Games - Hardest to Easiest./

[gofurman]

What's your guess as to our hardest to easiest game listing? Offseason banter:
This, to me, is different than a simple list of 'best teams in SoCon etc.' as you have to factor in when and where we play each team. 2 weeks to prep for the Citadel option and play them in Greenville is nice etc.

Again, w NEW QB I wish we could have VMI earlier before Mercer etc.. one more easier game to learn...

Starting w Hardest:
-VTech - so much athleticism; heat and depth in September... AWAY game
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- Georgia State.. they are top 15 FCS worthy and I think(?) they are a throwing team. Bad matchup. On other hand they struggled stopping the run last year. Much more winnable than VTech. AWAY Game.
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- Wofford. As much as anything I like our match here. If we can pass well like last year we could win. Also, McKoy and LBs etc. have seen the option a lot by now and will have played the Citadel prior to Wofford in 2019. And two weeks for Citadel prep this yr. That's a lotta option practice. We will need a NG to play well and stop the dive like Reid did last year. The home team wins A LOT in this series and thus where I rank this one. AWAY game.
- Mercer. Oh boy. If they had Riddle all game I think we lose last year. They lost a lot at WR and edge rush and it's at FU but this is always a scary game for me. The RB is a BEAST for them (Devezin?). They were injury-riddled last year otherwise they woulda had 2 more wins or so. In 2017 we won by converting 4 fourth downs to keep their offense off the field. At Furman
-Samford. This and Mercer are such freakin' scary games the last few years. I HOPE the loss of the QB, great WR, and Gooden on DL (three NFL posssibles) finally let's us get this one. They have taken 5 of last 6 I think? If we can get this I will feel good. If we can go 2-1 vs ETSU, Mercer, Samford I will feel good as I think those plus us and Wofford are top half teams w Citadel very close. AWAY game.
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- Chatt. Not sure w new coaches. Probably better coaching but they lost two NFL types on DL and at DB a great one. AWAY game.
- WCU. the 'Whee always scares me. They seem to scare everyone when game is in mountains. Best player in conference in Tyrie Adams. But they struggle on D and lost 4 of 5 OL. AWAY game.
-ETSU. We should win this at home. Have to stop the freakin' pass. Meltdown last year... Now. At Furman.
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-Citadel. w two weeks to prep for option I like this. Citadel may be better than last year though and honestly a good team w better QB and good OL play. At Furman I'll put it here.
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-Charleston Southern - I HOPE this is easy. Let's get a daggum win early. Though all games are tough as CSU played a good game vs Elon in 2018 which we DID NOT. That said, Monmouth, Kennesaw and Citadel killed them in 2018. At Furman.
-VMI - You saw last year's game. At Furman
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-Point - D2 I think. At home etc.

EDIT - divided into groups of similar difficulty. VTech is a different level. I'll put G State at a slightly higher level than the best of SoCon w depth and in September. Then Wofford away, Mercer's QBs (think second half last year) and Samford seems to always get us...

[DungeonRealm]

Circle the Sept. 7th Saturday night game in Atlanta vs. Georgia St., time to get us another FBS scalp boys

[MNORM]

What's your guess as to our hardest to easiest game listing? Offseason banter:

Again, w NEW QB I wish we could have VMI earlier before Mercer etc.. one more easier game to learn...

Starting w Hardest:
-VTech - so much athleticism; heat and depth in September... AWAY game
- Georgia State.. they are top 15 FCS worthy and I think(?) they are a throwing team. Bad matchup. On other hand they struggled stopping the run last year. Much more winnable than VTech. AWAY Game.
- Wofford. As much as anything I like our match here. If we can pass well like last year we could win. Also, McKoy and LBs etc. have seen the option a lot by now and will have played the Citadel prior to Wofford in 2019. And two weeks for Citadel prep this yr. That's a lotta option practice. We will need a NG to play well and stop the dive like Reid did last year. The home team wins A LOT in this series and thus where I rank this one. AWAY game.
- Mercer. Oh boy. If they had Riddle all game I think we lose last year. They lost a lot at WR and edge rush and it's at FU but this is always a scary game for me. The RB is a BEAST for them (Devezin?). They were injury-riddled last year otherwise they woulda had 2 more wins or so. In 2017 we won by converting 4 fourth downs to keep their offense off the field. At Furman
-Samford. This and Mercer are such freakin' scary games the last few years. I HOPE the loss of the QB, great WR, and Gooden on DL (three NFL posssibles) finally let's us get this one. They have taken 5 of last 6 I think? If we can get this I will feel good. If we can go 2-1 vs ETSU, Mercer, Samford I will feel good as I think those plus us and Wofford are top half teams w Citadel very close. AWAY game.
- Chatt. Not sure w new coaches. Probably better coaching but they lost two NFL types on DL and at DB a great one. AWAY game.
- WCU. the 'Whee always scares me. They seem to scare everyone when game is in mountains. Best player in conference in Tyrie Adams. But they struggle on D and lost 4 of 5 OL. AWAY game.
-ETSU. We should win this at home. Have to stop the freakin' pass. Meltdown last year... Now. At Furman.
-Citadel. w two weeks to prep for option I like this. Citadel may be better than last year though and honestly a good team w better QB and good OL play. At Furman I'll put it here.
-Charleston Southern - I HOPE this is easy. Let's get a daggum win early. Though all games are tough as CSU played a good game vs Elon in 2018 which we DID NOT. That said, Monmouth, Kennesaw and Citadel killed them in 2018. At Furman.
-VMI - You saw last year's game. At Furman
-Point - D2 I think. At home etc.

