Colgate

[gofurman]

COACHES POLL - another reason I really want to play Colgate - they are 25th now. Opportunity ~!

RANK SCHOOL POINTS PREVIOUS RECORD
1 North Dakota St. (25) 645 1 1-0
2 James Madison (1) 620 2 1-1
3 South Dakota St. 593 3 1-0
4 Sam Houston St. 540 4 1-0
5 Eastern Washington 539 5 2-0
6 North Carolina A&T 527 6 3-0
7 Wofford 488 7 2-0
8 Kennesaw St. 473 8 1-1
9 Samford 423 9 1-1
10 Villanova 419 11 2-0
11 Jacksonville St. 362 12 1-1
12 Nicholls 354 10 1-1
13 Weber St. 343 13 1-1
14 Elon 310 15 1-1
15 McNeese 298 14 2-0
16 Montana 259 16 2-0
17 Central Arkansas 239 17 1-1
T-18 Northern Iowa 184 18 0-1
T-18 Illinois St. 184 19 2-0
20 Maine 171 25 2-0
21 Stony Brook 106 23 1-1
22 Northern Arizona 92 20 1-1
23 Austin Peay 80 24 1-1
24 South Dakota 39 NR 1-1
25 Colgate 32 NR 2-0

Others receiving votes: UC Davis, 29; Rhode Island, 27; Furman, 17; New Hampshire, 11; Delaware, 10; Sacramento St., 8; Yale, 8; Southeastern Louisiana, 7; Western Carolina, 5; Monmouth (N.J.), 5; Montana St., 2; San Diego, 1.

Dropped Out: Furman (21), New Hampshire (22)

[fufanatic]

COACHES POLL - another reason I really want to play Colgate - they are 25th now. Opportunity ~!

RANK SCHOOL POINTS PREVIOUS RECORD
1 North Dakota St. (25) 645 1 1-0
2 James Madison (1) 620 2 1-1
3 South Dakota St. 593 3 1-0
4 Sam Houston St. 540 4 1-0
5 Eastern Washington 539 5 2-0
6 North Carolina A&T 527 6 3-0
7 Wofford 488 7 2-0
8 Kennesaw St. 473 8 1-1
9 Samford 423 9 1-1
10 Villanova 419 11 2-0
11 Jacksonville St. 362 12 1-1
12 Nicholls 354 10 1-1
13 Weber St. 343 13 1-1
14 Elon 310 15 1-1
15 McNeese 298 14 2-0
16 Montana 259 16 2-0
17 Central Arkansas 239 17 1-1
T-18 Northern Iowa 184 18 0-1
T-18 Illinois St. 184 19 2-0
20 Maine 171 25 2-0
21 Stony Brook 106 23 1-1
22 Northern Arizona 92 20 1-1
23 Austin Peay 80 24 1-1
24 South Dakota 39 NR 1-1
25 Colgate 32 NR 2-0

Others receiving votes: UC Davis, 29; Rhode Island, 27; Furman, 17; New Hampshire, 11; Delaware, 10; Sacramento St., 8; Yale, 8; Southeastern Louisiana, 7; Western Carolina, 5; Monmouth (N.J.), 5; Montana St., 2; San Diego, 1.

Dropped Out: Furman (21), New Hampshire (22)

The fact we are still getting votes is remarkable ... and huge for us going forward if we can turn the ship around. Won't be hard to get back in the polls if we can rip off 3-4 wins in a row, which isn't unheard of with Colgate, ETSU and Western coming up next.

[fufanatic]

Has there been any additional information about the flight accommodations for Colgate with GSP and Hurricane Florence?
When will the call to dance on Saturday or not be made?

Charleston Southern and the Citadel called their game yesterday, I think. A slightly different consideration for them, though, as they are coastal and local to one another and (theoretically) could make up the contest.

I expect Furman and Colgate will make every effort to play the game. It wasn't but a few years ago that Furman played SCSU at home in a hurricane.

I think they are moving it. Most likely place is to Wofford, I think. Woffy is at Wyoming & the anklebiters AD is a bellhop alum.

