Incarnate Word

[FUBeAR]

Inconsiderate Words HC says he is Day-to-Day…

[tya1]

He is gone.

[FUBeAR]

Here’s the full game video of the game that Irreparable Wound lost to Southeastern Louisiana, Samford’s opponent this Saturday.

[gofurman]

When asked his thoughts on the game, CCH said "It isn't going to be 14-10."

No matter how well our D holds up, UIW is going to put up some points. Our O will have to be at its most productive to hang with them.

We can't take a knife to a gunfight. This one is likely to be a Wild West shootout.

I hope gofurman is very, very, VERY, skeered of The Word.

I am very, very, very skeered of UIW.

[The Jackal]

Here’s the full game video of the game that Irreparable Wound lost to Southeastern Louisiana, Samford’s opponent this Saturday.

It would seem SELA rolled out a pretty good blueprint, especially early in the game.

SELA ran the ball well all game and finished with close to 7 minutes more possession than UIW. They contained the run well, particularly early in the game. Looks like the Lions finished with roughly 7 minutes more of possession in spite of UIWs 28 first downs. The Cardinals move quick.

I think one of the core requirements defensively is stopping their run without committing more men to the box. Hendrix noted this in the press conference, but they are almost like an option team in their ability to always out number your defenders.

SELA appeared to leave six in the box and let the DBs handle the passing game instead of run support. I think our defense is well suited for that sort of game.

Scott is good at trying to manipulate the defense with pump fakes and hitting receivers deep. We have to be disciplined. We also have to get those guys on the ground. They have a lot of shifty runners that can get extra yards with broken tackles.

[FU Hoopla]

When asked his thoughts on the game, CCH said "It isn't going to be 14-10."

No matter how well our D holds up, UIW is going to put up some points. Our O will have to be at its most productive to hang with them.

We can't take a knife to a gunfight. This one is likely to be a Wild West shootout.

I hope gofurman is very, very, VERY, skeered of The Word.

I am very, very, very skeered of UIW.

[JohnKX512]

If we get up by more than a touchdown I think we control the game.

If we have to chase them, I like our second half stamina and still think we pull it off.

FU 35 Uiw 30

[AstroDin]

The bias is strong in FCS football against the SoCon currently. Based on the comments and disrespect on AGS and some FCS podcasters, you would think the SoCon is not much better than high school football.

We will see Saturday…

[gman84]

The bias is strong in FCS football against the SoCon currently. Based on the comments and disrespect on AGS and some FCS podcasters, you would think the SoCon is not much better than high school football.

We will see Saturday…

Yep. We have a golden opportunity to change things Saturday. Samford needs to do the same. The problem has been when you get 2 players vs 5 at the table every year with terrible draws the odds are not in your favor!

[The Jackal]

I'm just really intrigued by this "strength of schedule" angle.

UIW played Southeastern Louisiana on September 24 (the same weekend we played Charleston Southern). That was the last time UIW faced a team that finished with a winning record. Forget playoff team or bubble team. Winning record.

Over that same span, Furman has played five winning teams/playoff teams/playoff caliber teams (Samford, WCU, Mercer, UTC, and Elon).

As I see it, UIW hasn't played a single team as good as Furman in over two months.

In terms of FCS play, the best defense UIW has played in SELA's 40th ranked unit. Since playing SELA, the only defense UIW has played ranked in the top 100 is McNeese (84). In terms of scoring defense, McNeese is slightly better than Wofford and slightly worse than ETSU.

UIW has played 6 FCS teams after Southeastern Louisiana (and NAIA Faulkner, a tiny school in Montgomery). Of those 6 FCS teams, 4 of them (Northwestern State, Lamar, Houston Christian, and Nicholls) are among the worst defensive teams in the FCS. Again, all the numbers are relative, but 11 or 12 games in, they say something.

Furman comes in with the #6 ranked defense in the FCS. Admittedly, we haven't played UIW, but we've played some good offenses.

I'm interested to see that play out. UIW has been crushing teams this season, but you can make a pretty compelling argument that Furman is the best team UIW has seen this season, and it may not be particularly close. Maybe they are as elite as they look on paper. Maybe they've been running up big margins against bad teams. We'll see Saturday.

[The Jackal]

The bias is strong in FCS football against the SoCon currently. Based on the comments and disrespect on AGS and some FCS podcasters, you would think the SoCon is not much better than high school football.

We will see Saturday…

Said it a few weeks ago, but the SoCon needs to get in these games and show they are the better team and the strength of this conference.

On a positive note, whatever happens Saturday, I expect Furman will be highly ranked next season and be in a good spot to sort of benefit in the national conversation like some of these other schools.

