The Unofficial Furman Football Page

I've said the entire offseason that if there's one game I knew Furman would be up it'll be the Samford game. We owe them one.

Tickets:
https://samfordtickets.com/Online/mapSelect.asp

The question about Samford is whether they are building off last year's success, or whether last year was a one-off and what we are seeing is more akin to what we've typically expected from the Bulldogs.

With the exception of last season, Chris Hatcher has been right about a .500 coach at Samford. Samford is currently .500.

The trends suggest that Samford may be back to pre-2022 numbers. Their offense is good, but not overwhelming. Most of their big offensive output came against an overmatched Shorter team the first game of the season.

Defensively, they are back near the bottom of the conference surrendering close to 30 points per game.

Something notable is Michael Hiers, Samford's all everything QB, has been heavily turnover prone this season - having been intercepted 7 times in 6 games. Furman easily leads the SoCon in interceptions with 7 in 5 games (which doesn't even count probably 5 interceptions over the first half of the season that were dropped, including one yesterday).

Bottom line, this is a team we are very familiar with. They play a style they've been playing for nearly 10 years. Obviously, we have some holes in our pass defense we need to address, but I think we'll be ready for it.

The Jackal wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 08, 2023 12:28 pm

The question about Samford is whether they are building off last year's success, or whether last year was a one-off and what we are seeing is more akin to what we've typically expected from the Bulldogs.

With the exception of last season, Chris Hatcher has been right about a .500 coach at Samford. Samford is currently .500.

The trends suggest that Samford may be back to pre-2022 numbers. Their offense is good, but not overwhelming. Most of their big offensive output came against an overmatched Shorter team the first game of the season.

Defensively, they are back near the bottom of the conference surrendering close to 30 points per game.

Something notable is Michael Hiers, Samford's all everything QB, has been heavily turnover prone this season - having been intercepted 7 times in 6 games. Furman easily leads the SoCon in interceptions with 7 in 5 games (which doesn't even count probably 5 interceptions over the first half of the season that were dropped, including one yesterday).

Bottom line, this is a team we are very familiar with. They play a style they've been playing for nearly 10 years. Obviously, we have some holes in our pass defense we need to address, but I think we'll be ready for it.

Indeed!
It's been 12 months to let it stew, we will be ready

Remember, revenge games never pan out the way you think/hope. Best to just let it go and focus on the task at hand.

I watched the last quarter and a half of the WCU-Chatty game on replay and here are my observations.

I was amazed at how many times both teams threw the ball down the field quite successfully. Both QB's were getting time to throw those deep balls and neither team seemed to be able to stop the other.

They both can run it too, especially Chatty. Neither defense was impressive though. I don't know who has the worse pass defense. Both were equally bad. Chatty made two outstanding two point conversions and I thought WCU was dead in the water after the second one with about 56 sec left. They came back and executed a beautiful 2 minute drill with only 3 plays using no time outs until they got in field goal range.

I haven't seen Samford this year but I would expect the same from them. But neither Sammy, WCU, nor Chatty has seen a good FCS defense like Furman. The key to beating Sammy will be to get some pressure on the QB without giving up too many big plays (what else is new). I don't think Sammy will be able to run it as effectively against us like they did last year.

The way most teams try to beat Furman is stack the box and force us to throw the ball. Citadel did it and like someone said in a previous post we seemed to invite them to do so without trying to throw the ball down the field much to loosen things up. I think we'll see the play book opened up quite a bit next week and we will not let Sammy to that to us.

The Citadel game was approached by the players and coaches like a trip to the dentist. Something you have to do to stay healthy but not really with a lot of emotion put into it or a lot of fun.

The Sammy game will be entirely different. Our players will be excited and emotional cause Sammy is due for an ass whupping and it is payback time for last year. Not to mention we know what the goal for the season is. Expect some smash mouth hitting from the purple, a few unexpected wrinkles in the defensive scheme, some downfield pass plays we hadn't seen yet, and maybe a few of our own special plays from the offense. But like JK said, leave the reverses at home.

A good game plan might be to throw it early to make them respect it and then run it down their throat and maintain long possessions and keep their O off the field. But like Mike Tyson said everybody has a plan until you get hit in the mouth. I just hope it's us doing the hitting first.

I expect the Paladins to be ready!

apaladin wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 08, 2023 3:46 pm

Remember, revenge games never pan out the way you think/hope. Best to just let it go and focus on the task at hand.

It's not about revenge, its about redemption

Some of you folks are right……not a revenge game. That’s a fake concept as far as players go. You don’t remember what happened a year ago. you just say you do and you play a new game against new players. And if you win, you just say it was motivating after because it’s everyone’s fake narrative. So none of this int thing matters and you should be fired up to play simply because you’re playing for a championship and you really cant afford to lose. Was at the game last year…..we didn’t lose because of that play. We lost because we let them run up and down the field on us afterwards.

FUBeAR has been exited from more than a few establishments…rudely, usually.

I am a WCU fan, but most of you know that I have some FU ties. @kennypowers is spot-on. If a bad call with around 10 mins left in the second quarter is the reason a team goes on to give up 34 points after, that says a lot more about the team who lost than it does with any official's ruling. This game will be about what Furman and Samford do this Saturday in Homewood and will have nothing to do with what went down in SC last year.

