FURMAN AT OLE MISS-WE HAVE A CHANCE

[The Jackal]

Do not need to overthink this game.

They put 73 on Mercer and 55 on LSU last year. They are possibly a top 5 team and a legit CFP team.

We did not have major injuries. We collected $600k and got a lot of good film against competition we will not see again this year.

Carson and 1 and 2 actually looked pretty good against that level of competition. Team got some good looks against great players and great schemes.

Good scrimmage. Good check. Some FU people had fun in The Grove.

Now, the schedule begins and the real challenges start.

Biggest problem we have is that Travis Blackshear, Cally Chizik, Hugh Ryan and Micah Robinson are not getting off that bus. That's clearly the biggest issue on this team, nothing against the current secondary and all the work and effort they put in, but we lost a lot back there and we are not at last years standard right now, everyone will see it on the film, and we can expect to see game plans built around attacking that.

I don't know that we were "lost." We absolutely could have played better, but there we times we were largely where we were supposed to be, just a step slow (which isn't shocking).

It was certainly trial by fire, but go back and watch some of those throws from Dart. He's flicking the ball 50-60 yards and hitting his receiver, in stride, right on the shoulder. Ole Miss receivers were not even slowing down or adjudsiting to catch the ball. They were in full sprint and just reached up and caught it.

We aren't going to see that again.

[apaladin]

……and of course we are never going to get a call from the SEC officials. According to CCH on Harris’ first long catch his facemask penalty was the second one on that play the defender pulled Harris’ head down via facemask, then they called it on Harris. On Dimaagio’s 15 yd sack that would have stopped their drive coach said the facemask penalty was not a facemask. If Dimaggio doesn’t drop an easy interception and we don’t get the bogus facemask penalty on the sack we would have stopped them twice on their first 3 drives. Wouldn’t have mattered but….

Coach also stated that over half of the starters were playing their first meaningful snaps.

[Furmanoid]

Kiffin will get his …. In due time my pretty

Already has at least twice. It’s cutthroat at that level.

[Furmanoid]

Do not need to overthink this game.

They put 73 on Mercer and 55 on LSU last year. They are possibly a top 5 team and a legit CFP team.

We did not have major injuries. We collected $600k and got a lot of good film against competition we will not see again this year.

Carson and 1 and 2 actually looked pretty good against that level of competition. Team got some good looks against great players and great schemes.

Good scrimmage. Good check. Some FU people had fun in The Grove.

Now, the schedule begins and the real challenges start.

Biggest problem we have is that Travis Blackshear, Cally Chizik, Hugh Ryan and Micah Robinson are not getting off that bus. That's clearly the biggest issue on this team, nothing against the current secondary and all the work and effort they put in, but we lost a lot back there and we are not at last years standard right now, everyone will see it on the film, and we can expect to see game plans built around attacking that.

I don't know that we were "lost." We absolutely could have played better, but there we times we were largely where we were supposed to be, just a step slow (which isn't shocking).

It was certainly trial by fire, but go back and watch some of those throws from Dart. He's flicking the ball 50-60 yards and hitting his receiver, in stride, right on the shoulder. Ole Miss receivers were not even slowing down or adjudsiting to catch the ball. They were in full sprint and just reached up and caught it.

We aren't going to see that again.

And remember that Ole Miss is trying once again to get a Heisman. The only way is for Dart’s stats to be overwhelmingly better than the comp. So Ole Miss wasn’t gonna hold him back to help us.

[Affirm]

So who are the teams we should try to get games with?
- Any who are typically ranked below (worse than) the top 5 or 7?
- Any who are typically ranked below (worse than) the top 14?
- Worse than typically top 20?
How do we predict who’s going to be ranked where 2 to 4 years in the future?
Who would be the “typically bottom 65” and would we really prefer to (and afford to) play them instead of any and all in the “typically top 65”.
I know
I know
I know
It is time to focus solely on our competitiveness in FCS.

[apaladin]

Clemson and SC are fine, along with any other ACC team we should be ok.

[FUpaladin08]

I like the biggest paychecks for the shortest travel. This is a hunch since I don’t want to look it up, but I believe our instate FBS brethren pay half that.

['Din Djarin]

I waited a few days to let this one simmer. A few thoughts:

1) I'm definitely not bothered by losing to Ole Miss, as I think everyone expected that. I am, however, still bothered by the nature of the loss. Furman was little more than a tackling dummy out there, and I like to think we have both more competence and more pride than that game showed. I'm sure I'll get a few replies trying to explain why I'm wrong to be upset, but sorry, don't care. Losing by 70+ points and getting shut out sucks. It's supposed to suck. Context doesn't help much.

2) The mentality I've adapted to help salve the wound is that this game is basically an exhibition for us. From there, I've further deluded/gaslit/convinced myself that Furman did little to actually game plan for Ole Miss and instead focused on upcoming FCS opponents. This may be a purely adopted fiction but, frankly, it's the only way I can see that result and its stats and then try to maintain the belief that Furman can be a competitive FCS program this year.

