SoCon Week Six

[OL FU]

:confused: :confused: :confused: If things were confusing after week 2, 3 and 4, week 5 did not clear things up much. I believe all teams have a conference loss with the exception of Appalachian State.

Chattanooga @ Liberty – Which Chattanooga team will show up? The one that was whipped by GSU or the one that beat Wofford. Does not matter. Chattanooga wins this one.

Citadel @ Ole Miss – Which Citadel team shows up? The one that barely escaped against Charleston Southern and was beat by Appalachian or the one that surprised Western last week. Doesn’t matter. Citadel loses.

Now that we have the easy ones out of the way:

Elon @ Wofford – If this game is at Elon I would think about it a little. But I can’t see the Phoenix taking the Terriers in Spartanburg.

Western Carolina @ Georgia Southern

There is still a lot of football left but this game has playoff implications for both teams. While 7 D-I wins may be the minimum requirement for an at-large bid, we all know that four losses makes it very difficult. Georgia Southern still has to go the Boone and Western’s loss to the Citadel more than likely means they have to get the auto-bid to make it. A loss to the Citadel may not be the end of the world but losing to them at home is a head scratcher. GSU seems to have found their offense but Western will give them the test to see if that is the case. With a resurgent offense and home field advantage, the Eagles win.

Appalachian State @ Paladin Stadium

It has been three long years and Furman had this one marked on the calendar for revenge day. Preseason, it was very clear Furman would be un-defeated and rolling along with a number one or two ranking and would make the Mountaineers pay for the last three years. Well forget all that. Furman has looked above average at best and the Mountaineers look like the team to beat in the SoCon. While ASU may be consistently playing the best football in the conference and has to be motivated after missing the playoffs the last two years, Furman has the long three-year drought and realizes a loss puts their pre-season hopes at risk. I will be a homer and pick Furman in a close one. On the other hand, if Furman has three turnovers (which is close to their current per game average), ASU wins.

P.S. the team looking the best going into this game, is not necessarily the team that looks the best during the game.

Good Luck to all.

[Saint3333]

UTC over Liberty by 3 TDs
Ole Miss over Citadel by 4 TDs
Wofford over Elon by 10
GSU by 14, WCU can't score but they can't keep the Eagles out of the endzone all day either.

Game of the week in the SoCon maybe the nation:

ASU over Furman by 4. This is under the assumption ASU wins the turnover batter and the new punter Dodge has a good day. Both teams score in the thirties.

[Eagle_77]

last week with a win on the road against WCU. They scored more points on the Cats this week then the Bearcats of Cincinnati did. Now they travel to a struggling Mississippi. The Bulldogs are probably riding pretty high going into this game but I think the Rebels passing game will be too much.
Bulldogs 10 Rebels 31

WCU @ Georgia Southern- The Cats are coming off a big loss to The Citadel, which was unexpected especially at home. Their defense has been huge but their offense sputters at times. The WCU fans have to wonder which team is going to show up for this game, the one who owned Furman or the one that showed up last week. This team has shown they can play with the big boys in beating Furman and playing the Bearcats tight. GSU is coming off a big win over Elon in which there offense looked like the GSU offense of old. The win was a big one for the morale of an Eagles team that came stumbling out for the gate but however it was Elon. The Eagle will show this week if they have truly improved since the losses to McNeese and Wofford. This one will be close as the games between these two schools usually are.
GSU 21 WCU 10

App St @ Furman- This game could possibly be for the SoCon Championship. App St is the only undefeated team in conference play and if they could pull out this win they could have the momentum to carry them the rest of the way. They have GSU, Chattanooga, and WCU all at home the rest of the year and only have to travel to Wofford and Elon. This game has to mean more to Furman though with what’s on the line. Not only do they have a three-year losing streak to App St but they already have one conference loss as well. Throw in that this may be the I-AA game of the week and this game is a big one. Although Furman is ranked higher I believe that coming into this game App St has to be the favorite. I think the over/under for this game could be somewhere around 85 points. Look for this one to be a shoot out folks.
Furman 44 App St 41.

[catamount man]

Chattanooga-30
fighting falwells-10

Citadel-17
Ole Miss-38
(similar game to El Cid's 35-10 loss to LSU in 2002)

WCU-14
GSU-23
:( :( :( (Until we get a consistent offense, but even at 2-3, our season won't be totally washed, not with UTC, Elon, Wofford, and App.State left)

ASU-27
FURMAN-25
(no offense Furman, but ASU has Lamb's # and the Mounties are a focused bunch in 2005)

Elon-10
Wofford-21

GO CATAMOUNTS!!!

