THIS WEEK IN THE SOCON

[apaladin]

THURSDAY:
7PM Western Carolina @ N.C. State
7PM VMI @ William & Mary
7PM PC @ Mercer
7PM Wofford @ Gardner-Webb

SATURDAY:
12:45PM Chattanooga @ Tennessee
3:30PM East Tennessee St. @ Appalachian St.
6:00PM Samford @ West Georgia
6:00PM Citadel @ Charleston Southern
7:00PM Furman @ Mississippi

[The Jackal]

Mercer has a must win tonight.

Wofford and VMI getting wins would be big for the SoCon.

I don't have a lot of hope that WCU will beat NC State, but that'd be fun.

[FUwolfpacker]

Mercer has a must win tonight.

Wofford and VMI getting wins would be big for the SoCon.

I don't have a lot of hope that WCU will beat NC State, but that'd be fun.

Agree with all of that except the last part.

Mercer does have a must win tonight. I still can't believe PC beat Wofford...and that we lost to Wofford. I feel fairly confident though that Mercer will handle the Hose tonight......you know what I mean. I am interested to see what Mercer's offense is going to look like. I'm sure the defense will continue to be solid

Still not sure what to expect from Wofford. Their defense should continue to be good. That plus all the losses from GW make me think that Wofford should be good enough to win. Amari Odom will start at QB. While he wasn't that impressive against Furman, he was a true freshman who was still getting over a knee surgery to start the year. Remember, Furman offered Odom at one point, so the coaches at least thought he had some promise. If he takes a step forward this year, I imagine Wofford could be improved. If he looks like a RS freshman most of the year, it could be another long season for the pups. Their D should keep them in games though.

No idea what to expect with VMI and W&M. Can VMI be improved? Rocco is a solid coach and they played well at times last year. They haven't had much luck with QB injuries the last couple of years. Will W&M look like the team from last year or the one that made a deep playoff run 2 years ago. I will tune into all the games but I am probably the most curious about this one.

If Western covers the spread I will be bummed but I'm obviously biased. State's strongest part of their D is the secondary. LBs are a question, so WCU could expose that a little with the short/intermediate passing game but I don't think they're going to be able to throw down field on State often. State's skill positions all got significantly better from what they had last year. Assuming McCall plays like he did his first 3 years at CCU, State shouldn't have much trouble scoring on Western.

As far as Saturday goes, the citadel/CSU and Samford/West Georgia games are most interesting to me. Will an actual QB help Citadel look competent on offense? What does CSU look like? The team that almost lost to North Greenville, the team that almost beat W&M, or the team that got destroyed by WCU? West Georgia has a lot of FBS/FCS transfers and was a good D2 program. I feel like Samford is going to win, but I could see this game being closer than expected.

UTC/Tenn and Furman/Ole Miss are going to be really tough games. ETSU and App is intriguing. Tre Lamb's GW team hung with App early 1-2 years ago before App pulled away I believe. Will be interesting to see how different ETSU looks this year.

[apaladin]

Mercer has a must win tonight.

Wofford and VMI getting wins would be big for the SoCon.

I don't have a lot of hope that WCU will beat NC State, but that'd be fun.

VMI would be a big win, Wofford not at all.

[The Jackal]

W&M struggled some with Wofford last year.

VMI is usually well coached and won't back down from a fight. Just the type of team you probably wish you were not playing in Week 1. They aren't going to beat themselves most of the time and they can be a tough team to run away from.

With W&M playing three SoCon teams this year, I think this could be a season where the SoCon sort of puts itself in front of the CAA a bit nationally. The CAA is currently experiencing what the SoCon experienced 10 years ago, albeit spread out over more time - the loss of its biggest programs to the FBS.

[FUBeAR]

All of FUBeAR’s predications this week…

DATE AWAY HOME What shall be, unburdened by what has been…


8/29 VMI WILLIAM & MARY The Keydets, with only a 1-way door (Out) to the Transfer Portal, essentially, have to rebuild every year. 2024 will be no different. This Roos squad will battle valiantly, but is likely a bottom of the SoCon Team … which is about equivalent to the best Team in the CAA, as The Tribe is projected to be. So, we’ll call this one a draw, but give Bill & Mary the standard 3-point HFA and a win, in a mild upset.