3) Like a few of you, I'm starting to wonder what the cost/benefit ratio is for playing "major-league" FBS programs going forward. Apparently Ole Miss cut a generous check, which is nice, but I'd be curious to see if the game check balances the cost of travel and then the unwritten cost of looking like another hapless FCS also-ran when ESPN shows Ole Miss's numerous highlights and eye-popping stats to millions of viewers.

4) No matter what, it's on to Charleston Southern. Let's wreck them as a mode of catharsis. Go Dins.

[The Jackal]

One silver lining is that certainly CSU has virtually nothing to go on from our first game film.

[FUATT]

Do not need to overthink this game.

They put 73 on Mercer and 55 on LSU last year. They are possibly a top 5 team and a legit CFP team.

We did not have major injuries. We collected $600k and got a lot of good film against competition we will not see again this year.

Carson and 1 and 2 actually looked pretty good against that level of competition. Team got some good looks against great players and great schemes.

Good scrimmage. Good check. Some FU people had fun in The Grove.

Now, the schedule begins and the real challenges start.

Biggest problem we have is that Travis Blackshear, Cally Chizik, Hugh Ryan and Micah Robinson are not getting off that bus. That's clearly the biggest issue on this team, nothing against the current secondary and all the work and effort they put in, but we lost a lot back there and we are not at last years standard right now, everyone will see it on the film, and we can expect to see game plans built around attacking that.

I don't know that we were "lost." We absolutely could have played better, but there we times we were largely where we were supposed to be, just a step slow (which isn't shocking).

It was certainly trial by fire, but go back and watch some of those throws from Dart. He's flicking the ball 50-60 yards and hitting his receiver, in stride, right on the shoulder. Ole Miss receivers were not even slowing down or adjudsiting to catch the ball. They were in full sprint and just reached up and caught it.

We aren't going to see that again.

Thanks Jackal. Did not say we were lost. Said we lost a lot back there, i.e. we lost a lot of players to graduation and transfer. In fact, we lost 2 1st team all SoCon and 2 2nd team all SoCon (I think). The guys out there now are talented but they are young and need experience, which they got some of.

No question we will not see a Heisman level QB and WR like that again. But also no question that this years secondary does not compare to last years in terms of depth and experience. They will be good in time but we need time.

[FUATT]

I waited a few days to let this one simmer. A few thoughts:

1) I'm definitely not bothered by losing to Ole Miss, as I think everyone expected that. I am, however, still bothered by the nature of the loss. Furman was little more than a tackling dummy out there, and I like to think we have both more competence and more pride than that game showed. I'm sure I'll get a few replies trying to explain why I'm wrong to be upset, but sorry, don't care. Losing by 70+ points and getting shut out sucks. It's supposed to suck. Context doesn't help much.

2) The mentality I've adapted to help salve the wound is that this game is basically an exhibition for us. From there, I've further deluded/gaslit/convinced myself that Furman did little to actually game plan for Ole Miss and instead focused on upcoming FCS opponents. This may be a purely adopted fiction but, frankly, it's the only way I can see that result and its stats and then try to maintain the belief that Furman can be a competitive FCS program this year.

3) Like a few of you, I'm starting to wonder what the cost/benefit ratio is for playing "major-league" FBS programs going forward. Apparently Ole Miss cut a generous check, which is nice, but I'd be curious to see if the game check balances the cost of travel and then the unwritten cost of looking like another hapless FCS also-ran when ESPN shows Ole Miss's numerous highlights and eye-popping stats to millions of viewers.

4) No matter what, it's on to Charleston Southern. Let's wreck them as a mode of catharsis. Go Dins.

'Din, no issues with anything you say.

The $600,000 is a SUBSTANTIAL portion of the Football budget. Go back and listen to Donnelly's "ask me anything" with Dan Scott and he points out that one of, if not his biggest concern about the new course of CFB is if P5 schools stop scheduling payday games with schools like Furman. It would be very bad financially for us. Furman is not rolling in dough.

Its going to cost the Athletic department 300k a year for the next ten years just to pay out into the new settlement. So if we lose these money games in the near future, that will be almost a million dollar deficit.

As far as expense, Furman had four charter buses, stayed at a Doubletree in Memphis Friday and rode back overnight after the loss. So expense management is taken very seriously and managed hard.

[The Jackal]

Do not need to overthink this game.

They put 73 on Mercer and 55 on LSU last year. They are possibly a top 5 team and a legit CFP team.

We did not have major injuries. We collected $600k and got a lot of good film against competition we will not see again this year.

Carson and 1 and 2 actually looked pretty good against that level of competition. Team got some good looks against great players and great schemes.

Good scrimmage. Good check. Some FU people had fun in The Grove.

Now, the schedule begins and the real challenges start.

Biggest problem we have is that Travis Blackshear, Cally Chizik, Hugh Ryan and Micah Robinson are not getting off that bus. That's clearly the biggest issue on this team, nothing against the current secondary and all the work and effort they put in, but we lost a lot back there and we are not at last years standard right now, everyone will see it on the film, and we can expect to see game plans built around attacking that.

