• Next opponent. Bill and Mary

 #90654  by gofurman
 Sat Sep 14, 2024 9:25 pm
Quick. Few notes. More later

Beat Wofford AT Wofford today. Outgained Wofford by 70 yards. Turnovers are huge - none of us deny that. William and Mary beat Wofford despite a negative one turnover ratio

I like that they run more than pass. 77 plays. 50 were running plays. Our front 7 has done some good things stopping the run most of the time. Granted they have the best OL (singular dude) in all of FCS. most people agree on him being the best or easily a top 3 FCS O Lineman
 #90679  by cavedweller2
 Sun Sep 15, 2024 10:29 am
They wear the wrong colors. Why green? They should be incorporating Orange as the primary color. They are also scared of horses. The original Bill was killed by a horse in 1702. Paladins ride horses. So there you go. My pre game analysis.
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 #90688  by FUTex
 Sun Sep 15, 2024 3:49 pm
cavedweller2 wrote:
Sun Sep 15, 2024 10:29 am
They wear the wrong colors. Why green? They should be incorporating Orange as the primary color. They are also scared of horses. The original Bill was killed by a horse in 1702. Paladins ride horses. So there you go. My pre game analysis.
Now that is a fine analysis indeed. W&M's colors should be Orange and Dark Blue, something that bespeaks the Glorious Revolution.

And why "Tribe"? It should be the "War Crimes" or "Royal Deviants" or something like that.

I went and done saw William III's home in the Netherlands, Het Loo, a few years back. Nice digs. Really roomy. Massive lawn and garden. I'm guessing Bill must have hired a lawn service to mow that place.

I think William died of pneumonia and Mary of smallpox. So it would helpful for the Furman faithful to show up at the game looking diseased.
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 #90693  by cavedweller2
 Sun Sep 15, 2024 7:10 pm
Billy boy died of pneumonia after the horse threw him, stomped him and spit on him.
 #90698  by FUTex
 Sun Sep 15, 2024 8:54 pm
OMG!, as the kids these days say. You are correct.

From the googles: "In 1702, William died of pneumonia, a complication from a broken collarbone following a fall from his horse, Sorrel."

Sorrel, a clear reference to the great Tim Sorrells (number 11), threw Bill (William III, or the 3rd) and he died of pneumonia, a disease that can be carried by a Furman fan. And know we're called The Paladins. The parallels and "coincidences" keep adding up. So, Furman was founded in 1826, 124 years after William III's death. Sorrells number squared plus Williams number would be 11 X 11 + 3 = 124. We're going to win!
 #90708  by The Jackal
 Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:42 pm
Looking into W&M a bit.

They honestly look a lot like us. I think the matchup to watch in this one will be their offensive line against our defensive front seven. They run the ball a lot. Their OL has an NFL prospect and some veteran guys. They have a bell cow running back they'll feed 20+ times.

I like our chances against a run heavy offense. We have, under Vaughn, been pretty stout against the run over the years.

Wofford's Amari Odom wasn't super efficient, but threw for 230 yards and a couple 40ish yard completions against them.

This game may come down to who plays bully ball a bit better. Furman is going to have to be able to throw it against a stacked box. I think we're probably a bit more dangerous than Wofford throwing the ball, but we really need to be able complement that with the run game. Wofford didn't light up the rush charts, but they were methodical.
 #90712  by gofurman
 Mon Sep 16, 2024 12:28 am
The Jackal wrote:
Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:42 pm
Looking into W&M a bit.

They honestly look a lot like us. I think the matchup to watch in this one will be their offensive line against our defensive front seven. They run the ball a lot. Their OL has an NFL prospect and some veteran guys. They have a bell cow running back they'll feed 20+ times.

I like our chances against a run heavy offense. We have, under Vaughn, been pretty stout against the run over the years.

Wofford's Amari Odom wasn't super efficient, but threw for 230 yards and a couple 40ish yard completions against them.

This game may come down to who plays bully ball a bit better. Furman is going to have to be able to throw it against a stacked box. I think we're probably a bit more dangerous than Wofford throwing the ball, but we really need to be able complement that with the run game. Wofford didn't light up the rush charts, but they were methodical.
Agree. Hope Hedden is 100%. He was holding his hand. That concerns me.

