.

[The Jackal]

^^^ I follow Jackal's point.

Furman usually has a few playmakers on offense, but we were exposed when we played APSU, as our offense struggled. Pre-Roper, you saw Furman start bringing in more diverse skill players. The play of Chappell and Hinton speaks to the recruiting acumen of this staff. I'm not sure how Hinton wasn't offered by every CAA school in the Virginia area. The same for Chappell — some FCS schools were caught sleeping.

The Citadel was able to make some plays running the option, and, to my surprise, get outside on the Cats. Did the DOGS give Chatty, Furman, and Mercer a game plan? I think out of those three, Furman, and Mercer could challenge Western's defense with it's playmakers.

I get it but we had TON of success with a focus on one RB in the 80s and beyond. At least I think we were all (the whole SoCon) running a primary back in the 80s 20+ times a game. I’m pretty sure Bobby Johnson ran Louis Ivory 30 times once or twice. So I am talking years we make the title game or won it all like 88

I suppose it is worth noting that football has changed a lot over the last 40 years.

I was actually pleasantly surprised to see that ETSU's running back, Irby, wears a butterfly collar like it's 1999.

[wcugrad95]

I played high school football in the late 80s and college in the early 90s. Furman in 1990 - 1992 should have run Carl Tremble 40 times a game -he was that good and he was plenty tough enough. It is great to have depth, but if you have a true stud and a decent O-line, even in today’s game I’d say if you have a horse ride him at least 20 times per game.

[gofurman]

I played high school football in the late 80s and college in the early 90s. Furman in 1990 - 1992 should have run Carl Tremble 40 times a game -he was that good and he was plenty tough enough. It is great to have depth, but if you have a true stud and a decent O-line, even in today’s game I’d say if you have a horse ride him at least 20 times per game.

yep. not really an argument.. more of a "how much better is the starter?". You have Barry Sanders? 30 times a game. Terrell Owens or Randy Moss (both of FCS) - target them A TON.. luck into a receiver like Jerry Rice - we better throw it to him 15 times a game. But you rarely see someone that dominant.

Maybe Cooper Kupp was close? I have seen D players like Dexter Coakley or our own Orlando Ruff and the safety we had who played for the 49ers - John Keith. Dude was a STUD. But rarely have I seen them on O.

Oh yeah, Stump Mitchell and Jerome Felton.... I would give it to them 20+ times a game. That will wear a D out!

[The Jackal]

I played high school football in the late 80s and college in the early 90s. Furman in 1990 - 1992 should have run Carl Tremble 40 times a game -he was that good and he was plenty tough enough. It is great to have depth, but if you have a true stud and a decent O-line, even in today’s game I’d say if you have a horse ride him at least 20 times per game.

yep. not really an argument.. more of a "how much better is the starter?". You have Barry Sanders? 30 times a game. Terrell Owens or Randy Moss (both of FCS) - target them A TON.. luck into a receiver like Jerry Rice - we better throw it to him 15 times a game. But you rarely see someone that dominant.

Maybe Cooper Kupp was close? I have seen D players like Dexter Coakley or our own Orlando Ruff and the safety we had who played for the 49ers - John Keith. Dude was a STUD. But rarely have I seen them on O.

Oh yeah, Stump Mitchell and Jerome Felton.... I would give it to them 20+ times a game. That will wear a D out!

I've seen that approach backfire a number of times, especially at the FCS level and particularly with the deeper playoff field. Guys just run out of gas.

You might be surprised to know that Jerome Felton only carried the ball 13 times a game in 2005. Furman (with Clay Hendrix on the staff) spread the running game around to 4 or 5 different players. Not terribly different than what they do now.

[AstroDin]

I know when Ivory was injured, we had Brigham, I can't remember who was behind Hindley.
Same for Carl Tremble, he did get injured, I think at VMI, I can't remember who had to step in.
It's hard to compare past players to current players, and the game has changed in many ways.


I'm just a fan, so I could be way off.
With Roper at OC, Furman is recruiting and using diverse offensive-skill players.
The surprise is that Furman is still a very physical offensive team.
The depth of this team is a difference-maker. It was obvious against Mercer.

One thing I'm curious about. Will Furman bring in a bigger back in the 2024 recruiting class?
Gavin Hall is listed at 5 11 180, he has shown the ability to run inside, but his speed and shiftiness appear to be his game.

[AstroDin]

I played high school football in the late 80s and college in the early 90s. Furman in 1990 - 1992 should have run Carl Tremble 40 times a game -he was that good and he was plenty tough enough. It is great to have depth, but if you have a true stud and a decent O-line, even in today’s game I’d say if you have a horse ride him at least 20 times per game.

yep. not really an argument.. more of a "how much better is the starter?". You have Barry Sanders? 30 times a game. Terrell Owens or Randy Moss (both of FCS) - target them A TON.. luck into a receiver like Jerry Rice - we better throw it to him 15 times a game. But you rarely see someone that dominant.

