Week 3

[cavedweller2]

Wofford up 14-10. 12:30 to go.

[cavedweller2]

Wofford up 14-10. 12:30 to go.

[apaladin]

Mercer beat Sammy 30-24. Wyoming scored a TD with 17 seconds left and beat Woffy 17-14. Thank goodness.

[Affirm]

Congratulations to Wofford for such a close game against Wyoming.
Congratulations to Mercer for beating Samford at Samford.

[fufanatic]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

[AstroDin]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Watched the game, Samford looked in trouble after Mercer's opening drive to tie the game. Riddle was hitting just about all of his passes and Samford looked unprepared — great offensive job by Mercer.

Back to Samford — they look very beatable.

[The Jackal]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Florida State is worse than people realize. Samford also had 4 extra days to prepare for FSU while the Noles played on Monday night and then again Saturday.

Samford is/was a weak front runner in the SoCon. They won a bunch last year, but also played a lot of close games. They aren't the 2004 GSU team or the 2007 App State team. They are arguably the best team in the conference, but not by much.

Mercer exposed Samford a bit. They dropped a bunch of guys in coverage and forced the Bulldogs to run the ball, which they struggled mightly to do. You could also see that the absences on Samford's defense (they lost a lot off last years' team) were apparent as Mercer moved the ball on them all game.

[gofurman]

If our offensive production stays at 7 per game, we won't beat either one of 'em.

I would venture to say we’ve faced the two best teams we’ll see all season.

Prolly so but we got crushed both games and didn't score until the fourth quarter when the game was long over. Not very encouraging, unlike last year.

There is caution in reading too much into a bad performance.

Furman gave a good account of themselves against Clemson. The result wasn’t great, but the effort was there.

I think we were all surprised by the Elon game. Sometimes you play a good team, have a few breaks go against you early, and simply never find your footing. We can fix fumbles.

Remember, last season Hendrix inherited a veteran QB and an all american center. Our offense is still really young - I think we start one senior and two juniors. Everyone else is freshmen or sophomores. They are going to have to grow up quickly.

I would caution we can PROBABLY fix fumbles. There are even NFL guys who are more prone to fumble than others their entire career. Some guys have inate ball
Security. Others struggle with it for quite a while

[gofurman]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Florida State is worse than people realize. Samford also had 4 extra days to prepare for FSU while the Noles played on Monday night and then again Saturday.

Samford is/was a weak front runner in the SoCon. They won a bunch last year, but also played a lot of close games. They aren't the 2004 GSU team or the 2007 App State team. They are arguably the best team in the conference, but not by much.

Mercer exposed Samford a bit. They dropped a bunch of guys in coverage and forced the Bulldogs to run the ball, which they struggled mightly to do. You could also see that the absences on Samford's defense (they lost a lot off last years' team) were apparent as Mercer moved the ball on them all game.

Last year I recall we dropped people in coverage and Samford shocked us by running for numerous yards on several plays and we didn’t look prepared for them to run. IE, we would rush 3 and drop 8 and Samford surprised us by gashing us with the run game ... something they weren’t known for doing but it worked Vs us in the final regular season game very well. Simple math. We assumed they would throw. We rushed 3/4 guys. They had 5 blockers and were more than willing to run for easy yards.

I hope Samford is lesser on D this year as last year they were one of the top 3 FCS front 7 we saw. Samford. Wofford. And Elon - those 3 Front 7 Gave us Real trouble last year. Esp Wofford in playoffs and Samford reg season. Those two shut us down pretty well. Right behind those 3 would be Mercer who we had to convert 4/4 first downs - we did ! - to win. But they did force us into several fourth downs.

[gofurman]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Watched the game, Samford looked in trouble after Mercer's opening drive to tie the game. Riddle was hitting just about all of his passes and Samford looked unprepared — great offensive job by Mercer.

Back to Samford — they look very beatable.

For another time ... but Mercer concerns me. Good team last year w - I THINK - a QB who returns for his sophomore year so he should Be vastly improved. Much like Elon at the QB spot. They Held us to numerous 4th downs last year.

[The Jackal]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Florida State is worse than people realize. Samford also had 4 extra days to prepare for FSU while the Noles played on Monday night and then again Saturday.

Samford is/was a weak front runner in the SoCon. They won a bunch last year, but also played a lot of close games. They aren't the 2004 GSU team or the 2007 App State team. They are arguably the best team in the conference, but not by much.

Mercer exposed Samford a bit. They dropped a bunch of guys in coverage and forced the Bulldogs to run the ball, which they struggled mightly to do. You could also see that the absences on Samford's defense (they lost a lot off last years' team) were apparent as Mercer moved the ball on them all game.

Last year I recall we dropped people in coverage and Samford shocked us by running for numerous yards on several plays and we didn’t look prepared for them to run. IE, we would rush 3 and drop 8 and Samford surprised us by gashing us with the run game ... something they weren’t known for doing but it worked Vs us in the final regular season game very well. Simple math. We assumed they would throw. We rushed 3/4 guys. They had 5 blockers and were more than willing to run for easy yards.

I hope Samford is lesser on D this year as last year they were one of the top 3 FCS front 7 we saw. Samford. Wofford. And Elon - those 3 Front 7 Gave us Real trouble last year. Esp Wofford in playoffs and Samford reg season. Those two shut us down pretty well. Right behind those 3 would be Mercer who we had to convert 4/4 first downs - we did ! - to win. But they did force us into several fourth downs.

