Mercer - Sep. 23

[The Jackal]

Surprised by the late first half Time Out. Definitely not something Dick Sheridan was known for. It backfired but Hendrix was going for the early killshot. Very aggresive move.

It COULD have been a good call if we had not gone into a prevent defense that just gives teams 15-20 yards if they can throw it and catch it. That call was worse than the timeout. On that 3rd down pass, their receiver caught the ball wide open 20 yards downfield and ran another 15 yards before anyone got close,

I don't believe Furman was in "prevent." Why would Furman call a time out and then just let Mercer throw the ball where they wanted and get in scoring position?

Mercer executed well on that final drive. Furman did not. Sometimes it's not deeper than that.

Honestly, watching the tape again, Mercer appeared to run the same play on both long throws to James that drive. Mercer found good matchups, executed the play, read the coverage, and made good throws. Sometimes that's all it is.

['Din Djarin]

You can call Furman "Dr. Dre" because they smoked the Cronic on Saturday.

[Jasper]

Surprised by the late first half Time Out. Definitely not something Dick Sheridan was known for. It backfired but Hendrix was going for the early killshot. Very aggresive move.

It COULD have been a good call if we had not gone into a prevent defense that just gives teams 15-20 yards if they can throw it and catch it. That call was worse than the timeout. On that 3rd down pass, their receiver caught the ball wide open 20 yards downfield and ran another 15 yards before anyone got close,

I don't believe Furman was in "prevent." Why would Furman call a time out and then just let Mercer throw the ball where they wanted and get in scoring position?

Mercer executed well on that final drive. Furman did not. Sometimes it's not deeper than that.

Honestly, watching the tape again, Mercer appeared to run the same play on both long throws to James that drive. Mercer found good matchups, executed the play, read the coverage, and made good throws. Sometimes that's all it is.

The Furman D held Mercer scoreless fir 29 mins and 30 seconds of the first half. Then they clearly changed that defense to whatever you want to call it but is commonly known as a “prevent” defense. As usual most offenses immediately march right down the field and Mercer was no exception. It’s that simple

[The Jackal]

Surprised by the late first half Time Out. Definitely not something Dick Sheridan was known for. It backfired but Hendrix was going for the early killshot. Very aggresive move.

It COULD have been a good call if we had not gone into a prevent defense that just gives teams 15-20 yards if they can throw it and catch it. That call was worse than the timeout. On that 3rd down pass, their receiver caught the ball wide open 20 yards downfield and ran another 15 yards before anyone got close,

I don't believe Furman was in "prevent." Why would Furman call a time out and then just let Mercer throw the ball where they wanted and get in scoring position?

Mercer executed well on that final drive. Furman did not. Sometimes it's not deeper than that.

Honestly, watching the tape again, Mercer appeared to run the same play on both long throws to James that drive. Mercer found good matchups, executed the play, read the coverage, and made good throws. Sometimes that's all it is.

The Furman D held Mercer scoreless fir 29 mins and 30 seconds of the first half. Then they clearly changed that defense to whatever you want to call it but is commonly known as a “prevent” defense. As usual most offenses immediately march right down the field and Mercer was no exception. It’s that simple

So, Furman called a time out to stop the clock only to run a defense designed to let Mercer run the clock.

Got it.

I suppose we are moving in the right direction when Furman dominates a Top 25 team and the perpetually dissatisfied posters on here can only gripe about one drive.

[Purple rain]

Saturday was a great win for Furman. We are a really physical football team. Mercer has a good football team. I look forward to what this crowd can be going forward. I am glad we got the off week now, get healed up a bit before we start the long So Con march. The top notch recruiting will pay dividends for us. We have many young guys that can play as well. That was a great Din-- Win!

[The Jackal]

Saturday was a great win for Furman. We are a really physical football team. Mercer has a good football team. I look forward to what this crowd can be going forward. I am glad we got the off week now, get healed up a bit before we start the long So Con march. The top notch recruiting will pay dividends for us. We have many young guys that can play as well. That was a great Din-- Win!

