SoCon 2024 Predictions and Power Rankings - Week 4

[FUBeAR]

Schedule only. FUBeAR’s Power Ranking and Picks to follow.



DATE
AWAY

HOME

TIME


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt04636aed6a65bfd9/6630e98dd01e10c4ac4a3c48/Norfolk_State_Spartans.png?width=40&auto=webpll
NORF
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt9a8bc1154301eaea/667e1f54b2a2af9708a6b771/VMI.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
VMI
1:30 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53463_VMI-vs-NORF_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt01625f2b63043547/667e1fedb6a6c875128f9b49/Western_Carolina.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
WCU
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/bltf8a05c0f335319ad/6630e98ef5b948a534cc4625/Montana_png.png?width=40&auto=webpll
MON
3:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53405_MON-vs-WCU_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt658368dd69d00808/667e1673b6a6c8fe518f9b14/The_Citadel.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
CIT
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt00447f0ae78fae75/667e1797f89b62799790b4a7/Mercer.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
MER
6:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53513_MER-vs-CIT_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/bltc60841f0161cdccf/667e16d29b2b7a3b7ed96c5e/Furman.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
FUR
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt1bbd7cf19be57a31/663cb10c854f09e0dc8700bd/William_&_Mary_logo.png?width=40&auto=webpll
WIMA
6:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53512_WIMA-vs-FUR_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt03a71b9bb98ff470/667e15f4fcee4a43cb2def7a/ETSU.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
ETSU
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt23b365be00f942d1/6630ea4414425d99b9618338/Elon_png.png?width=40&auto=webpll
ELON
6:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53527_ELON-vs-ETSU_20240921/stats/)





Chatt, Woffy, and HomewoodHounds licking their wounds this week

[Reign of Terrier]

VMI
Montana
Mercer
W&M
ETSU

Power rankings:
1. Mercer
2. Chatt
3. ETSU
4. Wofford
5. Western
6. Citadel
7. Furman
8. Samford
9. VMI

A couple notes:
1) My top 4 has shown us good things, bottom 5 has shown us meh to bad things. I’m confident Mercer and Wofford and likely Chatt are good things (not sure about their offense).
2) This may be the best chance VMI has for a W this year, after what we’ve seen so far. It’s not great!
3) Ranking Furman that low, mainly because other teams have done something more impressive than them. I could see them middling around at like 5-7 or putting it together and pushing for playoffs
4) Samford should be in crisis mode.
5) ETSU did spectacular against NDSU before blowing it. I get an up and down vibe from them. Wouldn’t be surprised wherever they wind up.

[Reign of Terrier]

I’m going to rag on Samford for a minute. It’s always been awkward for me to do it because the last 9 years Wofford has been a combination of unlucky and bad and haven’t beaten Hatcher.

But if you’re a samford fan you’ll agree with me that this stuff is getting old. I just counted up their depth chart and they have 27 players who are graduate students or seniors…and 12 points is all they have? Alabama State may not be bad, but they aren’t great either. Apparently the backup QB isn’t with the team, and Q is beat up (yet Hatcher ran him 11 times?). And they have kicking problems too, and the defense is looking suspect after West Georgia has laid a couple eggs.

i dunno man, this just seems like a flailing program at some point. Hatcher is the most senior coach in the conference, he won a socon title 2 years ago, but there’s got to be a big call to question his ability to develop talent at this point or even develop a program. Between coaching changes and using the portal liberally, there’s no continuity year to year. He’s not building a program so much as he’s fielding a team each year. And he’ll do it again next year! So much of the offense is seniors and graduates, but many of them don’t have much experience starting or being on this team.

Samford can certainly turn it around, but I don’t see Q being a serious passing threat this year. If Samford doesn’t win 8 games, i’d fire Hatcher.

[wcugrad95]

In my normal cop-out mode, still putting teams in tiers. For me, I am ranking/tiering teams as follows:



Mercer is in their own tier with a 3-0 record and a huge SOCON win on the road at pre-season favorites UTC.
Tier-2 is Wofford, ETSU, and Chatty. I know the Mocs are 0-3, but they no doubt have players and a very tough D. They have probably played their 3 toughest games of the season to start. At some point their passing game will hurt some teams and they very well might end up 8-4 or even 9-3. I know ETSU is also only 1-2, but we all saw they are capable of beating (shoulda/coulda/woulda) the consensus #2 team in the country. Wofford is the biggest surprise - really wish they could have pulled out the W against W&M yesterday.
Tier-3 is Furman, WCU and Citadel for much different reasons. As I mentiond in another thread, FU and WCU lost SOOOOO much from last year. Furman in players and the Cats in a couple of studs (has anybody seen what Dez Reid is doing at Pitt???) but more importantly 3 really valuable coaches (Kade Bell plus our O-line and Recieivers coaches). I think both teams can still win 7 or 8 games -OR- we could lose 7 or 8. I honestly don't know how to rate Citadel yet. They have shown they are no doubt better, and they are going to win a few more games. But I just don't know how to gauge the teams they have played so far.
Tier-4 is Samford (still got tons of talent and will shock some teams) and VMI (who we saw play terrible to start last year and then get strong at the end).


What we all know is this will probably be turned inside-out after we have all played 4 SOCON games.

[FUBeAR]

I’m going to rag on Samford for a minute. It’s always been awkward for me to do it because the last 9 years Wofford has been a combination of unlucky and bad and haven’t beaten Hatcher.

But if you’re a samford fan you’ll agree with me that this stuff is getting old. I just counted up their depth chart and they have 27 players who are graduate students or seniors…and 12 points is all they have? Alabama State may not be bad, but they aren’t great either. Apparently the backup QB isn’t with the team, and Q is beat up (yet Hatcher ran him 11 times?). And they have kicking problems too, and the defense is looking suspect after West Georgia has laid a couple eggs.

i dunno man, this just seems like a flailing program at some point. Hatcher is the most senior coach in the conference, he was given a socon title 2 years ago, but there’s got to be a big call to question his ability to develop talent at this point or even develop a program. Between coaching changes and using the portal liberally, there’s no continuity year to year. He’s not building a program so much as he’s fielding a team each year. And he’ll do it again next year! So much of the offense is seniors and graduates, but many of them don’t have much experience starting or being on this team.

Samford can certainly turn it around, but I don’t see Q being a serious passing threat this year. If Samford doesn’t win 8 games, i’d fire Hatcher.
Added 6 letters and subtracted 1 to FYP

[FUBeAR]

In my normal cop-out mode, still putting teams in tiers. For me, I am ranking/tiering teams as follows:



Mercer is in their own tier with a 3-0 record and a huge SOCON win on the road at pre-season favorites UTC.
Tier-2 is Wofford, ETSU, and Chatty. I know the Mocs are 0-3, but they no doubt have players and a very tough D. They have probably played their 3 toughest games of the season to start. At some point their passing game will hurt some teams and they very well might end up 8-4 or even 9-3. I know ETSU is also only 1-2, but we all saw they are capable of beating (shoulda/coulda/woulda) the consensus #2 team in the country. Wofford is the biggest surprise - really wish they could have pulled out the W against W&M yesterday.
Tier-3 is Furman, WCU and Citadel for much different reasons. As I mentiond in another thread, FU and WCU lost SOOOOO much from last year. Furman in players and the Cats in a couple of studs (has anybody seen what Dez Reid is doing at Pitt???) but more importantly 3 really valuable coaches (Kade Bell plus our O-line and Recieivers coaches). I think both teams can still win 7 or 8 games -OR- we could lose 7 or 8. I honestly don't know how to rate Citadel yet. They have shown they are no doubt better, and they are going to win a few more games. But I just don't know how to gauge the teams they have played so far.
Tier-4 is Samford (still got tons of talent and will shock some teams) and VMI (who we saw play terrible to start last year and then get strong at the end).


What we all know is this will probably be turned inside-out after we have all played 4 SOCON games.
Total cop-out AND a very solid assessment.

[SU DOG]

I’m going to rag on Samford for a minute. It’s always been awkward for me to do it because the last 9 years Wofford has been a combination of unlucky and bad and haven’t beaten Hatcher.

But if you’re a samford fan you’ll agree with me that this stuff is getting old. I just counted up their depth chart and they have 27 players who are graduate students or seniors…and 12 points is all they have? Alabama State may not be bad, but they aren’t great either. Apparently the backup QB isn’t with the team, and Q is beat up (yet Hatcher ran him 11 times?). And they have kicking problems too, and the defense is looking suspect after West Georgia has laid a couple eggs.

i dunno man, this just seems like a flailing program at some point. Hatcher is the most senior coach in the conference, he won a socon title 2 years ago, but there’s got to be a big call to question his ability to develop talent at this point or even develop a program. Between coaching changes and using the portal liberally, there’s no continuity year to year. He’s not building a program so much as he’s fielding a team each year. And he’ll do it again next year! So much of the offense is seniors and graduates, but many of them don’t have much experience starting or being on this team.

Samford can certainly turn it around, but I don’t see Q being a serious passing threat this year. If Samford doesn’t win 8 games, i’d fire Hatcher.

Aa a Samford Fan, what is getting old is your continued obsession with this same line of posting. It would seem to me that you have enough to concern yourself with for your own team. While the Terriers are a world better this year they did lose yesterday and face a powerful Mercer Team up next. Yet here you go, strangely IMO, at this time blasting Hatcher and Samford. You may be right about my team, but we have only played THREE games this year for crying out loud! While you are certainly free to express your feelings on this Board, I just find it hard not to think that they are not root-based in the Wofford futility vs Samford for the last decade or so.

[wcugrad95]

SU DOG's post is why I am still tiering. We simply don't know enough yet other than Mercer looked awfully strong against Chatt. Is Western the team that led NC State and fought for a road win against a ranked team or the team that crapped the bed against Campbell (similar comment for FU just with different teams invovled)? Citadel has 2 wins, but how good are either one of those wins? Wofford is getting a lot of love based on 1 really good win, a good showing yesterday, and on how good people think GWU might be. ETSU shoulda beat NDSU, but they didn't.

The list goes on and on. I know we are now 1/4th of the way into the season, but there is still just so much unknown.

[Reign of Terrier]

Aa a Samford Fan, what is getting old is your continued obsession with this same line of posting. It would seem to me that you have enough to concern yourself with for your own team. While the Terriers are a world better this year they did lose yesterday and face a powerful Mercer Team up next. Yet here you go, strangely IMO, at this time blasting Hatcher and Samford. You may be right about my team, but we have only played THREE games this year for crying out loud! While you are certainly free to express your feelings on this Board, I just find it hard not to think that they are not root-based in the Wofford futility vs Samford for the last decade or so.

I post about every socon team I watched. Look back at the scoring thread, I talk about Furman too. Go back to other threads, I've laid into VMI. If you don't like my posting, you're just insecure about your own team

As a guy who wants to see the socon thrive on the FCS stage, I don't like Hatcher because he blows it against literally anyone but Wofford, and it's getting to the point where one says "maybe he was just lucky."

If I'm remembering correctly, Samford has more pro players than any other socon team, has all these flashy recruiting classes, probably one of the better SI departments, no shortage of $$$ relative to everyone else, to say nothing of flexibility with graduate school relative to 1/2 the conference for the portal, and it's a pretty sucky program overall.

[FUBeAR]

I post about every socon team I watched. Look back at the scoring thread, I talk about Furman too. Go back to other threads, I've laid into VMI. If you don't like my posting, you're just insecure about your own team

As a guy who wants to see the socon thrive on the FCS stage, I don't like Hatcher because he blows it against literally anyone but Wofford, and it's getting to the point where one says "maybe he was just lucky."

If I'm remembering correctly, Samford has more pro players than any other socon team, has all these flashy recruiting classes, probably one of the better SI departments, no shortage of $$$ relative to everyone else, to say nothing of flexibility with graduate school relative to 1/2 the conference for the portal, and it's a pretty sucky program overall.
https://www.samford.edu/news/2024/06/Samford-Athletics-Sweeps-SoCon-All-Sports-Awards-And-Graduation-Rate-Award-For-Second-Straight-YearPost

[Reign of Terrier]

https://www.samford.edu/news/2024/06/Samford-Athletics-Sweeps-SoCon-All-Sports-Awards-And-Graduation-Rate-Award-For-Second-Straight-YearPost

And football sucks

[caribbeanhen]

Aa a Samford Fan, what is getting old is your continued obsession with this same line of posting. It would seem to me that you have enough to concern yourself with for your own team. While the Terriers are a world better this year they did lose yesterday and face a powerful Mercer Team up next. Yet here you go, strangely IMO, at this time blasting Hatcher and Samford. You may be right about my team, but we have only played THREE games this year for crying out loud! While you are certainly free to express your feelings on this Board, I just find it hard not to think that they are not root-based in the Wofford futility vs Samford for the last decade or so.

SU DOG,

I watched about the first 10 minutes of your game in hopes of seeing some wide angle shots of your beautiful campus and the stadium. Of course I also wanted to see the game as well. The ESPN plus broadcast, which I guess is really a Samford production, didn’t seem interested in that at all. It was all close-ups of the field like they were playing a game or something. Haha

Can you tell those kids to zoom out a little bit sometimes!! Show off that place a few times

[OrangeAndBlack]

Power Ranks
1. Mercer - Strongest start in program history.
2. Chattanooga - the toughest games are behind them, plenty of time left to rack up wins.
3. Wofford - great scheduling and won 2 of 3.
4. ETSU - they’ve got to stop scheduling non D1 games. I’d rather play 2 FBS like chatty and make money, than have the home game that doesn’t count and no one cares about.
5. The Citadel - only here because they beat CSU and Furman did not. They’re the only other SoCon team to schedule a non D1. No excuse when VMI can get a nice schedule done.
6. Furman - I’d rather play WCU than Furman, so Furman gets the bump (for now).
7. WCU - Player of the year QB has 0 TD passes and 4 INT in 2 games vs FCS. Have the WCU coaches been figured out? I don’t think any SoCon team has a bigger “problem” than that.
8. Samford
9. VMI

Picks

Mercer
Norfolk St
Montana
ETSU
Furman

[FUBeAR]

Power Ranks
1. Mercer - Strongest start in program history.