You mean Citadel/CSU?

I thought you meant Furman/Colgate, which I couldn't figure out.

The CSU/Citadel game has been cancelled. The Campbell at Coastal game has been moved to Campbell. Kickoff is tomorrow at 2:00.

Granted, super unusual circumstances with the hurricane coming in, but think about this. An FBS school is giving up a home game to go play on the road at a Big South school at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday!!! So only 3 days between game days. Similar to the NFL's Sunday to Thursday turnaround.

I can't remember if they are eligible for bowls yet, but they must think they really need this win to get bowl eligible and are willing to do whatever it takes to play it.

Can you imagine one of the big boys giving up a home game to play on the road at a small school just to get in a game? It would never happen, but I would love to hear that conversation if for example the hurricane had been last week and farther to the south and Samford offered to host Florida State in Birmingham.

[Paul C]

The offshore betting sites have Furman a 4.5 pt favorite on Saturday.

O/U a relatively modest 47.5 points.

[gofurman]

The offshore betting sites have Furman a 4.5 pt favorite on Saturday.

O/U a relatively modest 47.5 points.

Take the under.. said representatives of BOTH teams - in all seriousness, it would take a score similar to 28 - 20 to eclipse that O/U. hmmm

[The Jackal]

COACHES POLL - another reason I really want to play Colgate - they are 25th now. Opportunity ~!

RANK SCHOOL POINTS PREVIOUS RECORD
1 North Dakota St. (25) 645 1 1-0
2 James Madison (1) 620 2 1-1
3 South Dakota St. 593 3 1-0
4 Sam Houston St. 540 4 1-0
5 Eastern Washington 539 5 2-0
6 North Carolina A&T 527 6 3-0
7 Wofford 488 7 2-0
8 Kennesaw St. 473 8 1-1
9 Samford 423 9 1-1
10 Villanova 419 11 2-0
11 Jacksonville St. 362 12 1-1
12 Nicholls 354 10 1-1
13 Weber St. 343 13 1-1
14 Elon 310 15 1-1
15 McNeese 298 14 2-0
16 Montana 259 16 2-0
17 Central Arkansas 239 17 1-1
T-18 Northern Iowa 184 18 0-1
T-18 Illinois St. 184 19 2-0
20 Maine 171 25 2-0
21 Stony Brook 106 23 1-1
22 Northern Arizona 92 20 1-1
23 Austin Peay 80 24 1-1
24 South Dakota 39 NR 1-1
25 Colgate 32 NR 2-0

Others receiving votes: UC Davis, 29; Rhode Island, 27; Furman, 17; New Hampshire, 11; Delaware, 10; Sacramento St., 8; Yale, 8; Southeastern Louisiana, 7; Western Carolina, 5; Monmouth (N.J.), 5; Montana St., 2; San Diego, 1.

Dropped Out: Furman (21), New Hampshire (22)

The fact we are still getting votes is remarkable ... and huge for us going forward if we can turn the ship around. Won't be hard to get back in the polls if we can rip off 3-4 wins in a row, which isn't unheard of with Colgate, ETSU and Western coming up next.

Why remarkable? We won 8 games last year, won on the road in the playoffs, and have played arguably the toughest opening schedule of any FCS team.

It's not shocking we are 0-2. It's surprising we looked that bad Saturday, but its not like we are in unchartered waters here. Beating Colgate will probably put us back in the top 25.

[gofurman]

"Beating Colgate will probably put us back in the top 25." - again, why I really want to play this game.


- Back to the logistics (this is just my hoping I guess) - I don't see why they couldn't play this game. Weather for game is big-time rain at worst, And Colgate could fly in a day early couldn't they ?

[fufanatic]

COACHES POLL - another reason I really want to play Colgate - they are 25th now. Opportunity ~!