Maybe Cooper Kupp was close? I have seen D players like Dexter Coakley or our own Orlando Ruff and the safety we had who played for the 49ers - John Keith. Dude was a STUD. But rarely have I seen them on O.

Oh yeah, Stump Mitchell and Jerome Felton.... I would give it to them 20+ times a game. That will wear a D out!

I've seen that approach backfire a number of times, especially at the FCS level and particularly with the deeper playoff field. Guys just run out of gas.

You might be surprised to know that Jerome Felton only carried the ball 13 times a game in 2005. Furman (with Clay Hendrix on the staff) spread the running game around to 4 or 5 different players. Not terribly different than what they do now.

I think this is NDSU's problem. I believe their number two running back is actually their number two quarterback.

[AllTimeFU]

Playing more players through rotations helps in 2 ways. First, when players get tired, more injuries occur. Second, it helps with recruiting. You demonstrate through actions, not just promises that a recruit won’t be put on a shelf until they are juniors or seniors. Players want to play.

[Roundball]

From the Charleston P&C. "Citadel rival Furman builds program the old-fashioned way."https://www.postandcourier.com/sports/c ... oned%20way

[FUBeAR]

FWIW in this discussion, Stanford Jennings was 3x SoCon Player of the Year for the Furman Paladins. He averaged ~17 rushing attempts / game in those 3 years.

Yr__Att_Gm_Att/Gm
1981 197 11 17.9
1982 209 12 17.4
1983 217 13 16.7
TOT 623 36 17.3

Some differences…2 back offense and QB was also a potential runner on veer option plays … maybe ~20% of the Offense during those years.

1983 Back-up Tailbacks (3) had 167 Attempts over 13 games = 12.8 Att/Gm
1983 Fullbacks (4) had 227 Attempts over 13 games = 17.5 Att/Gm
1983 QB’s (2) had 77 Attempts over 13 games = 5.9 Att/Gm
1983 “Others” (3) had 17 Attempts over 13 games = 1.3 Att/Gm
1983 Rushing Attempts / Game = 54.2 (71.6% Run)
1983 Passing Attempts / Game = 21.5 (28.4% Pass)

So, Mr. Jenkins…a pretty darn good example of a bell cow of a running back, got only 30.8% of the Carries and only rushed the ball on 22% of FU’s plays back in those ‘dark ages’ of Football. He did have 24 receptions though…so that’s 18.5 touches / game for him and on 24.5% of FU’s plays, he got the ball. All of these Att/Gm & % numbers for Standiford for 1982 are nearly identical to the ‘83 numbers. The ‘81 metrics are close, though actually a wee bit higher than the latter 2 years. More close games in ‘81 would be FUBeAR’s unscientific guess as to the reason for the slight elevation that year above ‘82 & ‘83.

In the main, it doesn’t seem vastly different from today. If you have a “STAR” Player @ RB, you’d probably like to get him about 15 - 20 touches / game … which is about 1/4 of the plays run. If you push that up to 30, 35, or 40, you’re probably gonna kill your bell cow and your Offense may become less optimally productive because Defenses can ‘guess’ correctly more frequently and have a greater chance of getting a stop.

While great RB’s are great to have, the tread on their tires is meant for racing and must be carefully used / monitored.

[The Jackal]

This is also just sort of my opinion, but I think there's value in varying to whom you give the ball. To some degree, an offense does not need to be predictable.

Now, with some players, you can be predictable and the defense cannot do anything about it.

None of that makes a tackle or covers a receiver, but does indicate trends that a good defense can use against an offense.

[Stumpy]

[tya1]

If your front seven is whipping the defensive front then it makes sense to repeatedly give the ball to your best runner who has the best chance to win a one-on-one duel with the DBs. Otherwise it makes more sense to mix things up.

[The Jackal]

If your front seven is whipping the defensive front then it makes sense to repeatedly give the ball to your best runner who has the best chance to win a one-on-one duel with the DBs. Otherwise it makes more sense to mix things up.

Saturday, my expectation is we will see a healthy dose of the Furman backfield. I wouldn't be surprised to see Roberto, Huff, Hicks, and Smith all with at least 10 carries.

I suspect Citadel's front seven will be in for a long afternoon.

[gofurman]

Stumpy, Love it.. but doesn't the dog (Citadel) need to be white or something - not purple?

[The Jackal]

You can really see some of the Citadel's defensive issues here.

WCU is basically able to reset the line of scrimmage off the snap. They are just shoving the Bulldog defensive front backwards. There's a few runs where Reid doesn't have a blue jersey around him until he's about 11 yards downfield.