Citadel - if we play...

[gofurman]

It's CITADEL WEEK. Get fired up !!

What do we know.

They edged CSU. Lost to SC State.. LOST TO TWO GOOD TEAMS - so if we play them we really know where we stand. GOOD TEAMS BEAT THE CITADEL ! IE, Mercer and ETSU put the beatin' on Citadel. CSU and SC State were fairly even with them. Pretty easy to get a read, no?

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Most recently, vs ETSU (after a harrowing road trip !) - ETSU gained roughly 460 yards and CItadel 260. roughly.
That's fairly dominant. It was a turnover filled game but good teams overcome this - ETSU lost FOUR turnovers and gained two... for a fairly significant negative two ratio. Yet, ETSU won anyway.

The major difference in these two teams was RUSHING. RUSHING I SAY.
ETSU 308 yards; 40 attempts - 7.7 PER CARRY !
Citadel 80; 37 attempts' for 2.2 PER CARRY !

The game is won by rushing and stopping the run. In this game, in some odd stat, despite the dominant rushing... ETSU was only 3-11 on 3rd down. Awesome rushing would usually yield more than that

The other thing that sticks out to me is Citadel did intercept ETSU 3 times ! Not sure if that's an aberration but it sure helped.

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MERCER put an FUBeAR whoopin on them too. Also controlled the LOS from a running standpoint. Need to look more closely but as far as rushing -
CITADEL AGAIN with exactly 2.2 yards per carry ... exactly the same as v ETSU. basically 60 yards rushing total in the game.
MERCER with a good 180 yards rushing (I would take that for Furman!) on 38 attempts for 4.7 yards per rush. I think that would be such a springboard for our offense and take so much pressure off the young QB etc.

[gofurman]

Cmon. Nothing ?

IF we play. Suspect we will. Anyone hear how much the team was able practice ? Honestly if no classes I don’t see why you couldn’t get the practices in. If certain guys need to go home let me

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR thinks Coach Drayton is doing a fantastic job at The Citadel.

That said, FUBeAR thinks, regardless of the stats and the final score, the bellhops lost that game to ETSU, primarily due to a Coaching decision (with an assist from a typically bad spot from the Refs) with about 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

ETSU leads 13-10…
CIT had converted 42% of their 3rd down tries at this point in the game….
CIT had rushed 22 times for 60 yards (on non-sacks)(~3 yards per attempt), so far, on the day.

3rd and 4 at ETS14 Shotgun Ibrahim,Corey rush middle for 3 yards gain to the ETS11 (Hope,Chris; Henderson,Jayvon).

4th and 1 [it was really about 6 inches] at ETS11 PENALTY CIT Delay Of Game 5 yards from ETS11 to ETS16. NO PLAY. [The delay of game penalty occurred because they, initially, only had 10 men on the field while lining up for the FG. The decision not to go for it was made as soon as the Officials signaled 4th down. Actually, since the ball was on the hash, the penalty backing them up (should have) helped the Kicker by decreasing his angle]

4th and 6 at ETS16 Barnes,Ben field goal attempt from 34 yards NO GOOD blocked by Sims,Cam [Mercer Transfer] (H: McCall,Jack, LS: Tokar,Nathan), clock 04:16, out of bounds at ETS16, TURNOVER ON DOWNS.
ETSU at 04:16

If you are coming off an 0-11 / 0-8 season; you just played a respectable game against the 5-0/3-0 SoCon Leader; you’ve shown signs of life/success while defeating ChuckSouth & N. GVL, gave SCState a tussle; are at home against a Team that took NDSU to the wire, but also may be exhausted from their travel ordeal; and you have a 235 pound QB who can run the ball, get under center, and has played in 30 FBS games — YOU GOTTA GO FOR IT THERE!!!!

By kicking for the tie, you told your Team that you still don’t believe in them…despite all they’ve shown you so far, in terms of improvement and growth. IFBO, it was a devastating decision. Don’t convert and you’re still down only a FG with your opponent, who had only scored 2x, pinned deep in their territory. Get it and you probably score a TD to take the lead (but can still kick an FG, if necessary)…and your Players KNOW you have faith in them.

Obviously, the game turned from that point forward - going from CIT driving with a chance to take the lead to down 3 scores in about 10 minutes.


Hopefully, the bellhops will still be sulking this Saturday, but FUBeAR doubts it. Coach Drayton will own his decision and get his Team back up to give us all they got.

2 Takeaways…

1) CIT has improved enough to not only play FU tough, but they can definitely win this game … if we let them. We gotta got that “not again” thought into their heads EARLY.

2) ETSU ain’t ‘all that.’ They are vastly improved and definitely have a chance to compete for the SoCon Championship, but they coulda, maybe shoulda, lost to The Citadel.