RANK SCHOOL POINTS PREVIOUS RECORD
1 North Dakota St. (25) 645 1 1-0
2 James Madison (1) 620 2 1-1
3 South Dakota St. 593 3 1-0
4 Sam Houston St. 540 4 1-0
5 Eastern Washington 539 5 2-0
6 North Carolina A&T 527 6 3-0
7 Wofford 488 7 2-0
8 Kennesaw St. 473 8 1-1
9 Samford 423 9 1-1
10 Villanova 419 11 2-0
11 Jacksonville St. 362 12 1-1
12 Nicholls 354 10 1-1
13 Weber St. 343 13 1-1
14 Elon 310 15 1-1
15 McNeese 298 14 2-0
16 Montana 259 16 2-0
17 Central Arkansas 239 17 1-1
T-18 Northern Iowa 184 18 0-1
T-18 Illinois St. 184 19 2-0
20 Maine 171 25 2-0
21 Stony Brook 106 23 1-1
22 Northern Arizona 92 20 1-1
23 Austin Peay 80 24 1-1
24 South Dakota 39 NR 1-1
25 Colgate 32 NR 2-0

Others receiving votes: UC Davis, 29; Rhode Island, 27; Furman, 17; New Hampshire, 11; Delaware, 10; Sacramento St., 8; Yale, 8; Southeastern Louisiana, 7; Western Carolina, 5; Monmouth (N.J.), 5; Montana St., 2; San Diego, 1.

Dropped Out: Furman (21), New Hampshire (22)

The fact we are still getting votes is remarkable ... and huge for us going forward if we can turn the ship around. Won't be hard to get back in the polls if we can rip off 3-4 wins in a row, which isn't unheard of with Colgate, ETSU and Western coming up next.

Why remarkable? We won 8 games last year, won on the road in the playoffs, and have played arguably the toughest opening schedule of any FCS team.

It's not shocking we are 0-2. It's surprising we looked that bad Saturday, but its not like we are in unchartered waters here. Beating Colgate will probably put us back in the top 25.

We lost 45-7 as a low-ranked team and are 0-2. I get the scheduling point, I do, but it's not like we went on the road to NDSU or JMU or played two FBS teams. Elon is very good, and may end up being ranked alongside those elites, but for now they are 14 and moved up maybe 1 spot from last week? They are not getting a lot of respect yet. There's absolutely no reason to think we are a top 25 team other than looking at a previous year, which shouldn't come into play two weeks in.

Edited to say that I'm certainly not complaining, I'm glad we are still getting votes. Just very surprising that we are getting this much credit after one solid year and a disastrous start to the 2018 season.

[gofurman]

Very superficial scout.

Colgate is 2-0 having beaten' Holy Cross 24-17 and UNH 10-3.
The UNH win would be very good but they appear to be having big struggles there in New Hampshire.

They appear to run twice as much as they throw. Vs HC they (roughly) ran 40 times and threw 20 pass attempts.
Vs UNH the numbers were almost the same w roughly 20 pass attempts and. 40 rush attempts.

Seems they are like us in wanting to establish the run

The main man is the QB Breneman - both passing AND running.

Rushing they lean on two guys .. Sophomore QB Breneman (nbr 15) and Senior RB (nbr 2) Holland. Between them they carry the ball well over 50/60% of Colgates rushes

The passes often find their way to Owen Rockett a Senior WR #87. I would say they only have about ten completions per game but that's far more than us

I would love to see a very basic pass or two early just to get our QB feeling better about himself. Just a simple pass to the side. Even for a small gain but helps confidence and backs the D out of the box a little

people say our QBs are young and thus they don't have the accurate pass in the toolbox yet... I mean these are DIVISION ONE QBs and one is a R-FR who has been running plays on campus for a year already. Surely we can complete a few passes That said, I do realize there was v lil help last week from the OL / running game

[apaladin]

FU still coming in at #28 is a good example why being ranked in the pre-season is much better than not being ranked. Even us Furman fans going by what we have seen don't believe we are top 30 right now. If you do think this you are being overly optimistic. With that said if we are going to turn it around it needs to start this Saturday. People keep talking about the OL running game not helping the passing game but we ran for 195 yds. Saturday. I don't think we have even looked at throwing to the TE so far.

