou. If the WCU D Coaches are that good & their Players will continue with, previously rarely seen, full effort; they should have little difficulty containing Woffy’s anemic O. Woffy’s D is not good, but they do play with solid effort & decent discipline, so FUBeAR thinks the Cats will not encounter the sieve that is CIT’s D, which doesn’t (anymore). Both Teams will turn it over though, so short-field & D scores will be ‘available.’ It’s close & really NOT pretty.

WCU 26 - Woffy 19


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_samford.png?width=30Samford (http://www.samfordsports.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/logos/VMI_spider_four_color-2015.png?width=30VMI (https://vmikeydets.com/)
1:30P
VMI has A LOT to play for. Samford just doesn’t. This is a trap game for the Keydets though. With an Away showdown looming vs. ETSU next week, the Roos have been dreaming about an epic MountainSea battle instead of an Air War. Samford is due to pull off an October surprise & VMI is, kinda, the new Woffy to the bullpups, so…don’t know how they pull it off, but an OT win would be most poetic.

Samford 45 - VMI 42


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_furman.png?width=30Furman (http://www.furmanpaladins.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_chatta_91.png?width=30Chattanooga (http://www.gomocs.com/)
1:30P
Chatt thinks they have a polished, balanced O after Samford found every way possible to get the ball into the Chatt’s O’s hands as rapidly as possible last week & then (as usual) refused to defend their goal. They don’t. FU’s D is not nearly as flashy as Chatt’s, but they are very good and getting a few injured players back this week. Chatt’s D is good, but FU has been adequate in stopping themselves except @ Woffy. Some things start to gel for the FU O this week…and Chatt’s pretense & presumption of balance on O is their downfall this week.

Furman 21 - Chatt 17


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_mercer.png?width=30Mercer (http://www.mercerbears.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_citadel.png?width=30The Citadel (http://www.citadelsports.com/)
2:00P
Mercer can thank the Keydets for a wake-up call a couple of weeks ago. The bellhops are squirming in their racks wishing their nightmares would end. Odd things happen when these 2 square off, but not this time. In a very boring game, Mercer controls both LOS’s and the game. This one is going to look less like a Bear mauling their prey & more like a giant python slowly squeezing the life out of an adolescent impala … looking to digest it & rest for a week before back-to-back season-ending Championship showdowns.

Mercer 35 - bellhops 10



Power Ranking

1) VMI - a week off last week & a scout team scrimmage this week as Roos prepare for late season showdowns
2) Mercer - solid rebound from the floor of the abyss. Cannot overlook the luggage handlers
3) Chattanooga - pulled the plug on Sammy’s comatose D. Not particularly impressive. Shutting down the bullpup O is though.
4) ETSU - dream season still alive…escaped from Travelers Rest by the skin of their tooth
5) Furman - failed the final :09 of the test - a dropped TD pass, failure to preserve a late FG oppty, and a crucial snap infraction were circled in red, wrong answer ink. Oppty to climb this week.

6) Samford - season over
7) WCU - season just starting

8) Memory of a Citadel - season never started
9) Wofford - Season 4 of “Proud Program in a Death Spiral.” Episode 8 drops this Saturday

[gofurman]

Could you fax that to our AD? At this point, I'd throw the kitchen sink for a change

FUBeAR and Reign of Terrier agreeing? What's next? Dogs and Cats living together? Mass Hysteria.. a quote for those over the age of 30

[Mocs123]

FUBeAR and Reign of Terrier agreeing? What's next? Dogs and Cats living together? Mass Hysteria.. a quote for those over the age of 30

Next thing you know he'll be agreeing with ElCid!

[Mocs123]

FUBeAR has a bold pick in the Samford-VMI game, but you're right, it's a trap game and Samford is due an upset. They seem to get someone every year.

I mean if they don't knock off one of the contenders, how can they justify the contract extension Hatcher will likely receive!!!

[walliver]

Agreeing with ElCid is reasonable.

Agreeing with CitDog would signal the apocalypse.

[SU DOG]

Western @ Wofford - Catamounts keep the momentum going.

Samford @ VMI - VMI wins. Not sure this Bulldogs Team will provide the usual one big upset. VMI with the best pass defense in the SoCon and tied for #9 in all of FCS in fewest yards per completion, will be too good for our pass happy attack. Then there is the dreaded Samford "stonewall defense" that VMI gets to enjoy.

Furman @ UTC - Mocs, at home, too much for the Paladins.

Mercer @ The Citadel - Bears, but it will be closer than most predict.

