The morning after

[Jasper]

Guess what? The sun came up this morning. There is no getting away from the fact that last night's football game vs. Elon was a beatdown of the first order - a nightmare if you will. Murphy's Law was never more apparent. Furman was thoroughly outplayed in each and every aspect of the game by a very well prepared and excellent football team. Paul C referenced that awful beating we took from Kennesaw State just a few seasons ago. What we did not know at the time it is that they were on their way to becoming a real title contender in the FCS in a very short time. I suspect that may be the case with Elon. That's the good news. The bad news is that, as fans, there is absolutely nothing we can do about the disaster we witnessed. That is in the hands of the coaches and players, both of whom took a terrible hit to the ego and confidence yesterday. They are the only ones who can right this ship and I think they will need us to get behind them and offer all the support we can muster. We have been praising the wonderful coaching job done by this staff since we went on that 7 game win streak last year and had every reason to believe the program had made a turn for the better. Apparently not so fast. We displayed some major problems all over the field yesterday and they need to be corrected to the extent they can be. We simply do not resemble the team we put on the field last season and I for one do not have a simple answer why that is. We have too many of the same players to show this much deterioration. Perhaps some of our wiser football minds like Jackal and FU BeAR can help with that. CCH and his staff certainly have their work cut out for them this week. It will be interesting to see what changes are made. I want to think they are up to that task and I fully intend to be at Paladin Stadium next Saturday offering as much loud and partisan support for that effort as I can. The folks on these boards are certainly not fair weather fans. What choice do we have? Ranting and venting may help on a very short term basis but really don't do any good. It is SUCKITUP time.

[AstroDin]

great post-Jasper… the sun did come up this morning, I did wonder about that.
I have no idea what to say, I'll say it — it was a beat down in every aspect of the game.

I'll be there Saturday lets hope we turn this around.

[The Jackal]

I don’t have much to add. I didn’t get a chance to see much of the game.

Most comments would be 30,000 foot view type of stuff.

1. It was an ugly game. There were some things to like, but it certainly didn’t seem like we showed up ready to play. Elon is a good team, but that was an embarrassing effort I didn’t expect to see. No sugar coating it.

2. We will drop from the top 25, which is totally expected. We haven’t earned a spot.

3. It’s just one game, and a non-conference contest. All of Furman’s goals are still in front.

4. We started 0-3 last season.

5. Our QBs are drinking from the firehose right now. They start off against two strong teams. They have to play better. We moved the ball well at times, but had nothing in the passing game for much of the night. We don’t run the option well enough to be unable to throw it. Without the passing element our offense isn’t going to be much to watch.

[AstroDin]

I was traveling back home from the beach — so I listened and watched the game on my phone. I thought about throwing it out the window several times.

One thing during the pre-game show caught my ear — actually my wife's ear. I didn't think much about Dan Scott's interview with Elon's broadcaster at the time, but mid-way into the third quarter my wife spoke up "Furman must have really pissed off Elon beating them last season, didn't that guy say they prepared all summer for Furman?" I responded what are you talking about, then I remembered that interview, oh!

I thought it was odd that Durham Elon's broadcaster mentioned we will see which team prep for this game the most in the pre-season. That alone isn't the reason for that beating, but the team in red and gold played with a big chip on their shoulder.

[FU3]

I really thought we stayed in a (very) vanilla version of last years O against Clemson to get our young QB's some game experience and then the training wheels would really start to come off against Elon. If anything we were more predictable yesterday. One of the many great jobs our coaching staff did last year was to install a scheme that played to the talent we had on hand. We need to remember that PJ didn't exactly thrive under the previous scheme/staff (nor did Dirks,Washington,Schumpert etc.). In addition our unpredictability in play calling gave us the ability to keep the opposing D from loading the box. Contrast that with our scheme yesterday when we didn't throw a pass on first and second down until we were 4 TD's down. I hope we have a good week of practice, hammer Colgate and get this turned around.

[The Jackal]

I was traveling back home from the beach — so I listened and watched the game on my phone. I thought about throwing it out the window several times.

One thing during the pre-game show caught my ear — actually my wife's ear. I didn't think much about Dan Scott's interview with Elon's broadcaster at the time, but mid-way into the third quarter my wife spoke up "Furman must have really pissed off Elon beating them last season, didn't that guy say they prepared all summer for Furman?" I responded what are you talking about, then I remembered that interview, oh!

I thought it was odd that Durham Elon's broadcaster mentioned we will see which team prep for this game the most in the pre-season. That alone isn't the reason for that beating, but the team in red and gold played with a big chip on their shoulder.

The game looked a lot like UGA’s shellacking of USC yesterday. First score on a non offensive touchdown, UGA forced a punt and then scored, USC stablized things a bit and just couldn’t ever really get fully on track.

Jake Fromm, UGA’s QB, had an interesting quote yesterday. He said something to the effect of “Someone was going to pay for the preparation we put into this game, and that someone was South Carolina.” I can see where that quote applies to our contest as well.

