.

[FU Hoopla]

Now starts no more losing..........

[Jasper]

Furman does not defend against the long pass well for one simple reason in my opinion. We just don't have the high quality DB's necessary to do so. That position is the most difficult to recruit of all. There are just not enough players available with the size, speed and athleticism required to defend against modern receivers. The Gamecock passing game was very hot last night without the pass rush they experienced against North Carolina. Our kids got beaten on the patterns, the ball was delivered incredibly accurately, and they caught everything near them. We will not face that level of passing attack again this year. However, our vulnerability to the long ball will certainly be noticed and we can expect Western Carolina, Samford and Mercer, etc. to try to exploit it. We cannot give them the time the SC passers had all night. The last 2 minutes of the first half changed the game last night. We got some bad calls and played poorly in that stretch. Eliminate that and we go into halftime tied at 14. Whole different scenario. Furman is good and will be getting better. Lots of positives from last night as well as the obvious vulnerability.

[The Jackal]

Just some observations:

1. Per usual, these money games have to be viewed through the proper lens. We played a night game on the road in an SEC stadium. USC has athletes we simply aren't going to see in SoCon or FCS play.

2. Offensively, I thought we looked more creative than in the TTU game. We threw some nice wrinkles and, at times, moved the ball well on South Carolina. We had some misfires in the passing game, but those seemed to be throws under pressure.

3. Joshua Harris still looks like he's going to be a real difficult matchup in SoCon/FCS play. Great hands. Hard to cover 1 on 1.

4. Colton Hinton again shows why he's getting a lot of looks as a true freshman. He's a fast, shifty runner and has really shown to be dangerous when Furman tries to quickly get him the ball in space. He'll only get better.

5. Defensively, we had our moments. We did well against their run game - their leading rusher had 42 yards on 11 carries. Obviously, we got beat a few times downfield. Some of that, I think was playing against superior athletes. We aren't going to see a lot of 6'3 230 lbs WRs with sprinter speed in SoCon play. To their credit, they had big physical pass catchers and a QB that delivers the ball on time and on target. That's hard to defend. Need to clean it up, though, because you know there are teams in the SoCon that are going to attack us down the field.

6. I loved the WR pass at the beginning of the game. That's one more thing for defenses to worry about against us.

7. We did well discipline-wise for the most part. Despite the sell out crowd, we had very few procedure penalties. We had very few penalties generally, and some of the ones we did have were pretty ticky tack.

We knew it was a big hill to climb to get a win yesterday. We didn't play as well as we needed to. I think there are some positive takeaways, though.

Have to get the win at Kennesaw next week as we turn to the meat of the schedule.

[Afurmanfan]

We just played against one of the top 5 qbs in the country period. He has a receivers ,such as Leggette who are 6-3 240 pounds, who are athletes. They threw some perfect passes and beat us. They often struggled running the ball against us. There is a big gap between the FCS talent pool and the SEC, and it showed particularly in the passing game. We hit them hard, played physical and never quit.
We are going to be fine.

[The Jackal]

Furman does not defend against the long pass well for one simple reason in my opinion. We just don't have the high quality DB's necessary to do so. That position is the most difficult to recruit of all. There are just not enough players available with the size, speed and athleticism required to defend against modern receivers. The Gamecock passing game was very hot last night without the pass rush they experienced against North Carolina. Our kids got beaten on the patterns, the ball was delivered incredibly accurately, and they caught everything near them. We will not face that level of passing attack again this year. However, our vulnerability to the long ball will certainly be noticed and we can expect Western Carolina, Samford and Mercer, etc. to try to exploit it. We cannot give them the time the SC passers had all night. The last 2 minutes of the first half changed the game last night. We got some bad calls and played poorly in that stretch. Eliminate that and we go into halftime tied at 14. Whole different scenario. Furman is good and will be getting better. Lots of positives from last night as well as the obvious vulnerability.

I agree with some of this, but I don't think that it is entirely fair.