[Mocs123]

It probably doesn't help Samford that there is a chance of rain on Saturday. Both teams like to throw the ball, but I think VMI runs the ball a bit better.

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

Agreeing with CitDog would signal the apocalypse.

What happened to that rascal CitDog? I have not heard from him on this board in ever.

[Reign of Terrier]

He hosts FCS Nation Radio

[kdinva]

So far, you're spot on. 38-20 Sammy, VMI's first possession ended with a lost fumble inside Sammy's 3 yard line, samford has not stopped since. VMI's tackling stinks, too


It’s a SoConPalooza as all 8 Teams (that are playing) will be in action at the same time with 3 games kicking off simultaneously & the 4th just 30 minutes later. ESPN servers may crash from exceeding maximum demand!



Away
Home
Time
It could happen


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_wcu.png?width=30Western Carolina (https://catamountsports.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_wofford.png?width=30Wofford (http://woffordterriers.com/)
1:30P
Shot-up Sopwith Camel trying desperately to gain altitude vs. F22 Raptor trying to pull out of a flaming death spiral. Most peeps were impressed with WCU’s O last week. The game announcers awarded the Payton to WCU’s backup QB. The guy has a high ceiling & he played well…but FUBeAR was more impressed with the Catamount D. Most of the effort issues observed in the past seemed to have migrated to the opposing sideline and the 5-2 SnakeEye D hasn’t been often seen since Bobby Johnson invented it to shut down GaSou. If the WCU D Coaches are that good & their Players will continue with, previously rarely seen, full effort; they should have little difficulty containing Woffy’s anemic O. Woffy’s D is not good, but they do play with solid effort & decent discipline, so FUBeAR thinks the Cats will not encounter the sieve that is CIT’s D, which doesn’t (anymore). Both Teams will turn it over though, so short-field & D scores will be ‘available.’ It’s close & really NOT pretty.

WCU 26 - Woffy 19


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_samford.png?width=30Samford (http://www.samfordsports.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/logos/VMI_spider_four_color-2015.png?width=30VMI (https://vmikeydets.com/)
1:30P
VMI has A LOT to play for. Samford just doesn’t. This is a trap game for the Keydets though. With an Away showdown looming vs. ETSU next week, the Roos have been dreaming about an epic MountainSea battle instead of an Air War. Samford is due to pull off an October surprise & VMI is, kinda, the new Woffy to the bullpups, so…don’t know how they pull it off, but an OT win would be most poetic.

Samford 45 - VMI 42


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_furman.png?width=30Furman (http://www.furmanpaladins.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_chatta_91.png?width=30Chattanooga (http://www.gomocs.com/)
1:30P
Chatt thinks they have a polished, balanced O after Samford found every way possible to get the ball into the Chatt’s O’s hands as rapidly as possible last week & then (as usual) refused to defend their goal. They don’t. FU’s D is not nearly as flashy as Chatt’s, but they are very good and getting a few injured players back this week. Chatt’s D is good, but FU has been adequate in stopping themselves except @ Woffy. Some things start to gel for the FU O this week…and Chatt’s pretense & presumption of balance on O is their downfall this week.

Furman 21 - Chatt 17


https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_mercer.png?width=30Mercer (http://www.mercerbears.com/)
https://soconsports.com/images/2019/9/23/logo_citadel.png?width=30The Citadel (http://www.citadelsports.com/)
2:00P
Mercer can thank the Keydets for a wake-up call a couple of weeks ago. The bellhops are squirming in their racks wishing their nightmares would end. Odd things happen when these 2 square off, but not this time. In a very boring game, Mercer controls both LOS’s and the game. This one is going to look less like a Bear mauling their prey & more like a giant python slowly squeezing the life out of an adolescent impala … looking to digest it & rest for a week before back-to-back season-ending Championship showdowns.

Mercer 35 - bellhops 10



Power Ranking

1) VMI - a week off last week & a scout team scrimmage this week as Roos prepare for late season showdowns
2) Mercer - solid rebound from the floor of the abyss. Cannot overlook the luggage handlers
3) Chattanooga - pulled the plug on Sammy’s comatose D. Not particularly impressive. Shutting down the bullpup O is though.
4) ETSU - dream season still alive…escaped from Travelers Rest by the skin of their tooth
5) Furman - failed the final :09 of the test - a dropped TD pass, failure to preserve a late FG oppty, and a crucial snap infraction were circled in red, wrong answer ink. Oppty to climb this week.

