Spring Football Schedule

[The Jackal]

There is no way the NCAA punishes The Citadel for doing what was approved, playing up to 4 games. The waiver will be approved.

Again, based on what, exactly?

It's easy to say "waiver," but you have to have a reason for it. What is their reason for a waiver?

What if they had played 11 games? 7? Would the NCAA approve a waiver for another 8 games in the spring? Were they somehow duped into thinking that the SoCon wouldn't play a conference schedule - a contingency that apparently everyone else in the conference anticipated but the Citadel?

Is the NCAA going to start handing out waivers to schools that want to play more than their allotted games so they can add more revenue? Just because?

Just because the rule is pointless in this instance. It is temporarily obsolete. It seems like the purpose of the rule is to allow at least a little time for school during fall semester. Or maybe it is intended to limit wear and tear on the body. With a 4 game schedule the hops have plenty of time to finish their coloring books, and that whole wear and tear thing has been thrown out the window. Maybe it was intended to support the fall playoff schedule that didn’t happen. “11” is just an arbitrary number at this point so give them a waiver. I want to go to that game.

And we better hope more teams start making greedy decisions based on $$$ or we won’t have anybody to play pretty soon.

How is it pointless?

Your argument appears to be that you feel the 11 game figure is arbitrary, despite the fact that every FCS program in the country is operating under the same rules.

At bottom, the Citadel is arguing for an exception to the rule based on nothing more than they feel they deserve one. That's ludicrous.

OK, what is the point of the rule? Explain how it isn’t arbitrary? Where does the eleven number come from? And if we are so awesome, why be so excited that we don’t have to face the Citadel? We should be chomping at the bit to play them! You can’t be talking about winning championships and at the same time express relief that you dodged to bellhops for goodness sakes!
If you suck, you worry about Citadel. If not, you want to play them.

It isn’t a matter of deserving a waiver. It’s more a matter of what reason is there for not giving them one? What harm would be done?

Out of your list of peculiar arguments, this one is perhaps the most bizarre.

FCS teams cannot play more than 11 games. That's the rule unless there are certain seasons where a 12th game is permitted (based on the start of the season). This is not one of those seasons.

By your definition, any sports schedule is arbitrary and subject to change based on one team's feeling. Baseball playing 162 or NFL playing 16 games. All arbitrary and subject to change. I would wager that every sport in the country, from high school to college, has a cap on how many contests are permitted.

It absolutely is about deserving a waiver. That's the entire point of a waiver - you have a circumstance that allows you to except the rule. That applies whether it deals with eligibility, transfers, or, in this case, playing in excess of the number of games.

This is not the SoCon's fault. It's not the NCAA's fault. The Citadel made their decision and now will deal with the consequence of that decision. In a season where everything is upside down, they decided to act alone and in their best interest. In doing so, they will forfeit the right to compete for a conference title.

As a Furman fan, I'd love to see us play the Citadel. It's unfortunate that the Citadel made decisions that cost everyone the opportunity for that game.

[Roundball]

Mentioned that I like the off week prior to Wofford. Also, With the new staff down there I probably wish Mercer was earlier in the schedule but hey, you got to play 'em all. I do very much respect Mercer's new HC - he is scary but it is good for SoCon as a whole. We get to see Mercer v Army this weekend I think.. Mercer has three games this spring -I think that is a smart move by them to get their system working. Interesting - just saw they are not playing all-conference Robert Riddle? They are playing Harrison Frost at QB. I always thought very highly of RIddle.. Maybe FUBeAR could educate us on Mercer so far. Looks they gave a good JSU team all they wanted but fumbled SIX times. Any word on using Harrison Frost over RIddle?

Riddle is still mending from 2019 injury. Will not play this Fall. Expected back 100% healed in Spring.