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

-ASU's loss to UTC in 2000
-FU's loss to ETSU in 2000
-GSU's loss to ETSU in 2001
-GSU's almost loss to Elon in 2001
-GSU's loss at home to the Citadel in 2003
-Furman's loss to GSU in 2003

What do all of these prove?? In the Socon, it doesn't matter if you are playing a 4-1 team or a 1-4 team, you better bring it, because every team will have the talent and motivation to beat you. The Socon is a lot like the SEC, there is just too many strong teams and there isn't enough room for all of them to be on top.

I'm not convinced that WCU will be a pushover just because they lost to the Citadel. For all we know a team better than the one that beat Cincinatti may show up. I'm taking the eagles by 7, just because I want to be optimistic.

I'm taking FU by 3, and I'm hoping I'm correct, because we need the Mountaineers to get a conference loss. It'll make things easier for my eagles to take the conference.

It's a big week in the Socon, that's for sure.

[GSU Eagle]

I'll take my shot at these games.

Chatty vs. Liberty. Chatty may be turning the corner. I said when they played us here in Statesboro that the score was more lopsided than the game really was, considering Chatty had over 400 yards of offense. I say Chatty 31 Liberty 17.

Citadel vs. Mississippi. Citadel got a huge win vs. WCU Saturday, but I can't see any way they could go to Ole Miss and win. Mississippi is pretty desparate for a win themselves. I say Mississippi 38 Citadel 10

Elon vs. Wofford. I had begun to believe Elon was improved until the game this past Saturday. I don't really know if we (GSU) are playing much better or if Elon is simply pretty bad. Either way Wofford obviously needs to bounce back after their loss at Chatty. I think Wofford wins in a fairly low scoring game. Wofford 20 Elon 13.

Now the 2 big, big games:
Appalachian St. vs. Furman. If App. can win this one they establish themselves as clearly the team to beat in the SoCon this year. Furman has been something of a disappointment this year, if you can say 4-1 is disappointing. I just expected Furman to be better this year. This game is a very tough one to call. Furman clearly has a pretty good offense if they don't turn it over. App. has a good offense as well and it appears their defense is much better than last year. Homefield equals a few points, so I am going with Furman in a close game. Furman 27 Appalachian 24.

WCU vs. GSU. Is GSU back? This game should tell us alot. Our offense has run roughshot the last 2 weeks vs. Chatty and Elon. I am not sure how much of that was our offense or the lack of defense from our opponents. WCU really surprised me in losing to Citadel at home. WCU appears to have some real problems on offense and GSU's weakness appears to be on defense. This game comes down to this question: Can WCU's defense contain GSU's offense? I think this one will be fairly close. I believe overall that 1. Our offense is better than WCU's 2. WCU's defense is better than our defense. The difference in gap in #1 is bigger than the gap in #2. So I say GSU 24 WCU 14.

[thirdgendin]

-ASU's loss to UTC in 2000
-FU's loss to ETSU in 2000
-GSU's loss to ETSU in 2001
-GSU's almost loss to Elon in 2001
-GSU's loss at home to the Citadel in 2003
-Furman's loss to GSU in 2003



The 2003 Furman/GSU game seems odd in that list. Both teams were non-playoff, sub-par teams as far as our two schools are concerned.

[nick9c]

UTC @ Liberty – UTC is a much improved team and should give Liberty more than they can handle. UTC 45 Liberty 10

Citadel @ Ole Miss – Ole Miss is not a very impressive SEC team. Citadel will hang tough through the half, but then Ole Miss pulls away. Ole Miss 38 Citadel 10

Elon @ Wofford – Ayers whips out the black belt and tells his team he'll have nothing less than a win this week. Wofford 31 Elon 17

Western Carolina @ Georgia Southern
Unfortunately WC doesn't have the offense to keep up with GA Southern. If WC's defense is on the field a lot early, count on this one being a blowout.
Eagles 45 WC 10

App State @ Furman
App State and Furman's offense are comparable...both are very capable of scoring lots of points. The difference in this game are the defenses. Furman's pass defense is horrible while App's been pretty decent this year. App State leads in the turnover dept., while Furman is in negative territory.
App State 38 Furman 31

[Kill'em]

UTC over Liberty by 3 TDs
Ole Miss over Citadel by 4 TDs
Wofford over Elon by 10
GSU by 14, WCU can't score but they can't keep the Eagles out of the endzone all day either.