6) Samford - season over
7) WCU - season just starting

8) Memory of a Citadel - season never started
9) Wofford - Season 4 of “Proud Program in a Death Spiral.” Episode 8 drops this Saturday

[cowboyearl]

Woffy is getting curves topped by Western. We are terrible this year. This is the worst we have been since the days of Rick Nutstrap. Pitiful. Please folks quit making excused about injuries, lost assistant coaches etc. This falls at one man's feet. And it is time to move on from him. Rich J needs to have the balls to do the right thing.

- - - Updated - - -

*curb-stomped

[kdinva]

THIS IS NO DRILL..........VMI 46; SAMFORD 45........FINAL!!!! vmi holds sammy to 120 yards in 2nd half.

[Mocs123]

Great comeback VMI.

[kdinva]

for VMI, after having a minus-4 in first half TOP, had the ball in 2nd half for 20 minutes. Herres with only one catch. Jackson and Thomas combine for 19 catches and 354 yards. samford only 1-5 in 2nd half on 3rd down.

[FUBeAR]

https://i.postimg.cc/YS9MKgV4/FC964-D26-4-C8-E-4520-84-F7-EE41125-F2862.png

This time…was it the Kickoff time or the SoCon Officials correctly calling penalties on the bellhops at parts of the game when they’re not supposed to…if they want the CIT Head Coach’s respect?

FUBear just checked & the BaggageBoys again won “every single statistical category.”

[Reign of Terrier]

It's bad in Spartanburg. Oof.

[rtzlunar]

No Furman fan should call the Mocs Chattaquitta after Furman quit DURING the game. Down 10 with 4 minutes to go Furman keeps 3 timeouts in their pocket letting the Mocs kill 2 minutes with 3 runs. No timeouts called even after 3rd down. Furman gets the ball back and basically runs out the clock.

If was a Furman fan, I would be calling for Hendrix job right now. Guess they are busing those 3 timeouts back to Greenville.

Only penalties and a dumb pick on 1st and goal at the 5 kept this game within 20.

UTC 13, Quitman 3.

[The Cats]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FC-YT1RXsAUdYG4?format=jpg&name=large

[kdinva]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FC-YT1RXsAUdYG4?format=jpg&name=large

seven weeks ago, most of us here would have said: "No way"......Cats are getting better, can't wait to see them on nov. 20

[Mocs123]

You have to think that Bell has only been there a few months. I'm sure it will take him a little bit to get his system in but you can already see this isn't the same Catamount team we saw in the spring.

[Milktruck74]

Last time Western Carolina won back to backSo Con Games? Can they put together a string of 3??? It has been a while. Congrats to the Cats.

[FUBeAR]

Last time Western Carolina won back to backSo Con Games? Can they put together a string of 3???
Dusted off some ancient journals and found the answer to your “excellent question”…

2019 Catamount Football Schedule



NOV 2 VMI (http://www.vmikeydets.com/) W,43-35
NOV 9 ETSU (http://www.etsubucs.com/) W, 23-20 OT


….and, by “excellent question,” FUBeAR, of course, means “poorly executed attempt at trolling” of Furman fans.

[gofurman]

Western @ Wofford - Catamounts keep the momentum going.

Samford @ VMI - VMI wins. Not sure this Bulldogs Team will provide the usual one big upset. VMI with the best pass defense in the SoCon and tied for #9 in all of FCS in fewest yards per completion, will be too good for our pass happy attack. Then there is the dreaded Samford "stonewall defense" that VMI gets to enjoy.

Furman @ UTC - Mocs, at home, too much for the Paladins.

Mercer @ The Citadel - Bears, but it will be closer than most predict.

- It should read “ANYONE that can score 17 can beat Furman. (Except Wofford)”. We have the BEST DEFENSE and worst offense

literally. Like today. Lost to UTC 13-3. When your Ô gets about 8 first downs and your D STILL holds the opponent to 13 that is freakish defense. Or last week we lost on the play to ETSU 17-13. The. Last. Play they finally scored a TD to get to 17. Man. If our O could get 3/4 more first downs and 75 more yards per game we would only give up 13 ppg. We currently average giving up about 15 ppg. We have an awesome D. And NO OFFENSE. NONE

i hope we the nuts to either get a new OC or have co-OC or do SOMETHING!!! Change something on Ô for cryin out loud. We have scored THREE POINTS twice now. Once vsa Mercer and today vs UTC.