Nope…

DRAKE (1-3 , 0-1) -VS- MERCER (4-0 , 1-0)


Team
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Total


Drake
0
7
7
3
17


Winner Mercer
3
14
7
7
31


DATE: 9/28/2013

…not yet. Gotta beat the bellhops and the PursePuppies to make that claim.

[OrangeAndBlack]

Ok ok that was a magical season so I’ll accept. The vibe that year could never be replicated.

[bonarae]

VMI
Griz
Mercer
W&M
ETSU

[ElCid]

I get that there are folks who don't like lower Div games. We all see the same sentiment from those in FBS. Same concept. But if you are going to do it, a 12 game season is the time. There are lots of reasons to have a D2 or others on the schedule. In our case, this year, we do have huge connections to N Greenville so that may have played a part. Like a grad as their head coach. He actually has connections to a few SOCON Schools. Not sure when this was scheduled, or if our current coach would have approved, but at least it was a generally good team that the computer has about in the top half of the Pioneer (they were much higher until our game). Technicalities as to the div label aside, it was still not a terrible decision. I really don't want one on the schedule every year, but sometimes you just can't find an open, reasonable travel opponent. This also filled out our 6th home game on the schedule. Possibly having only 5 home games in a 12 game season is unacceptable. I'm just considering other possible justifications for it.

[SU DOG]

SU DOG,

I watched about the first 10 minutes of your game in hopes of seeing some wide angle shots of your beautiful campus and the stadium. Of course I also wanted to see the game as well. The ESPN plus broadcast, which I guess is really a Samford production, didn’t seem interested in that at all. It was all close-ups of the field like they were playing a game or something. Haha

Can you tell those kids to zoom out a little bit sometimes!! Show off that place a few times

I think we will have a dedication for the new digs at one of the later games. so that may be why nothing yesterday. The stadium sure looks better with the new building and crosswalk in the North End Zone. We are also playing on new turf this season. The scenery was probably better to look at yesterday than that game was.
Anyhow, thanks for the kind words and isn't it about time for another visit to relatives in Homewood?

[FUBeAR]

Agree or Disagree? Discuss.

https://twitter.com/zachmckinnell/status/1835445498754253269

[wcugrad95]

Foobs - you know the first 2 games don’t really count, right? For some reason the Bears have the Mocs figured out dating back the last few years. I have Mercer head and shoulders the top of the SOCON after week 3, But there are lots of games left. I think Mercer is very good, but not ready to call them the 86 Bears just yet. Could be a 10-2 kinda team. Could be an 8-4 like several others.

[ElCid]

Agree or Disagree? Discuss.

https://twitter.com/zachmckinnell/status/1835445498754253269

Presbyterian? B-C? Sure. Hard not have the best numbers. Come back and talk in three more weeks. If they still have the best numbers, I'll agree.

[FUBeAR]

Foobs - you know the first 2 games don’t really count, right? For some reason the Bears have the Mocs figured out dating back the last few years. I have Mercer head and shoulders the top of the SOCON after week 3, But there are lots of games left. I think Mercer is very good, but not ready to call them the 86 Bears just yet. Could be a 10-2 kinda team.
Kinda have had your Catamounts figured out the last “few” years too, haven’t they?

Mercer Football History vs Western Carolina University

Season

Mercer
Home
/ Away

Mercer Result (W or L)
&
Score


2023
A
W 45 - 38


2022
H
W 49 - 6


2021
A
W 34 - 24


2020
H
W 45 - 28


2019
A
W 49 - 27


2018
H
W 59 - 46


2017
A
W 35 - 33


2016
H
W 38 - 24



And to your “don’t count” foolishness … Bethune-Cookman’s O, while being down only 2 scores nearly until the 4th quarter, hung 31 on an FBS Defense yesterday. Mercer’s Defense shut out that same O. And, PC is undefeated since facing the Bears, averaging ~42 points per game in their wins.

[FUBeAR]

Presbyterian? B-C? Sure. Hard not have the best numbers. Come back and talk in three more weeks. If they still have the best numbers, I'll agree.
You and 95 colluding on your posts now?

See Post #22 as FUBeAR’s reply then…

Well…it wouldn’t be fair if FUBeAR didn’t personalize for you…

Mercer Football History vs The Citadel



Season
Mercer
Home
/ Away
Mercers Result (W or L)
&
Score


2023
A
W 38 - 16


2022
H
W 17 - 0


2021
A
W 34 - 7


2020
H
W 42 - 28

[wcugrad95]

Ok. Just saying it has not been a gauntlet so far. Huge win vs the Mocs. I said the Bears are potentially a 10-win team. Geez!

Presby beat Erskine and Lynchburg. Bethune scored 3 against USF and scored 31against Western Michigan (their only win) in a 59-31 loss. Western Michigan scored 14 and 0 in their other 2 games.

[Mocs123]

Mercer looked really good, but as of right now I'm not sure how good the Mocs are. I mean I think myself, and most of us, thought they'd be really good, but it's really hard to tell. A blowout loss vs. UTK, and a close loss vs. a lower tier FBS team. Mercer could be the best team in the SoCon, and the Mocs could be the second best team.....or both could be middle of the pack teams. Wofford, WCU, and ETSU have all looked really good at times this season too.

[gofurman]

Mercer has a STRONG LOOKING D. Freak. But throw an Ole Miss or UTK game on em and see how that 60-80 points works the average 😀. Just playin

i agree. They look good !!! We will all know a LOT more in 2/3 weeks. So far Mercer looks great - GO SOCON

[Reign of Terrier]

I get that there are folks who don't like lower Div games. We all see the same sentiment from those in FBS. Same concept. But if you are going to do it, a 12 game season is the time. There are lots of reasons to have a D2 or others on the schedule. In our case, this year, we do have huge connections to N Greenville so that may have played a part. Like a grad as their head coach. He actually has connections to a few SOCON Schools. Not sure when this was scheduled, or if our current coach would have approved, but at least it was a generally good team that the computer has about in the top half of the Pioneer (they were much higher until our game). Technicalities as to the div label aside, it was still not a terrible decision. I really don't want one on the schedule every year, but sometimes you just can't find an open, reasonable travel opponent. This also filled out our 6th home game on the schedule. Possibly having only 5 home games in a 12 game season is unacceptable. I'm just considering other possible justifications for it.

So I will admit when I typed that I forgot that Stetson is technically D1, so I didn’t mean to single out the Citadel.

I’m actually weirdly, counterintuitively okay with d2 games in an 11 game season, but not 12, and the reason why is simple: I don’t think the committee has ever left out at an 8-3 socon team, but they’ve let out an 8-4 socon team a couple of times. In 12 game seasons, there’s a dirth if teams that manage 8 wins (7 d1) and it basically floods the zone with **** and socon schools typically suffer from it, but weirdly 8-3 doesn’t have the same stigma.

So, again, I’m looking at all of this from the lens of playoff resume and probability of making it. If Socon teams either scheduled tough or won their OOC games consistently, I wouldn’t be so mean to them. Historically, that’s usually Samford and maybe chattanooga. This year, it’s a little bit of everyone. On the top of my head, ETSU and Mercer and even WCU (when they aren’t in lovable loser mode) are probably the best in conference about not dropping OOC games, and I think that’s partially because they’re smart about not scheduling super tough OOC.

I’m mad at Wofford these last few years because when we were good under Ayers we scheduled super soft and won, and under Conklin we were good, scheduled hard or even just moderate and lost, and we’ve basically just lost a lot since. Under Ayers, there were multiple 12 game seasons we only scheduled 11 games (good move), but we also scheduled d2 games way more back then.

There’s definitely value in getting back on the horse. Citadel needs games like that - and to be honest Wofford does too.

[Reign of Terrier]

With regards to the Bethune Cookman game, they didn’t hang 30ish on WMU, they had 2 kick returns for touchdown.

As the socon poasters least favorite critic and as someone who has gotten older, I think stats are a little overrated. They help us tell the story, but they aren’t the story. I also think there’s s silly fixation by football fans in general between great/very good and better/best.

I don’t really care if Mercer has the best defense, but what matters is that they are really good. However, I am skeptical of their opponents they’ve played. PC is PC and BC sucks. Chattanooga may well be very good, but I don’t think (at this point!) their offense is a question mark. I haven’t watched any of their games yet, but it’s possible their offense took a step back.

To selflessly inject Wofford into the conversation, I think Wofford will be the best offense Mercer will face in their first 5 games of the season, and it’s also possible that the big games in the socon (for conference title consideration) will have been played by mid-October between Mercer/Chatt/Wofford.

I’ll be honest, I feel good better about 4-5 teams (as a baseline) this year for the first time in forever

[FUBeAR]

With regards to the Bethune Cookman game, they didn’t hang 30ish on WMU, they had 2 kick returns for touchdown.

As the socon poasters least favorite critic and as someone who has gotten older, I think stats are a little overrated. They help us tell the story, but they aren’t the story. I also think there’s s silly fixation by football fans in general between great/very good and better/best.

I don’t really care if Mercer has the best defense, but what matters is that they are really good. However, I am skeptical of their opponents they’ve played. PC is PC and BC sucks. Chattanooga may well be very good, but I don’t think (at this point!) their offense is a question mark. I haven’t watched any of their games yet, but it’s possible their offense took a step back.

To selflessly inject Wofford into the conversation, I think Wofford will be the best offense Mercer will face in their first 5 games of the season, and it’s also possible that the big games in the socon (for conference title consideration) will have been played by mid-October between Mercer/Chatt/Wofford.

I’ll be honest, I feel good better about 4-5 teams (as a baseline) this year for the first time in forever
Details, schmetails.

Here are a few more…B-C’s 2 TD Kick Returner is a RB as a position Player, an Offensive Player. All of the Players on Mercer’s and Western Michigan’s Kickoff Coverage Team are Defensive Position Players. So, there.

Also … Mocs are good. OL needs work, but Mercer’s DL is really underrated. The Bears’ Front 7 2-Deep is very, very stout. And Artopoeus was off target all day. He’s a good QB, who had a bad day. He was heavily pressured (4 sacks), but he was off from the beginning of the game - before he had even had a chance to start ‘fearing’ pressure and off on throws when he was not heavily pressured. Davis is a good RB, but he ain’t Ford + Appleberry. They’ll be all right - they are a Playoff-caliber Team talent-wise - IF the Coaches don’t lose the locker room…like they did in the Covid year.

FUBeAR has seen the Mocs up close and personal…

https://i.postimg.cc/2ST9jdR3/IMG-3084.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/L4fygFKc/IMG-3087.jpg

[FUBeAR]

Word is that FU is flying Walter Payton Award winner, Louis Ivory, into Williamsburg on Saturday. As ‘the real’ Louis Ivory did not play in Furman’s very narrow 13-6 loss to Montana in the 2001 I-AA National Championship Game, due to a knee injury, the NCAA has granted Furman’s request for a Special 1-game eligibility for Ivory. Look out, FamilyGroup, he’s looking to hang 233 yards and 3 TD’s on y’all this time!
https://twitter.com/paladinfootball/status/1835664943581970895

[caribbeanhen]

I think we will have a dedication for the new digs at one of the later games. so that may be why nothing yesterday. The stadium sure looks better with the new building and crosswalk in the North End Zone. We are also playing on new turf this season. The scenery was probably better to look at yesterday than that game was.
Anyhow, thanks for the kind words and isn't it about time for another visit to relatives in Homewood?

I'm overdue to get back down to Alabama, this Bermuda triangle I'm waking up in has me wondering where I even am some mornings... seriously I look forward to getting back down south! The new Homewood residents always tell me how nice the people are in Alabama and I always say...told ya. I have tried to convince them to go to a college football game but I have failed on that one.... neither one of em likes football.

[FUBeAR]

I'm overdue to get back down to Alabama, this Bermuda triangle I'm waking up in has me wondering where I even am some mornings... seriously I look forward to getting back down south! The new Homewood residents always tell me how nice the people are in Alabama and I always say...told ya. I have tried to convince them to go to a college football game but I have failed on that one.... neither one of em likes football.
Does they like beer / wine / etc., sunshine, music, and people-watching?

That’s what Mrs. FUBeAR enjoys about Football. She don’t know an Arc Block from an Arc Welder

[caribbeanhen]

Does they like beer / wine / etc., sunshine, music, and people-watching?

That’s what Mrs. FUBeAR enjoys about Football. She don’t know an Arc Block from an Arc Welder

that sounds almost verbatim as to what I told them, no way you can live in Bama and not go to a college football game and one thing is true, they are not startled anymore when the walk into an establishment and somebody yells,.... Roll Tide....

[Reign of Terrier]

So I don't know if this was talked about on the board when it happened, but Western Carolina lost more coaches than just their OC. They also lost their receivers coach and OL coach, which has been mentioned.

But they also lost their DC, to Samford of all places (who went over not as DC, which raises some questions). They bring back the core of their defensive coaches, but brought over Jerry Odom from Tusculum to be their new DC. The thing that sticks out to me is that they have a bunch of coaches under the age of 30, and a lot under the age of 35. The fingerprints of the program 2-3 years ago was Valdosta State, but now it's Tusculum and Jacksonville more so. There's nothing wrong with that, but just glancing at Tusculum the last few years, they weren't absolutely spectacular on defense, like Cronic/the new Mercer coach at Lenoir Rhyne

None of that is bad or predictive, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're in a bit of a rebuild. It's hard to lose as many coaches as they did and maintain the same standard. And young coaches can be young coaches, but they can also be prodigious. Wofford had one of those at DC under Conklin.