We're averaging around 33 points per game and put up a strong offensive showing against one of the better SoCon defenses. Those are all positive things.

[gman84]

This game was won in the trenches. Can't say enough how important it is to have #55 back!! I know we gave up a couple of chunk plays that some are very focused on, but how about the number of short yardage drive stops made. Mercer is a solid well coached team that we may see again. I never felt that we lost control of this game. When we needed to slam the door we did.

[FUBeAR]

Surprised by the late first half Time Out. Definitely not something Dick Sheridan was known for. It backfired but Hendrix was going for the early killshot. Very aggresive move.

It COULD have been a good call if we had not gone into a prevent defense that just gives teams 15-20 yards if they can throw it and catch it. That call was worse than the timeout. On that 3rd down pass, their receiver caught the ball wide open 20 yards downfield and ran another 15 yards before anyone got close,

I don't believe Furman was in "prevent." Why would Furman call a time out and then just let Mercer throw the ball where they wanted and get in scoring position?

Mercer executed well on that final drive. Furman did not. Sometimes it's not deeper than that.

Honestly, watching the tape again, Mercer appeared to run the same play on both long throws to James that drive. Mercer found good matchups, executed the play, read the coverage, and made good throws. Sometimes that's all it is.

The Furman D held Mercer scoreless fir 29 mins and 30 seconds of the first half. Then they clearly changed that defense to whatever you want to call it but is commonly known as a “prevent” defense. As usual most offenses immediately march right down the field and Mercer was no exception. It’s that simple

FUBeAR is no mathematricianist...but it looked to FUBeAR that on both of the 2 long pass plays to end the 1st half, Furman was in their base defense with Cally Chizik (5-9 183) in @ Spur...which FUBeAR thinks is a fairly slight tilt toward nickel coverage 4-2-5 vs. when Jalen Miller (5-11 211) is in @ Spur...which tilts slightly toward 4-3-4, IFBO.

Coverage appeared to be a version of what FUBeAR would call Cover 1 - Man Free - CB's in Man on 2 outside Retrievers. Spur/Nickel in Man on 2nd Retriever on his side with the LB's in Man on the other 2 eligible Retrievers, depending upon where they line up (RB/TE, etc.). Asking a lot of an Inside LB to Man up on a Slot WR (such as #1 Devron Harper)...but the 2 Safeties appear to be "Free" to bracket (help the assigned defender) the 1st Deep Retriever on their side of the field - so FUBeAR is gonna call it Man Free Free. We rushed 4.

So - FUBeAR would not call this a "Prevent Defense" by any means. There are nods to expecting a Pass (Chizik for Miller) and there is a theoretical capability to 'prevent' the Deep ball with the 2 Safeties being Free and 'helping,' but rushing 4 and playing Man Coverage is antithetical to what we think of as Prevent Defense - Rush 3, maybe 2 - Sub out a(nother) LB and be in Dime (6 DB's) formation with Zone Coverage assignments.

To put it real simply...An All-American WR beat one of our CB's in Man coverage 2x in our Base Nickel D with "Man Free Free" coverage. Mercer's OL provided just enough protection to get the ball off and Mercer's QB put it where it could be caught 2x.

TBH - maybe we shoulda been in Prevent D....but FUBeAR is no mathematricianist.

[tim]

Yeah, a prevent might have prevented the td or forced a fg attempt.

[The Jackal]

Surprised by the late first half Time Out. Definitely not something Dick Sheridan was known for. It backfired but Hendrix was going for the early killshot. Very aggresive move.

It COULD have been a good call if we had not gone into a prevent defense that just gives teams 15-20 yards if they can throw it and catch it. That call was worse than the timeout. On that 3rd down pass, their receiver caught the ball wide open 20 yards downfield and ran another 15 yards before anyone got close,

I don't believe Furman was in "prevent." Why would Furman call a time out and then just let Mercer throw the ball where they wanted and get in scoring position?