NAIA-DI

[gofurman]

MNORM - thanks for correction.. appreciate it. I couldn't recall.

[gofurman]

agree / disagree ??? interested in other's thoughts. I do think Citadel will be better as the new QB had them playing much better at end of year and they return a ton of players.. plus almost their entire OL. I rest my hopes there on the fact its at home (big difference) and we get two weeks to prep for option.

[Davemeister]

agree / disagree ??? interested in other's thoughts. I do think Citadel will be better as the new QB had them playing much better at end of year and they return a ton of players.. plus almost their entire OL. I rest my hopes there on the fact its at home (big difference) and we get two weeks to prep for option.
[/quote

You could be on to sumpthin' here, gf. Oct. 19 will tell the tale.

[The Jackal]

agree / disagree ??? interested in other's thoughts. I do think Citadel will be better as the new QB had them playing much better at end of year and they return a ton of players.. plus almost their entire OL. I rest my hopes there on the fact its at home (big difference) and we get two weeks to prep for option.

Hard to say at this point. While the schedule is challenging, I think Furman should/will be favored on many of these contests.

In terms of difficulty, we do not really know enough. There are a lot of open questions.

For me, I am always interested to see how teams fill gaps left by truly standout players. Every team will have a "next man up" philosophy, but sometimes there are guys that are just difficult to replace.

[fupaladin01]

1-VaTech- Duh. Hope to make it interesting.
2-Wofford - returning starters a plenty, they want revenge
3-GA St- their D is suspect. W solid QB play we can win
4- Mercer - They want to beat us BAD. Home-adv FU, but early in season has me worried
5-UTC vastly improved from 2 years ago.
6-Citadel- they play sound ball
7-Western- Tyree is scary and funny things happen at the Whee but our D should be equally scary by then
8-Samford- Their glory days are behind them. Payback time.
9-Chas So (only this high bc it’s game 1)
10-VMI- Can. Not. Overlook. But I don’t think CCH will.
11- ETSU- They caught lightening(45 min of it) in a bottle last year. Paladin Stadium will be their dungeon of death.
12- Point, what’s the

[gofurman]

1-VaTech- Duh. Hope to make it interesting.
2-Wofford - returning starters a plenty, they want revenge
3-GA St- their D is suspect. W solid QB play we can win
4- Mercer - They want to beat us BAD. Home-adv FU, but early in season has me worried
5-UTC vastly improved from 2 years ago.
6-Citadel- they play sound ball
7-Western- Tyree is scary and funny things happen at the Whee but our D should be equally scary by then
8-Samford- Their glory days are behind them. Payback time.
9-Chas So (only this high bc it’s game 1)
10-VMI- Can. Not. Overlook. But I don’t think CCH will.
11- ETSU- They caught lightening(45 min of it) in a bottle last year. Paladin Stadium will be their dungeon of death.
12- Point, what’s the

Agree w most - and this is just fun of offseason musings:

I cannot put ETSU that low. Like us they return most of a team (minus the QB) that did well. DL are hard to find and Nasir Player is a good one! top three in socon. They have v good DBs! And Quay Holmes RB is always a threat - top 3 in socon or so. No way do I put ETSU below VMI - not in my weak opinion. at a minimum I think they are at least 5th best in SoCon and maybe our 6th/7th toughest game. Just my thoughts but also I give a lot to coaching and (again, like us) they have a relatively new coach. If he does have them finish 5th or better this year in SoCon I will continue to place them there just based on coach Sanders... Just like I wouldn't bet against CH v often

That actually may be a good analogy to watch.. I don't ever want to lose to ETSU but both Sanders at ETSU and Hendrix for us got their teams to playoffs (somewhat surprisingly) in their first year of HC. I hope we demolish them every year but I am not gonna put them as an easy game yet.

That's Just my worthless notes...

"12- Point, what’s the" - nice

[The Jackal]

1-VaTech- Duh. Hope to make it interesting.
2-Wofford - returning starters a plenty, they want revenge
3-GA St- their D is suspect. W solid QB play we can win
4- Mercer - They want to beat us BAD. Home-adv FU, but early in season has me worried
5-UTC vastly improved from 2 years ago.
6-Citadel- they play sound ball
7-Western- Tyree is scary and funny things happen at the Whee but our D should be equally scary by then
8-Samford- Their glory days are behind them. Payback time.
9-Chas So (only this high bc it’s game 1)
10-VMI- Can. Not. Overlook. But I don’t think CCH will.
11- ETSU- They caught lightening(45 min of it) in a bottle last year. Paladin Stadium will be their dungeon of death.
12- Point, what’s the

I'm in the minority, but I'm very much on the fence with Wofford.