Generally, Samford is going to put up yards. They would typically score 24-27 points. They did the same against Mercer.

I think the difference is what was concerning many Samford fans - their defense may have taken a significant step back. In much the same way Furman's offense has a lot of talented but untested players, Samford is in the same boat on defense.

[apaladin]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Sammy did what we have done a few time in the past. Get interest up, have a good crowd and then lay an egg so we can feel for them. They "announced" the attendance at 8,717 which is really hard to do in a 6,700 seat stadium and the visitors side very sparse with peeps, LOL. It did look like their side was pretty full which is unusual. Prolly closer to 5,500 actual peeps if I had to guess.

[FUBeAR]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Sammy did what we have done a few time in the past. Get interest up, have a good crowd and then lay an egg so we can feel for them. They "announced" the attendance at 8,717 which is really hard to do in a 6,700 seat stadium and the visitors side very sparse with peeps, LOL. It did look like their side was pretty full which is unusual. Prolly closer to 5,500 actual peeps if I had to guess.

I was there.

Both sides were pretty much full with overflow(s) of people standing behind the seats and on the various hills they have there. Whether or not that added up to 2,017 additional people, I don't know.

After halftime, the Visitor's side was almost empty except for Samford's Band and Mercer's Fans. The home side was about 1/2 to 1/3 full. I would estimate 75-80% of the total attendance (whatever it actually was) did not return after halftime.

It was Family Day, which means lots of Tailgating on their Quad (which is kind of a mini-version of The Grove at Ole Miss, if you let your aspirational imagination run free) as well as Frat/Sorority Events with Families attending scheduled for the afternoon. Also, Auburn and LSU were playing a very tight game and Bama was gonna kick off @ Ole Miss soon after. Finally, it was well over 90 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. IT WAS HOT! TV's with SEC Football and cold beverages at their Frat's Tailgate on the Quad with their Families in tow was, most likely, more appealing than returning to watch an exciting 2nd half of Football.

I doubt whatever was occurring on the field would have had any impact on the decision to stay or go for 99% of the people that departed.

[FUBeAR]

How Samford could go on the road and almost beat Florida State (who is awful but still) and then lose at home the next week is beyond me. We aren’t in great shape either, but i would be losing my mind if i was a Samford fan.

Florida State is worse than people realize. Samford also had 4 extra days to prepare for FSU while the Noles played on Monday night and then again Saturday.

Samford is/was a weak front runner in the SoCon. They won a bunch last year, but also played a lot of close games. They aren't the 2004 GSU team or the 2007 App State team. They are arguably the best team in the conference, but not by much.

Mercer exposed Samford a bit. They dropped a bunch of guys in coverage and forced the Bulldogs to run the ball, which they struggled mightly to do. You could also see that the absences on Samford's defense (they lost a lot off last years' team) were apparent as Mercer moved the ball on them all game.

Last year I recall we dropped people in coverage and Samford shocked us by running for numerous yards on several plays and we didn’t look prepared for them to run. IE, we would rush 3 and drop 8 and Samford surprised us by gashing us with the run game ... something they weren’t known for doing but it worked Vs us in the final regular season game very well. Simple math. We assumed they would throw. We rushed 3/4 guys. They had 5 blockers and were more than willing to run for easy yards.

I hope Samford is lesser on D this year as last year they were one of the top 3 FCS front 7 we saw. Samford. Wofford. And Elon - those 3 Front 7 Gave us Real trouble last year. Esp Wofford in playoffs and Samford reg season. Those two shut us down pretty well. Right behind those 3 would be Mercer who we had to convert 4/4 first downs - we did ! - to win. But they did force us into several fourth downs.

Generally, Samford is going to put up yards. They would typically score 24-27 points. They did the same against Mercer.

I think the difference is what was concerning many Samford fans - their defense may have taken a significant step back. In much the same way Furman's offense has a lot of talented but untested players, Samford is in the same boat on defense.

Not to take anything away from a fine game by Mercer - the 'cleanest' game they have played since their PFL days, but Samford was really short-handed on D.

They have an outstanding CB in Glass, #31. Their other CB position is currently named By Committee and Mr. Committee is just not very good. They have 2 Starting Safeties out, Freeman, #10 and Pettway, #41. Freeman was their INT leader in 2017 and Pettway is a 6th Year R-SR, who has been a regular for years.

Upfront, their returning SoCon DPOY, DE Gooden, did not play in the 1st half because of a targeting penalty at FSU. When he came in the 2nd half...he didn't seem to be playing with the 'fire' that he usually does. 2 LB's are new starters, I think, and they are good, but 'new.' The 3rd LB, Stark, played much less than his backup, East (a FR) did yesterday, so I'm thinking there is an injury there too.

Mercer exploited all of this and played a fairly clean game on O - by 'clean' I mean not a lot of crushing mistakes. They ran the ball effectively and completed passes to 9 different receivers throwing to all 'sectors' of the field. Very tough for a banged-up and young D to stop that kind of offense.

Same on D actually. I counted 1 missed tackle all day and that was by one of Mercer's best Players. Pretty good performance, against those shifty WR's and RB's from Samford, by a Defense that has previously been characterized by some in language that would have one believing the descriptor was watching an episode of the Keystone Kops instead of a Football game. Mercer is talented, very deep, and well-Coached on Defense - for the most part. In the Secondary, they are a little thin, a little young, and have some Players that need to continue improving, but if they do that and don't have the kind of issues that Samford has, they will be quite formidable down the stretch.