Our DBs are largely very good in run support, which is an often forgotten aspect of playing defensive back. USC had little success with their quick edge game. Our DBs came up, worked through blocks, funneled the receivers back to the middle of the defense, and made tackles. Even with the size disadvantage on the edge, I can remember very few, if any, missed tackles.

We didn't get much pressure up front last night. We didn't blitz a ton and played zone coverage most of the night. Rattler picked us apart.

I think we as fans tend to remember the bad performances, but not the good performances. We harp on the WCU game last season, but forget the other games where our pass defense largely played well.

Yes, we sometimes give up some big pass plays. Those stick in our memory, in my opinion, because they are "big plays." However, our DBs largely play well most games. They are a physical group. They'll hit you. Personally, I'd rather have our defensive backfield than any other group in the Southern Conference or probably the FCS.

[Davemeister]

We will not face that level of passing attack again this year. However, our vulnerability to the long ball will certainly be noticed and we can expect Western Carolina, Samford and Mercer, etc. to try to exploit it.

Our Pass D vs. Carolina looked a lot like it did in the 4th Quarter of the WCU game last season. That scares me more than anything else I saw last night. We won't face another QB like Rattler this year but there are at least 2 SoCon QBs capable of eating our lunch.

[Davemeister]

We’re getting out asses handed to us by an SEC team that’s supposed to beat our ass. Also Beamer is a damn good coach imo.

Beamer may be on the hot seat in. A few weeks.

Don't think so. U of SC probably can't afford to buy out another HC contract.

[AstroDin]

Whew! That ride home was rough last night!

Comparing the first two games last year to this year is apples to oranges.
But if that makes you feel better, go for it.

What are some positives?

Thanks to my brother-in-law, I sat in the Gamecock Club lower bowl on the 30-yard line surrounded by season ticket holders. Several of the fans sitting next to me asked which Furman game they should come to see. They lived in Simpsonville and were impressed enough to tell me they underestimated Furman and wanted to see them play at Furman.

Onto the offense, I'm pretty sure that Furman played the entire season without a 'starting' lineman missing a game last year. It looks like we won't see Johanning until Mercer at the soonest, and I'd expect Fred to be back for KSU. The oline, with several new players getting major PT, needs some time to gel. Anyway, I expect better play from here on out.

Our younger players were impressive.

Carson Jones looked more than ready for the moment. I thought Jones showed poise, and I like his passing.
Smith should, and I bet will get more PT. Jayquan Smith has that little bit of extra. Smith runs hard and has a nice quick burst.

Talk about a little bit of extra. Colton Hinton. Hinton is going to be a weapon. It's not easy to out-quick an SEC defense. Hinton has legit speed, and I'll say it again: he's got moxie. I think our receiving corps of Harris, Dean, Shiflett, Ferguson, Anderson, and Hinton will be a tough matchup in SoCon play.

One more youngster that needs kudo. Congrats to Brock Chappell on his first touchdown catch. For a big dude (6-5 240) Chappell runs very well.

Defensively, we could not put pressure on the Gamecock QBs. I'm not going to overreact to that performance.
I am curious to see what Furman does with DiMaggio. We played a good bit with Gilby and DiMaggio as our linebacker duo. DiMaggio brings a lot of physicality to the defense. This is the second game where Evan has shown the ability to make a difference for Furman.

My positive takeaway for our defensive backfield is, at times, we played very physically, getting off those receiver blocks.

[The Jackal]

I thought we laid the wood to them a few times on the defensive side of the ball. DiMaggio runs around out there like he wants to hurt someone.

[The Jackal]

It would seem that Furman is willing to burn the redshirts on both Chappell and Hinton.

I'm not sure what the overall status of Wayne Anderson is. He had one carry yesterday and looked good. Even if he returns full speed, I still think Furman is going to keep getting Hinton involved both on offense and special teams.

Chappell is a big body that moves pretty well. It wouldn't surprise me to see Furman start putting in 3TE sets if he continues to develop.

[The Jackal]

I take it back, we were already using 3TEs.

Roberto's touchdown run is at 3:15. Huff under center. NG Sirod Cook at FB. Gissinger motioning in the backfield. Pline in line to the left. Chappell in line to the right.