[The Jackal]

FU still coming in at #28 is a good example why being ranked in the pre-season is much better than not being ranked. Even us Furman fans going by what we have seen don't believe we are top 30 right now. If you do think this you are being overly optimistic. With that said if we are going to turn it around it needs to start this Saturday. People keep talking about the OL running game not helping the passing game but we ran for 195 yds. Saturday. I don't think we have even looked at throwing to the TE so far.

There is no point in overreacting to the Elon game. It was a bad game. That was our 15th or so game under Clay Hendrix and it was the first time we had a real head scratcher.

We have looked to the TE. Ryan Miller was targeted 3 times in the first quarter Saturday. Jake Walker once. So, that's four passes thrown to at the TE just in the first quarter of the Elon game.

Again, let's not overreact. If we play well Saturday, this Elon game will be forgotten.

[The Jackal]

I think Elon will be good prep for Colgate. They run a similar sort of offense and similar sort of defense. The QB is a read option run threat, and most of their offense runs through him.

Where Colgate seems most dangerous offensively is when the QB is given plenty of time to make his read in the option game. I think Furman is going to need to have big games from guys like Jaylan Reid, Chris Washington, Adrian Hope, etc. - guys that can be disruptors in the backfield.

[Paul C]

FU still coming in at #28 is a good example why being ranked in the pre-season is much better than not being ranked. Even us Furman fans going by what we have seen don't believe we are top 30 right now. If you do think this you are being overly optimistic. With that said if we are going to turn it around it needs to start this Saturday.

Totally agree.

In fact I'd go so far as to say Colgate is the perfect opponent for us right now, where we are. They are ranked so a win would be "visible", they are a team we have proven we can beat (although they might be a little better and more experienced since last year) and it's at home.

While there's no such thing as a must win non-conference game in September, this is about as close as it gets.

[gofurman]

FU still coming in at #28 is a good example why being ranked in the pre-season is much better than not being ranked. Even us Furman fans going by what we have seen don't believe we are top 30 right now. If you do think this you are being overly optimistic. With that said if we are going to turn it around it needs to start this Saturday.

Totally agree.

In fact I'd go so far as to say Colgate is the perfect opponent for us right now, where we are. They are ranked so a win would be "visible", they are a team we have proven we can beat (although they might be a little better and more experienced since last year) and it's at home.

While there's no such thing as a must win non-conference game in September, this is about as close as it gets.

100% agree w PaulC. No offense to Colgate but they are about the best - Not that they are easy, just maybe the easiest of those that are possible - of all the ranked opponents for us to play right now(which makes sense, they are 25th). So again, no offense to them. Just We have proven we can out-athlete them and won easily last year at their place.

That said, the QB maturation they have (returning sophomore who started last year like Elon has) and our brand-new QB with a revamped OL puts this in a different light...

DL would need to get in the backfield and in Breneman's grill all day.

[The Jackal]

Couple other thoughts watching a few highlights. Colgate has had strip sacks in the first two games. Elon managed one as well. Grainger is a tall guy with a long delivery. He's gotta know that the Colgate DL is coached to swat that ball out of his hands. We have been abysmal with ball security the first two games from our QBs. That has to be a point of emphasis this week.

Defensively, teams tend to pressure Colgate up the middle. They are not a pure drop back passing team, and often run with 5 OL and RBs in protection. I do not think their OL is going to be the caliber of Elon's. I think we will be able to pressure them, especially in more predictable down and distance. I think we are going to have opportunities to take calculated risks in pressuring the QB.

Also slightly beneficial, they will probably have a hard time replicating our offense in practice. I doubt Colgate sees a lot of three back looks, and they certainly haven't seen a Kealand Dirks yet. Offensively, Grainger is going have to make throws. We've got to force defenses to give us space and respect the passing game. Our offense isn't going to do much if teams can just stack the box and we can't make throws.

Like any other game, we need to tackle, possess the football, and limit stupid mistakes out there. Get in a rhythm early, get some swagger back, and get after them.