I don't know that we were "lost." We absolutely could have played better, but there we times we were largely where we were supposed to be, just a step slow (which isn't shocking).

It was certainly trial by fire, but go back and watch some of those throws from Dart. He's flicking the ball 50-60 yards and hitting his receiver, in stride, right on the shoulder. Ole Miss receivers were not even slowing down or adjudsiting to catch the ball. They were in full sprint and just reached up and caught it.

We aren't going to see that again.

Thanks Jackal. Did not say we were lost. Said we lost a lot back there, i.e. we lost a lot of players to graduation and transfer. In fact, we lost 2 1st team all SoCon and 2 2nd team all SoCon (I think). The guys out there now are talented but they are young and need experience, which they got some of.

No question we will not see a Heisman level QB and WR like that again. But also no question that this years secondary does not compare to last years in terms of depth and experience. They will be good in time but we need time.

There's no doubt we lost some guys and even lost a couple of contributors to injury before we started.

But, it is what it is. They're going to have to learn fast or our offense is going to need to learn how to put up 40 a game.

[apaladin]

I like the biggest paychecks for the shortest travel. This is a hunch since I don’t want to look it up, but I believe our instate FBS brethren pay half that.

That used to be the case but both CU and SC have stepped up. The recently announced Wofford/SC game for 2028, SC is paying WC $600.000.

[Furmanoid]

So who are the teams we should try to get games with?
- Any who are typically ranked below (worse than) the top 5 or 7?
- Any who are typically ranked below (worse than) the top 14?
- Worse than typically top 20?
How do we predict who’s going to be ranked where 2 to 4 years in the future?
Who would be the “typically bottom 65” and would we really prefer to (and afford to) play them instead of any and all in the “typically top 65”.
I know
I know
I know
It is time to focus solely on our competitiveness in FCS.

Fun. A don’t play list.
Alabama
Ole Miss
TAMU
Texas
UO
Auburn
UT
UGA
U of F (they will get better)
LSU
OSU
Other OSU
TCU
Baylor
Michigan
Penn State
Wisconsin
USC
UCLA
Oregon
Washington
Since Father Dowd would probably force Marcus Freeman to be nice, we can probably play Notre Dame.

[FUBeAR]

Do not need to overthink this game.

They put 73 on Mercer and 55 on LSU last year. They are possibly a top 5 team and a legit CFP team.

We did not have major injuries. We collected $600k and got a lot of good film against competition we will not see again this year.

Carson and 1 and 2 actually looked pretty good against that level of competition. Team got some good looks against great players and great schemes.

Good scrimmage. Good check. Some FU people had fun in The Grove.

Now, the schedule begins and the real challenges start.

Biggest problem we have is that Travis Blackshear, Cally Chizik, Hugh Ryan and Micah Robinson are not getting off that bus. That's clearly the biggest issue on this team, nothing against the current secondary and all the work and effort they put in, but we lost a lot back there and we are not at last years standard right now, everyone will see it on the film, and we can expect to see game plans built around attacking that.

I don't know that we were "lost." We absolutely could have played better, but there we times we were largely where we were supposed to be, just a step slow (which isn't shocking).

It was certainly trial by fire, but go back and watch some of those throws from Dart. He's flicking the ball 50-60 yards and hitting his receiver, in stride, right on the shoulder. Ole Miss receivers were not even slowing down or adjudsiting to catch the ball. They were in full sprint and just reached up and caught it.

We aren't going to see that again.

Thanks Jackal. Did not say we were lost. Said we lost a lot back there, i.e. we lost a lot of players to graduation and transfer. In fact, we lost 2 1st team all SoCon and 2 2nd team all SoCon (I think). The guys out there now are talented but they are young and need experience, which they got some of.

No question we will not see a Heisman level QB and WR like that again. But also no question that this years secondary does not compare to last years in terms of depth and experience. They will be good in time but we need time.

Reminds FUBeAR of our ‘79 Secondary, MD.

That crew, all new Starters, like this year’s group are, gave up about 4 TD passes per game.

Davidson scored 55 and CIT scored 44. Chattanooga rang up 45 to defeat us and win the SoCon. But even with those challenges and a VERY ROCKY 0-5 start, we were just a missed XP away from finishing 2nd in the SoCon.

Oh…and those young DB’s that struggled, but mostly prevailed, eventually, in ‘79 and in the subsequent several years …
- 1 became 1st Team All SoCon, an All-American, spent 6 years in the NFL, played in the Super Bowl, and is in the FU Hall of Fame
- Another became 1st Team All SoCon and is also in the FU Hall of Fame.
- A 3rd became 1st Team All SoCon

Their names STILL fill the current Furman Football Record Book in the DB categories…

We may see some growing pains back there, even with outstanding Players - just as we did and had in ‘79.

The rest will just have to rally up … as we did - scoring 63 vs. Davidson and 45 vs. the bellhops to win those games … that’s why Football is the ultimate Team sport. FUBeAR expects this TEAM to take care of business.