[wcugrad95]

Issues right now are on the offensive side. I actually think we are better defensively. We didn't lose the DC - he was let go. Jerry Odom came over from Tusculum where he had been the head coach, and he has a long history and relationship with Kerwin Bell. Even though we have given up yards, Western's defense is better than it has been recently (which I know is not saying a whole lot). The Cats have also dedicated some recruiting both for high school and transfers to try and get that side of the ball better.

If WCU can get back to an offense with some rhythm I think we will be ok. Oddly we kind of had it against NC State but I think the awful performance against Campbell has shell-shocked Cole a little. Wells is the OC, and he has been in the system (played for Bell at Jacksonville and had been our TE coach before Kade left as well as coaching with Kade at Tusculum). So it is not like the scheme or the plays change drastically. What we are most missing right now is a home-run hitter. Dez Reid could turn a 2 yard loss into an 8 yard gain, and an 8 yard gain into a housecall regularly. Censere Lee and David White Jr. were big-time threats in the passing game, and we need somebody to step into their roles to give us a vertical threat and things would be a lot better.

We have also been missing a couple of guys who we expect to be good players. Ed Jones IV is a ball-hawk on defense, and Zion Booker is a speedster who can help with some vertical routes. Jai Boyd is also expected to contribute at WR and is a different target at 6'2" compared to our other guys. I think our DC said we had 5 guys out on defense this past week. I know we all have players who get banged up, but a couple of guys we felt like would be starters have yet to play (but AFAIK are supposed to come back).

[Reign of Terrier]

Issues right now are on the offensive side. I actually think we are better defensively. We didn't lose the DC - he was let go. Jerry Odom came over from Tusculum where he had been the head coach, and he has a long history and relationship with Kerwin Bell. Even though we have given up yards, Western's defense is better than it has been recently (which I know is not saying a whole lot). The Cats have also dedicated some recruiting both for high school and transfers to try and get that side of the ball better.

If WCU can get back to an offense with some rhythm I think we will be ok. Oddly we kind of had it against NC State but I think the awful performance against Campbell has shell-shocked Cole a little. Wells is the OC, and he has been in the system (played for Bell at Jacksonville and had been our TE coach before Kade left as well as coaching with Kade at Tusculum). So it is not like the scheme or the plays change drastically. What we are most missing right now is a home-run hitter. Dez Reid could turn a 2 yard loss into an 8 yard gain, and an 8 yard gain into a housecall regularly. Censere Lee and David White Jr. were big-time threats in the passing game, and we need somebody to step into their roles to give us a vertical threat and things would be a lot better.

We have also been missing a couple of guys who we expect to be good players. Ed Jones IV is a ball-hawk on defense, and Zion Booker is a speedster who can help with some vertical routes. Jai Boyd is also expected to contribute at WR and is a different target at 6'2" compared to our other guys. I think our DC said we had 5 guys out on defense this past week. I know we all have players who get banged up, but a couple of guys we felt like would be starters have yet to play (but AFAIK are supposed to come back).

Sounds about right. I think if one has a good program and continuity with players and coaches, personnel turnover is a little overrated. IE Wofford pre-Conklin going insane lost quite a bit year-to-year but still three peat.

It's likely the case with Western! I like to look at both sides of the issue (I think that's typically my posting style, but people gravitate to focusing on the negatives post), but I can see both a plateau from last year (which wouldn't be awful) or a slight regression. But the longer they don't lose ground, the better you have to feel if you're western.

But that's a tall task, given their next 2 games are Wofford and Montana. The Campbell loss will hurt them down the road, especially if they're on the bubble. I don't see them winning both of their next two, and climbing out of 1-4 would be hard, but do-able.

I think we will have a good idea of a lot of socon teams playoff chances in the next 4 games/5 weeks. In Western's case, I think they lose at least one (if any because Montana on the road is really tough). Lose 2 and you're treading water. Lose 3, and you're probably out of the playoffs.

No idea what will come of it, but I think you'll learn a lot about what direction your team is going. A 6-6ish year would not be awful.

[ElCid]

Kinda have had your Catamounts figured out the last “few” years too, haven’t they?

Mercer Football History vs Western Carolina University

Season

Mercer
Home
/ Away

Mercer Result (W or L)
&
Score


2023
A
W 45 - 38


2022
H
W 49 - 6


2021
A
W 34 - 24


2020
H
W 45 - 28


2019
A
W 49 - 27


2018
H
W 59 - 46


2017
A
W 35 - 33


2016
H
W 38 - 24



And to your “don’t count” foolishness … Bethune-Cookman’s O, while being down only 2 scores nearly until the 4th quarter, hung 31 on an FBS Defense yesterday. Mercer’s Defense shut out that same O. And, PC is undefeated since facing the Bears, averaging ~42 points per game in their wins.

Mercer's record against anyone else isn't important or relative to the point. B-C and PC are awful. Sure Chatty was good. It was definitely a defensive struggle. Both teams had about the same yards in the 270/280 range. But it was a conf game and there was familiarity there as well. And there is that whole consistency thing. Can they keep it going?

And I am always a bit leery about claiming "x" when it comes to how a team does against an FBS. Lots of factors going on there. And just for accuracy, 14 of those B-C points were by kickoff returns. Special teams failure by WMich to be sure. 10 points were late and probably against 2nd and 3rd team.

I'll stand by my requirement of waiting for the next three games to judge if Mercer is for real in regard to being an especially good defense.

[FUBeAR]

Mercer's record against anyone else isn't important or relative to the point. B-C and PC are awful. Sure Chatty was good. It was definitely a defensive struggle. Both teams had about the same yards in the 270/280 range. But it was a conf game and there was familiarity there as well. And there is that whole consistency thing. Can they keep it going?

And I am always a bit leery about claiming "x" when it comes to how a team does against an FBS. Lots of factors going on there. And just for accuracy, 14 of those B-C points were by kickoff returns. Special teams failure by WMich to be sure. 10 points were late and probably against 2nd and 3rd team.

I'll stand by my requirement of waiting for the next three games to judge if Mercer is for real in regard to being an especially good defense.
Dang … you, 95, and RoT must be together on a zoom call … so you get another duplicated response …

B-C’s 2 TD Kick Returner is a RB as a position Player, an Offensive Player. All of the Players on Mercer’s and Western Michigan’s Kickoff Coverage Team are Defensive Position Players. So, there.

But…also…Chatt’s O scored a rushing TD, gained almost 100 yards on the ground, and averaged 2.7 ypa against an FBS Defense that just beat an SEC Team. They also went for over 300 Total Offense and scored 3 TD’s.

Against Mercer’s D, the Mocs scored 0 TD’s, gained only 19 yards on the ground, and averaged 1.0 ypa. They barely gained over 250 (mostly meaningless) yards and were 0 for 12 on 3rd down conversions. To be honest, they only had 1 ‘meaningful’ play all game … 1 65 yard non-scoring pass which they followed up on by losing 4 yards in 3 plays before making their only score (a 32 yard FG).

In the inimitable words of the famous Coach Robbie Caldwell, “they ain’t pee a drop all day.”

[Reign of Terrier]

Dang … you, 95, and RoT must be together on a zoom call … so you get another duplicated response …

B-C’s 2 TD Kick Returner is a RB as a position Player, an Offensive Player. All of the Players on Mercer’s and Western Michigan’s Kickoff Coverage Team are Defensive Position Players. So, there.

But…also…Chatt’s O scored a rushing TD, gained almost 100 yards on the ground, and averaged 2.7 ypa against an FBS Defense that just beat an SEC Team. They also went for over 300 Total Offense and scored 3 TD’s.

Against Mercer’s D, the Mocs scored 0 TD’s, gained only 19 yards on the ground, and averaged 1.0 ypa. They barely gained over 250 (mostly meaningless) yards and were 0 for 12 on 3rd down conversions. To be honest, they only had 1 ‘meaningful’ play all game … 1 65 yard non-scoring pass which they followed up on by losing 4 yards in 3 plays before making their only score (a 32 yard FG).

In the inimitable words of the famous Coach Robbie Caldwell, “they ain’t pee a drop all day.”

This is an “emperor’s equation” post - lots of words and arguments to justify a meh position that’s pretty meh on its surface.

Way too much in the air right now. I’d love to go all memey and say Wofford is back - my instincts are that they are, but I’m waiting until we play Mercer and Chattanooga before making any kind of call (full disclosure: i think we beat western and VMI)

[wcugrad95]

I know you were all wanting to dig in a little more on Western's defense :)

In Saturday's game, Elon had 2 really long TDs. No doubt those plays count just as much as all the others (I guess technically they count more as TDs!), but my point is the Phoenix had 118 yards on those 2 plays. Historically our problem has been getting teams off the field, giving up long TDs, and a couple of seasons ago I'd even question some of the effort/want to. I think Odom has brought a little life to our defense. Elon was 2-11 on 3rd down and 1-2 on 4th. Even in the Campbell game that stat was 6-17 on 3rd down.

Not saying WCU should be back in everybody's top-15 or anything, or that we don't have plenty of questions. But I am hopeful that the Campbell game really was more anomoly, and that our 5 turnovers were the biggest driver in that loss vs the Cats not being a decent football team. Had we played a D2 or Pioneer team and won and held a 2-1 record right now, there would still be questions but probably a very different narrative. Beating Montana on the road is obviously a very tall/monumental ask, but 2-2 OOC would be what we all probably expected and 1-3 means we just have a tougher hill to climb. I think anybody with playoff aspirations will need 6 SOCON wins regardless of their OOC record.

I am happy for a change with Western's bye week. I hate that we have to play 8 straight SOCON games, but I do like that we get to rest and prepare an extra week after the long trip to Missoula.

[Reign of Terrier]

Tbh I’m more worried about western’s offense not being up to snuff. Defense seems okay so far, can’t really sneeze at 2 sub-20 point performances, no matter who’s the offense, as my rule of thumb is that <20 is a good showing (The reasoning: pretty much every Wofford playoff team post-spread-offense averaged about 20 ppg). Obviously, elite defenses are even better (Furman’s was at like 14ppg in socon/fcs games - maybe better - last season), but you don’t need an elite defense to make the playoffs.

[FUBeAR]

I’d love to go all memey and say Wofford is back
https://i.imgflip.com/93ooiq.jpg

[The Cats]

Pick'em
The Citadel (2-1, 0-0 SoCon) at Mercer (3-0, 1-0 SoCon)
Norfolk State (1-3) at VMI (0-3)
Western Carolina (1-2) at Montana (2-1) upset of the week (who did you expect me to pick?)
ETSU (1-2) at Elon (1-2)
Furman (1-2) at William & Mary (2-1) wold be a nice win for the SoCon, but I don't see it happening...


Power Ranking
1. (2) Mercer (3-0, 1-0 SoCon)
Next: The Citadel (2-1, 0-0 SoCon)

2. (1) Wofford (2-1, 0-0 SoCon)
Next: Bye Week

3. (3) Chattanooga (0-3, 0-1 SoCon)
Next: Bye Week

4. (4) Western Carolina (1-2, 0-0SoCon)
Next: at Montana (2-1)

5. (6) ETSU (1-2, 0-0 SoCon)
Next: at Elon (1-2)

6. (5) Furman (1-2, 0-0 SoCon)
Next: at William & Mary (2-1)

7. (7) Samford (1-2, 0-0 SoCon)
Next: Bye Week

8. (8) The Citadel (2-1, 0-0 SoCon)
Next: at Mercer (3-0, SoCon 1-0)

9. (9) VMI (0-3, 0-0 SoCon)
Next: Norfolk State (0-3)

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR’s Picks to follow.



DATE
AWAY

HOME

TIME


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt04636aed6a65bfd9/6630e98dd01e10c4ac4a3c48/Norfolk_State_Spartans.png?width=40&auto=webpll
NORF
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt9a8bc1154301eaea/667e1f54b2a2af9708a6b771/VMI.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
VMI
1:30 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53463_VMI-vs-NORF_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt01625f2b63043547/667e1fedb6a6c875128f9b49/Western_Carolina.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
WCU
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/bltf8a05c0f335319ad/6630e98ef5b948a534cc4625/Montana_png.png?width=40&auto=webpll
MON
3:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53405_MON-vs-WCU_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt658368dd69d00808/667e1673b6a6c8fe518f9b14/The_Citadel.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
CIT
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt00447f0ae78fae75/667e1797f89b62799790b4a7/Mercer.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
MER
6:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53513_MER-vs-CIT_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/bltc60841f0161cdccf/667e16d29b2b7a3b7ed96c5e/Furman.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
FUR
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt1bbd7cf19be57a31/663cb10c854f09e0dc8700bd/William_&_Mary_logo.png?width=40&auto=webpll
WIMA
6:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53512_WIMA-vs-FUR_20240921/stats/)


9/21
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt03a71b9bb98ff470/667e15f4fcee4a43cb2def7a/ETSU.svg?width=40&auto=webpll
ETSU
https://dxln3ux406vra.cloudfront.net/v3/assets/blt90a281f2ef4c465c/blt23b365be00f942d1/6630ea4414425d99b9618338/Elon_png.png?width=40&auto=webpll
ELON
6:00 PM EDT (https://nextgen.soconsports.com/fb/game/53527_ELON-vs-ETSU_20240921/stats/)





Chatt, Woffy, and HomewoodHounds licking their wounds this week
There is an old axiom that FUBeAR likes … “Science is golden.”

So FUBeAR is gonna stay in that lane again this week for his Power Rankings…

FUBeAR’s SoCon POWER RANKINGS - Week 4



FUBeAR’s
Power
Rank
SoCon
Team
Massey
Projected
Overall Record
Massey
Projected
SoCon Record
Massey
Projected
SoCon
Finish
Massey Projected
SoCon W/L Details


1a
Mercer (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/4649)
11-1
8-0
1
Only projected loss is to Alabama. FUBeAR is not prepared, at this time to opine regarding his projection of the outcome of that contest, so he will leave Mr. Masseys thoughts in place, for now.