So, Roberto (231) running behind Cook (288), running behind Gissinger (240), running behind Toomey (295) and Pline (260). Buckle your chinstrap.

[sluggo]

It was worth it to be there.

I hated seeing our DB's get beat so bad on deep passes; but other than that, some decent football was played.
The reason we want to beat Carolina so bad is because they are a massively strong program.
The outcome of the contest was predictable.

I have to give Carolina fans their props, they make the house explode and create that "college football atmosphere".
We focus on winning so much that we forget to enjoy the spectacle of college football with bands, cheerleaders,
flyovers, fireworks and and hot ladies in short pants! Whoooooo Hoooooooo!!!!

College football is great; don't forget to enjoy the spectacle.

[din23]

One of the main reasons we kept getting beat deep was that we couldn’t get any pressure on Rattler all night. He had forever to let plays develop and give receivers a chance to keep running around until one got free. That was disappointing.

The best thing Carolina did for us was to hand off and to pass horizontally. Once they started going vertical, we were toast.

[furpep]

Just some observations:

1. Per usual, these money games have to be viewed through the proper lens. We played a night game on the road in an SEC stadium. USC has athletes we simply aren't going to see in SoCon or FCS play.

2. Offensively, I thought we looked more creative than in the TTU game. We threw some nice wrinkles and, at times, moved the ball well on South Carolina. We had some misfires in the passing game, but those seemed to be throws under pressure.

3. Joshua Harris still looks like he's going to be a real difficult matchup in SoCon/FCS play. Great hands. Hard to cover 1 on 1.

4. Colton Hinton again shows why he's getting a lot of looks as a true freshman. He's a fast, shifty runner and has really shown to be dangerous when Furman tries to quickly get him the ball in space. He'll only get better.

5. Defensively, we had our moments. We did well against their run game - their leading rusher had 42 yards on 11 carries. Obviously, we got beat a few times downfield. Some of that, I think was playing against superior athletes. We aren't going to see a lot of 6'3 230 lbs WRs with sprinter speed in SoCon play. To their credit, they had big physical pass catchers and a QB that delivers the ball on time and on target. That's hard to defend. Need to clean it up, though, because you know there are teams in the SoCon that are going to attack us down the field.

6. I loved the WR pass at the beginning of the game. That's one more thing for defenses to worry about against us.

7. We did well discipline-wise for the most part. Despite the sell out crowd, we had very few procedure penalties. We had very few penalties generally, and some of the ones we did have were pretty ticky tack.

We knew it was a big hill to climb to get a win yesterday. We didn't play as well as we needed to. I think there are some positive takeaways, though.

Have to get the win at Kennesaw next week as we turn to the meat of the schedule.

I agree. They came in waves of talented tall, fast and large players. Pretty much played hurry-up offense that worse us down. DB's are always an issue although this group may be good for FCS level. I was proud of them. Watched the first half. With 3-4 minutes left in the half the game changed with some very typical SEC referee rulings. I swore we got a first down in that last drive, but even if not the ball spotting was poor and that happened more than once. Was it a rout as the Greenville and The State headlines blared - not at all. Tough, hard-nosed game with an expected outcome. Ask Beamer how he felt with 4 minutes left in first half. To be honest we outplayed USC in that half and then wore down and could get ZERO pressure on the QB. Nothing to be ashamed about, a very good effort and that bodes well for our SoCon play.

[Sad Din]

Sorry if already said. Proud of the way Dins played during the competitive part of the game. Silenced the crowd early and thats always fun to see

Obviously end of 2nd qtr was a back breaker. instead of going in 14-14 with positive vibes, complete opposite

Not getting 1st down by inches was crucial

Chickens could not run the ball. They used the best weapons they had.. 2 potential NFL guys - QB and Rcvr to go deep

Refs didnt help... even announcers joked that "that might have been a liittle push off" There were 3 of them in crucial plays

Chickens were going to win anyway

Game is over. The $500k check has already been deposited. On to the next!