Agree that I prefer they run it. However, They do have a SUPERB OL - NFL type like a Dozier. Still I’m with you that I hope they stick to the 50 runs / 25 pass. We are - as usual - a better run stopping team. This will be a stiff test for our front 7. I’ve been impressed with our front seven except the latter part of CSU game. That back kept breaking tackles for 7 yards and TDs. And I highly doubt CSU OL and RB are near William and Mary quality
 #90745  by AllTimeFU
 Mon Sep 16, 2024 2:37 pm
Some game notes vs Wofford
- Kickoffs short of the goal line
- no field goals or attempts in 2024
- gave up multiple long ball completions
- running game picked up late as Wofford DL tired (Furman rotates frequently)
- W&M biggest receiver (he's their go-to) is 6'2" 175
- Bell cow back is 5'11" 205
- overall, skill position players are much shorter, but shifty, than what we've seen
- DL doesn't have length, but power rush
- multiple reverses to try and keep the defense honest

Wofford dropped a ball in the end zone to tie it up late in the game.
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 #90746  by FUwolfpacker
 Mon Sep 16, 2024 2:41 pm
Not much to take from the press conference as usual. Hendrix said they're built similar to Furman which I think is true. Doesn't look exactly the same, but they do feel like Furman normally wants to be. On the older side, run more than pass, play good defense, control the LOS, etc.

W&M certainly has size at most positions outside of WR. OL is good and averages around 6'4" 290. TE is a big guy but doesn't seem to catch many passes to this point. QB is a senior and can certainly hurt you with his legs. I'm sure they will take some deep shots, but his longest pass against Wofford was 27 yards so I don't think that's a huge part of their gameplan. Yoder is healthy this year, and limiting his running will certainly be very important.

DL looks similar to Furman's front 3 from last year all weighing around 280-290, and given how many tackles their LB's make, they probably do a good job of occupying the OL. They play a 3-4 and their LBs do seem to make a lot of plays as you would expect in that defense. Running will certainly be a challenge. Does seem like we're going to have to win in the passing game for a bit to soften up the defense for the running game. Or we're going to have to let Hedden run a bit more out of 4/5 wide. He did it pretty well in high school and showed that he could do it this past Saturday a few times. I don't know much about their DBs but their starters are all older guys. All of the backups there are freshmen though. Odom from Wofford did throw for 230 yards, so I think there is certainly opportunity there. Then again, the VMI and CCU QBs were a combined 16 for 42. All 3 QBs they've face so far have been under 50% completion percentage.

Certainly will be a tough test, but we all knew it was going to be before the season started. When the game was announced it looked like W&M would be the more senior team and they are. Furman should be the more experienced team when they come to Greenville next year (I think). It will be good to see how much this team has improved this week, but regardless of how the game goes, the most important part of our year will be the following 8 games. Some teams look better than expected, some look a little worse. The SoCon seems to be wide open this year.

AllTimeFU wrote:Some game notes vs Wofford
Wofford dropped a ball in the end zone to tie it up late in the game.
I didn't get to watch a lot of the game live but I did see that. The W&M guy did just enough to really break the play up, but I really thought they had tied it up. It wasn't a bad ball, but if it had been about 2 feet higher it was a TD. Odom shows some promise and you can see why Furman had offered prior to the Garcia commitment.
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 #90758  by apaladin
 Mon Sep 16, 2024 4:40 pm
It was hard to see because Gibbs is as dark if not darker than PS. New stats poll:
12. W&M
14. MERCER
23. UTC
24. WCU
27. WC
34. FU
41. ETSU
Bias is evidence with NDSU staying at #2 despite the ETSU game. We would still be top 15 if we would have pulled out the CSU game but we are not a top 25 team right now.
 #90759  by FU Hoopla
 Mon Sep 16, 2024 5:44 pm
apaladin wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2024 4:40 pm
It was hard to see because Gibbs is as dark if not darker than PS. New stats poll:
12. W&M
14. MERCER
23. UTC
24. WCU
27. WC
34. FU
41. ETSU
Bias is evidence with NDSU staying at #2 despite the ETSU game. We would still be top 15 if we would have pulled out the CSU game but we are not a top 25 team right now.
UTC at 0-3 but still ranked, I understand the context but has that ever happened to an 0-3 team before :lol:

Also, imagine how watered down FCS football will look if eventually the likes of NDSU, SDSU, Montana, Mt. St., Idaho were to bolt to the Mountain West......
Top 25 will be full of very few name brand programs any more with all the mass departures the past decade.....
 #90763  by gofurman
 Mon Sep 16, 2024 6:52 pm
Captain Obvious but this will be - by far I think - the toughest FCS test so far. And so, it Will be a good measure of what will probably be the Top tier SoCon.... matchups aside. I do like that William and Mary is going to run the ball a lot. If they are able to run A LOT and we are not that will be worrisome heading to SoCOn slate.