SoCon Week 5

[FU Hoopla]

FU @ WCU tix (week 8):
https://wcuathleticstickets.universityt ... 3009d8eeeb

[apaladin]

FU @ WCU tix (week 8):
https://wcuathleticstickets.universityt ... 3009d8eeeb

Apparently nothing afailable to general public.

[Roundball]

FU @ WCU tix (week 8):
https://wcuathleticstickets.universityt ... 3009d8eeeb

Apparently nothing afailable to general public.

I just checked. There are plenty of seats available to the general public.

[wcugrad95]

The WCU vs Furman game comes on the tail-end of Western's Fall Break. I am not sure how many students will end their week off early and return to Cullowhee for the game. I hope a lot of them do, but I am not banking on it. If both teams are on this same trajectory I expect a big crowd, but probably not a sellout. Of course that also depends on how things go the week before when WCU plays at Chatty.

As for the other SOCON comments, definitely the bottom is pretty ugly. But I think Samford wins possibly 5 more games and will be a decent win in the end. I also think FU, WCU, UTC, and Mercer are top-25 teams and a win against any of them will be viewed as a quality win. But I also agree that for a high seeding a SOCON team will need to be 10-1 with their only loss being to an FBS school. As also mentioned, the SOCON pretty much always has a head-scratcher or two that could do some damage in the league being able to get more than 2 teams in.

[gofurman]

The WCU vs Furman game comes on the tail-end of Western's Fall Break. I am not sure how many students will end their week off early and return to Cullowhee for the game. I hope a lot of them do, but I am not banking on it. If both teams are on this same trajectory I expect a big crowd, but probably not a sellout. Of course that also depends on how things go the week before when WCU plays at Chatty.

As for the other SOCON comments, definitely the bottom is pretty ugly. But I think Samford wins possibly 5 more games and will be a decent win in the end. I also think FU, WCU, UTC, and Mercer are top-25 teams and a win against any of them will be viewed as a quality win. But I also agree that for a high seeding a SOCON team will need to be 10-1 with their only loss being to an FBS school. As also mentioned, the SOCON pretty much always has a head-scratcher or two that could do some damage in the league being able to get more than 2 teams in.

WCUGrad. Can we buy tickets on gameday at WCU? Can I just drive up and purchase ? Do I need a particular App?

[wcugrad95]

In the past you could. I have purchased tickets at the ticket booth on the West side on the field house end (opposite the Ramsey Center). But that was several years ago. They gave me a paper ticket but expect they probably give you a digital one now - not 100% sure. But those were games I was not worried about ticket availability.

Like most schools, we set aside tickets/seats for students, the band, player families/friends, etc. And unless season ticket holders call in and give up their seats those tickets are held. So if WCU wins these next 2 games I would purchase ahead of time even though I expect our student section to be down.

[The Jackal]

I had not realized there's going to be a movement those first two weeks of October in SoCon football.

Furman has WCU and Samford back to back weekends on the road.
UTC has WCU at home and Mercer on the road.
WCU does get a bye week sandwiched in there, but plays UTC and Furman in back to back contests.

Samford is going to likely be playing for their playoff lives the rest of the way. They still have Furman and still have to go to Mercer.

Samford - and I'm not sure I can explain this - also scheduled UT-Martin the last week of the season. UTM is 3-1 and a top 25 FCS team. So, even if the Bulldogs can survive the rest of the SoCon, they are still going to have to beat another good FCS team the weekend before playoff selection.

[wcugrad95]

Lots of movement. The consensus "top 4" teams all still have to mostly play each other. For the month of October, WCU actually has a stretch of UTC, bye, Furman, Mercer. Ouch, but for once the bye comes at a good time. We all have similar obstacles ahead - Furman is in a good spot after beating Mercer, Samford is in a "must win them all" spot probably including that UTM game at the end.

[FUBeAR]

Lots of movement. The consensus "top 4" teams all still have to mostly play each other. For the month of October, WCU actually has a stretch of UTC, bye, Furman, Mercer. Ouch, but for once the bye comes at a good time. We all have similar obstacles ahead - Furman is in a good spot after beating Mercer, Samford is in a "must win them all" spot probably including that UTM game at the end.

Don't you mean 5 or is FUBeAR missing something?

Samford may have 2 SoCon losses and FUBeAR has declared their status as "Season Officially Over," but on a good day, they can beat any Team in the SoCon and almost all Teams in FCS...despite what our clueless National Pundits and Poll Voters say.

[The Jackal]

Lots of movement. The consensus "top 4" teams all still have to mostly play each other. For the month of October, WCU actually has a stretch of UTC, bye, Furman, Mercer. Ouch, but for once the bye comes at a good time. We all have similar obstacles ahead - Furman is in a good spot after beating Mercer, Samford is in a "must win them all" spot probably including that UTM game at the end.

Furman's bye week this week may come at a pretty good time.

Furman can use some extra time to get a few guys that are banged up back in action. They follow the bye week with a Citadel team that has looked pretty overmatched by everyone at this point.