Mercer executed well on that final drive. Furman did not. Sometimes it's not deeper than that.

Honestly, watching the tape again, Mercer appeared to run the same play on both long throws to James that drive. Mercer found good matchups, executed the play, read the coverage, and made good throws. Sometimes that's all it is.

The Furman D held Mercer scoreless fir 29 mins and 30 seconds of the first half. Then they clearly changed that defense to whatever you want to call it but is commonly known as a “prevent” defense. As usual most offenses immediately march right down the field and Mercer was no exception. It’s that simple

FUBeAR is no mathematricianist...but it looked to FUBeAR that on both of the 2 long pass plays to end the 1st half, Furman was in their base defense with Cally Chizik (5-9 183) in @ Spur...which FUBeAR thinks is a fairly slight tilt toward nickel coverage 4-2-5 vs. when Jalen Miller (5-11 211) is in @ Spur...which tilts slightly toward 4-3-4, IFBO.

Coverage appeared to be a version of what FUBeAR would call Cover 1 - Man Free - CB's in Man on 2 outside Retrievers. Spur/Nickel in Man on 2nd Retriever on his side with the LB's in Man on the other 2 eligible Retrievers, depending upon where they line up (RB/TE, etc.). Asking a lot of an Inside LB to Man up on a Slot WR (such as #1 Devron Harper)...but the 2 Safeties appear to be "Free" to bracket (help the assigned defender) the 1st Deep Retriever on their side of the field - so FUBeAR is gonna call it Man Free Free. We rushed 4.

So - FUBeAR would not call this a "Prevent Defense" by any means. There are nods to expecting a Pass (Chizik for Miller) and there is a theoretical capability to 'prevent' the Deep ball with the 2 Safeties being Free and 'helping,' but rushing 4 and playing Man Coverage is antithetical to what we think of as Prevent Defense - Rush 3, maybe 2 - Sub out a(nother) LB and be in Dime (6 DB's) formation with Zone Coverage assignments.

To put it real simply...An All-American WR beat one of our CB's in Man coverage 2x in our Base Nickel D with Man Free Free coverage. Mercer's OL provided just enough protection to get the ball off and Mercer's QB put it where it could be caught 2x.

TBH - maybe we should have been in Prevent D....but FUBeAR is no mathematricianist.

This is just my uneducated take on this:

Furman has been susceptible to downfield passes, particularly on deep crossing routes. A few times, our man coverage defenders get caught up in traffic as receivers are crossing the field and lose their man.

It feels like Furman was trying to address this problem against Mercer by using the linebackers/SPUR to re-route/prevent Mercer receivers from crossing the field.

A number of times, especially when Mercer would show two receivers to the same side of the field, Furman's linebackers would turn their back to the QB and ensure that no Bear receivers were running unimpeded across the field.

Gilby, here, opens up and shoves the Mercer receiver before he gets into his break across the field.

Here, both SPUR and ILB turn their back to the QB and look to be in man coverage bracketing the receivers from running across the field.

Same.

It's hard to know exactly what we are doing coverage wise without seeing the safeties, but I'm guessing you are correct as to cover 1 with the other safety rotating to a pre-determined strength of the field.

Mercer had some pass plays, but outside of the one throw before the half, really weren't able to hit the big strike that Furman has been susceptible to. Most/all of the Bears success in the passing game was to the sideline, not deep launches to crossing receivers.

Of course, I could be totally wrong.

[gman84]

Mercer's first TD pass is a great job by Peevy. At the snap he is looking left and our db bites, he is beat at the snap and can never recover. A mental error which is fixable.

[The Jackal]

Mercer's first TD pass is a great job by Peevy. At the snap he is looking left and our db bites, he is beat at the snap and can never recover. A mental error which is fixable.

I think our fans sometimes forget that the other team has D1 athletes and coaches too. Mercer didn't show up to say "wow these guys are good" and get back on the bus.

