As we head into the meat of our SoCon schedule, I think it's time to assess the season this far - especially in light of some scores during our hiatus.
Game 1 CLEMSON - that says it all. Our defense played well for most of the first half. encouraging.
Game 2 - ELON - at the end of last season, Furman and Elon were two very evenly matched teams. Obviously, Elon has made a quantum jump. In beating James Madison this weekend, Elon is now clearly in the running for the national championship. FU, for the many reasons already discussed on this board, has not made that jump. Getting clobbered by Elon does not seem to be the disaster it appeared to be at the time. FU is simply not at their level as yet.
Game 3 - ETSU - turns out to be a pretty good team and yet we found a way to hand them a game we certainly should have won. Mistakes, poor pass defense, poor play calling, etc. allowed ETSU to steal a game from FU. All correctible on the part of our staff though. We made a senior QB who had lost his job to a freshman look like Tom Brady in the second half. wide open receivers- zero offensive effort by FU-
Game 4 - WCU - once again, easily could have been a great signature win for this young team. A porous pass defense was again a large factor in allowing WCU to come back against us but it was also a Western QB playing the game of his life. This week, WCU imploded against Samford in the 1st quarter and he was never a factor. Paladins showed some guts when WCU mounted a comeback and answered with a very timely score that insured the win. Good progress all around though. Offense looking much better against a poor defense.
Game 5 - Wofford is the best team in the league. …..but it is a typical Wofford team apparently. They run the ball and play solid defense. We usually defend the run option pretty well. Even last year they had to resort to throwing more than usual as I recall. Their short passes hurt us a great deal. It is likely to be their game plan once again. I think our defense will come up big against Wofford. They sure have plenty of incentive. The Furman offense has looked much better against lesser defenses in our last 2 games. Roberts does a nice job of running this offense. But the playbook needs to be fully open and stay open for FU to have a decent chance of scoring enough points to win. This game will likely determine our direction for the rest of this year. Win and we continue a quest for the league title. Lose and we likely use the balance of the season as a building year. I know that this is the game the kids have been pointing for and that incentive should play a big factor. We can win this one.
All in all, things are not as good as we expected this year....but they also are not nearly as bad as they appeared following the Elon blow out. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with airhead mistakes and missed assignments and play hard thru the entire game and this team can still have a very good season. We will know by Saturday evening.
Game 1 CLEMSON - that says it all. Our defense played well for most of the first half. encouraging.
Game 2 - ELON - at the end of last season, Furman and Elon were two very evenly matched teams. Obviously, Elon has made a quantum jump. In beating James Madison this weekend, Elon is now clearly in the running for the national championship. FU, for the many reasons already discussed on this board, has not made that jump. Getting clobbered by Elon does not seem to be the disaster it appeared to be at the time. FU is simply not at their level as yet.
Game 3 - ETSU - turns out to be a pretty good team and yet we found a way to hand them a game we certainly should have won. Mistakes, poor pass defense, poor play calling, etc. allowed ETSU to steal a game from FU. All correctible on the part of our staff though. We made a senior QB who had lost his job to a freshman look like Tom Brady in the second half. wide open receivers- zero offensive effort by FU-
Game 4 - WCU - once again, easily could have been a great signature win for this young team. A porous pass defense was again a large factor in allowing WCU to come back against us but it was also a Western QB playing the game of his life. This week, WCU imploded against Samford in the 1st quarter and he was never a factor. Paladins showed some guts when WCU mounted a comeback and answered with a very timely score that insured the win. Good progress all around though. Offense looking much better against a poor defense.
Game 5 - Wofford is the best team in the league. …..but it is a typical Wofford team apparently. They run the ball and play solid defense. We usually defend the run option pretty well. Even last year they had to resort to throwing more than usual as I recall. Their short passes hurt us a great deal. It is likely to be their game plan once again. I think our defense will come up big against Wofford. They sure have plenty of incentive. The Furman offense has looked much better against lesser defenses in our last 2 games. Roberts does a nice job of running this offense. But the playbook needs to be fully open and stay open for FU to have a decent chance of scoring enough points to win. This game will likely determine our direction for the rest of this year. Win and we continue a quest for the league title. Lose and we likely use the balance of the season as a building year. I know that this is the game the kids have been pointing for and that incentive should play a big factor. We can win this one.
All in all, things are not as good as we expected this year....but they also are not nearly as bad as they appeared following the Elon blow out. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with airhead mistakes and missed assignments and play hard thru the entire game and this team can still have a very good season. We will know by Saturday evening.