[din23]

The bias is strong in FCS football against the SoCon currently. Based on the comments and disrespect on AGS and some FCS podcasters, you would think the SoCon is not much better than high school football.

We will see Saturday…

Said it a few weeks ago, but the SoCon needs to get in these games and show they are the better team and the strength of this conference.

On a positive note, whatever happens Saturday, I expect Furman will be highly ranked next season and be in a good spot to sort of benefit in the national conversation like some of these other schools.

Good point. We can talk all we want about strength of schedule or feeling slighted nationally, but to change the narrative we have to win the games in front of us.

[Davemeister]

I hope gofurman is very, very, VERY, skeered of The Word.

Needs to stay Old Testament focused this week then, don’t he?

Won't be able to avoid The (John 1:1) Word as theophanies abound in the OT from Genesis to the prophets. But being appropriately skeered is wise. (Prov. 9:10)

Amen.

Last week we defeated the Team Fomerly Known As The "Fighting Christians." This week we take on the "Fighting Catholics."

Remember, they have the Archdiocese of San Antonio behind them. That's a lot of rosary beads. We can't out-pray them, so we'll have to out-play them.

[FUBeAR]

You peeps saying we need to win this game to change the SoCon ‘narrative’ / respect level aren’t wrong, but Furman winning this game, and the next, and even the next 2 will be insufficient to change the narrative.

Already seeing MVFC, Big Sky, and CAA peeps/fans & some (allegedly) non-aligned pundits diminishing Furman’s domination of a now-elite WITHIN-the-CAA Elon Team… “Oh yeah, Elon’s just bad on the road.” “Elon’s OL/DL are the weakest in the CAA. They just caught Delaware/Richmond/W&M when they were down/hurt/napping/etc.” and on it goes ad infinitum.

Excuses, accommodations, and minimizations will be applied to any future Playoff wins by the Paladins. It’s guaranteed.

No…it will take multiple SoCon Teams getting multiple Playoff bids and winning multiple Playoff games, defeating consensus Top MVFC & Big Sky Teams (NDSU, SDSU, Montana, Montana State) in the Playoffs, over multiple Playoff years.

Not sure that CAN be accomplished within the current Playoff / Committee / Ranking structure. Sadly.

Sensing a broad-based push to make some structural changes soon - just an undercurrent at this point - hopefully to become a wave.

So…until then, all we can do is WIN … and, in our ‘travels,’ support FU & the SoCon as a whole. This ‘narrative’ that there is a “Power 3” (MVFC, Big Sky, and CAA) in FCS arose from Fans & (biased) pundits proliferating it. They’ve done a nice job. SoCon peeps have not. We can change that.

[The Jackal]

You peeps saying we need to win this game to change the SoCon ‘narrative’ / respect level aren’t wrong, but Furman winning this game, and the next, and even the next 2 will be insufficient to change the narrative.

Already seeing MVFC, Big Sky, and CAA peeps/fans & some (allegedly) non-aligned pundits diminishing Furman’s domination of a now-elite WITHIN-the-CAA Elon Team… “Oh yeah, Elon’s just bad on the road.” “Elon’s OL/DL are the weakest in the CAA. They just caught Delaware/Richmond/W&M when they were down/hurt/napping/etc.” and on it goes ad infinitum.

Excuses, accommodations, and minimizations will be applied to any future Playoff wins by the Paladins. It’s guaranteed.

No…it will take multiple SoCon Teams getting multiple Playoff bids and winning multiple Playoff games, defeating consensus Top MVFC & Big Sky Teams (NDSU, SDSU, Montana, Montana State) in the Playoffs, over multiple Playoff years.

Not sure that CAN be accomplished within the current Playoff / Committee / Ranking structure. Sadly.

Sensing a broad-based push to make some structural changes soon - just an undercurrent at this point - hopefully to become a wave.

So…until then, all we can do is WIN … and, in our ‘travels,’ support FU & the SoCon as a whole. This ‘narrative’ that there is a “Power 3” (MVFC, Big Sky, and CAA) in FCS arose from Fans & (biased) pundits proliferating it. They’ve done a nice job. SoCon peeps have not. We can change that.

I get it. At the same time, we've got some teams that need to start carrying some water.

Mercer and UTC had every opportunity to punch their ticket into the post season and, frankly, keep out the extra CAA or Big Sky teams. They didn't get it done.

We can get annoyed with all the Big Sky, CAA, MVFC teams crowing about their collective strength, but we had the chance to get four teams in and two of those teams tripped on their shoelaces.

We don't get to see whether Mercer would have beaten Richmond because they couldn't score from the 5 yard line on 6 tries. We don't know whether UTC would have dispatched Gardner Webb because they fell on their face in Cullowhee. At some juncture, you gotta do what it takes to finish the drill.