ETSU Post Game Musings

[Affirm]

And I'll keep attending the games. If the sky's falling, I'll pull out the poncho.

Replying to the post of Flagman and to the one of The Jackal above it: I'll keep attending also. I have not lost interest in the Paladins. But my preference was and still is that we will soon show some evidence of moving in the direction of getting better than we've been since that 2nd loss to Wofford last December, instead of continuing in the opposite direction.

[Yadkin]

It didn’t take long for a couple of back-bencher, Molotov Cocktail hurler-types to spring to action. Predictably dependable, near 100 percent negative folk.

P.J. Blazejowski (26 starts, 4,500 passing yards) graduated. His replacement, Harris Roberts (1 D1 offer, 13 career pass attempts prior to this year), misses over 2 weeks in preseason with broken thumb. No QBs in junior, sophomore classes in developmental stage.

Darren Grainger will play, otherwise we’ll be right back in the same position next year with very little experience at QB.

Young OL limits ability to recruit en masse. Conrad didn’t want to play anymore. Some guys don’t love the game. Fact.

LB was a problem area before CCH arrived. QB Dillon Woodruff was a starter at LB in 2017 opener. Two 2017 recruits, Elijah McKoy (recruited as a S) and Reynard Ellis, pressed into service last year. Ellis checks out post-2017 signing date. Significant loss talent-wise.

Hard to be overly critical of things at this point IMO. Only one full year of recruiting by current staff.

[The Jackal]

http://www.furmansportsreport.com

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - There probably have been more deflating losses in the 113-year history of Furman football than Saturday, but it's hard to recall one at the moment.

This is a fun game. I can think of several.

2004 James Madison (fumble on the 1, missed xpt, playoff game - JMU won national title)
2002 App State (miracle on the mountain)

Admittedly, I don’t recall us blowing a 21 point 3rd Q lead before.

[FUBeAR]

http://www.furmansportsreport.com

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - There probably have been more deflating losses in the 113-year history of Furman football than Saturday, but it's hard to recall one at the moment.

This is a fun game. I can think of several.

2004 James Madison (fumble on the 1, missed xpt, playoff game - JMU won national title)
2002 App State (miracle on the mountain)

Admittedly, I don’t recall us blowing a 21 point 3rd Q lead before.

Yep...definitely those...and the ‘85 Nat’l Champ game & whatever year Ingle slipped on the black ice in the haunted end zone in Boone.

Oh..and here’s a little-known, but fun (very dark humor fun) one....

1979 @ VMI.

We had started 0-5, including losses to NAIA PC & Woffy, but rebounded (as the 2018 Paladins are about to do) and had put ourselves in position to win the SoCon Championship. Rallied back in Lexington to score the potentially game-tying TD (21-20)...but our (openly atheist) Kicker missed the game-tying XP badly and then began a sideline tirade of loudly swearing at and pointing up at God blaming Him for his missing the XP and telling Him, “I’m going to get You for this!” Can you imagine how afraid we were to get on that plane with him to fly back to GVL out of the mountains? This was less than a decade and only a couple of hundred miles away from when and where Marsha’s (“We Are Marshall”) tragic plane crash occurred. It has taken a lot of praying, penance, and good works by your ‘Dins over the years to overcome THAT deflating loss!

[Jasper]

"This is partially true. Furman has gone full "old school." They are featuring a lot of I-pro formation and double wing looks. The fullback has been de-emphasized and the tailback emphasized back into their traditional roles. We are still implementing a lot of the pre-snap shifting that we saw a lot of last year, but this offense is a lot more focused on the fullback as a lead blocker and running the ball between the tackles.

Frankly, this is the offense many on this forum have been screaming for for most of the last 15 years. When the personnel is right and the OL is driving, this sort of offense is virtually indefensible as it is basically one team just running the other one over."

One of the elements to our having a really good season last year was this staff utilizing the talent we had on O and tailoring the scheme to fit that talent. Some of the players that are being touted as key losses didn't have a whole lot of success until our whole design changed. It would have been a lot easier to duplicate a version of last years O than what it appears we are trying to do now. We finally have some real speed at running back and have enjoyed whatever success we have had on the ground getting them in space on the outside,why not make that a focal point to set up our play action game ?

That is exactly the point, FU3. Good post. It was the change in design last year that brought out the best in several players who did not have impressive careers before then. I simply do not understand why the staff did not mimic last year's schemes with their own variations. As I have said before, Cronic does not have a patent. If we do not have the OL talent to run the ball up the middle, then do something else. ETSU dared us to run the ball inside. They gave up 500 yards passing to VMI. Our QBs are not exceptional but they can throw the ball. As a matter of fact, they throw it very well in practice. And again you are correct in noting that we were able to run outside pretty well. This staff needs to make some changes or the entire swell of enthusiasm & momentum generated last year will be lost and I am not referring to players.

[fufanatic]

It didn’t take long for a couple of back-bencher, Molotov Cocktail hurler-types to spring to action. Predictably dependable, near 100 percent negative folk.

P.J. Blazejowski (26 starts, 4,500 passing yards) graduated. His replacement, Harris Roberts (1 D1 offer, 13 career pass attempts prior to this year), misses over 2 weeks in preseason with broken thumb. No QBs in junior, sophomore classes in developmental stage.

Darren Grainger will play, otherwise we’ll be right back in the same position next year with very little experience at QB.

Young OL limits ability to recruit en masse. Conrad didn’t want to play anymore. Some guys don’t love the game. Fact.

LB was a problem area before CCH arrived. QB Dillon Woodruff was a starter at LB in 2017 opener. Two 2017 recruits, Elijah McKoy (recruited as a S) and Reynard Ellis, pressed into service last year. Ellis checks out post-2017 signing date. Significant loss talent-wise.

Hard to be overly critical of things at this point IMO. Only one full year of recruiting by current staff.

Good post. All this makes so much sense. I think we all just got caught up in the performance from year one and just assumed that the coaches and team would pick right up from where we left off in 2017. But we as a message board didn't give enough respect to PJ, the guys on the OL, Wilcox, Schumpert, Ellis, etc. You don't just replace those guys and keep chugging along (unless you're Alabama) and we clearly weren't able to. And hopefully we can put the fallacy behind us that just any ole guy can step in at QB and run this offense. I still believe in this coaching staff, but I think it might take a few more years to get back to something consistent after a remarkable year one spurred on by a pretty special senior class. Still hoping for a winning record, but even 5-5 would be tolerable after an 0-3 start. Worried it might be more in the 4-6, 3-7 range though.