1b
Furman (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/2800)
8-4
7-1
2
loss to Mercer


3
W Carolina (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/8742)
7-5
6-2
3
losses to Mercer, Furman


4
Chattanooga (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/7809)
6-6
5-3
4
losses to Mercer, Furman, WCU


5
Samford (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/6987)
6-6
4-4
5
losses to Mercer, FU, Chatt, WCU


6
Wofford (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/9126)
5-7
3-5
6
losses to Mercer, FU, WCU, Chatt, Samford


7
ETSU (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/2321)
3-9
2-6
7
wins over CIT, VMI


8
VMI (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/8450)
2-10
1-7
8
win over CIT


9
Citadel (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/1545)
2-10
0-8
9
0’fer



- While tempted to drop Furman out of the top spot in his Power Rankings, with the Paladins coming off a dominating 48-7 win over another FCS Team, FUBeAR just doesn’t see the science of such a change. The “1b” notation will have to suffice.

- In his heart FUBeAR believes…
….. - Chattanooga is just as good as, perhaps better than, WCU
….. - ETSU may be better than both of them. FUBeAR has been tellin’ y’all the Coach Lamb is gonna have these Bucs a-swashbuckling this year
….. - Wofford will compete with all 3 of those Teams
….. - Samford will be challenged to compete with any of those 4 (as well as Mercer & FU, of course)
….. - CIT is better than VMI, and may even be as good as Chatt, WCU, ETSU, and Wofford.

BUT …Can’t go with heart. Gotta go with SCIENCE!

[PaladinNation]

This weekend we'll know a lot more where these Paladin Pups are.
Furman's two-deep is dominated by three-classes.
Freshmen/Redshirt Freshmen/Sophomore Class, these classes account for over 61% of the two-deep.
Furman also lost six players (potential starters) to pre-season injuries, most of these RSFR/SO except for Alex Maier.

I think defensively other than Furman playing the jump ball this is a typical, aggressive Duane Vaughn defense. That will only get better as the season moves along.

Furman is figuring out who they are on offense. I thought it was only a matter of time before Hedden started getting PT. Hedden played about two and half quarters, threw two touchdowns, and ran for another. Was he perfect no. He did show a big arm that can zip the short stuff and throw 50 yard passes with accuracy and touch.

The question is does he have the skill-players around him for Furman's OC to take advantage of his talent? The quartet of Joshua Harris/Ben Ferguson/Colton Hinton/Brock Chappell give Hedden a lot to work with.

As we move into SoCon play I could see two more true freshmen play there way into serious playing time; Devin Hester, Jr at WR/Slot and Gavin hall at RB.

In the long run I think the way Clay Hendrix builds his programs; recruit, develop, retention is going to give Furman a less chaotic future than the programs that are more transactional.
My gut tells me this Furman team more than likely will play the role of a spoiler this season.
You better get the young DINS while you can.

[SU DOG]

The game this week will definitely tell us a lot about the Paladins. In watching them play, they do have some glaring weaknesses IMO. Will Furman convenience all that they are a legit SoCon power or will they be exposed? I'm NOT saying they are not a good team. They may win the SoCon for all I know. They do have coaching and culture that works for them. What I am saying is that I agree this game vs W&M will certainly answer lots of questions. Maybe I'm just not convinced because they are our next game, that could be the case. Anyhow, a win over the Tribe would more than counter any of my doubts and would also be great for the SoCon.

[wcugrad95]

All OOC games I am pulling hard for the SOCON members. Furman has plenty of good players and as mentioned a very good staff, and I won't be shocked if they are extremely competitive and possibly beat W&M. I would feel better about it if the game was at home. Right now we all have some weaknesses to work through. Even Mercer who is at the top of everybody's list only scored 10 points in their last win. So we also have to figure out if those 2 teams (Mercer and UTC) are just outstanding defenses, or if they have some offensive challenges. More than likely there is a little bit of both sprinkled in there. The Bears could maul Citadel and score a ton of points and answer that question. ETSU can keep their outstanding play up and crush Elon and that gives us more answers. But we are still all asking a lot of questions after week 3 than we are providing tons of answers IMHO.

[Reign of Terrier]

I watched the CSU game and about half of the Stetson game. I don't like Furman to beat W&M.

Maybe they learn something from the Wofford film, but at the end of the day, W&M is about as veteran on offense as Furman was on defense last year. And they run a more dynamic, more pass-friendly type of offense that CSU ran.

They got a little dinged up during the wofford game, but to start they had 8 seniors on offense and like 2/3 of the non-seniors started last year. I wasn't sure how that would play out against Wofford going in, but in retrospect, I think their offense is at peak performance, even relative to who they were 2 years ago. Yoder brings a power run threat they missed last year when he was injured, that OL (not just the NFL prospect) is easily top 10, but probably top 5 or top 3 in FCS, and Darius Wilson is playing like a 3 year started. Wofford tried to bring pressure all night, and though we may have gotten some sacks, that wasn't the right strategy.

On multiple third downs Wilson knew exactly and instantly where to put the ball - in like 2 seconds. And on plays where the read wasn't that obvious, the OL protected him long enough to make the right read. Going into this one, I thought the key to beating Wilson was to make him beat you in the air. Maybe that's true, but the strategy wofford tried to implement - basically pressure every play - wasn't the way to do it.

Knowing Furman, they're an aggressive defense. They'll probably try something different from wofford with less pressure (seeing as it didn't work), but I think this Furman defense right now isn't as good as Wofford's (that's just my subjective conclusion at the moment). Wofford's pyrrhic victory against W&M on defense is that we limited the big plays (at least for the first 40 minutes), but couldn't get off the field on third down, and that eventually led to our defense wearing down, especially in the run game.

I think the big play will be more open against Furman, with the trade off being Furman's defense being more fresh with W&M not dominating TOP, giving Furman more opportunities to put points on the board. So where does that leave the Furman offense?

I'm not sure. I still don't know what to make of the William and Mary defense. It's certainly not bad, on par or better than Richmond and GW, who are no slouches. But Wofford's offense got more yards per play than W&M (and more than they did against GW/Richmond), and had lots of opportunities to tie (and win - Watson said he'd have gone for two)the game late. Amari Odom missed multiple passes and probably didn't run when he should have on a couple plays. He's a redshirt freshman, and looked mortal, easily his "worst" game of the season. I'm not saying any of this to make excuses or say Wofford lost more than W&M won, but just that it's a game of inches. In our first two games, we won those inch plays, but against W&M we made more unforced errors on offense. I expect these errors to diminish as Wofford improves.

Anyway, I see Furman emphasizing the run game more than Wofford, and that should contribute to a better TOP for Furman. I'm not 100% impressed with W&M run defense, but again I don't think it's bad, maybe just average to slightly above average. But as I've also said, I don't think Furman is as dominant running the ball (yet), so I don't expect them to exploit that as well as in the past. Through the air, I stick to my guns that the Furman wide outs, though young and talented, have made some bad plays through their first 2 FCS games. Again, doesn't mean they're bad, or won't get better or perform well in this one, just young and improving.

Furman basically stopped being able to run a controlled dink and dunk/4 yards and a cloud of dust offense against Stetson and about half way through said "f it, we're just going for explosive plays in the air" and it worked. They may have to do that against W&M. It helped Wofford.

All in all though, I just like the overwhelming experience of the William and Mary Offense. I think Furman is better/will show to be better than that CSU game over the course of the year, but this game is horrible timing with the experience gap (in retrospect, was the same story with Wofford - but the gap is even bigger for Furman).

I think it'll be 38-24 W&M, but I could be wrong, as I have been before

[caribbeanhen]

the answer key to the Southern Conference Power Index

1 - William and Mary

9 - VMI

You gentlemen can figure out the trimmings

[FUBeAR]

the answer key to the Southern Conference Power Index

3-5 - William and Mary

9 - VMI

You gentlemen can figure out the trimmings
FYP and…

We welcome Biil & The Beeyatch to reassume their rightful place in the top 3rd to top half of the SoCon Football standings.

Has Richmond canceled that Patriot League folly yet in order to make the right move that W&M is, obviously, in the process of making?

Should FUBeAR begin adding the Arachnids & The FamilyGroup to his SoCon Power Rankings or wait a while?

[Reign of Terrier]

Tbh, I'm looking at the schedule, and if I'm W&M, I feel good at making the playoffs this year. They only play 3 teams that beat them last year, 2 of them were by a score, and through 2 games you've already scored more points than you did in most games last year.

They don't play Delaware, Albany, or Villanova. Every remaining team on their schedule except Stony brook has an FCS loss. Conference games to watch will be Elon, Richmond, Towson, but other than those, they should be a clear favorite, but all of their games IMO they are the favorite right now.

I'm not saying they'll run the table, but Massey likes them to win at least 6 or 7 more games. If they stay healthy and win this one, they'll push for a seed.

Also, as a socon fan, I would unapologetically trade our schedule with any CAA team, so long as we didn't play FBS transitioning Delaware.

[FU_Paladin08]

I watched the CSU game and about half of the Stetson game. I don't like Furman to beat W&M.

Maybe they learn something from the Wofford film, but at the end of the day, W&M is about as veteran on offense as Furman was on defense last year. And they run a more dynamic, more pass-friendly type of offense that CSU ran.

Fair assessment. I do not want to revisit the CSU game at all. However, I’ll say it’s not like Furman was out gunned that day against a high flying CSU offense. Furman committed 4 turnovers directly leading to 10 points. CSU had 257 yards, 143 in the air.

I expect the Furman defense to keep the score close this week as long as needed for the Furman offense to put up enough points. Hopefully the offense doesn’t wait until the 2nd quarter to start playing this week.

[Reign of Terrier]

One weird thing that stuck out to me when I was looking at the box score for Mercer and Chattanooga is that Chattanooga just... didn't try to run the ball much at all?

If you exclude sacks, they ran the ball 16 times for 44 yards. At the same time, they passed the ball 34 times + the 4 sacks.

So they passed the ball 2/3 of the time, which isn't inherently bad, but it's weird because they were never down more than a touchdown the whole game! Their first 4 series they ran it 4 times for 21 yards. There were multiple series where they didn't run once or ran only once.

This raises a few questions, that I won't pretend to have the answers to. UTC ran the ball half the time against GSU. What changed? Was Mercer baiting the pass all game and the UTC QB unable to execute? Was it just a poorly called game by the UTC OC? Does the UTC coaching staff lack confidence in their running game? Does the QB have a lot of power over playcalling and was trying to call his own number?

That game was weird and at some point I'll watch it, but the alarm bells should be ringing if you're UTC.

[wcugrad95]

As FUBeAR commented in another thread, it really just felt like a bad day for Artopoeus. Certainly Mercer's D had something to do with that, and 2 of the last 3 games between these teams has been pretty low scoring. The play-calling was also part of it, but it felt more like Mercer was just shutting down the Mocs run game than it was a concerted effort to focus on throwing the football. In the first 8 series of this game, neither team had a possession that went more than 5 plays. For the ENTIRE GAME there were only 2 offensive possessions where a team had more than a 10-play drive - Mercer's TD was an 11-play possession and later the Bears had a possession where they ran 15 plays but missed a FG. UTC was 0-12 on 3rd down, and you aren't going to win any games with that stat.

WCU did the same kind of thing against Campbell the week before. Our QB had a bad day in a game where we also didn't commit to running the football. Then when we felt like we needed a big play we relied on the pass which in our case resulted in a bunch of INTs that ultimately costs us the game. Felt a little like that in this game for the Mocs offense.

[Reign of Terrier]

Maybe I'm just used to watching option ball all my life, but I always thought the response to "bad day passing" was "run the ball and do quick completions to unload the box."

From the looks of things, this just shouldn't happen. Chatt looks like it had about 3 or 4 starters back on OL and Atropoeus is a senior. Chatt did decent in the portal bringing that guy from Stone Hill and brought back like 2/3 or 3/4 of their top receivers, but still miss their two leading rushers and their leading receiver from last year.

It could also be a situation where no one is quite stepping up among the skill position guys and Atropoeus has to carry things. Losing your top two rushers and your leading receiver isn't nothing, but you'd think they'd lean more on their OL. For me, the ratio of the play calls is what's most puzzling.

I don't really have any answers here, but it points to either a major upcoming adjustment by the Mocs or pain. I'm inclined to think it's the former.

[wcugrad95]

The Mocs only had 54 total plays. So I'd go with the former, but also say Mercer has a really good defense and might make lots of teams look more pedestrian than normal.

[FUBeAR]

One weird thing that stuck out to me when I was looking at the box score for Mercer and Chattanooga is that Chattanooga just... didn't try to run the ball much at all?

If you exclude sacks, they ran the ball 16 times for 44 yards. At the same time, they passed the ball 34 times + the 4 sacks.

So they passed the ball 2/3 of the time, which isn't inherently bad, but it's weird because they were never down more than a touchdown the whole game! Their first 4 series they ran it 4 times for 21 yards. There were multiple series where they didn't run once or ran only once.

This raises a few questions, that I won't pretend to have the answers to. UTC ran the ball half the time against GSU. What changed? Was Mercer baiting the pass all game and the UTC QB unable to execute? Was it just a poorly called game by the UTC OC? Does the UTC coaching staff lack confidence in their running game? Does the QB have a lot of power over playcalling and was trying to call his own number?

That game was weird and at some point I'll watch it, but the alarm bells should be ringing if you're UTC.FUBeAR has found that watching the games before forming an opinion is always a more prudent approach.

Mercer’s Secondary has not looked great in their games against PC & B-C. They were OK, but not great. They lost, via graduation, 2 All SoCon Safeties and a CB who signed an NFL Tryout deal from their 2023 Secondary.

Then, pre-season All SoCon Safety (not even a Starter in ‘23), Myles Redding, was out in the 1st half, serving a Targeting Sentence.

So, 3 of 5 DB’s that started at Chatt are somewhat “newbies.”

Then, Starting CB, Myles Weston, went out on the 2nd play of the Chatt game with an injury.

THAT, RoT, appears to be a target-rich environment! With a QB of Artopoeus’ talent, it, undoubtedly, appeared to Chatt’s Offensive Coaches that he was gonna be shooting guppies in a bowl.