[gofurman]

1-VaTech- Duh. Hope to make it interesting.
2-Wofford - returning starters a plenty, they want revenge
3-GA St- their D is suspect. W solid QB play we can win
4- Mercer - They want to beat us BAD. Home-adv FU, but early in season has me worried
5-UTC vastly improved from 2 years ago.
6-Citadel- they play sound ball
7-Western- Tyree is scary and funny things happen at the Whee but our D should be equally scary by then
8-Samford- Their glory days are behind them. Payback time.
9-Chas So (only this high bc it’s game 1)
10-VMI- Can. Not. Overlook. But I don’t think CCH will.
11- ETSU- They caught lightening(45 min of it) in a bottle last year. Paladin Stadium will be their dungeon of death.
12- Point, what’s the

I'm in the minority, but I'm very much on the fence with Wofford.

well, Ill HOPE that our option D and the fact that our QB will be more seasoned by the time we play them will help ! Also, big is that we play Citadel prior to Wofford and take 2 weeks to prep (in part) for Citadel... that's HUGE. Often in the past when we play Citadel and then GSU or Woff or someone you can see our option D really improve. One REALLY BIG concern is the loss of our D coordinator who was an absolute specialist at stopping the option - he beat CItadel while at CSU - TWICE!!! - the same year Citadel beat the Gamecocks !!

That is a concern for me - I think we will know a lot more after we play Citadel (and have 2 weeks to prep for the option they bring to Greenville). If Citadel beats us I will not feel good about Wofford at all. Citadel is sorta Wofford 'light' right now. And Citadel is in Greenville. WOfford is away.

[paladinfan12]

Fortunately our new D-coordinator (Vaughn) has seen these same option defenses from Citadel and Wofford for the past 5 years. I expect he will be up to the challenge.

[The Jackal]

1-VaTech- Duh. Hope to make it interesting.
2-Wofford - returning starters a plenty, they want revenge
3-GA St- their D is suspect. W solid QB play we can win
4- Mercer - They want to beat us BAD. Home-adv FU, but early in season has me worried
5-UTC vastly improved from 2 years ago.
6-Citadel- they play sound ball
7-Western- Tyree is scary and funny things happen at the Whee but our D should be equally scary by then
8-Samford- Their glory days are behind them. Payback time.
9-Chas So (only this high bc it’s game 1)
10-VMI- Can. Not. Overlook. But I don’t think CCH will.
11- ETSU- They caught lightening(45 min of it) in a bottle last year. Paladin Stadium will be their dungeon of death.
12- Point, what’s the

I'm in the minority, but I'm very much on the fence with Wofford.

well, Ill HOPE that our option D and the fact that our QB will be more seasoned by the time we play them will help ! Also, big is that we play Citadel prior to Wofford and take 2 weeks to prep (in part) for Citadel... that's HUGE. Often in the past when we play Citadel and then GSU or Woff or someone you can see our option D really improve. One REALLY BIG concern is the loss of our D coordinator who was an absolute specialist at stopping the option - he beat CItadel while at CSU - TWICE!!! - the same year Citadel beat the Gamecocks !!

That is a concern for me - I think we will know a lot more after we play Citadel (and have 2 weeks to prep for the option they bring to Greenville). If Citadel beats us I will not feel good about Wofford at all. Citadel is sorta Wofford 'light' right now. And Citadel is in Greenville. WOfford is away.

I've said this before, but I'm quite confident there's not a football program in modern-day Division 1 football that has seen the split-veer option more than Furman. We have probably seen that offense two or three times a season for 30 years.

Of course, the option isn't just relegated to those two programs. WCU, for instance, doesn't look like an "option team," but runs a ton of read option. Tyrie Adams, a QB, actually led the SoCon in rushing last season. Similar defensive principles are employed even though the QB is out of the shotgun and can throw - gap integrity, confuse the reads, make tackles.

Remember too that we've got a coaching staff full of guys that know all of the intricacies of that offense - Clay Hendrix an Pete Lusk ran elements of the option at Air Force, David Sims ran the offense under Paul Johnson at GT, Corico Wright dealt with GT's version annually as a player and coach at Clemson, Ken Lamendola would have practiced not only against Air Force's version, but also played annually against Navy who runs Paul Johnson's split veer. We've probably got more option-savvy coaches than a lot of the teams that actually run the offense.

Of course, most of these guys have now been on the coaching staff at Furman for a while, so they've seen Wofford and the Citadel a number of times.

This isn't about a single defensive coordinator (though Staggs was a good one), but an entire coaching staff that can game plan against that set - especially because we know it is coming multiple times a year. It'll be a challenge, but likely one we'll be prepared to meet.

[cavedweller2]

What The Jackal said.

[gofurman]

What The Jackal said.

fair enough - thanks for giving me confidence ... now let's beat them there option teams ! (Plus the option teams are both 'rivals' - you beat Wofford and Citadel in the same year and it's a good start ! *That was a nice bonus to last year's conference title ! Beating both of them had to peeve them off. Great win I will always appreciate Lincoln giving us in his only play at QB. Thank you Jemar !