Furman is a top-10/top-5 team depending on the poll. Samford is starting to find a bit of their offensive groove. This game will be about if FU can stop the passing game of Samford and/or if the Bulldogs have any answer to the running game of the Paladins. As a WCU fan, I am glad to kick-back and watch this one because I am not sure either of those will be fully answered and this could be a really close game.

Furman is the 14th best FCS team per Sagarin. As previously stated, my opinion is that Furman is not a top 16 FCS team.
WCU is now the 13th best FCS per Sagarin.
Samford is now the 46th best Sagarin per Sagarin.
(By the way, Sagarin now has only 17 teams below Citadel, and 9 of those 17 are Pioneer League. There are 2 Pioneer League teams, Davidson and St. Thomas - Minnesota, that Sagarin ranks higher than Citadel.)

wcugrad95 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 08, 2023 8:35 pm

I am a WCU fan, but most of you know that I have some FU ties. @kennypowers is spot-on. If a bad call with around 10 mins left in the second quarter is the reason a team goes on to give up 34 points after, that has a lot more to do with the team losing than it does with any official's ruling. This game will be about what Furman and Samford do this Saturday in Homewood and will have nothing to do with what went down in SC last year.

Furman is a top-10/top-5 team depending on the poll. Samford is starting to find a bit of their offensive groove. This game will be about if FU can stop the passing game of Samford and/or if the Bulldogs have any answer to the running game of the Paladins. As a WCU fan, I am glad to kick-back and watch this one because I am not sure either of those will be fully answered and this could be a really close game.

WCU grad-IMHO I think you are a little off here. First FU will not stop SU’s passing game. There is no reason to think it will or even slow it down. FU is giving up well over 200 yds a game to some really bad FCS offensies and it would be worse if Mercer had thrown more than 17 passes. Still don’t understand why MU didn’t throw more. This week FU will face by far the best qb they have seen along with the best passing tean as a whole. On top of that FU has no pass rush to write home about. I’m sure the FU coaching staff will try to come up with something to get more pressure maybe blitz some? As far as the FU running game it has struggled all year, certainly no juggernaut by any means, and most of the yards have come from qb Huff which is not good. 3-4 yds is the norm for the most part, plus now 4 of the top 5 rbs are out. I think the key will be if the FU O can move the ball and keep the Sammy O on the sidelines more than not. It’s really time for FU to quit living on what they are supposed to be and step up and BE what they are supposed to be,

I watched a lot of their game with Wofford and some others they've played this season. It's basically the same ole Samford team we've seen most of the last decade.

Offensively, they are going to try to move at a lightning pace. They'll snap the ball within 10 seconds of it being set. Receivers run a lot of stop routes against zone coverage and they pick up decent yards with simple flairs to their running backs when things aren't there.

The complexity defensively is that the Bulldogs try to move at a frenetic pace. Their offensive line is big, but not terribly mobile. It's hard to get a lot of pressure on the QB because he's trying to get rid of the ball quickly. One of the keys has always been to make sure the defense comes up and tackles the ball carrier. Samford's offense thrives on throwing a 5 yard pass that goes for a big gain on a missed tackle in space.

Wofford had opportunities early, just couldn't get out of their own way. One notable thing is that the Terrier offense had open shots with the RPO, which is something Furman has had a lot of success with.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 08, 2023 9:22 pm

wcugrad95 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 08, 2023 8:35 pm

I am a WCU fan, but most of you know that I have some FU ties. @kennypowers is spot-on. If a bad call with around 10 mins left in the second quarter is the reason a team goes on to give up 34 points after, that has a lot more to do with the team losing than it does with any official's ruling. This game will be about what Furman and Samford do this Saturday in Homewood and will have nothing to do with what went down in SC last year.

Furman is a top-10/top-5 team depending on the poll. Samford is starting to find a bit of their offensive groove. This game will be about if FU can stop the passing game of Samford and/or if the Bulldogs have any answer to the running game of the Paladins. As a WCU fan, I am glad to kick-back and watch this one because I am not sure either of those will be fully answered and this could be a really close game.

WCU grad-IMHO I think you are a little off here. First FU will not stop SU’s passing game. There is no reason to think it will or even slow it down. FU is giving up well over 200 yds a game to some really bad FCS offensies and it would be worse if Mercer had thrown more than 17 passes. Still don’t understand why MU didn’t throw more. This week FU will face by far the best qb they have seen along with the best passing tean as a whole. On top of that FU has no pass rush to write home about. I’m sure the FU coaching staff will try to come up with something to get more pressure maybe blitz some? As far as the FU running game it has struggled all year, certainly no juggernaut by any means, and most of the yards have come from qb Huff which is not good. 3-4 yds is the norm for the most part, plus now 4 of the top 5 rbs are out. I think the key will be if the FU O can move the ball and keep the Sammy O on the sidelines more than not. It’s really time for FU to quit living on what they are supposed to be and step up and BE what they are supposed to be,

Excellent comments.