Personally, I would like to see what (true) FR, Carter Peavy, could do @ QB for the Bears. I’ve seen what Frost can do & he is serviceable, stable, steady - has had some shining moments, but not much of a run threat. I suspect he’s going to be a great Coach some day. They also have Dylan Fromm (Jake Fromm’s younger bro) & he was a gritty winner in HS. Might be effective in this O - a bit altitude-challenged...but there doesn’t seem to be a rush to get him on the field...so I don’t know. Riddle is an ACE when healthy, Frost can do an adequate job & really unsure after that.

Mercer blows.

[The Jackal]

Mentioned that I like the off week prior to Wofford. Also, With the new staff down there I probably wish Mercer was earlier in the schedule but hey, you got to play 'em all. I do very much respect Mercer's new HC - he is scary but it is good for SoCon as a whole. We get to see Mercer v Army this weekend I think.. Mercer has three games this spring -I think that is a smart move by them to get their system working. Interesting - just saw they are not playing all-conference Robert Riddle? They are playing Harrison Frost at QB. I always thought very highly of RIddle.. Maybe FUBeAR could educate us on Mercer so far. Looks they gave a good JSU team all they wanted but fumbled SIX times. Any word on using Harrison Frost over RIddle?

Riddle is still mending from 2019 injury. Will not play this Fall. Expected back 100% healed in Spring.

Personally, I would like to see what (true) FR, Carter Peavy, could do @ QB for the Bears. I’ve seen what Frost can do & he is serviceable, stable, steady - has had some shining moments, but not much of a run threat. I suspect he’s going to be a great Coach some day. They also have Dylan Fromm (Jake Fromm’s younger bro) & he was a gritty winner in HS. Might be effective in this O - a bit altitude-challenged...but there doesn’t seem to be a rush to get him on the field...so I don’t know. Riddle is an ACE when healthy, Frost can do an adequate job & really unsure after that.

Frost has played 19 career games, has 11 rush attempts for -19 yards. I think saying that he's "not much of a run threat" is a fair assessment.

Put another way, I currently have more career rushing yards (0) than Mercer's starting quarterback (-19).

That's tongue in cheek, of course. I realize that sacks count against QBs (which is one of the dumbest rules in football)

[apaladin]

It would be great for the football program if we could schedule a home game against one of the top tier FCS teams, like N. Dakota State or James Madison. Pay up to get a game that might be nationally televised. Otherwise, playing weak SoCon teams in the winter is not going to create any excitement.

I doubt we have enough money to get NDSU out of their dome. Our ability to schedule an 8th game will be affected by the other conferences’ OOC possibilities.

Correct. NDSU has only played something like one ooc FCS road game in the last 20 years. If you are going to play them you will have to go to their place. Much like Duke in basketball who never plays a true road ooc game.

Duke participates in the ACC / BIG Challenge sending them to Michigan or Indiana etc every other year. Regardless I would say the Duke strategy works well w 5 National Titles having been played in a 64 team not-at-home March madness tourney. All games on road. . NDSU on the Other hand gets to play the playoffs or “tourney” AT HOME. that is a huge difference. Duke’s postseason games are not at Cameron. NDSU plays the entire dang postseason at home until the finale

GF-I know you are a Duke basketball fan but c’mon man, everyone knows the only reason they participate in the ACC/Big10 challenge is because they have to. The last 5 years they have had exactly 2 true road games both in said challenge. Even this year they opted out of going to South Dakota where they may have had to play a decent team on a neutral site and instead are hosting their own get together with Elon, Howard and Bellarmine, lol. No one can argue their success.
https://balldurham.com/2020/10/16/duke- ... e-cupcake/

[gofurman]

It would be great for the football program if we could schedule a home game against one of the top tier FCS teams, like N. Dakota State or James Madison. Pay up to get a game that might be nationally televised. Otherwise, playing weak SoCon teams in the winter is not going to create any excitement.

I doubt we have enough money to get NDSU out of their dome. Our ability to schedule an 8th game will be affected by the other conferences’ OOC possibilities.

Correct. NDSU has only played something like one ooc FCS road game in the last 20 years. If you are going to play them you will have to go to their place. Much like Duke in basketball who never plays a true road ooc game.