5 problems though…

1 - Artopoeus was, in no way, his usual self. His 1st throw of the game, to an open receiver, went into the 12th row of the visitors stand. He looked like Steve Sax trying to make a throw to 1st base in 1983. He missed, maybe, 4 or 5 deep balls that very well may have been TD’s for him on most days.

2 - Mercer’s D-Line is vastly underrated (see 3) and Chatt’s OLine needs some work. The pressure on him became relentless and increased throughout the game. While he had time to throw early-on when he missed so many, he was running for his life later. The 1st sack was late in the 2nd quarter and the other 3 were in the 2nd half. There were also 2 Quarterback Hurries and a sack/fumble (with a Mercer scoop /score) that was WRONGFULLY overruled on replay that is recorded as an incompletion.

3 - Mercer’s Front 7 (2-Deep) is outstanding. Strong, fast, talented, and play with great effort. Chatt quickly found out they were not going to be able to run the ball. 9 of those 21 early yards were on an Artopoeus scramble. Throwing the ball was the only way they could hope to keep their Offense on the field.

4 - Mercer played ‘keep-away’ running the ball 52 times and doubling the Mocs ToP in the 2nd half. Excluding end-of-half and 1 INT, Mercer only had 1 3-and-out all night. Chatt only had 5 possessions in the 2nd half while Mercer was putting together 11 play & 14 play, but non-scoring drives. Hard for an Offense to function well and efficiently while standing on the sidelines knowing they will have very few chances of plying their craft.

5 - Mercer’s newbies in the Secondary continued to get better as the game went on. Most of them had not previously faced the challenge that All-American / All-SoCon WR, Sam Phillips and All-NEC (transfer) WR Chris Domercant presented. Adjusting to “speed of ball” at the FCS / SoCon level takes a minute. Getting beat is OJT and the Bears DB’s rec’d a wealth of that early (on (mostly) missed throws), but seemed to adapt by the 2nd half AND the return of Myles Redding when he attained his 2nd half parole also made a significant difference.

Make sense now?


Chatt will be fine talent-wise IF they can keep their heads screwed on properly … or they could go ‘Full Chatt,’ stick their heads into their rectums, and go winless.

[FU_Paladin08]

Week 4 Rankings
Just flipped Mercer and Wofford from last week. Everything else is the same.


Mercer
Wofford
ETSU
Furman
Chatt
WCU
Samford
CIT
VMI

[Reign of Terrier]

Finally got around to watching the Mercer-UTC game (will probably watch the GSU-UTC and MU-BC game this week, and maybe the western-campbell game; would watch more, but not getting a flo account).

A few thoughts:
1) Mercer’s offense reminds me of Richmond’s. Emphasize the run, including getting the QB involved frequently, and going for high efficiency passes, with the occasional deep shots. It works well enough! Their QB is very athletic but you can tell he hasn’t had a lot of coaching thus far in his career. Not a great interception he threw. He will definitely get better though.

2) The play-calling for these teams was the inverse of each other. Mercer, at least after the early INT, didn’t look to put their QB in high risk situations. I’d call it conservative, but they also went for it on fourth a couple times, so low risk is probably a better term. Meanwhile, there was basically no boldness (or at least intelligent boldness) by the UTC coaching staff in terms of playcalling or rolling the dice. They were flat through most of the game, and i get you want to play field position, but they should have gambled on a few of their fourth and short situations.

3) They put in situations Artpoeus where he could shine, but much as I think Furman’s wideouts threw Carson Jones under the bus against CSU, I think a similar thing happened. Quite a few drops, some poorly run routes. And, just like Furman, I don’t think anyone should bank on repeat performances.

4) Going off 3, I would be a little nervous if I’m Mercer in the secondary. Teams like Samford, Wofford, ETSU, and maybe Furman will not drop as many as Chatt did.

5) That front 7 for Mercer is definitely legit. Their edge guy will drop down in a 3 point stance and give them a 4 man front. I’m going to play a drinking game “does the DC come from D2 where 4 man fronts are more common or are their DL that good” because i’ve seen Richmond, GW, Samford, and Mercer do the 4 man front thing. For Mercer, it’s definitely a speed rush/apply pressure when your opponent has their back to the goal line thing. None of Mercer’s DL weight in at 300 lbs apparently, which is fine, but suggests it’s more about speed and pressure. It’s what you do with your size after all.

6) Mercer was clearly the better team and that was clearly a fumble. I still don’t know how to feel about either team though because Chatt played so bad on offense with the self inflicted mistakes and Mercer played low risk for most of the game.

[FUBeAR]

Mercer’s DC came from Youngstown State, but had Coached with Head Coach Mike Jacobs at D2 Lenoir-Rhyne and D2 Notre Dame College. He was the DC @ each of these. Saginaw Valley and GA (where he played DB) at Bowling Green to start his career.

These are the DLmen who play the most for Mercer - with their sizes…No 300 pounders, but 2 or 3 who are a couple of biscuits shy…or not. FUBeAR weighed over 30 pounds more than his roster-listed weight his Sr. Year.



0
Brayden Manley (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/brayden-manley/10763)
DE
6-2
245
So.
Vanceboro, N.C. / West Craven HS



1
Arias Nash (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/arias-nash/10773)
DT
6-1
275
Jr.
Charlotte, N.C. / Stuart Cramer HS



30
Brayden Dudley (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/brayden-dudley/10936)
DE
6-2
255
R-So.
Buford, Ga. / Mill Creek HS
West Virginia


42
Christian Hanson (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/christian-hanson/10749)
DE
6-0
235
Jr.
Senoia, Ga. / Trinity Christian Academy



49
Carson Griffin (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/carson-griffin/10746)
DE
6-3
250
Sr.
Calhoun, Ga. / Calhoun HS



91
Jordan Swain (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/jordan-swain/10934)
DT
6-3
290
R-Sr.
Brunswick, Ga. / Glynn Academy



94
Andrew Zock (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/andrew-zock/11001)
DE
6-2
250
Fr.
Citra, Fla. / Hawthorne HS



95
RJ Evans (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/rj-evans/10944)
DT
6-1
285
Gr.
High Point, N.C. / High Point Christian Academy
Towson


98
Chris Hill (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/chris-hill/10751)
DT
6-1
295
R-Sr.
Statesboro, Ga. / Statesboro HS



99
Caden Camese (https://mercerbears.com/sports/football/roster/caden-camese/10725)
DT
6-1
285
R-So.
Bellevue, Neb. / Bellevue West HS

[Reign of Terrier]

Mercer’s DC came from Youngstown State, but had Coached with Head Coach Mike Jacobs at D2 Lenoir-Rhyne and D2 Notre Dame College. He was the DC @ each of these. Saginaw Valley and GA (where he played DB) at Bowling Green to start his career.

Seems like he runs the Pat Narduzzi style of smother the run, lots of sacks, etc to have that influence the pass game. Since every defense has a trade off at this level, you could also say that relatively higher completion percentages and passing yards (a trend at Youngstown of 2 years when they were playing equal competition fwiw) are the trade off for big defensive plays.

I still think Chatt’s mistakes were mainly self-inflicted, but this context explains the play calling. I’m going to predict Mercer has the best run defense at the end of the year in the socon and leads in sacks too.

[BearDownMU]

I'll chime in a bit. Mercer has 12 sacks and 30 TFL's. Manley, Chris Hill, and Swain are DAWGS. And freshman Zock has been real good for a baby (2 sacks so far). Certainly there can be a game where we get gashed on the ground, but it will surprise me. And, no one has really mentioned, we have two FCS All-American LB's in Dowling and Standley. I can tell you this: They all play HARD. I mean, they get after it on every play. Feels like it's a source of pride for them. I sit right behind our bench and there is just something different about this bunch from years prior.

That said, I honestly think Mercer's play calling and leaning heavily into the run (we've been pretty balanced run-pass in the prior two games) was because Jacobs realized the D wasn't gonna let a lot of bad stuff happen and he was comfortable just grinding it out.

Also, our punter is a weapon. And Jacobs knew pretty much no matter what, we could flip the field and the way the D was going, it came to "see if they can go 80-90 yards". No reason to be risky on offense.

The assessment on DJ Smith is accurate. He's very athletic but very raw. Word is he didn't even have a QB coach at Jones. So he's prolly learning a lot of stuff now and I think his ceiling is very high. Felt like he played a little tentative in the Chatt game, especially after that really bad pick, but I'm honestly not super worried about him. And watching our TE's and WR's block is a thing of beauty. Quoting Coach Jacob's press conference that week, that blocking effort is the only way you "earn the right to catch passes". Which I love.

Oline is still improving, I believe, but Dwayne McGee is a really special back. Tremendous feet, very patient, and great vision. Excited to see how he develops.

All in all, the only complaint I have with us right now is the we have really stupid penalties at times, but I have to believe that's correctable. And if our D keeps playing like it has been, I like our chances in just about any game.

[Reign of Terrier]

Okay, having watched UTC’s offensive highlights, I think they have two weaknesses. First, their OL. It’s nit bad necessarily, but their interior run game was really not good against GSU or Mercer. The other one is that Artopoeus is just a really streaky player. The last series of the game against GSU, he threw a dart for like 20 yards, then a pick the next play.

Once again, it’s something that will probably be improved over the course of a season, but that may just be their identity for a few weeks until they figure it out.

[FUBeAR]

Okay, having watched UTC’s offensive highlights, I think they have two weaknesses. First, their OL. It’s nit bad necessarily, but their interior run game was really not good against GSU or Mercer. The other one is that Artopoeus is just a really streaky player. The last series of the game against GSU, he threw a dart for like 20 yards, then a pick the next play.

Once again, it’s something that will probably be improved over the course of a season, but that may just be their identity for a few weeks until they figure it out.
May have to rethink this come game week, but right now, FUBeAR is thinking Mocs are Whooping Portland State by 3+ scores.

[SU DOG]

FUBeAR did you actually just say "Whooping"? LOL! Of course Pertussis is a serious matter and hopefully all the competing athletes and others will be completely safe.

[Mocs123]

May have to rethink this come game week, but right now, FUBeAR is thinking Mocs are Whooping Portland State by 3+ scores.

I'm just hoping it doesn't get cancelled.

[Reign of Terrier]

The Boise game is confirmed for PSU so gotta assume UTC will be on

[caribbeanhen]

FYP and…

We welcome Biil & The Beeyatch to reassume their rightful place in the top 3rd to top half of the SoCon Football standings.

Has Richmond canceled that Patriot League folly yet in order to make the right move that W&M is, obviously, in the process of making?

Should FUBeAR begin adding the Arachnids & The FamilyGroup to his SoCon Power Rankings or wait a while?

What exactly are you saying?

I’m the one that starts the unfounded and baseless rumors here

[FUBeAR]

What exactly are you saying? I’m the one that starts the unfounded and baseless rumors hereYOU opined regarding your opinion of The SocialDivision’s Ranking in the SoCon. FUBeAR, rightfully, recognizing CHen as an unimpeachable source of inside information is merely accepting the truth you shared and normalizing it.

[FUBeAR]

WOW!
https://twitter.com/mercerfootball/status/1836509133903725044

[gofurman]

This weekend we'll know a lot more where these Paladin Pups are.
Furman's two-deep is dominated by three-classes.
Freshmen/Redshirt Freshmen/Sophomore Class, these classes account for over 61% of the two-deep.
Furman also lost six players (potential starters) to pre-season injuries, most of these RSFR/SO except for Alex Maier.

I think defensively other than Furman playing the (deep /) jump ball this is a typical, aggressive Duane Vaughn defense. That will only get better as the season moves along.

Furman is figuring out who they are on offense. I thought it was only a matter of time before Hedden started getting PT. Hedden played about two and half quarters, threw two touchdowns, and ran for another. Was he perfect no. He did show a big arm that can zip the short stuff and throw 50 yard passes with accuracy and touch.

The question is does he have the skill-players around him for Furman's OC to take advantage of his talent? The quartet of Joshua Harris/Ben Ferguson/Colton Hinton/Brock Chappell give Hedden a lot to work with.

As we move into SoCon play I could see two more true freshmen play there way into serious playing time; Devin Hester, Jr at WR/Slot and Gavin hall at RB.

In the long run I think the way Clay Hendrix builds his programs; recruit, develop, retention is going to give Furman a less chaotic future than the programs that are more transactional.
My gut tells me this Furman team more than likely will play the role of a spoiler this season.
You better get the young DINS while you can.

PaladinNation. agree. We may play spoilers this season

TWO KEYS. 1. Can we RUN. THE. BALL. ? Rebuilt OL. Freshman center hiking to TRUE FRESHMAN QB is scary. It all starts with center making calls along with QB making reads. We have two freshman ! right now we haven’t run the ball well at all. That would REALLY help Hedden our true freshman QB. I think we gave the WR talent. But do we have the OL and run game. People are just stacking the box and run blitzing us now. Establish some decent run game - maybe even pass to set up run but need 7/8 yard runs. Have to get those

2. As you say we are getting numerous pass interference on deep balls. Freshman corners…. HAVE to improve there.

Furman has to be an underdog on road at a senior WM team with a true freshman QB making his first road start !

that said, I think we get better as year progresses. Young teams - like Wofford coming from last year to now - generally do. Better to play us now than even late October …

[FU_Paladin08]

Week 4 Picks
Furman over W&M
Mercer over The Citadel
Montana over WCU
Elon over ETSU
VMI over Norfolk St

[ElCid]

W&M 27 - Furman 10
Mercer 24 - The Citadel 21
Montana 38 - WCU 17
Elon 34 - ETSU 27
VMI 33 - Norfolk St 16

Starting to clear, a little. Every position could still move up or down with little argument.

Mercer
Wofford
WCU
UTC
ETSU
Furman
The Citadel
Samford
VMI

[gofurman]

W&M 27 - Furman 10
Mercer 24 - The Citadel 21
Montana 38 - WCU 17
Elon 34 - ETSU 27
VMI 33 - Norfolk St 16

Starting to clear, a little. Every position could still move up or down with little argument.