Furman would likely be 7-0 in FCS and undefeated in SoCon if we scored 20 a game. Only Mercer has scored more than 20 on us and we scored 3. If we had been able to score 20s Mercer probably re but somewhere in the teens

[gofurman]

Dusted off some ancient journals and found the answer to your “excellent question”…

2019 Catamount Football Schedule



NOV 2 VMI (http://www.vmikeydets.com/) W,43-35
NOV 9 ETSU (http://www.etsubucs.com/) W, 23-20 OT


….and, by “excellent question,” FUBeAR, of course, means “poorly executed attempt at trolling” of Furman fans.


oh. Western can DEFINITELY beat Furman. Gotta take off the glasses man. Did you see our offense today? ME NEITHER. Lol

up in the Whee we can definitely lose. Hope they don’t have a defense. If CH loses to the first year WCU coach shiit gonna hit the fan. And it should. And we can definitely lose this. We have awesome D. Pathetic O

[caribbeanhen]

Good to see Coach Bell get in the win column again and Wofford lose......bring back the TO

[wcugrad95]

Hard to tell if WCU has turned the proverbial corner after getting a win, or if it is we just played 2 really bad football teams in a row. But 2 wins probably exceeds what we would have with the old coach. Either we are healthier or the bye and some additional weeks together made this look like not the same football team (expect a little of both). Just being really competitive in some early season games had already given the Cat-faithful some hope.

But now we have some tough games to close out - Furman, ETSU, and VMI. Two defenses that will really test us and an offense that can obviously put up some points. Western is not the “same old Western” and this will be a good measuring stick of how much better we are now vs last year and even the first of this season.

[SU DOG]

Couple of things: CONGRATS Catamounts. It is easy to see that the right coaching change can quickly produce a winning program - what a novel idea! As for the Furman offensive issues, you should be able to clear those up nicely in Birmingham. Yeah, I know it's the last game of the year, but it still should be good for future confidence. Assuming the game has a second half, your offense should then look like Bama's.

[kdinva]

Updated - - -

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDCHlI7XMAEMS32?format=jpg&name=small

[walliver]

oh. Western can DEFINITELY beat Furman. Gotta take off the glasses man. Did you see our offense today? ME NEITHER. Lol

up in the Whee we can definitely lose. Hope they don’t have a defense. If CH loses to the first year WCU coach shiit gonna hit the fan. And it should. And we can definitely lose this. We have awesome D. Pathetic O

We made it look like they have a great defense.

Back in February Wofford and Furman were picked to win the Spring Season. What happened?

[FUBeAR]

oh. Western can DEFINITELY beat Furman. Gotta take off the glasses man. Did you see our offense today? ME NEITHER. Lol

up in the Whee we can definitely lose. Hope they don’t have a defense. If CH loses to the first year WCU coach shiit gonna hit the fan. And it should. And we can definitely lose this. We have awesome D. Pathetic O
I believe the reasons for quoting another post is to respond to that post or to comment / add additional info to that post.

Other than WCU Football being the very broad, general subject of both posts, the commentary in your post (quoted, because I am commenting directly about it /responding to it) has nothing to do with my post that you quoted.

I thought we talked about this.

[Reign of Terrier]

Hard to tell if WCU has turned the proverbial corner after getting a win, or if it is we just played 2 really bad football teams in a row. But 2 wins probably exceeds what we would have with the old coach. Either we are healthier or the bye and some additional weeks together made this look like not the same football team (expect a little of both). Just being really competitive in some early season games had already given the Cat-faithful some hope.

But now we have some tough games to close out - Furman, ETSU, and VMI. Two defenses that will really test us and an offense that can obviously put up some points. Western is not the “same old Western” and this will be a good measuring stick of how much better we are now vs last year and even the first of this season.

I think it's a little bit of both. I think things got out of hand for Wofford in the first half because of turnovers (there's a difference between going to half down 13 and 27!), but Western's offense looks like a well oiled machine at times. Again, Wofford (and possibly the Citadel as well) don't have great defenses right now (Wofford's bad defense amounts to having a lot of youth and injuries and a DC who hasn't held the position for a full year - a pretty tall order).

But if you're a good or even average offense, Western should do what they did to Wofford and the Citadel. Rogan Wells is a great player (the 73 yard touchdown pass wouldn't have been completed by 3/4 of the QBs in this subdivision) and they have a stable players who can work their offense.

The long term question for Western will be the same challenge that VMI and Samford experience: defense.

[walliver]

I believe the reasons for quoting another post is to respond to that post or to comment / add additional info to that post.