Duke participates in the ACC / BIG Challenge sending them to Michigan or Indiana etc every other year. Regardless I would say the Duke strategy works well w 5 National Titles having been played in a 64 team not-at-home March madness tourney. All games on road. . NDSU on the Other hand gets to play the playoffs or “tourney” AT HOME. that is a huge difference. Duke’s postseason games are not at Cameron. NDSU plays the entire dang postseason at home until the finale

GF-I know you are a Duke basketball fan but c’mon man, everyone knows the only reason they participate in the ACC/Big10 challenge is because they have to. The last 5 years they have had exactly 2 true road games both in said challenge. Even this year they opted out of going to South Dakota where they may have had to play a decent team on a neutral site and instead are hosting their own get together with Elon, Howard and Bellarmine, lol. No one can argue their success.
https://balldurham.com/2020/10/16/duke- ... e-cupcake/

Fair enough and you are right. Really more about that NDSU plays the PLAYOFFS at home. DUke and every bball team has at least 4 moderately neutral locales to win a title.

carry on

[gofurman]

Hard to read too much into such an odd schedule (which notes it is subject to change), but I wouldn't have an issue with this if it were this fall's conference schedule.

Obviously, we won't play what would have been our toughest road game (the Citadel).

It looks like there will be two off weeks - one of which, I suppose, would have been the hypothetical Citadel game. I don't mind the early off week after the first game, where a lot of adjustments are made. I also don't mind having an off week before Wofford.

I don't believe there's any magic to when you take an off week - we've played great out of off weeks and terribly out of off weeks.

The likely two toughest teams we will play will be in Greenville (UTC and Wofford), so that's good. Mercer has a new staff, but we'll see them later in the year, so we will have a pretty good idea by then what they'll try to throw at us.

I've never been to Lexington, VA in March, but google tells me the average lows are in the low 30s that time of year. We don't typically play in "cold" weather, but have in the past a few times (Boone in 2005, Montana State 2006 come to mind)

I'll go on record I would rather play Mercer in games 2-5 than later. We have their fall games to look at anyway. First year teams probably improve more than older teams (more mature staff and playbook) as the kids have to learn on the fly. First year teams (first year coaches etc) w new schemes make more mistakes than most early in year. By mid-year they start figuring it out as they get more hours in the film room and practices

Either way, gotta play em all

[AstroDin]

I feel Furman is getting to the place where it's not as much "oh no Furman has to play Mercer or another team" It's oh no they have to play Furman.

If I'm wrong I'll take any blasts you throw my way. We've got a hurricane brewing. For example, I respect Bear's words on Mercer nothing wrong there, and the possibilities under Cronic will be upward (IMO). I just think Furman is in a different place. We should see continued growth with our two QBs. Surrounding them are a mix of athletic, physical linemen, a stable of 6 running backs, and (I'll go out on a limb) an extremely challenging receiving corp to matchup.

I'm bullish on the Dins!!!

[The Jackal]

I feel Furman is getting to the place where it's not as much "oh no Furman has to play Mercer or another team" It's oh no they have to play Furman.

If I'm wrong I'll take any blasts you throw my way. We've got a hurricane brewing. For example, I respect Bear's words on Mercer nothing wrong there, and the possibilities under Cronic will be upward (IMO). I just think Furman is in a different place. We should see continued growth with our two QBs. Surrounding them are a mix of athletic, physical linemen, a stable of 6 running backs, and (I'll go out on a limb) an extremely challenging receiving corp to matchup.

I'm bullish on the Dins!!!

I think we are the team to beat.

I watched Mercer a bit the other day. They appear to be better organized. Guys appeared to be in the right spots and doing the right things. They were more physical, especially on defense.

Last season they were a bit of a mess. Honestly, they looked like Furman during the latter Lamb years and Fowler years (no coincidence, of course).

I've said before that one of the great travesties of a decade of malaise for Furman is a team that sort of lost its edge. This year, we need to find that edge. Know who the favorite is and force your opponent to play near perfectly to beat you.