W&M 20 - VMI 17

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8/29 WCU NC STATE FUBeAR swung by Carter-Finley Stadium last weekend. Was hoping to spy on a Wolfpack practice and pass along his learnings to Coach Bell. But, he was immediately recognized and escorted off-property. Sorry, Catamounts, not gonna be able to help y’all out this week. You will need all of that you can get. The Wolfpack is going to be good, and they will be ready.

NCSU 49 - WCU 7

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8/29 PRESBYTERIAN MERCER The new Bears can name their score in this one. The interest will be in watching Mercer’s QB play, the talent of the explosive new transfers, and the Offensive scheme they will run now that the Sling-T has enlisted in the Navy. It’s a rout.

MU 62 - PC 10

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8/29 WOFFORD GARDNER-WEBB FUBeAR learned just this week that YardBarker QB1, Amari Odom, is likely to wrest the Payton Award from the bunnies’ Mark Gronowski this season. FUBeAR knows that G-W has had to do a complete overhaul and rebuild. Wofford showed improvement last year, so we are going to, CAUTIOUSLY, go with the presumptive Payton Award winner and the more known-ish Team over the huge HFA that the Runnin’ Bulldogs enjoy there in Boiling Springs

WOF 24 - G-W 21

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8/31 SAMFORD WEST GEORGIA FUBeAR expects West Georgia’s Braves, um, Wolves to compete quickly in FCS. They hired an outstanding Coach in Mercer’s former DC, Joel Taylor. They have a history and tradition of WINNING, and the town of Carrollton (home of the (relatively) new Mr. Little Miss FUBeAR, a former QB for the Carrollton Trojans) is and will be behind their Team 100%. Samford can expect to find a crazy, packed, highly hostile environment on Saturday. This is the kind of game for Samford that reminds FUBeAR of the playoff-bound HomewoodHounds debacle of a loss in 2016 to the 1st year in SoCon, new ETSU program. FUBeAR is really skeered for Samford in this one, but weather played a role in 2016. It might in this one too, but heat should be an advantage for Samford.

SU 15 - UWG 14

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8/31 CHATTANOOGA TENNESSEE Chatt rarely really competes in their bigger FBS games (except once against Illinois a while back; oh, and one other time against Kentucky) and the TrainBirds may want to keep their powder dry for the actual FBS scalp opportunity they might have next week @ GaState. NativeAmericanSnakes treat this one like a scrimmage - focus on timing, work out the kinks, stay healthy, don’t forget the check.

UT 77 - UTC 7

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8/31 ETSU APPALACHIAN STATE Coach TLamb is a gunslinger and a riverboat gambler. He wants to make a bangin’ entrance and a big splash QUICKLY. Thus, exactly the opposite of Chatt, the LandLockedPirates go the whole nine yards and empty their cannons trying to win this game in Boone. Coach Lamb almost pulled off several upsets of G5 Teams with less talented Gardner Webb Teams. He gets it done over the Appy’s on a clock-expiring 50+ yard FG … in a game that will go down in history forever to be known as “The Miracle on the Mountain”

ETSU 32 - ASU 30

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8/31 THE CITADEL CHARLESTON SOUTHERN FUBeAR, no fan of the bellhops, is a fan of Coach Drayton. So, contrary to every fiber of his being, FUBeAR is pulling hard for the bellhops to climb out of the sewer pipe in which they’ve been residing in recent years. The new QB will make a difference, but FUBeAR is gonna need to see some more evidence before he can pick the bellhops to beat anyone, including Burke HS. Hate it, but…

CSU 24 - CIT 14

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8/31 FURMAN OLE MISS All day tailgating in The Grove in Oxford and a gloriously hot and humid Saturday night in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. It really doesn’t get much better than that. Well, half a million $’s also makes it an even nicer day for our heroic Paladins. You know what makes it even better - a SCALP from a Top 5 FBS SEC Team. Ole Miss has not taken Football seriously since their sham of a “Spring Game” featured Tug-o-Wars and Hot Dog Eating Contests. Coach Freshwater is focused on creeping on CoEd Hotties and half of their Players are sitting this one out with “injuries.” Expect them to enter the game when they find themselves 2 scores down late in the 2nd quarter. Paladins have their mojo tuned just right and a band of new purple warriors shows their stuff and maintains Furman’s undefeated record of 100 years of dominance (1st meeting in 1924) against the RebelBearsLandSharkHoundsMoles (moles? See below) and SHOCKS THE WORLD!!

