Observations on WCU game

[Jasper]

1. It was not particularly pretty but a win is a win and these kids badly needed a victory. I am very happy for them and hope they can build upon it.
2. For this season, Harris Roberts is clearly our best hope at QB for having a decent record. He has been the best looking QB on the team since practice began. He was not beaten out by the freshman QB's nor was he relegated to an afterthought by the staff as many thought.. The young man was hurt for the first two games FU played. CCH did a nice thing by letting the 5th year senior take a few snaps at the start of the Clemson game with a playing cast on his right hand - classy IMO. He is not the second coming of Ingle Martin but is a very serviceable QB for this offense. He made a bad error on an interception today in the 2nd half that I attribute to his game time inexperience (despite his longevity) but all in all he ran the team's offense very well and at times looked very good. His performance enabled the staff to open the playbook more than it had previously this year. That led to:
3. Greatly improved offensive performance - especially in the first half. We ran and threw the ball very well. DeJuan Bell is a game changer that I saw on day one of practice. He showed it today. All our backs ran very well and that could not have happened without a vastly improved performance from the O line. Play calling was vastly improved for most of the day.
4. In what looked like a replay of last week, we tried to sit on a 21 point lead and that just doesnt seem to work at any level of football but is apparently on page one of the coaches manual. This time we opened the book enough to score a big 4 quarter insurance TD and we needed it.
5. And then there was the defense. Before I say anything about that, I am going to bed and will say what I have to say in the AM. Except for this. This kid, Tyreke Adams was the best skill position player we have come up against this year. The kid is some QB. Couldnt get cornered, threw TDs and completions with guys hanging on him and when he was left alone - was a great long distance passer. His receivers caught everything in their zip code as well. Despite the fact that WCU had on O line that averaged about 320 lbs. from T to T, they could not run and their pass protection was not all that great either. It was Adams - scrambling, refusing to go down, etc. Say goodbye to him for this year, thankfully. The bad news is that he will be back and the kid who backed him up didn't look too shabby either.

Goodnight.

[Bootie]

I've re-watched most of the game tonight on DVR. Sam Wyche made a point about how Roberts was doing such a good job on the option of being patient and selling his decision to the defender, making him commit and opening up bigger gains. I thought he looked really good overall. He had a lot of pressure on him on that interception.

I loved the punt block call and execution.
I did not love all the personal foul penalties.

[The Jackal]

I've watched this play a bunch, and am impressed each time.

Hope speed rushes to the outside, gets to the depth of the QB, doesn't over run the play, and then appears to jam his left arm into the shoulder of WCU's LT and drives him straight backwards for the sack.

[The Jackal]

Also, really liked this play. I think two weeks ago this is probably a sack. I don't know if this is necessarily a skill, but Roberts is really good at staying in the pocket and taking a hit, if necessary.

Great job of finding the outlet pass and getting it to a playmaker with space. Everytime, it seemed, Furman could get the ball outside with some room, the play went for big yards.

[Jasper]

WCU hung 52 on VMI last week so we knew they could score points but Adams threw for nearly 500 yards and 5 TD's against FU despite being sacked 4 times and constantly being pressured by our DE and LB's. An incredible performance. WCU could not run the ball despite an O line bigger than most NFL teams so they threw 40 times. Credit must go to Adams and his excellent receivers for all the yardage they made after his scrambling. But what about all those wide open receivers on the plays in which he did not have to scramble? There appeared to be broken coverage or missed assignments all over our defensive backfield. On a long TD pass play in the 2nd half down our sideline, there wasn't a defender within 25 yards of the receiver. The two TD's in the red zone on delays to the TE were completely uncovered and no one attempted to jam him at the line of scrimmage. On the plays we had the receiver covered, our DBs rarely went for the ball to break up or intercept the pass and settled for the tackle after the reception. I have no idea whether the problem is essentially in the FU schemes or technique but it must be a priority on the "fix" list or we are sure to see an air raid from opponents for the rest of the season. If we just had a fair pass defense effort against WCU, this game would have been a laugher rather than a nail biter.

All in all, a positive performance from this young team that should give them some confidence and a base upon which to build. The O line, RB's, receivers and a healthy Harris Robert did a great job. Our front 7 on D did a very good job. Hopefully the problems in the defensive backfield can be corrected and the Paladins will be competitive in this confusing league. How true that is will be determined next week against Wofford. If they remain true to form, they should have a tough time running on us. We will need to keep scoring against a much better defense though.

[Davemeister]

Good job, Team!

For a little while, it looked like deja vu all over again. But this time, our guys never stopped fighting and pulled out the "W".

Now let's go beat Wofford.

[JohnW]

First game I've seen in person so.....

OL is a work in progress, getting better, but still got pushed around a bit.

Good stable of RBs, surprised at how few plays Dirks is getting.

Pass defense is poor, especially on deep throws, there were some bad calls (one awful) but still if QB has time it's trouble.

Special teams were great, as good as I can remember, won the game.

And most important of all, We,mainly coaches, have got to learn to play with a lead.

[Flagman]

Good job, Team!

For a little while, it looked like deja vu all over again. But this time, our guys never stopped fighting and pulled out the "W".

Now let's go beat Wofford.

We'll see a completely different offense against Wofford. My perception is that we've generally been good against the run. we'll have to be on our toes and play assignment football against our baby sisters from Sparkle City.