Other than WCU Football being the very broad, general subject of both posts, the commentary in your post (quoted, because I am commenting directly about it /responding to it) has nothing to do with my post that you quoted.

I thought we talked about this.

I should have highlighted “Hope they dont’t have a defense” part of the quote.

[FUBeAR]

I should have highlighted “Hope they dont’t have a defense” part of the quote.
Um…my post didn’t quote your post. I wasn’t referencing your post.

Your post responded to something contained within gofurman’s post…so it made sense. Highlighting the specific text to which you are responding within a quoted post is an ‘extra credit’ action.

[tallgeorgiagent]

oh. Western can DEFINITELY beat Furman. Gotta take off the glasses man. Did you see our offense today? ME NEITHER. Lol

up in the Whee we can definitely lose. Hope they don’t have a defense. If CH loses to the first year WCU coach shiit gonna hit the fan. And it should. And we can definitely lose this. We have awesome D. Pathetic OD is good, but you yielded over 400 yds of offense and 2 backs got over 100 yds rushing.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[The Cats]

Updated - - -

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDCHlI7XMAEMS32?format=jpg&name=small


That's nice, but....

Western Carolina's Raphael Williams, a redshirt freshman... caught a school-record 16 passes for 177 receiving yards and two TDs as Western Carolina won its second-straight Southern Conference road game, defeating Wofford 41-21 at Gibbs Stadium. Williams' 16 receptions eclipsed the previous school benchmark of 15. It also represents the most catches by a player in the FCS this season. Williams finished with his fourth, 100-yard receiving game this season and his third game with double-digit receptions.

[kdinva]

That's nice, but....

Western Carolina's Raphael Williams, a redshirt freshman... caught a school-record 16 passes for 177 receiving yards and two TDs as Western Carolina won its second-straight Southern Conference road game, defeating Wofford 41-21 at Gibbs Stadium. Williams' 16 receptions eclipsed the previous school benchmark of 15. It also represents the most catches by a player in the FCS this season. Williams finished with his fourth, 100-yard receiving game this season and his third game with double-digit receptions.


I read that, he'll be a handful on nov. 20. Too bad the SoCon stopped with FB Frosh of the week. He'll definitely be in the mix for SoCon Frosh of the year.

[gofurman]

D is good, but you yielded over 400 yds of offense and 2 backs got over 100 yds rushing.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Yes. UTC - who should have beaten top 20 FBS UK ! - got 13 points on us. They did indeed get 400 yards. That’s a fact. But over many games , not just average 15/16 points allowed per game. And that’s with almost NO HELP from the offense. If we got 16 first downs a game instead of our average 11 (last three games) I bet our D would be holding people to 14 or less per game. That’s SICK. Ô and D work together. Our Ô doesn’t stay on the field at all yet our D is awesome in general despite being tired … heck UTC or ETSU will probably win the conference and scored 17 and 13

last three scores
UTC 13-3 LOSS
ETSU. 17-13. Loss
Citadel. 24-14. Furman win.

earlier scores
mercer. 24-3. Loss
NC AT. 29-18. Furman win
Tennessee Tech. 26-0. Furman win
Wofford 42-21. Furman win

You get the point. People just can’t score on us. 13. 17 ( TD on last play ). 14. Those are our last three games and what we have yielded. For the year in SoCon I think we are giving 15 points to the opponent. Unfortunately we only score about 15.

[gofurman]

We made it look like they have a great defense.

Back in February Wofford and Furman were picked to win the Spring Season. What happened?

hopefully we haven’t quit now that we are out of conference race. If so it will be interesting to see western O v our D

[bigred]

That's nice, but....

Western Carolina's Raphael Williams, a redshirt freshman... caught a school-record 16 passes for 177 receiving yards and two TDs as Western Carolina won its second-straight Southern Conference road game, defeating Wofford 41-21 at Gibbs Stadium. Williams' 16 receptions eclipsed the previous school benchmark of 15. It also represents the most catches by a player in the FCS this season. Williams finished with his fourth, 100-yard receiving game this season and his third game with double-digit receptions.





That’s nice but…21 yards per catch avg. > 11 yards per catch.

[Reign of Terrier]

I think Furman will easily bounce back next season. They just have a young QB and need to fix some things on offense. Kinda wild that their defense is as good as they are.

As a side note, that DC/OC/HC combo from the 2017 season was nothing to sneeze at between Staggs and Cronic. I think if they were coordinating the paladins today, they'd be in the seed discussion. That's not a knock on their current coordinators, just the hindsight of how great that staff was.