Incidentally, Furman posted this graphic today:

That game was a great example of that "edge." Furman stunk that night against a pretty bad Elon team. In spite of that, you never really thought Furman was going to lose. They would force Elon to play near perfectly to beat them. Win even on your best night.

[The Jackal]

I read this as a little shade at the Citadel:

https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2020/10 ... eason.aspx

"We were pushing to play in the fall, but when our league made a decision to play in the spring — we're part of a conference for a reason — we followed the guidelines. I think our young men wanted to play for a conference championship, and the spring is when that will be contested, along with the national title. We feel we have a team that can compete for a championship, so we're excited about that."

[AstroDin]

some more timely news… from CCH
https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2020/10 ... eason.aspx

I tell ya… I've been bullish on Cujo and CCH again praised the big dog now up to 315 pounds. Having a big nasty dude plugging up the middle - increases our chances of getting back to playing Death Dealer D.

Also, pretty amazing body changes to two other Dins > Evan Jumper and Jack Barton.
Jumper is now listed at 6-4 274 and Barton is now 6-4 255 both of these guys were lean fellas with a lot of accolades.
This is how Furman builds getting 'em bigger, stronger, faster

[The Jackal]

some more timely news… from CCH
https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2020/10 ... eason.aspx

I tell ya… I've been bullish on Cujo and CCH again praised the big dog now up to 315 pounds. Having a big nasty dude plugging up the middle - increases our chances of getting back to playing Death Dealer D.

Also, pretty amazing body changes to two other Dins > Evan Jumper and Jack Barton.
Jumper is now listed at 6-4 274 and Barton is now 6-4 255 both of these guys were lean fellas with a lot of accolades.
This is how Furman builds getting 'em bigger, stronger, faster

Having a player like Coleman could be big for the elevation of our defense.

Finding big "space eater" NGs at the FCS level are infrequent. We might see one or two a season at this level. Most 3-4 teams use a more agile one-gap player, which is what Furman has implemented (mostly Jaylan Reid) since moving to the 3-4.

A big physical NG can make the entire defense better. It is a keystone position and, often, a guy that offenses have to devote a lot of resources to stopping - if you can't control the middle of the field, a good defense is going to gobble you up on the edges.

I think you are finally starting to see Furman's laser focus on depth paying off. Coleman is a redshirt sophomore. So, he hits the weights for three years, gets some playing time last season, and now looks to have an increased role. That's the way it should progress.

[gofurman]

I feel Furman is getting to the place where it's not as much "oh no Furman has to play Mercer or another team" It's oh no they have to play Furman.

If I'm wrong I'll take any blasts you throw my way. We've got a hurricane brewing. For example, I respect Bear's words on Mercer nothing wrong there, and the possibilities under Cronic will be upward (IMO). I just think Furman is in a different place. We should see continued growth with our two QBs. Surrounding them are a mix of athletic, physical linemen, a stable of 6 running backs, and (I'll go out on a limb) an extremely challenging receiving corp to matchup.

I'm bullish on the Dins!!!

Not a blast. Just my opinion. Astro, I agree 100% w you on the OL and RBs. Wynn etc ! Jordan Harris. Nice. The WRs have a little to prove to me without T a Gordon out there. I firmly believe you need 2/3 guys on Ô who can flat-out fly to be top-tier successful Like what Austin Peay did to us last year . Jayson Foster at GSU. No matter your system.... SPEED KILLS. So I am hopeful but not 100% sold on the WRs yet. We have the kid coming back who was out a while last year - name escapes me??

We could go 6-1 ish just by completing 60% of our basic pass routes. That’s the number one thing for sure. Steady and smart QB pLay

[Paul C]

Mercer loses to Abilene Christian High School within the friendly confines of FIve Star Used Cars stadium.

[The Jackal]

Mercer loses to Abilene Christian High School within the friendly confines of FIve Star Used Cars stadium.

I won't read too much into Mercer at this point. New coaching staff, new system, and didn't have much of a spring practice.

At the same time, not a great result for the SoCon. Fortunately, it comes in a season when none of that really matters.

[FUBeAR]

DPLOT