I suspect Furman will put some extra time in the off week on the spread offenses they are going to see from Samford and WCU. While I don't love playing those two teams in back to back weeks on the road, they are stylistically similar, and preparing for one can help prepare for the other.

WCU having a bye week before Furman I guess can cut both ways, I think.

[wcugrad95]

@FUBeAR I no doubt think Samford is capable of beating anybody. There have been plenty of years they have won games against the top part of the conference with lesser teams than they have now. The game with UTC was closer than the final score shows because of some untimely turnovers (including a pick-6 for the last score). But those plays count.

I was just saying right now the consensus is they are #5 because they have already lost 2 SOCON games (albeit against WCU and Chatty). It is also why I said Furman is in pretty good shape because they have already beaten one of those top-4 and have arguably the best D in the league.

I can envision another season where we have maybe 2 teams with a 6-2 league record and then maybe a champion at 7-1 or even 8-0. That could mean we see an 8-win SOCON team not make the playoffs, and that seems criminal to me. I'll say if you don't get to 8 wins you just about don't have a chance if we keep seeing such a CAA/BSC bias in the polls.

[FUBeAR]

@FUBeAR I no doubt think Samford is capable of beating anybody. There have been plenty of years they have won games against the top part of the conference with lesser teams than they have now. The game with UTC was closer than the final score shows because of some untimely turnovers (including a pick-6 for the last score). But those plays count.

I was just saying right now the consensus is they are #5 because they have already lost 2 SOCON games (albeit against WCU and Chatty). It is also why I said Furman is in pretty good shape because they have already beaten one of those top-4 and have arguably the best D in the league.

I can envision another season where we have maybe 2 teams with a 6-2 league record and then maybe a champion at 7-1 or even 8-0. That could mean we see an 8-win SOCON team not make the playoffs, and that seems criminal to me. I'll say if you don't get to 8 wins you just about don't have a chance if we keep seeing such a CAA/BSC bias in the polls.

Right - not only bias in the polls, but padded records with 1-3 total cupcakes OOC and then Conference schedules that miss other good-ish Teams. Big Sky Teams and CAA Teams that have no business in the Playoffs will be in the Playoffs this year...some of them may even be seeded.

I don't think an 8 D1 Win SoCon Team will make the Playoffs this year (or ever again) UNLESS they win the SoCon OR 1 or 2 of those 8 wins are against 'the right' Teams AND those 3 losses aren't against the 'wrong' Teams OR too lopsided. A 7 D1 win SoCon Team that doesn't win the Conference OR have a P5 FBS win AND other extenuating circumstances (such as Excellent Starting QB injured for 3 critical conference games, but back before Playoffs) has no chance of receiving an At-Large bid.

[The Jackal]

Unfortunately, the SoCon had some good out of conference games lined up (William and Mary, Campbell, etc.) but the wrong team playing those games (Wofford and the Citadel)

[The Jackal]

@FUBeAR I no doubt think Samford is capable of beating anybody. There have been plenty of years they have won games against the top part of the conference with lesser teams than they have now. The game with UTC was closer than the final score shows because of some untimely turnovers (including a pick-6 for the last score). But those plays count.

I was just saying right now the consensus is they are #5 because they have already lost 2 SOCON games (albeit against WCU and Chatty). It is also why I said Furman is in pretty good shape because they have already beaten one of those top-4 and have arguably the best D in the league.

I can envision another season where we have maybe 2 teams with a 6-2 league record and then maybe a champion at 7-1 or even 8-0. That could mean we see an 8-win SOCON team not make the playoffs, and that seems criminal to me. I'll say if you don't get to 8 wins you just about don't have a chance if we keep seeing such a CAA/BSC bias in the polls.

This is just my observation.

While Samford's stats are skewed a bit playing both Shorter and Auburn, you can see some trends.

1. They are not running the ball as well as they did last season. They've never had an elite ground game, but last year it really helped compliment their offense.

2. Heirs is not as efficient as he was last season. Now, that may be as a result of struggling to run the ball more than they did last year, which puts the offense in more predictable situations where defenses can anticipate what they are going to try to do offensively.

3. Defense. It's hard to beat teams surrendering an average of 34 points per game. Again, that figure includes Shorter, so their work against D1 teams has been pretty abysmal on that side of the ball. At the same time, those numbers are not just a defensive metric, as Samford's offense has been surrendering points too.

That said, I can utterly assure you that they will throw everything they've got at Furman. I suspect the Bulldogs will easily handle ETSU and Wofford. The Furman game is their Alamo. That's the game they absolutely have to win to have any shot at a post season spot.

That was already going to be a big game for both teams. At this point, the odds are it will mean Samford's season is on the line.

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR can’t hear/understand all of the words in this video, but he’s fairly certain “stayin’ humble” is not on the Cantamount script.

FUBeAR is curious. If you talk all this noise and still don’t win a single SoCon Championship in 47 years of trying or make the Playoffs for the 1st time in 40 years, do you still run your mouths like this the following year?

Does one of ‘em say (directed at The Citadel - who beat WCU last year) “You got us in ‘21, but now…” ??? Do they not know what year it is or did FUBeAR hear that wrong? WCU beat CIT in 2021, btw & fwiw.