Some early musings:
1. Do not expect a single national FCS voice to give Furman a snowball's chance to win this game. The Big Sky cabal has determined Furman was a paper tiger all season and taking up space in the top 10 that should go to another Big Sky team.
2. Looking at their depth chart, we match up with Montana physically on paper. This won't be a game where we are outgunned. Also notable that we are physically a more imposing team than Delaware, who is smaller than we are at a lot of positions.
3. I am glad they won big at home Saturday. My impression is they feel they are invincible at home, particularly against southern/eastern teams. They don't think we can come up there and beat them (though I believe the last SoCon team to come to Washington-Grizzly Stadium walked out a winner).
4. I'll watch some more of their games, but it looks like the Montana offense is going to maybe be a toned down version of Western Carolina/Samford. They'll go with tempo, try to spread you out, and live off explosive plays. Their offense has had some outstanding games recently, but also had periods of the season where they really struggled.
5. Defensively, I think we'll see a team a lot like us. Fundamentally sound, swarm the ball, tackle well, etc.
6. Furman has been really good against tempo teams in recent years. We have a lot of depth and can keep players rotating on the field quickly. It's hard to catch us in bad personnel matchups or wear us down defensively.
7. I suspect neither team will have a done a lot of homework on the other. Furman maybe has done a little more because our second round opponent was a familiar one, while Montana's was a fresh face. Both teams will be running off a short week. I don't know who a quick turnaround favors, if anyone, though I'd hope to see Hicks and Robinson available. They were a huge help Saturday.