Mercer
Wofford
WCU
UTC
ETSU
The Citadel
Samford
VMI

no ranking of Furman? I mean we may be rebuilding but I think we deserve to be on the list ! :D

I’ll go with a rough tier set. And other than VMI ANYONE CAN BEAT ANYONE. AGS! -

Mercer
Wofford
—————
WCU
UTC
ETSU
————-
Furman
The Citadel
————
Samford
VMI

[ElCid]

no ranking of Furman? I mean we may be rebuilding but I think we deserve to be on the list ! :D

I’ll go with a rough tier set. And other than VMI ANYONE CAN BEAT ANYONE. AGS! -

Mercer
Wofford
—————
WCU
UTC
ETSU
————-
Furman
The Citadel
————
Samford
VMI

Oops. Thanks. Fixed.

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR’s SoCon PICKS - Week 4



DATE
AWAY
HOME
LOCKS


9/21
Norfolk State
VMI
After avoiding being Cumberlanded in Atlanta last week, and even putting up a 4th quarter score against Georgia Tech’s Robotics Club, the HoppyRats are feeling a bit rejuvenated this week; their 0-3 record notwithstanding. They NEED to win this game. Looking ahead at their schedule, they might be able to steal one in Homewood, catching the BullPups battered and bruised at 1-4 after the Paladins beat ‘em down the week before and they do get the bellhops in LexVegas, but 2 wins might be the max if they let this one fall out of the pouch. Alumni Field provides some home cookin’ and we see a reprise of the Battle of Leuctra for these Mermaid City Spartans.

VMI 34 - Norfolk State 24


9/21
WCU
Montana
Speaking of home cookin’ - not being CAA Officials, we all CLEARLY saw the 9 uncalled holding and block in the back penalties on 2 Griz Returns TD’s the last time a SoCon Team made the trek to Missoula. The Catamounts have to watch their 6, but the Griz have looked very beatable with a last minute win, a loss, and a PFL win. Other than slurping their soup 2 weeks ago, WCU has been playing fairly well. But, the O has not been up-to-par. They don’t light it up this week either, but, shockingly, the Kitties’ D scores twice and pulls off the upset.

WCU 20 - Montana 14


9/21
The Citadel
Mercer
Both of these Teams are playing well. The bellhops blazed a new trail last week as they sent the Northern Greenvillian NoLongerCrusadin’ Crusaders back to Tigerville, SC with half a hundred hung on ‘em. The new BoysInBabyBlue QB has removed that paper mill smell from their half-a-stadium and their hybrid blend of spread & option concepts gives D’s trouble. That said, Mercer’s D ain’t NGU. And the Bears have a lot of Offensive claws as well. This one will not be as close as some think. The NEW Bears want to show something to the home folks in Maconga.

Mercer 42 - CIT 7


9/21
Furman
William & Mary
The FamilyGroup is glad to finally be out of the Sandlapper State, but the Paladins just bring it to ‘em this week. And, when FUBeAR sez “bring it to ‘em,” he means “BRING IT TO EM.” Furman’s Foals have needed to get their young legs under them in the 1st 3 weeks of the season, but they started to get in their giddy-up in the 2nd half last week…regardless of the competition. W&M’s QB is a problem, but Furman’s Freshman Fee-Nom QB is too and he’s growing up fast. It really starts to ‘slow down’ for him this week and Furman’s D plays their best game.CAA’s SocialDivision is dispersed.

Furman 27 - William & Mary 23


9/21
ETSU
Elon
FUBeAR, knowingly, projected a world-shocking in Johnson City last week, but FUBeAR had been advised the game was going to only be 58 minutes long. Gotta fire that Advisor! The week after a heart-breaking late game loss to a heavily-favored highly renowned Team in 2023, Coach Lamb got about 30 of these same Players and his Gardner-Webb Team back in the right emotional frame of mind to whip a favored CAA Team. That Team? The Formerly Fightin’ Former Christians of E*Loan College. Coach Lamb and these Runnin’ Buccaneers reprise that performance in 2024.

ETSU 35 - Elon 21




Chatt, Woffy, and the HomewoodHounds are licking their wounds this week


There is an old axiom that FUBeAR likes … “Science is golden.”

So FUBeAR is gonna stay in that lane again this week for his Power Rankings…

FUBeAR’s SoCon POWER RANKINGS - Week 4



FUBeAR’s
Power
Rank
SoCon
Team
Massey
Projected
Overall Record
Massey
Projected
SoCon Record
Massey
Projected
SoCon
Finish
Massey Projected
SoCon W/L Details


1a
Mercer (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/4649)
11-1
8-0
1
Only projected loss is to Alabama. FUBeAR is not prepared, at this time to opine regarding his projection of the outcome of that contest, so he will leave Mr. Masseys thoughts in place, for now.


1b
Furman (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/2800)
8-4
7-1
2
loss to Mercer


3
W Carolina (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/8742)
7-5
6-2
3
losses to Mercer, Furman


4
Chattanooga (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/7809)
6-6
5-3
4
losses to Mercer, Furman, WCU


5
Samford (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/6987)
6-6
4-4
5
losses to Mercer, FU, Chatt, WCU


6
Wofford (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/9126)
5-7
3-5
6
losses to Mercer, FU, WCU, Chatt, Samford


7
ETSU (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/2321)
3-9
2-6
7
wins over CIT, VMI


8
VMI (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/8450)
2-10
1-7
8
win over CIT


9
Citadel (https://masseyratings.com/cf2024/1545)
2-10
0-8
9
0’fer



- While tempted to drop Furman out of the top spot in his Power Rankings, with the Paladins coming off a dominating 48-7 win over another FCS Team, FUBeAR just doesn’t see the science of such a change. The “1b” notation will have to suffice.

- In his heart FUBeAR believes…
….. - Chattanooga is just as good as, perhaps better than, WCU
….. - ETSU may be better than both of them. FUBeAR has been tellin’ y’all the Coach Lamb is gonna have these Bucs a-swashbuckling this year
….. - Wofford will compete with all 3 of those Teams
….. - Samford will be challenged to compete with any of those 4 (as well as Mercer & FU, of course)
….. - CIT is better than VMI, and may even be as good as Chatt, WCU, ETSU, and Wofford.

BUT …Can’t go with heart. Gotta go with SCIENCE!

[caribbeanhen]

Oops. Thanks. Fixed.

A Furmudian slip?

[Reign of Terrier]

So, i’ll be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Furman game were super competitive, and even if they won, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they lost by 20. W&M pass defense is pretty stout, and I think Furman will be able to somewhat run the ball. But W&M is a boa constrictor if they have good TOP

[FUBeAR]

Uh-oh…

Recall here (in this thread and/or, perhaps, elsewhere) that FUBeAR has said that Chatt would be just fine IF the Coaches don’t lose the locker room, as they clearly did in the Covid season, despite denials of such.

Welp, this quote from yesterday’s Chattanooga TFP gives FUBeAR a great deal of pause regarding the 2024 Mocs…

“…as the Mocs continue to search for answers after an 0-3 start that led UTC sixth-year head coach Rusty Wright to hold a lengthy "football meeting" with the players on the travel roster after Tuesday's practice.

When asked why he felt the need to hold such a meeting, Wright noted he had watched video of last Saturday's 10-3 home loss to Mercer five times and "something just wasn't right."

"I had to get it off my chest," Wright said. "They know I tell them the truth no matter what. I've never lied to anybody in this program. I can't sleep, so I just had to feel better about it."

“I feel better now.”


No problem with a Coach having a ‘come to HayZeus’ meeting with his Team.

In fact, FUBeAR credits such a meeting that Coach Sheridan held with the 1979 Furman Paladins on the Sunday after an UGLY loss to then-NAIA Wofford capped an 0-5 start, on the heels of winning Furman’s 1st-ever SoCon Championship in 1978, as THE catalyst that led to Furman’s 5-1 (a 1-point loss on a missed XP) record to close that season, then 4 straight SoCon Championships (‘80-‘83), has led to 14 more Furman SoCon Championships (between 1980 and 2023; the other 8 SoCon Teams average less than 4 each), 20 I-AA/FCS Playoff appearances, 3 National Championship game appearances, and a National Championship. That was a HELLUVA meeting! FUBeAR feels privileged to have been sitting in that meeting room and even catching some shrapnel as Coach Sheridan’s ‘bullets’ were flying fast and furious.

BUT…Coach Sheridan never did and never would have spoken to the media about that meeting nor indicated how it made HIM feel.

Maybe, Coach Wright, recalling the Covid season, is being wisely proactive, and getting ahead of a potential issue OR maybe the Mocs Coaches have already lost this Chatt Team.

Either way, given the history here, it’s concerning, and the ‘public airing of grievances’ (it’s not even close to Festivus yet) seems odd and counterproductive, IFBO.

We’ll see how things look next Saturday when Chatt faces one of those big, bad Big Sky Teams in the Scenic City…a Big Sky Team that didn’t (or hasn’t yet) back(ed) out of their commitment to leave their corner of the country to come play a SoCon Team…as Montana did…
https://catamountsports.com/news/2019/5/7/211802803.aspx
https://gogriz.com/news/2021/4/27/football-montana-reschedules-morehead-state-to-complete-2024-non-conference-schedule

[kdinva]

W&M 34 - Furman 23
Mercer 38 - The Citadel 20
Montana 44 - WCU 24
ETSU 35 - Elon 30
VMI 28 - Norfolk State 15

[ElCid]

A Furmudian slip?

That's it! Actually they are just so forgettable this year.

[caribbeanhen]

That's it! Actually they are just so forgettable this year.

once last year’s quarterback heard there was no cell phone service in the colonial city he said, that’s it I’m outta here and left in a Huff

[ElCid]

once last year’s quarterback heard there was no cell phone service in the colonial city he said, that’s it I’m outta here and left in a Huff

Hah. That's funny.

[caribbeanhen]

Hah. That's funny.

CH never forgets, but only when he remembers

[FUBeAR]

Uh-oh … FUBeAR Jr. just sent this live action shot from Westbound I-16.

That orange triangle worries FUBeAR. Hope the good bellhop Players were on the other bus…

https://i.postimg.cc/J7bdSzB6/image000001.jpg

[ElCid]

Yuck. Close to where? They've got to have an emergency transport plan.

[FUBeAR]

Yuck. Close to where? They've got to have an emergency transport plan.
5 miles west of Savannah - Meldrim, GA, specifically. The Old River Road exit.

[ElCid]

5 miles west of Savannah - Meldrim, GA, specifically. The Old River Road exit.

Oh wow. That's a long way down.

[caribbeanhen]

Oh wow. That's a long way down.

no worries, probably a Waffle House within walking distance

[FUBeAR]

no worries, probably 3 Waffle Houses within walking distance
FYP

[caribbeanhen]

YOU opined regarding your opinion of The SocialDivision’s Ranking in the SoCon. FUBeAR, rightfully, recognizing CHen as an unimpeachable source of inside information is merely accepting the truth you shared and normalizing it.

Well now some chatter detected with an inquiry into the Colonial City being a relevant option for Conference Airbnb aka CUSA

they just might bypass Maconga all together

[OrangeAndBlack]

The betting lines for SoCon today:

VMI -6.5
Mercer -19
WCU +18.5
ETSU +4
Furman +7.5

not much respect for ETSU after their big showing last week! Not much respect for Furman either.

[Reign of Terrier]

Just gonna check in on this Oktoberfest day for me to say **** EM UP WESTERN CAROLINA LET'S GO!

- - - Updated - - -

Unironically, beating Montana would be the best win in school history for Western and I'm rooting for it because I love good things

[Reign of Terrier]

I kinda just want to post **** EM UP WESTERN every time something good happens and idk if it's a TOS violation

[FUBeAR]

LOL - WCU Player getting blocked in the back on Montana’s KOR - uncalled, of course - goes flying into the returner and causes a fumble. Unfortunately, the Cheatin’ Griz recovered.

[Reign of Terrier]

**** EM UP CATAMOUNTS!

[Reign of Terrier]

It would appear that the socon's check to the ref bounced

[OrangeAndBlack]

VMI is really in tough shape this year. Obliterated from start to finish in a game they were nicely favored.

I love Western showing up big today! Finish em off!

[Reign of Terrier]

I don't think VMI will win a game this year. Their offense is just bad. Their defense is, like, normal below average or bad, but their offense is like turbo bad.

[wcugrad95]

WCU has really let the Griz back in this game. We jumped on them, but some poor tackling and then playing prevent D in the last few mins of the half is giving Montana some mo. WCU offense appears to be back with 305 yards, but Montana has 300 with 191 yards rushing.

Western will have to tackle, and we need to score TDs and not FGs to pull this one out.

[wcugrad95]

WCU's defense looks gassed, and Montana is eating up yards on the ground. Western holds the Griz to a FG but need to get some mojo back on offense.

Montana 38 - WCU 27 12:12 4Q

[wcugrad95]

BearDown and FUBeAR - is it just me, or does the logo on Mercer's helmet look more like a Chipmunk than a Bear? At least from a distance :)

[Reign of Terrier]

At this point, I don’t think it’s a good idea to coronate any socon team as the best right now. Every team but VMI has something to like and something not to like. The best team is going to get better over the next month and pull away.

[wcugrad95]

I can agree with that. WCU is 1-3 and UTC is 0-3. Both could very well win 6 or more SOCON games. Both could also lose 6 of them, too.

[Reign of Terrier]

Also, i’m not watching, but following the live stats, but Furman is on an absolute collision course with what happened to Wofford. W&M ran like 20 or 30 more plays than wofford did in the first 56 minutes. Almost at half time, and W&M has a 19 play advantage.

W&M and mary is good and 99% of FCS team will not be able to out-stamina them.