Furman isn't playing straw men stuffed into football uniforms. They're playing a top 25 FCS team that's had two weeks to prepare for us.

[apaladin]

Good to see the refs mics working properly. How did you like the portable video screen? My daughter that usually goes to a game or 2 a year said with all the money FU has spent on upgrading the stadium they really need to spend some money on a new video/scoreboard.

[Furman Sports Report]

Should be noted - since I failed to in my story - that Furman's defense did what it did Saturday without the services of Hugh Ryan for all but about two or three plays. Not sure Peevy has the same kind of day running-wise if Ryan is out there, which is to take nothing away from Jack Rhodes who played great.

Mercer gained 154 yards on those two drives sandwiched around halftime. It gained 16 over the rest of the game.

[FUBeAR]

Should be noted - since I failed to in my story - that Furman's defense did what it did Saturday without the services of Hugh Ryan for all but about two or three plays. Not sure Peevy has the same kind of day running-wise if Ryan is out there, which is to take nothing away from Jack Rhodes who played great.

Mercer gained 154 yards on those two drives sandwiched around halftime. It gained 16 over the rest of the game.

Ryan played a bit more than that. Noticed live that he wasn't out there much, so wanted to see what happened and iso'd on him watching Replay last night...

He played all of Mercer's 1st drive - including the tipped/blocked missed FG, but believe he did get nicked a couple of plays before that...on this play...

2nd and 15 at FUR20 No Huddle-Shotgun Peevy,Carter pass incomplete short middle to James,Ty broken up by Brinson,Kam.


Looked like 'friendly fire' - Brinson's hip caught him flush on the upper, upper left thigh - the part that is also kinda the hip - lots of soft tissue in there and can hurt like holy heck when its gets contused. As noted, he stayed in for the next play and for the FG block. Then he was out...so figured he didn't return...but saw him in there later (on the replay)....he went back in for Mercer’s next-to-last possession of the 1st half. It was a 3 and out and he stayed for those 3 plays + the punt return - guessing he went back in to see if he could go ... and found he couldn't ... so....he played 16 plays by FUBeAR’s count (14 scrimmage plays + 1 FG + 1 Punt) - all in the 1st half. Rhodes played the other 37 or so plays at that Safety spot.

Bye will help him get healed up - and maybe CIT game - if it's deep tissue stuff in that spot, it could take a few weeks before he's back to 100%


Also - though FUBeAR is no mathematricianist, he thinks those calculations aren't quite accurate...

Mercer Drives
Team Qtr. Drive Started Drive Ended Consumed
Spot Time Obtained Spot Time How Lost Plays-Yds. TOP
MER 1st MER20 11:28 PUNT FUR21 07:26 FGA 11-59 04:02
MER 1st MER23 04:55 PUNT FUR44 01:26 PUNT 5-33 03:29
MER 2nd MER25 11:37 KO MER30 09:28 PUNT 3-5 02:09
MER 2nd MER25 04:12 KO MER34 02:13 PUNT 3-9 01:59
MER 2nd MER25 01:18 KO FUR0 00:07 TD 5-75 01:11
MER 3rd MER26 14:55 KO FUR0 08:02 TD 11-74 06:53
MER 3rd MER25 00:53 KO MER21 14:09 PUNT 3-(-4) 01:44
MER 4th MER19 11:05 KO MER28 09:38 DOWNS 4-9 01:27
MER 4th MER25 08:04 KO MER33 06:24 DOWNS 4-8 01:40
MER 4th MER32 04:51 DOWNS FUR50 03:23 DOWNS 4-18 01:28

59+33+5+9+(-4)+9+8+18 = 137 yards "rest of game" + 75+74 = 149 yards (2 ‘halftime sandwich’ drives) = 137+149 = 286 yards ... Team Stats show 267 ... not sure how those 19 yards bled off...but the Bears certainly gained more than 16 yards on their 8 other possessions.