SoCon Week One

[chattanoogamocs]

Thursday, September 1st
Mars Hill 7 @ #45 Western Carolina 21 FINAL
#2 Furman 37 @ #20 Jacksonville State 35 FINAL (CSTV)

Saturday, September 3rd
#6 Georgia Southern 41 #42 Northeastern 38 FINAL OT (CSS)
Tennessee Tech 23 Chattanooga 30 FINAL OT
#32 Coastal Carolina 17 Elon 10 FINAL
#27 Appalachian State 24 #41 Eastern Kentucky 16 FINAL
Charleston Southern 14 The Citadel 28 FINAL (SC-ETV)
Georgetown (KY) 24 #21 Wofford 34 FINAL

Not too bad a week for the SoCon:

7-1 overall
3-0 road
4-1 home
2-0 OT

3-0 vs. OVC
1-0 vs. A-10
1-1 vs. Big South
2-0 vs. Non DI

[WCU LawCat]

Now WCU didn't look too good against D-II Mars Hill...but I heard Georgetown (KY) was NAIA....Wofford wins by 10? They give up 24 points? Very interesting.

[Saint3333]

No SoCon team looked overly impressive in week one, but a win is a win.

Surprises were 1. WCU and Wofford closer games than expected versus D2 schools 2. Elon staying with CCU 3. GSU's defense (or NE offense)

[Tod]

Georgetown (of Kentucky) is a very strong NAIA team.

[Coastal89]

Here are some of the 2 coaches comments.
“Coastal Carolina is a really good football team,” said Elon coach Paul Hamilton. “I watched them on tape, getting better and better last year. Physically, they’re as good as any football team I have coached against over the years. It was a tough loss for our players. We’re so close to becoming a good football team right now.”

“A tough win, an ugly win, whatever you want to call it, is better than a beautiful loss,” said Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett. “Of course, I don’t really know of a beautiful loss. We knew Elon had a good defense. They held Furman to 10 points on this field last year.”

[EagleCrusade]

Georgetown (of Kentucky) is a very strong NAIA team.

They looked like they could beat Ft. Lewis.

[Tod]

They looked like they could beat Ft. Lewis.

You watched both the Georgetown/Wofford and UM/Ft. Lewis games?

No need to get snippy, I was just pointing out a fact. G'town is, in fact, one of the best NAIA football schools out there.

;) :D

[youwouldno]

The SoCon had a good week. It's the first week of the year, a number of teams were shaky, but Elon's loss wasn't exactly a shock and it was close... the Big 3, if we can again refer to GSU, FU, and ASU as such, all won-- albeit in close games, particularly FU and GSU. UTC even won, allowing only 23 points in the process.

Georgetown (Ky) may be a good NAIA school... but Wofford looks like they are indeed in trouble this year. I predicted a rough year for them-- compared to their recent success-- and I think it may well happen. They won't be horrible, but middle of the road in conference play.

WCU's shakiness might have been the biggest surprise-- next week against Furman will be a good gauge of how the Paladins have progressed in terms of special teams and defense, and tell us if WCU's offense is going to be a major problem this year.

[WCU LawCat]

The last time we played Mars Hill in 2001 we struggled but won 15-6. We ended up finishing 7-4. Thats a good year in Cullowhee. I don't know how to judge our performance. I'm suprised to hear that Furman's defense struggled.

[thirdgendin]

The last time we played Mars Hill in 2001 we struggled but won 15-6. We ended up finishing 7-4. Thats a good year in Cullowhee. I don't know how to judge our performance. I'm suprised to hear that Furman's defense struggled.

I wasn't too worried about our defense. We gave up 300 yards to a top-20 team on their home field, and JSU only had one scoring drive longer than 30 yards, I believe. We just kept giving them a short field.

Now, on offense, we don't have any worries at the moment. We are so balanced, it's scary.

Special teams scare me to death!

[DCboyWCU]

For once, our special teams looked alright!!! I think we still have some things to address on the OL, but I heard that our two transfers didn't play. Mars Hill played good ball other than a couple of bad passes. I still anticipate a good game in the Whee on saturday. :twocents:

DCboy@WCU