[paladinduece]

Gonna have to run the offense around what you have and not what you want. if the scheme doesn't adjust its gonna be not the year most of expected. A lot of youth though, and I have faith they will do what is necessary to get this train back on the tracks. GQ is still a young coach in the college ranks, I think he will figure it out.

[Davemeister]

The most positive thing I have to say on this morning after is that our season will get better. I don't think we can play any worse than we played last night. And I'm not taking anything away from Elon; they are a very good team and they whipped our butts.

Last year vs. this year. On Offense, we graduated two All-Conference performers on the interior line, an All-American TE, an All-Conference QB and an All-Conference RB. So far, we have been unable to replace these players.

If PJ were back, in all likelihood he would be running for his life just like our two Freshmen.

Our OC from last year moved on. While I have the utmost respect for the coach who assumed those duties, it is possible that something was lost in that transaction.

On Defense we returned 9 starters and should be playing much better than we played last night. We did however lose our leading tackler from last year and that could be having more of an effect than anticipated. I also believe our D is demoralized by not getting any help from the Offense.

In summary, our team WILL improve over the course of the season, but I am not sure the wins will come soon enough for us to make a run at the SoCon title. All programs have a rebuilding year from time to time and this could be one of ours. We have just about everybody returning next year, so I am optimist about the long run.

That being said, I haven't given up on this year. I will be at Paladin Stadium this Saturday pulling for our guys to squeeze that tube o' toothpaste in the middle!

Go 'Dins!

[Jasper]

The most positive thing I have to say on this morning after is that our season will get better. I don't think we can play any worse than we played last night. And I'm not taking anything away from Elon; they are a very good team and they whipped our butts.

Last year vs. this year. On Offense, we graduated two All-Conference performers on the interior line, an All-American TE, an All-Conference QB and an All-Conference RB. So far, we have been unable to replace these players.

If PJ were back, in all likelihood he would be running for his life just like our two Freshmen.

Our OC from last year moved on. While I have the utmost respect for the coach who assumed those duties, it is possible that something was lost in that transaction.

For what it is worth, Drew Cronic is now the HC at Lenoir - Rhyne. They are averaging about 42 points over their first two games and laid 51 on North Greemville yesterday. He has put up points wherever he's been. We have to be somewhat missing that.

[apaladin]

Is it possible that the CU game had a negative effect? Playing before 80,000 to 8,000? Maybe a little over-confident because we hung in there at least for a while?

[furman88]

Ding Ding Ding, Cronic was a OC wizzzard. Still got to give Coach Quarles a chance to grow. Hope that happens quickly.

[purplehorse]

We were pretty horrible yesterday. It happens. Two young qb’s who need to learn to hold on to the ball. Glad we have one more game before the conference starts.

I am always a “glass half empty” person. BUT I still have confidence in CCH and still feel good about the year.

[AstroDin]

In years past — we're pretty quick to snap at each other after similar disappointing games. I've been quick to police others — I'm sorry about that.

I was pretty disappointed about the game, add on a rough physical week while managing diabetes — I was contemplating taking a week off the board. Jasper, your post was just what I needed as well as everyone else's realistic, honest attitude. GoFurman I include you in that… we often don't see eye to eye — sorry about that 'bro.

We're lucky we have a board a community that cares about Furman Football, and thanks Guys for bringing me some hope and bringing me back down to earth.

[Affirm]

In each of the last 3 even years, 2012, 2014, and 2016, we won 3 games. Well, 2018 is another even year, and we may be fortunate to get to 3 wins this season, and more than fortunate to get to 4 wins this season. Good news: we came back the next year with 8 wins 2013 and 2017, although we only got to 4 in the other odd-numbered year, i.e., 2015.
Also, we’ve had other losses of 38 points or more four times in the last 4 years:
38 points last night
38 points twice in 2015 (WCU and VT)
45 points 10/25/14 (Samford)
Perspective may help.

[gofurman]

I was traveling back home from the beach — so I listened and watched the game on my phone. I thought about throwing it out the window several times.

One thing during the pre-game show caught my ear — actually my wife's ear. I didn't think much about Dan Scott's interview with Elon's broadcaster at the time, but mid-way into the third quarter my wife spoke up "Furman must have really pissed off Elon beating them last season, didn't that guy say they prepared all summer for Furman?" I responded what are you talking about, then I remembered that interview, oh!

I thought it was odd that Durham Elon's broadcaster mentioned we will see which team prep for this game the most in the pre-season. That alone isn't the reason for that beating, but the team in red and gold played with a big chip on their shoulder.

The game looked a lot like UGA’s shellacking of USC yesterday. First score on a non offensive touchdown, UGA forced a punt and then scored, USC stablized things a bit and just couldn’t ever really get fully on track.

Jake Fromm, UGA’s QB, had an interesting quote yesterday. He said something to the effect of “Someone was going to pay for the preparation we put into this game, and that someone was South Carolina.” I can see where that quote applies to our contest as well.

That doesn’t make me feel better - basically saying that they prepared better than we did ... I would hope we prepare better than the other team - that’s on the coaches