[Reign of Terrier]

Mercer right now probably looks like the best team in the socon, but they’re going to have to ride that front 7. I don’t think DJ Smith is a bad QB but at the moment, he makes enough mistakes to have the mercer coaches not put too much on his shoulders. That’s not a bad thing, it could work. On defense, there are definitely holes in coverage, but so long as they shut the run down and force turnovers at the clip they are, it may not matter.

[TribeNomad1]

Also, i’m not watching, but following the live stats, but Furman is on an absolute collision course with what happened to Wofford. W&M ran like 20 or 30 more plays than wofford did in the first 56 minutes. Almost at half time, and W&M has a 19 play advantage.

W&M and mary is good and 99% of FCS team will not be able to out-stamina them.



Another good game, but horrible targeting call on our DB who was booted from game. I mean, they have the video review, and it was so obvious the shoulder hit the player. Oh well, FCS refs are not known to be great.......

[wcugrad95]

If you want to see some bad refs, go watch the WCU @ Montana game. I think there were more than 200 yards of penalties. Sucked all over the place, but then they would not call some other obvious penalties. If that is typical Big Sky officiating, it really might be worse than what I am used to seeing in the SOCON or CAA.

[wcugrad95]

And Furman may need to break out their "injuries" on D in the second half to slow an up-tempo offense down :)

[Reign of Terrier]

First half is over for w&m and furman and the tribe has a 47-24 play advantage. They have 231 yards in the first half. 84 of Furman’s 191 yards came on one play. By no means is the game over and Furman can turn the tide, but right now it statistically looks like a boxer wobbling into the next round before getting KOed.

[wcugrad95]

I am watching ETSU starting to run Elon off the field. The combo of the Buc's new QB and the running of Bryson Irby are going to pose some problems for SOCON defenses.

[kdinva]

VMI is really in tough shape this year. Obliterated from start to finish in a game they were nicely favored.


I can't recall the last time I saw a VMI team so not into the game. They saw where last week NSU lost at home by 30......have to play the game, boys, not just show up. NSU's offensive game plan, almost every pass play was a roll out to the QB's left (he's a righty). He'd get within 2 yards of the LOS; the DB's bit, he stopped and flicked passes over their heads at will. And they played 7 in the box on defense, held Rice to 35 yards.

[FUBeAR]

If you want to see some bad refs, go watch the WCU @ Montana game. I think there were more than 200 yards of penalties. Sucked all over the place, but then they would not call some other obvious penalties. If that is typical Big Sky officiating, it really might be worse than what I am used to seeing in the SOCON or CAA.
It’s a scam to play in Missoula. FUBeAR has receipts…

https://i.postimg.cc/zGjh9VdT/IMG-8782.jpg

[ElCid]

Well we already out gained what UTC gained yards, not to mention score against Mercer and it's not half way through the third. Mercers got a good D, there is no doubt, especially against the run.
But it has issues in pass defense. Win or lose tonight, my Dogs look infinitely better than last year.

[Reign of Terrier]

Well we already out gained what UTC gained yards, not to mention score against Mercer and it's not half way through the third. Mercers got a good D, there is no doubt, especially against the run.
But it has issues in pass defense. Win or lose tonight, my Dogs look infinitely better than last year.

Don’t sell yourself short, you’ve scored more points than Mercer gave up all season, and we aren’t done with the third quarter.

[Reign of Terrier]

Citadel with a sportscenter top 10 play lol

[ElCid]

Wow, hope that Mercer player is ok. He just collapsed before a snap. Off to the hospital. Looks like they are playing still.

[Reign of Terrier]

Furman drives it inside the 10 and misses a field goal. Ouch. down 27-21 in the fourth

[wcugrad95]

That is 2 short FG misses for the Paladins. Should be tied.

[Reign of Terrier]

I gotta think Furman learned something from the Wofford film. If this version of Darius Wilson plays against us, we win. Makes me think it’s the defensive gameplan

[caribbeanhen]

I can't recall the last time I saw a VMI team so not into the game. They saw where last week NSU lost at home by 30......have to play the game, boys, not just show up. NSU's offensive game plan, almost every pass play was a roll out to the QB's left (he's a righty). He'd get within 2 yards of the LOS; the DB's bit, he stopped and flicked passes over their heads at will. And they played 7 in the box on defense, held Rice to 35 yards.

I tried to warn you about someone

[BearDownMU]

BearDown and FUBeAR - is it just me, or does the logo on Mercer's helmet look more like a Chipmunk than a Bear? At least from a distance :)

It is a chipmunk

[gofurman]

That is 2 short FG misses for the Paladins. Should be tied.

im hard on my Furman guys. But if I’m William and Mary I don’t know. Because I think my Furman guys are gonna suffer a 5 win-type season. We can’t run. Can’t stop the run. YET AT LEAST. TRUE FRESHMAN QB … TRUE. hiking from a freshman center.

what yall may not know - I suspect - is we were missing our most explosive offensive weapon tonight for team rules. Terrier etc probably knows his name. Josh Harris. Leading explosive play guy. Leading WR. All conference.


I mean, right now, we NEED HIM. desperately. And with all that and two missed chippy 30 FGs. And 100+ yards of penalties!!! It was 27-24 with a few minutes left. AT WILLIAM AND MARY? That’s our QB FIRST START ON ROAD. we shoulda been killed. Killed

im not impressed with my guys. But I’m not feeling great if I’m looking to be a playoff team at William and Mary. They will get there because of CAA scheduling 😀. But I see them going out of playoffs quickly. But that’s a LONG way off.

just one game. My guys will probably be .500 this year. Hope we get our stud WR back but glad we didn’t bend the rules for him. We have to stop the run and get some running yards. All credit to WM here 384 rushing yards for WM !!! And 84 for Furman. Just horrible there by us.

[FUBeAR]

It is a chipmunk
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/alvin/images/b/b5/CGI_Alvin_Seville_Drawing.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/180?cb=20110721114935
https://i.postimg.cc/L4YBs6QQ/IMG-2988.jpg

[caribbeanhen]

the answer key to the Southern Conference Power Index

1 - William and Mary

9 - VMI

You gentlemen can figure out the trimmings

William & Mary clinches the Southern Conference title going undefeated with a 3-0 record although the VMI game might be judges invalid because they are going to the Pioneer league with Elon

[gofurman]

William & Mary clinches the Southern Conference title going undefeated with a 3-0 record although the VMI game might be judges invalid because they are going to the Pioneer league with Elon

I figured you’d be here. . Lol. Though you got lucky as I assume William and Mary is the best of the CAA. And Furman is rebuilding big time. But mainly yeah any other CAA Team - Elon is top 25 preseason !!!!! And can’t win any SoCon games …

First appreciate your military service!!! Pretty sure that was you.

however I bet you didn’t know - I get triggered when people don’t know a key guy is out. That Josh Harris was out. Furman’s absolute best weapon on offense. Oh well

however I’d rank this right now - Mercer / William and Mary

SoCon

ELON - who was preseason top 25 and a flag bearer for CAA. As I posted then. Elon is the SoCon’s biastgch. Not sure their - Elon - issue but they are dang glad they don’t play in SoCon !!!

ok. Elon would beat VMI 🥲

oh see you basically said the same 😀

[BearDownMU]

We had a really, really scary moment tonight when a Mercer player collapsed on the field in between plays. Ended up being taken off by ambulance. I was completely locked in watching our staff and team, and all the Mercer players took a knee while the medical staff worked. I happened to look up and see the entire Citadel team on a knee as well. Every single one. It was an incredible show of sportsmanship and class. Me and my fellow Mercerians appreciate it more than I can express. Honor, Duty, Respect. Indeed.

[gofurman]

We had a really, really scary moment tonight when a Mercer player collapsed on the field in between plays. Ended up being taken off by ambulance. I was completely locked in watching our staff and team, and all the Mercer players took a knee while the medical staff worked. I happened to look up and see the entire Citadel team on a knee as well. Every single one. It was an incredible show of sportsmanship and class. Me and my fellow Mercerians appreciate it more than I can express. Honor, Duty, Respect. Indeed.

this. Great class. Hope he is ok

[Reign of Terrier]

My read on Furman is that they’ll be competitive in every game, they very occasionally make big plays, but outside of those big plays they are not up to their standard. As one Furman fan said, they couldn’t run the ball. Their passing game still struggles a bit outside of one or two plays. Their defense did a good job forcing turnovers and shutting down the W&M passing game (again, I think Wofford’s film helped them plan what not to do) - much better than what Wofford did. But they still let the tribe rack up over 200 yards at half. I was only following the live stats, but i was curious why they even bothered passing.

That game could have been an upset, given the big plays and timing of big plays for Furman, but outside of the big plays they made too many mistakes. Missing field goals is a glaring one. But that game could also have been a blowout had the purple D not stopped the bleeding in the second half. If you’re W&M winning by 2 scores when you were down 2 scores early is a good win, no matter the opponent.

I think Furman will somewhere finish between 5-7 and 7-5. Considering they’re 1-3 and rebuilding, those aren’t awful outcomes.

Furman is really the only non-wofford team i feel like I have a decent read for. And VMI. There are some other trends that are becoming apparent in other teams, but it’ll take a couple weeks to solidify. Others like ETSU and Western I have no read for.

[Sitting Bull]

I gotta think Furman learned something from the Wofford film. If this version of Darius Wilson plays against us, we win. Makes me think it’s the defensive gameplan

You must have missed Wilson’s electric TD run through the Furman defense, 57 yards. He had a second TD run of near 80 yards called back by a penalty. Tribe called for 11 penalties, two came on Furman 3rd and longs that kept drives moving for them. Very good game I thought on both sides. The big difference was the running game, Tribe rolled on that.

[caribbeanhen]

I figured you’d be here. . Lol. Though you got lucky as I assume William and Mary is the best of the CAA. And Furman is rebuilding big time. But mainly yeah any other CAA Team - Elon is top 25 preseason !!!!! And can’t win any SoCon games …

First appreciate your military service!!! Pretty sure that was you.

however I bet you didn’t know - I get triggered when people don’t know a key guy is out. That Josh Harris was out. Furman’s absolute best weapon on offense. Oh well

however I’d rank this right now - Mercer / William and Mary

SoCon

ELON - who was preseason top 25 and a flag bearer for CAA. As I posted then. Elon is the SoCon’s biastgch. Not sure their - Elon - issue but they are dang glad they don’t play in SoCon !!!

ok. Elon would beat VMI 沈

oh see you basically said the same 

thank you for the military service recognition and the same to you Sir! This little W&M feud goes back to 2022 when their running game caught my eye and the OC was very creative with it and then to come on here and read some of the comments, it was interesting Ill just say that

I think higher of Furman this morning than I did yesterday morning. If the game was last year, I think you would beat W&M soundly.

Think higher of The Citadel as well

Was very low on VMI and now you have to ask just what in the heck is going on and how will a school like that be able to compete going forward

[Reign of Terrier]

You must have missed Wilson’s electric TD run through the Furman defense, 57 yards. He had a second TD run of near 80 yards called back by a penalty. Tribe called for 11 penalties, two came on Furman 3rd and longs that kept drives moving for them. Very good game I thought on both sides. The big difference was the running game, Tribe rolled on that.

Okay, let me rephrase that: if he passed like he did against Furman, we would probably win. I imagine Furman didn’t come with as much pressure because it’s clear it wouldn’t work

[gofurman]

So, i’ll be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Furman game were super competitive, and even if they won, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they lost by 20. W&M pass defense is pretty stout, and I think Furman will be able to somewhat run the ball. But W&M is a boa constrictor if they have good TOP

You WAY overestimate our ability to run the ball. They ran for 384. We ran for 80. We CAN throw - surprising with a true freshman QB missing our best WR. We cannot run. a running game is the best help for a new QB or any QB

[FUBeAR]

We had a really, really scary moment tonight when a Mercer player collapsed on the field in between plays. Ended up being taken off by ambulance. I was completely locked in watching our staff and team, and all the Mercer players took a knee while the medical staff worked. I happened to look up and see the entire Citadel team on a knee as well. Every single one. It was an incredible show of sportsmanship and class. Me and my fellow Mercerians appreciate it more than I can express. Honor, Duty, Respect. Indeed.Good report from Mercer Football & their Medical Team.
https://twitter.com/mercerfootball/status/1837911865029988407
FUBeAR was sitting behind BearDownMU in Maconga last night.

It was VERY scary.

Looked like the Mercer Training Staff began CPR and then ALL the Mercer Players gathered very closely around Moody with Training & Equipment personnel creating somewhat of a makeshift Injury Tent shielding the view of the crowd and TV cameras by holding up towels.

With the Bryce Stanfield situation last Spring at Furman still weighing heavily on all Paladins, FUBeAR could only think of the worst outcome…but great medical professionals, and, perhaps some work by the Big Doc - a lot of folks were calling on Him - the worst appears to have been averted. We could see that Moody was conscious and able to move when he was placed into the ambulance.

And, as BDMU noted, the Players from The Citadel (as well as Mercer’s), as well as their medical staff, and their Athletics / Football Leadership, were perfect. 2 Teams a-fightin’ it out HARD became 1 Team for a half an hour. Lots of cooperation, support, productive discussion, sensitivity, respect, and grace were clearly present and utilized throughout the issue. Proud of all involved.


Except….this guy. He never removed his Stetson.

https://i.postimg.cc/GmGhRJzY/image000000.jpg

Maybe he has an exemption of some type…

Seriously, though, CIT folks…who the heck is this guy?
What is he doing and why is dressed like that?
Bum Phillips grandson?

[SU DOG]

I have to say that the moment they let this lady into the circle of the makeshift tent was almost more than I could bear. I assumed she was Khalil's mother as she started crying and was so emotional that it certainly affected me (I almost lost it) just watching the stream. IMO, someone in the production should have prevented showing her reaction. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but I was definitely shaken at that point.

So glad that things are looking good for the young man now and so glad that so many people lifted him up in prayer.