Game of the week in the SoCon maybe the nation:

ASU over Furman by 4. This is under the assumption ASU wins the turnover batter and the new punter Dodge has a good day. Both teams score in the thirties.
If GSU weren't playing, I'd be glued to this one on TV.

[atlGAmocs]

Chattanooga will beat Liberty by at least 14, still need to get Miller going with the passing game, but I like the commitment to a balanced attack.

Elon gets an angry Wofford. Wofford wins by 10.

Furman hosts App State. Martin settles down at home and overcomes a tough game with a good outing against Appy. Furman squeaks it out 35 - 31.

WCU @ GS, sorry Catamount fans but no offense in Stateboro means no win.

And the I-A beat down of the week goes to Citadel, even a bad Ole Miss team will win this one going away.

[Black and Gold Express]

Chattanooga rolls Liberty. The 500 Liberty fans that come to the game will be gone by halftime. Local high school games will have outdrawn this one.

Citadel gets their doors blown off by Ole Miss, though not until the second half.

Elon is terrible at home, and even more terrible on the road. It's too bad such a stud linebacker like Nkang is stuck in such a bad program right now. Wofford by 20+.

WCU @ GSU: I'm going out on a limb and say this one's much lower scoring than people think. Western has shown an ability to play defense. Good defense. GSU got a confidence boost against Elon, but it's going be a huge step up in talent to the 11 Western puts out there on defense.

GSU wins, but it may aonly be a 14-10 kind of score.

And the Big Game...

If you read my other posts, you know where I am going here. The big question in all this is Furman's offense v. ASU's defense. That +7 turnover margin is looking huge right now, and Ingle's been making the turnover an art form lately, much unlike what anyone has expected.

ASU's got the Road Monkey off their back, and Richardson has brought a much needed balance to this offense. Williams actually seems to be making decent option choices, and they have finally installed a legitimate short-yardage package.

If Furman keps the turnovers down to 0-1, this one is a legitimate tossup (though I'll pick ASU by 4-7). If Furman turns it over 2 or more times, ASU wins this one, potentially by 10+.

[phoenixsq]

Woford 28 - Elon 14: Even though we have a good RB, our QB and play calling is suspect. We are on the road and lose this one! :(

App St 24 -Furman 20: ASU looks very tough even while losing to Kansas. I believe that Furman has dodged too many bullets in the last few games. They get hit by one at home . :doh:

GSU 28 - WCU 13: OK, which WCU team is going to show up? The one that clawed Furman, or the one that gave up 9 lives against EL Cid? Saw GS against us and they are lighting quick and too much in Statesboro. :eek:

UTC 28 - Flames 7: Flames go down in flames. This should be an easy one for the Mocs:spank:

Ole Miss 33 - El Cid 14: Just make it look respectable like you did in the first half against FSU!!! :p

[phoenixsq]

-ASU's loss to UTC in 2000
-FU's loss to ETSU in 2000
-GSU's loss to ETSU in 2001
-GSU's almost loss to Elon in 2001
-GSU's loss at home to the Citadel in 2003
-Furman's loss to GSU in 2003

What do all of these prove?? In the Socon, it doesn't matter if you are playing a 4-1 team or a 1-4 team, you better bring it, because every team will have the talent and motivation to beat you. The Socon is a lot like the SEC, there is just too many strong teams and there isn't enough room for all of them to be on top.

I'm not convinced that WCU will be a pushover just because they lost to the Citadel. For all we know a team better than the one that beat Cincinatti may show up. I'm taking the eagles by 7, just because I want to be optimistic.

I'm taking FU by 3, and I'm hoping I'm correct, because we need the Mountaineers to get a conference loss. It'll make things easier for my eagles to take the conference.

It's a big week in the Socon, that's for sure.

Also do not forget a big one that probably got Elon in the SoCon. Elon 24 - Furman 22 in 1999. :nod:

[SoCon48]

[QUOTE=phoenixsq]

App St 24 -Furman 20: ASU looks very tough even while losing to Kansas. I believe that Furman has dodged too many bullets in the last few games. They get hit by one at home . :doh:

App may not beat Furman, but it's certainly nothing to be ashamed of losing at I-A Kansas.

[Kill'em]

That's just what we need, to play a hot App. St team. At least we don't have to play a P.O'ed Furman team immediately.