The Unofficial Furman Football Page

As we know, it is far harder to get in the FCS polls.. and easier to stay there once you are there.

So one goal is to win out.. Have a winning season.. and hopefully get in or near the polls at years end

STATS gave us some votes at 4-4 (4-3 vs FCS competition) today:

STATS FCS Poll
Rankings as of 11/5/2018
Rank School Votes Prev
1 North Dakota State (9-0) 3950 (158) 1
2 Kennesaw State (8-1) 3739 2
3 Weber State (7-2) 3539 4
4 UC Davis (8-1) 3364 6
5 Eastern Washington (7-2) 3326 5
6 South Dakota State (6-2) 3193 7
7 Elon (6-2) 2928 8
8 Jacksonville State (7-2) 2591 10
9 James Madison (6-3) 2577 3
10 Colgate (8-0) 2520 12
11 Delaware (7-2) 2383 13
12 Stony Brook (6-3) 1910 16
13 Princeton (8-0) 1826 18
14 North Carolina A&T (7-2) 1799 17
15 Wofford (6-3) 1756 9
16 Maine (6-3) 1371 23
17 Nicholls (6-3) 1301 20
18 McNeese (6-3) 1221 11
19 ETSU (8-2) 1166 22
20 Towson (6-3) 1024 15
21 Southeast Missouri State (7-2) 871 25
22 UNI (5-4) 653 NR
23 Illinois State (5-4) 584 14
24 Idaho State (6-3) 449 NR
25 Dartmouth (7-1) 240 24

Others: Central Arkansas (208) , Samford (146) , San Diego (134) , Monmouth (121) , Western Illinois (107) , UIW (67) , Chattanooga (63) , Sam Houston State (57) , Rhode Island (43) , Florida A&M (29) , Lamar (29) , Montana State (20) , Alcorn State (19) , North Dakota (11) , Montana (6) , Furman (6) , Abilene Christian (2) , Sacred Heart (1)

It's interesting to me to compare Furman and Wofford like the FBS playoff committee might. Unfortunately, the FCS committee is all that matters.

Wofford (6-3, 5-2 SoCon)
- Best win vs. No. 19 ETSU
- Worst loss at No. 43 Furman
- Loss at FBS unranked Wyoming
- Loss at No. 27 Samford

Furman (4-4, 4-2 SoCon)
- Best win vs. No. 15 Wofford
- Worst loss vs. No. 27 Samford
- Lost at FBS No. 2 Clemson
- Lost at No. 7 Elon
- Lost at No. 19 ETSU

Head-to-head: Furman by 20

So Furman has a better win, a better "worst" loss, and has only lost to ranked teams this year. They also have the best FCS loss of any team in the country until The Citadel plays Bama in two weeks.

No matter how you slice it, Furman's resume looks better assuming both teams win out and Wofford sits at 8-3 and Furman at 6-4. Who gets in as an at-large though? I think we all know the answer to that.

I see it a hard sell getting in at 6-4 with that bruiser of a loss to Elon on our schedule.

If we had a win at home against an 8-1 Colgate though - I think Furman is in no problem. Hopefully the committee will take that into account.

paladinfan12 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 05, 2018 6:11 pm

I see it a hard sell getting in at 6-4 with that bruiser of a loss to Elon on our schedule.

If we had a win at home against an 8-1 Colgate though - I think Furman is in no problem. Hopefully the committee will take that into account.

It is not at all certain that we would have beaten Colgate. What does the committee have to take into account regarding Furman vs. Colgate? that we beat Colgate last year? We did not beat them this year. Again, it is not at all certain that we would have beaten Colgate this year. I just hope we will beat VMI and then have a chance to finish the season 6-4 with a win over Mercer also. Both of those are possible, but not certain.

This STATS poll is not good. Way, way too many teams in front of us to get an at-large bid. There are still 4 SoCon teams way in front of us. Two we beat and one we just beat is still 60+ points ahead of us. Again it is way harder to get in the polls than to fall out of them.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:41 pm

This STATS poll is not good. Way, way too many teams in front of us to get an at-large bid. There are still 4 SoCon teams way in front of us. Two we beat and one we just beat is still 60+ points ahead of us. Again it is way harder to get in the polls than to fall out of them.

Yep No doubt. That's why 3 things if we win out....

1)Winning season

2)We would be Further up the rankings (near top 25) which helps for next year. Maybe number 25?

3) MAYBE get a SoCon champ ! We would win out and need Samford to beat ETSU. if that one happens (Samford over ETSU) then we our guys get rings and 2018 up on the field house !!

A 4th thing:
4. End season on a win, which is a far better way to end it than on a loss

affirm wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:13 pm

paladinfan12 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 05, 2018 6:11 pm

I see it a hard sell getting in at 6-4 with that bruiser of a loss to Elon on our schedule.

If we had a win at home against an 8-1 Colgate though - I think Furman is in no problem. Hopefully the committee will take that into account.

It is not at all certain that we would have beaten Colgate. What does the committee have to take into account regarding Furman vs. Colgate? that we beat Colgate last year? We did not beat them this year. Again, it is not at all certain that we would have beaten Colgate this year. I just hope we will beat VMI and then have a chance to finish the season 6-4 with a win over Mercer also. Both of those are possible, but not certain.

Agreed, I should have clarified, if Furman lost to Colgate no way they get in, but I also don't think we'll get in if we win out either.

affirm wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:04 pm

A 4th thing:
4. End season on a win, which is a far better way to end it than on a loss

Still would choose a loss in the playoffs over no playoffs. But that's just me.

One game at a time for these next two weeks, hopefully take care of business and let the chips fall where they may. There is so much youth on our roster, lot of good stuff for the future, GO FU!

paladinfan12 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:27 am

affirm wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:13 pm

paladinfan12 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 05, 2018 6:11 pm

I see it a hard sell getting in at 6-4 with that bruiser of a loss to Elon on our schedule.

If we had a win at home against an 8-1 Colgate though - I think Furman is in no problem. Hopefully the committee will take that into account.

It is not at all certain that we would have beaten Colgate. What does the committee have to take into account regarding Furman vs. Colgate? that we beat Colgate last year? We did not beat them this year. Again, it is not at all certain that we would have beaten Colgate this year. I just hope we will beat VMI and then have a chance to finish the season 6-4 with a win over Mercer also. Both of those are possible, but not certain.

Agreed, I should have clarified, if Furman lost to Colgate no way they get in, but I also don't think we'll get in if we win out either.

that is not necessarily true - If FUrman lost to Colgate it hurts our overall.. but maybe those game reps help us not completely choke vs ETSU... and with the Colgate repls maybe we win at ETSU.. and we would be in sole 1st place of the SOCON ! And in full control of our destiny to the playoffs. IE, maybe we woulda lost to Colgate and gone 0-3.. but then beat ETSU with the additional real game reps and now stood at 5-1 in SoCon with our two games left... everything would be there for the taking. The SoCOn TITLE and the playoffs. We will never know. Maybe a ton of guys woulda been hurt playing Colgate... Again, we will never know - but the fact remains that even a LOSS to Colgate coulda put us right where we want to be as we only needed a few more first downs vs ETSU which was the Very Next Game ! And for a young team like ours the live game reps could have made all the difference ~!