[caribbeanhen]

I have to say that the moment they let this lady into the circle of the makeshift tent was almost more than I could bear. I assumed she was Khalil's mother as she started crying and was so emotional that it certainly affected me (I almost lost it) just watching the stream. IMO, someone in the production should have prevented showing her reaction. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but I was definitely shaken at that point.

So glad that things are looking good for the young man now and so glad that so many people lifted him up in prayer.

SU DOG you’re just normal, when these kind of things happen I usually just turn away. I can’t bear to watch it and I can’t imagine how that lady felt, especially if it was his mother.

It’s a relief to hear he’s still with us

[ElCid]

Good report from Mercer Football & their Medical Team.
https://twitter.com/mercerfootball/status/1837911865029988407
FUBeAR was sitting behind BearDownMU in Maconga last night.

It was VERY scary.

Looked like the Mercer Training Staff began CPR and then ALL the Mercer Players gathered very closely around Moody with Training & Equipment personnel creating somewhat of a makeshift Injury Tent shielding the view of the crowd and TV cameras by holding up towels.

With the Bryce Stanfield situation last Spring at Furman still weighing heavily on all Paladins, FUBeAR could only think of the worst outcome…but great medical professionals, and, perhaps some work by the Big Doc - a lot of folks were calling on Him - the worst appears to have been averted. We could see that Moody was conscious and able to move when he was placed into the ambulance.

And, as BDMU noted, the Players from The Citadel (as well as Mercer’s), as well as their medical staff, and their Athletics / Football Leadership, were perfect. 2 Teams a-fightin’ it out HARD became 1 Team for a half an hour. Lots of cooperation, support, productive discussion, sensitivity, respect, and grace were clearly present and utilized throughout the issue. Proud of all involved.


Except….this guy. He never removed his Stetson.

https://i.postimg.cc/GmGhRJzY/image000000.jpg

Maybe he has an exemption of some type…

Seriously, though, CIT folks…who the heck is this guy?
What is he doing and why is dressed like that?
Bum Phillips grandson?

That's great news. It was very scary on TV. I don't even want to imagine being there. Hope he continues on the speedy road to recovery.

And I have no idea who that guy is.

[gofurman]

Good report from Mercer Football & their Medical Team.
https://twitter.com/mercerfootball/status/1837911865029988407
FUBeAR was sitting behind BearDownMU in Maconga last night.

It was VERY scary.

Looked like the Mercer Training Staff began CPR and then ALL the Mercer Players gathered very closely around Moody with Training & Equipment personnel creating somewhat of a makeshift Injury Tent shielding the view of the crowd and TV cameras by holding up towels.

With the Bryce Stanfield situation last Spring at Furman still weighing heavily on all Paladins, FUBeAR could only think of the worst outcome…but great medical professionals, and, perhaps some work by the Big Doc - a lot of folks were calling on Him - the worst appears to have been averted. We could see that Moody was conscious and able to move when he was placed into the ambulance.

And, as BDMU noted, the Players from The Citadel (as well as Mercer’s), as well as their medical staff, and their Athletics / Football Leadership, were perfect. 2 Teams a-fightin’ it out HARD became 1 Team for a half an hour. Lots of cooperation, support, productive discussion, sensitivity, respect, and grace were clearly present and utilized throughout the issue. Proud of all involved.


Except….this guy. He never removed his Stetson.

https://i.postimg.cc/GmGhRJzY/image000000.jpg

Maybe he has an exemption of some type…

Seriously, though, CIT folks…who the heck is this guy?
What is he doing and why is dressed like that?
Bum Phillips grandson?

SO GLAD TO HEAR HE is ok !!!!!!!!!!! Or at least recovering. Very glad to hear this. Yeah, when I heard initially all I could think was Bryce Stanfield passing away at Furman …

[gofurman]

You must have missed Wilson’s electric TD run through the Furman defense, 57 yards. He had a second TD run of near 80 yards called back by a penalty. Tribe called for 11 penalties, two came on Furman 3rd and longs that kept drives moving for them. Very good game I thought on both sides. The big difference was the running game, Tribe rolled on that.

I will say you KILLED us rushing. Wow. But we aren’t a good team. To escape us - AT HOME WITH A TON OF SENIORS - has to concern you. We probably aren’t a .500 team. Seriously. 4-8. 5-7 team maybe? And it’s a bad matchup - which is a huge deal. WE. CANT. STOP. A. RUNNING. QB. - Plays right into your hands

We aren’t what we were last year. As Caribbean hen - HUGE CAA PROPONENT- even admits…. “Furman kills William and Mary if played last year”. where it’s seniors on seniors and we lost in double OT in quarterfinals. But game was this year so. Is what it is.

Yall KILLED us running. Great job. Killed us. I will say people underestimate how much ONE DUDE MATTERS. See Carolina Panthers. Ultimate losers all of a sudden big win. One guy changes everything. The O the D - everything. O stays on field longer. D is more rested. It’s a cycle. We were missing our super WR. You have to wonder.

anyway. Congrats!!!. I’ll be watching yall going forward.

[gofurman]

thank you for the military service recognition and the same to you Sir! This little W&M feud goes back to 2022 when their running game caught my eye and the OC was very creative with it and then to come on here and read some of the comments, it was interesting Ill just say that

I think higher of Furman this morning than I did yesterday morning. If the game was last year, I think you would beat W&M soundly.

Think higher of The Citadel as well

Was very low on VMI and now you have to ask just what in the heck is going on and how will a school like that be able to compete going forward

yep. We were so much more sound on D last year and so Senior laden and etc etc. You saw that team even the year prior (2022) CRUSH Elon. That QB is now playing at G5 etc.

hey check your private messages. I tried to send one. I’ll see if it works

[gofurman]

thank you for the military service recognition and the same to you Sir! This little W&M feud goes back to 2022 when their running game caught my eye and the OC was very creative with it and then to come on here and read some of the comments, it was interesting Ill just say that

I think higher of Furman this morning than I did yesterday morning. If the game was last year, I think you would beat W&M soundly.

Think higher of The Citadel as well

Was very low on VMI and now you have to ask just what in the heck is going on and how will a school like that be able to compete going forward

Caribbeanhen - please check your PMs again 😀. Please reply in PM with your thoughts. Thanks in advance !!!!!!

[wcugrad95]

Best news I could possibly think of hearing from this weekend is that the Mercer player is doing well. With 3 kids of my own, I can't imagine having to go through that scare. Prayers and best wishes for his road ahead.

[Reign of Terrier]

In 2016, Michael Roach for Wofford had a similar scare. I think they actually had to bring the defibrillator on field, cut off his jersey, all that. Was very scary.

The good news is, if what happened was the same thing (an inert heart condition), Mr. Moody will for the most part live a normal life and feel normal. The funny thing that happened with Roach is that upon waking up and coming to his senses in the ambulance, he wanted to get back on the field!

[gofurman]

In 2016, Michael Roach for Wofford had a similar scare. I think they actually had to bring the defibrillator on field, cut off his jersey, all that. Was very scary.

The good news is, if what happened was the same thing (an inert heart condition), Mr. Moody will for the most part live a normal life and feel normal. The funny thing that happened with Roach is that upon waking up and coming to his senses in the ambulance, he wanted to get back on the field!

UNFORTUNATELY, It can go otherwise... as we well know at Furman. You all know we lost a player - Bryce Stanfield - this year... RIP young man.

as strong and fit as these guys look you never know what can happen. Every day is precious. EVERY DAY.

- - - Updated - - -


In 2016, Michael Roach for Wofford had a similar scare. I think they actually had to bring the defibrillator on field, cut off his jersey, all that. Was very scary.

The good news is, if what happened was the same thing (an inert heart condition), Mr. Moody will for the most part live a normal life and feel normal. The funny thing that happened with Roach is that upon waking up and coming to his senses in the ambulance, he wanted to get back on the field!


Reign of Terrier - check your Private Messages sir !

[caribbeanhen]

Caribbeanhen - please check your PMs again . Please reply in PM with your thoughts. Thanks in advance !!!!!!

msg received

[gofurman]

msg received

thanks - yeah, I think your boxx must have been full. Weird, it doesn't mark yours as "Read" or anything... Is there a way for me to know you read it other than you posting here on the public board???

[caribbeanhen]

thanks - yeah, I think your boxx must have been full. Weird, it doesn't mark yours as "Read" or anything... Is there a way for me to know you read it other than you posting here on the public board???

Oh yes wait a minute Mr Postman....

[gofurman]

Oh yes wait a minute Mr Postman....

LOL

Caribbeanhen, Can you clean your box some more. Just a few messages. I tried to reply and it said your inbox was full. Thanks in advance.

I think you will be interested in my reply 😀

[FUBeAR]

Good report from Mercer Football & their Medical Team.
https://twitter.com/mercerfootball/status/1837911865029988407
FUBeAR was sitting behind BearDownMU in Maconga last night.

It was VERY scary.

Looked like the Mercer Training Staff began CPR and then ALL the Mercer Players gathered very closely around Moody with Training & Equipment personnel creating somewhat of a makeshift Injury Tent shielding the view of the crowd and TV cameras by holding up towels.

With the Bryce Stanfield situation last Spring at Furman still weighing heavily on all Paladins, FUBeAR could only think of the worst outcome…but great medical professionals, and, perhaps some work by the Big Doc - a lot of folks were calling on Him - the worst appears to have been averted. We could see that Moody was conscious and able to move when he was placed into the ambulance.

And, as BDMU noted, the Players from The Citadel (as well as Mercer’s), as well as their medical staff, and their Athletics / Football Leadership, were perfect. 2 Teams a-fightin’ it out HARD became 1 Team for a half an hour. Lots of cooperation, support, productive discussion, sensitivity, respect, and grace were clearly present and utilized throughout the issue. Proud of all involved.
FUBeAR is NOT trying to make this “Political.” Let’s NOT make it political, but when we have related news/info/stuff that is related to SoCon schools, FUBeAR thinks it’s appropriate to share it here.

We all know about the incident with the Mercer Football Player…and, of course, the incident with Furman’s Bryce Stanfield last spring.

But…there’s more.

Earlier Saturday, a 23 year old Women’s Cross Country athlete for Wesleyan College - also in Macon…and which has an articulation agreement that allows students to transfer credits between the two institutions. Also, Wesleyan College students can also participate in Mercer University's ROTC program as part of a cross enrollment agreement. Wesleyan College and Mercer University are also affiliated in another way through the 3 + 3 program, which allows students to complete both an undergraduate degree at Wesleyan and a JD degree at Mercer in about six years - died during a Mercer Cross Country Meet. https://www.wgxa.tv/news/local/wesleyan-college-runner-dies-after-collapsing-at-meet-saturday

Then, yesterday…

Another Mercer 20-ish year old died after being hit in the chest with a soccer ball in an intramural game.
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/mercer-student-dies-after-collapsing-during-an-intramural-soccer-game-georgia/93-54029aae-d917-4f85-b2c4-2dfec8a275df


TOO MUCH!

THOUGHTS??

If you feel the need to get “Political” with your comments start a thread - or add on to one that may already be there - in the Politics Forum.


Jeez - just learned they had another one in the Spring of ‘23 - Soccer Player https://www.mercercluster.com/article/2023/04/mercer-senior-baba-agbaje-dies-after-collapsing-on-intramural-field

[Reign of Terrier]

Any doctors in thread who can tell us if it’s possible to screen for some of these conditions? Some of them are obviously freak accidents, like what happen to Hamlin in Buffalo, but i have got to think some of this stuff can be caught.

[FUBeAR]

Any doctors in thread who can tell us if it’s possible to screen for some of these conditions? Some of them are obviously freak accidents, like what happen to Hamlin in Buffalo, but i have got to think some of this stuff can be caught.
Read 2 studies last night.

1 stated the probability of these types of incidents are 2.1 / 100,000 for the 20-29 year old age group. FUBeAR doesn’t math well, but he suspects that means Mercer’s recent rate is over 100x the statistical probability.

Also read one that concluded that (often undetected) myocarditis scarring can make these chest-impact induced cardiac arrests (like Hamlin & the Mercer intramural Soccer incident…and possibly the Mercer Football Player (delayed - he was in on a tackle a play or 2 earlier)) much, much more likely to occur.

Without getting “political,” we know, whether valid or not, that incidences of myocarditis have been reported related to the mRNA vaccines.

Not sure if possible or how…but it would seem that a massive (as large as possible) effort to examine / screen for this type of scarring might be something to consider.

[ElCid]

Read 2 studies last night.

1 stated the probability of these types of incidents are 2.1 / 100,000. FUBeAR doesn’t math well, but he suspects that means Mercer’s recent rate is over 100x the statistical probability.

Also read one that concluded that (often undetected) myocarditis scarring can make these chest-impact induced cardiac arrests (like Hamlin & the Mercer intramural Soccer incident…and possibly the Mercer Football Player (delayed - he was in on a tackle a play or 2 earlier)) much, much more likely to occur.

Without getting “political,” we know, whether valid or not, that incidences of myocarditis have been reported related to the mRNA vaccines.

Not sure if possible or how…but it would seem that a massive (as large as possible) effort to examine / screen for this type of scarring might be something to consider.

There is a recent article in the COVID thread that discussed this. Looks like this is a definite possible side affect in some people. Age is irrelevant. Given the cardiac stress of athletes, it fits.

[FUBeAR]

There is a recent article in the COVID thread that discussed this. Looks like this is a definite possible side affect in some people. Age is irrelevant. Given the cardiac stress of athletes, it fits.
Saw that study … and that it had been “withdrawn” (possibly for reasons not discussable here)

Also - FUBeAR accidentally omitted the Age Group piece from his prior post (2.1/100k in 20-29 yo’s). Edited now.

Age may be irrelevant to the incidences of cardiac events associated with myocarditis scarring, but age is extremely relevant to the occurrence of cardiac events, generally. And these 3 events with 20-ish year olds within a community the size of Mercer/Wesleyan in a span of 72 hours is OFF THE CHARTS as a statistical probability.