FU 28 - UM 23

[apaladin]

Interesting, looked pretty good until the ET and FU games then became…….

[FUwolfpacker]

Getting ahead of this because if Jackal doesn't give me a hard time about it (like he's done for 22 years) then someone else probably would. 2 things can be true about the Western/NC State game. Western played well and NC State was really bad for most of the game. Not going to talk about State's errors because no one cares, but I will talk about what I liked from Western.

I thought that was the best I've seen Western's defense look in a while. They were more physical up front, and their guys in the secondary were very aggressive against the run. It was also the best I've seen Western tackle in years. They really didn't miss a realistic one until late. We'll have to wait and see if it holds up for the whole season, but if Western can bring that effort on defense every week, they are going to be very tough.

Was a great effort by the cats that was assisted by bad play from NC State for most of the game...which is the recipe for for an upset so it makes since Western was in it for so long.

Wofford was a 4 point underdog from what I saw which surprised me a little. 1 point win doesn't move the needle much for Wofford or the conference but it's certainly better than a loss.

Can't see the VMI game because of the CAA/FloSports but 41-7 win for the Tribe seems about what was expected.

Mercer having their way with PC. I'm a little surprised they've thrown for so much though. I didn't do any real research, but I assumed they were going to be more heavy on the run. Haven't watched much of it, so maybe that's just what PC was giving them.

[tya1]

N. C. State came from behind in 4th for the 38-21 win.
Mercer up early and big over PC.
Wofford trailed at Gardner-Webb by 20-11 at the start of the final period. Scored 10 unanswered for the win.
William and Mary easy over VMI - 41-7. k

[apaladin]

FUBeAR was very close on 2 and way off on 2 so far. Missed VMI by 31 and WCU by 25. Missed WC by 2 and almost hit MU on the head, missed by one!

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR was very close on 2 and way off on 2 so far. Missed VMI by 31 and WCU by 25. Missed WC by 2 and almost hit MU on the head, missed by one!

That’s a lot of words to say FUBeAR’s picks were 4-0.

Funny story…FUBeAR was sitting beside Mercer’s President in the Endzone Field House Balcony/Suite when the Bears scored the TD in that Endzone to go up 62-10. For some odd reason President Underwood did NOT seem at all to appreciate FUBeAR waving his arms and screaming wildly “MISS IT! MISS IT!!” at Mercer’s Kicker. Narrow-minded, obviously.

[The Jackal]

I don't know much about VMI this year, but 12-25 for 92 yards and two interceptions isn't great.

VMI averaged 3.8 yards per passing attempt.

[gofurman]

I don't know much about VMI this year, but 12-25 for 92 yards and two interceptions isn't great.

VMI averaged 3.8 yards per passing attempt.

Sadly, we have to hope VMI stinks.. or was off last night. Because W&M Killed them. And many here thought VMI could hang around. I am not too worried. We killed VMI last year. But I would have loved to have seen VMI play right with W&M.. that would have given me more hope.

[gofurman]

And I was pulling BIG for Western. BIG - despite that maybe bad for us...

And I was pulling BIG for NDSU as I hate Colorado and their cult of personality with T.Owens there to watch a BAD team - why would he go to see them?? they are a dam .500 team. Why do celebrities go to watch a SHT team? really. Go watch Bama or Ole Miss or someone. Colorado is .500 and will be fighting to make a bowl. It must make OL SICK to watch that team. a QB, a great WR or two and a HORRIBLE OL. HORRIFIC

[gofurman]

side note -- have to see if continues.. but Wofford threw 35 and ran 35 times. hmm