[Flagman]

First game I've seen in person so.....

OL is a work in progress, getting better, but still got pushed around a bit.

Good stable of RBs, surprised at how few plays Dirks is getting.

Pass defense is poor, especially on deep throws, there were some bad calls (one awful) but still if QB has time it's trouble.

Special teams were great, as good as I can remember, won the game.

And most important of all, We,mainly coaches, have got to learn to play with a lead.

I agree with some of what you say. Our pass defense certainly could be better, especially on the underneath stuff. The Western QB is without question the best we will face this season. His receivers on those deep passes made some ESPN highlight catches with our defenders step for step with them. We gave uo a couple of wide open passes which concern me a lot.


We do need to learn how to play wih a big lead. Never take your foot off the gas.

[apaladin]

First game I've seen in person so.....

OL is a work in progress, getting better, but still got pushed around a bit.

Good stable of RBs, surprised at how few plays Dirks is getting.

Pass defense is poor, especially on deep throws, there were some bad calls (one awful) but still if QB has time it's trouble.

Special teams were great, as good as I can remember, won the game.

And most important of all, We,mainly coaches, have got to learn to play with a lead.

I agree with some of what you say. Our pass defense certainly could be better, especially on the underneath stuff. The Western QB is without question the best we will face this season. His receivers on those deep passes made some ESPN highlight catches with our defenders step for step with them. We gave uo a couple of wide open passes which concern me a lot.


We do need to learn how to play wih a big lead. Never take your foot off the gas.

Agree, we seem to really get conservative with a lead, ex: 3rd down, run up the middle. It seems that HR and the offense has come alive albeit against WCU. Anxious to see how the offense will do against a much, much better defense in WC. CCH still seems to be sold on Grainger as the future. Heard him say again this week that he has been great in practice and has earned the right to play. I was half expecting him to start Saturday, LOL. I am really disappointed in the defense especially the pass defense. Any of us could have completed 50 percent yesterday, LOL. On to WC.

[apaladin]

FWIW, Herink the QB from ETSU that lit us up: 9-14 64.3% was less than super human against UTC last night; 11-25 44%.
Not a glowing report on our pass defense.

[sluggo]

2. For this season, Harris Roberts is clearly our best hope at QB for having a decent record. He has been the best looking QB on the team since practice began. He was not beaten out by the freshman QB's nor was he relegated to an afterthought by the staff as many thought.

I think HR should start also; BUT
I can't be the only one to notice that HR got his stats against the bottom of the SoCon while the younger QB's faced
much tougher competition against two highly ranked teams in their subdivisions.

I'm pretty sure the younger QBs are wondering if they would have performed better against the bottom of the conference with improved blocking.

The over hype is starting to sound like too much like "Onalaska" up in here.

[gofurman]

FWIW, Herink the QB from ETSU that lit us up: 9-14 64.3% was less than super human against UTC last night; 11-25 44%.
Not a glowing report on our pass defense.

I saw this. I was curious whether Herink would light up,UTC. I hoped he would and thus I understand that he is superhuman. As opposed to us having a Bad pass D. Well, Henrik was a Very pedestrian vs UTC AT BEST... Which is rather concerning 11-25. Right now we couldn't hold a Citadel QB to 11-25. We do have a problem.

I am not negative. It was a Great win !!! Wonderful to get the W. Wonderful. The O is improving - Roberts looked good. Etc etc. Special teams were phenomenal !!! But if we don't shore up our pass D we are going to struggle vs the teams that throw some. Mercer. Samford etc. and I agree, run D is the key in the SoCon - more important than pass D. But that only goes so far. We can't have that bad a pass D. If our pass D had stopped maybe 2/3 more passes vs ETSU we win.

We definitely need more push in the middle of the OL. Sheesh. We are definitely not as confident running Dirks inside this year bc the OL push just isn't there

[The Jackal]

Also, really liked this play. I think two weeks ago this is probably a sack. I don't know if this is necessarily a skill, but Roberts is really good at staying in the pocket and taking a hit, if necessary.

Great job of finding the outlet pass and getting it to a playmaker with space. Everytime, it seemed, Furman could get the ball outside with some room, the play went for big yards.

Hendrix discussed this play in Keeler's latest: http://www.furmansportsreport.com/2018/ ... first.html

This was meant to be a home run ball - the load option pass Furman has really beat teams with. Actually not bad coverage by the Catamounts, whose single high safety picks up Gordon on the release up the middle. Just a really impressive job by Roberts to sense the pressure and find the outlet.

Nice snag by Wynn too. Not the most catchable ball - low and in front running head long into a defender. Looks like a sniper might have gotten the Catamount defender.

[The Jackal]

This might be the best design and execution all day.

Great playfake by Roberts, everyone gets a free release, plenty of time by the OL to throw to whomever he wanted.

Once things get clicking, this play exhibits a bit why Furman can be tough do defend. We show a 3 back look with everyone tight. The personnel grouping creates a matchup problem for the defense. Gordon is lined up in the backfield. Deluca is next to the RT as almost a TE. The throw eventually goes to Ryan Miller, who is a tweener TE/WR.

Every WCU defender but the left CB (who is likely in pure pass coverage) bites on the playfake. The Safety takes a couple of steps in, Miller gets a free release, and runs right by him.

As our OL continues to improve, we'll see more of this.