Stetson and Furman

[Affirm]

Stetson is approximately the worst team in FCS. So in a 2-week time period, we go from playing approximately the best FBS to playing approximately the worst FCS.
Stetson is in year #12 of their resurrected football program. They dropped football from about 1956 until resuming football in 2013.
During the last 8 years their OOC games have included Montana State, Princeton twice, Brown twice, and Dartmouth. After they play Furman this week, their next games is Harvard. In 2026, they play UC Davis.
Also of note - Furman President Johns came back to Furman after being President of Stetson.Dr. John’s was President 1976-1994, some interesting years for Furman Athletics.

[apaladin]

Well we could be in for another battle. Their QB has thrown for 730 yds and 8 touchdowns in their first 2 games albeit against 2 NAIA teams. Still impressive.

[Affirm]

NOT impressive.
It won’t be 76-0, but Furman will win without a “battle”.

[FUwolfpacker]

Stetson will likely throw for enough yards to make some people unhappy, and they will probably score some points. I know this year's team is not last year's team for either side, but Stetson has not been a good football team for a while.

They have started 2-0 the last 4 years. Their overall record in that time? 13-21 including 8 sub D1 wins, 3 wins over PC, a cancel, and a win over a 2-9 Morehead State team in 2022 (who Mercer beat 63-13). Anyone on their schedule last year who was supposed to be even remotely good was a loss by 30+ points. They have beaten their NAIA teams by bigger margins this year than last year, so they probably are improved. Still, this should be a multiple score win unless Furman turns the ball over 4+ times.

Warner ran for 159 yards on Stetson, so I hope this is the week we can figure it out on the ground. Yes, Stetson has thrown for nearly 400 yards each of the last two weeks but it has been on darn near 100 attempts. They aren't super-efficient throwing it but they are going to throw it a lot. Speaking of throwing it a lot, I did see that they have several new coaches on the staff including their OC, Sheldon Cross, who comes over from Cal Poly. They threw the ball a lot at Cal Poly with transfer QB Sam Huard (5 star from Washington) who Cross coached in high school. Cross spent 1 year at Cal Poly and was a HS coach 3 years before that.

If this isn't a big win, then I think it's right to be worried heading into W&M and SoCon play. Hopefully Furman will clean up a lot of what has gone wrong so far and cruise to a win. We certainly need it.

[gofurman]

Stetson will likely throw for enough yards to make some people unhappy, and they will probably score some points. I know this year's team is not last year's team for either side, but Stetson has not been a good football team for a while.

They have started 2-0 the last 4 years. Their overall record in that time? 13-21 including 8 sub D1 wins, 3 wins over PC, a cancel, and a win over a 2-9 Morehead State team in 2022 (who Mercer beat 63-13). Anyone on their schedule last year who was supposed to be even remotely good was a loss by 30+ points. They have beaten their NAIA teams by bigger margins this year than last year, so they probably are improved. Still, this should be a multiple score win unless Furman turns the ball over 4+ times.

Warner ran for 159 yards on Stetson, so I hope this is the week we can figure it out on the ground. Yes, Stetson has thrown for nearly 400 yards each of the last two weeks but it has been on darn near 100 attempts. They aren't super-efficient throwing it but they are going to throw it a lot. Speaking of throwing it a lot, I did see that they have several new coaches on the staff including their OC, Sheldon Cross, who comes over from Cal Poly. They threw the ball a lot at Cal Poly with transfer QB Sam Huard (5 star from Washington) who Cross coached in high school. Cross spent 1 year at Cal Poly and was a HS coach 3 years before that.

If this isn't a big win, then I think it's right to be worried heading into W&M and SoCon play. Hopefully Furman will clean up a lot of what has gone wrong so far and cruise to a win. We certainly need it.

Agree with all of this. Actually thought they were D2 which is wrong of me as I hate when people call us D2. Apparently they are PFL? I will say the wins over Presbyterian are decent. We lost a PC game that was freakin painful a while back - at PC. I was there.

Those are the only wins that scare me in the least. That said, we have a lot to work on. especially OL.

[FUwolfpacker]

PC offered scholarships at the time they beat Furman and there was a long delay prior to the start of the game. Long delays for football games do funny things to teams.

Stetson isn't going to look like the bad news bears. They aren't that bad. This is a game though that Furman should win big. If it's not, a lot of stuff went wrong in my opinion.

But yes we have plenty to work on in multiple spots. Hopefully this week is the start of it getting fixed.

[gofurman]

PC offered scholarships at the time they beat Furman and there was a long delay prior to the start of the game. Long delays for football games do funny things to teams.

Stetson isn't going to look like the bad news bears. They aren't that bad. This is a game though that Furman should win big. If it's not, a lot of stuff went wrong in my opinion.

But yes we have plenty to work on in multiple spots. Hopefully this week is the start of it getting fixed.

Is PC completely non scholarship now?

More importantly is Stetson without scholarships for football ?? Do they use the old "grants in aid"?

[FUwolfpacker]

I'm pretty sure they are all non-scholarship.

From wikipedia: "Unlike most other Division I FCS conferences, the Pioneer League consists of institutions that choose not to award athletic scholarships ("grants-in-aid") to football players."

[Davemeister]

Hey, gofurman: Are you skeered of them Hatters?

[gofurman]

Hey, gofurman: Are you skeered of them Hatters?

Oh, I am very skeered!

[Davemeister]

Hey, gofurman: Are you skeered of them Hatters?

Oh, I am very skeered!

Good show! You are indeed a loyal citizen of Paladonia.

[FUBeAR]

Uh oh…

[Davemeister]

Uh oh…

Careful. Don't give Affirm any ideas.

[gofurman]

Hey, gofurman: Are you skeered of them Hatters?

Oh, I am very skeered!

Good show! You are indeed a loyal citizen of Paladonia.

I don't know about Paladonia but I am a loyal Furman fan

[gofurman]

Uh oh…

Dang - Cal Poly and EWU and perennially good teams ! Legit playoff teams.

I am sure we are not looking ahead. Regardless of Stetson's rank within the PFL - we shouldn't be looking ahead of ANYONE right now