Playoffs Today

[gman]

Staggs is a good coach, but by a lot of metrics our defense was better this year than it was last year.

Ignore the metrics. The eye test says the opposite. Fundamentally, we were not good this year on defense.

[The Jackal]

Staggs is a good coach, but by a lot of metrics our defense was better this year than it was last year.

Ignore the metrics. The eye test says the opposite. Fundamentally, we were not good this year on defense.

Do what now?

This year's defense was better by virtually every available metric except your subjective "eye test." I mean, Furman surrendered 7 fewer passing touchdowns in 2019 than in 2018 despite playing 3 more games.

The only area where Vaughn's defense was behind Staggs' is in rush defense (coincidentally, our all-everything NG graduated), but even then, it wasn't that drastic. Last year's defense surrendered 157.8 ypg rushing and 4.5 ypc. This years' team was 177.4 and 4.6.

I realize Staggs had an impressive (and likely unsustainable) record against option teams. But when you actually watch the games and look at the data, Vaughn's defense was arguably better AND he was in his first season as defensive coordinator.

Again, Staggs is a good coach and a solid DC. I appreciate his time at Furman. To act like he's just clearly better than what Furman has now is just myopic.

[apaladin]

Back to the playoffs, here is the schedule for the semi-finals Saturday:
2PM Montana State at North Dakota State ESPN2
6:30 PM Weber State at James Madison ESPNU

[fufanatic]

To me the disparity and the power of the FCS is in states where the lone Division I schools are FCS....It’s more of a demographics disparity....When you’re not competing against the SEC or ACC or even Sun Belt for recruits it’s not a fair fight...There are far less football conferences west of the Mississippi

Aren’t there less potential recruits to choose from in those states? If so, wouldn’t that even things out?

There are, I think, 11 D1 football programs in California with approximately 35 million people. There are 9 D1 programs in South Carolina with around 4 million people.

It complicates things, but Furman has a strong product to sell.

It doesn't just complicate things, it's made it extremely tough for the eastern teams not named James Madison (which has an enrollment of over 21K) to even remotely compete. I just went back and looked at which state the semifinal teams since 2013 (the year after GSU/ASU left FCS) reside in. 17 out of 28 come from west of the Mississippi (9 of 12 since 2017). The only close comparison to Furman size wise I found is Richmond, which still has about 1500 more students than Furman. And they've made only 1 semi in that time period and aren't very good now. I don't know what the answer is. Ideally we would start recruiting more nationally (NDSU has players from Florida), but that's virtually impossible with the small budget.

Semis by state:
2019 - North Dakota, Utah, Montana, Virginia
2018 - North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Maine
2017 - North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia
2016 - North Dakota, Washington, Ohio, Virginia
2015 - North Dakota, Texas, Alabama, Virginia
2014 - North Dakota, Texas, Illinois, New Hampshire
2013 - North Dakota, Washington, Maryland, New Hampshire

PS: How remarkable/annoying/dumb is it that NDSU has made every semi since 2011? Lost in OT in the quarters in 2010 or they would have gone every year this decade.

[The Jackal]

NDSU's rise also coincides largely with App State and GSU departing the division.

[fufanatic]

NDSU's rise also coincides largely with App State and GSU departing the division.

That got me thinking. In looking at current FBS teams, the FCS east since 2000 has lost USF, UConn, Charlotte, FIU, FAU, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky, Liberty, UMass, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, South Alabama and Troy.

The FCS west has lost UTSA and Texas State.

That's a 15-2 difference (20-3 if you go back to 1996) and sure does help explain why the west has taken over so much. It also makes recruiting that much harder for the FCS east squads going against so many squads that used to be on Furman's level and now aren't.

[The Jackal]

NDSU's rise also coincides largely with App State and GSU departing the division.

That got me thinking. In looking at current FBS teams, the FCS east since 2000 has lost USF, UConn, Charlotte, FIU, FAU, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky, Liberty, UMass, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, South Alabama and Troy.

The FCS west has lost UTSA and Texas State.

That's a 15-2 difference (20-3 if you go back to 1996) and sure does help explain why the west has taken over so much. It also makes recruiting that much harder for the FCS east squads going against so many squads that used to be on Furman's level and now aren't.

I mean, it explains some of the shift in the college football landscape and explains one reason for NDSU's dominance.

Don't get me wrong, NDSU is still a very good team, but would they be AS good without the ability to dodge James Madison, App State, and GSU until the final round. Odds are, they'd have to face at least one of those teams in the semis every year.