FCS Playoffs. ( CAA. Is WEAK )

[The Jackal]

I think the same data might also suggest that App State is having to massively increase revenues to offset rapidly increasing expenses.

App was always positioned better to make the jump than Georgia Southern. App State plays in a state where football is not king and they can almost become the best program in the state without trying particularly hard. Georgia Southern will always be a small fish in a big bowl in Georgia.

[The Jackal]

FU football has a grand total of 4 playoff wins since 2005 against the likes of SC State, Elon, Elon, UTC

The SoCon has not had a member in the title game since App St. in 2007.....
I believe the SoCon has also not even had anyone in the Semifinals since GSU lost in the 2012 Semifinals.........

That's not an entirely fair argument. If you remove the biggest national programs out of any conference in the same year, the conference is going to have to spend a long time wandering in the wilderness.

If the Missouri Valley lost South Dakota State and North Dakota State in the same season or the Big Sky lost Montana and Montana State at the same time, their conferences would look like a shell of themselves for years. The CAA is going through a similar transition right now, losing James Madison, Delaware, and now Richmond (albeit over a longer time).

I would also note that North Dakota State and then South Dakota State's rise to prominence in the FCS roughly corresponds with App State and Georgia Southern leaving the FCS. It created a power vacuum that those programs were the quickest to fill.

[FU Hoopla]

I think the same data might also suggest that App State is having to massively increase revenues to offset rapidly increasing expenses.

App was always positioned better to make the jump than Georgia Southern. App State plays in a state where football is not king and they can almost become the best program in the state without trying particularly hard. Georgia Southern will always be a small fish in a big bowl in Georgia.

Still had some pretty fun home games though, getting to host Boise St, James Madison, Marshall, App St. would be fun

[FU Hoopla]

FU football has a grand total of 4 playoff wins since 2005 against the likes of SC State, Elon, Elon, UTC

The SoCon has not had a member in the title game since App St. in 2007.....
I believe the SoCon has also not even had anyone in the Semifinals since GSU lost in the 2012 Semifinals.........

That's not an entirely fair argument. If you remove the biggest national programs out of any conference in the same year, the conference is going to have to spend a long time wandering in the wilderness.

If the Missouri Valley lost South Dakota State and North Dakota State in the same season or the Big Sky lost Montana and Montana State at the same time, their conferences would look like a shell of themselves for years. The CAA is going through a similar transition right now, losing James Madison, Delaware, and now Richmond (albeit over a longer time).

I would also note that North Dakota State and then South Dakota State's rise to prominence in the FCS roughly corresponds with App State and Georgia Southern leaving the FCS. It created a power vacuum that those programs were the quickest to fill.

Its 100% fair for me to speak on facts, which is all I did.......
I operate on what is actually happening, not your imagery scenario of other leagues not being as good in order for the SoCon to be good once again........

[The Jackal]

FU football has a grand total of 4 playoff wins since 2005 against the likes of SC State, Elon, Elon, UTC

The SoCon has not had a member in the title game since App St. in 2007.....
I believe the SoCon has also not even had anyone in the Semifinals since GSU lost in the 2012 Semifinals.........

That's not an entirely fair argument. If you remove the biggest national programs out of any conference in the same year, the conference is going to have to spend a long time wandering in the wilderness.

If the Missouri Valley lost South Dakota State and North Dakota State in the same season or the Big Sky lost Montana and Montana State at the same time, their conferences would look like a shell of themselves for years. The CAA is going through a similar transition right now, losing James Madison, Delaware, and now Richmond (albeit over a longer time).

I would also note that North Dakota State and then South Dakota State's rise to prominence in the FCS roughly corresponds with App State and Georgia Southern leaving the FCS. It created a power vacuum that those programs were the quickest to fill.

Its 100% fair for me to speak on facts, which is all I did.......
I operate on what is actually happening, not your imagery scenario of other leagues not being as good in order for the SoCon to be good once again........

You can throw out whatever facts you want, but you need to add context to the facts.

saying the SoCon hasn't had a team in the semifinals since 2012 is a fact, but ignoring that in 2013 the conference lost it's two biggest national programs is context. You think we'd have 12 years of no SoCon teams in the semis with App and GSU still in the conference?

Again, how many semifinal teams would the Missouri Valley have in future years if North Dakota State and South Dakota State left their conference tomorrow? How many has the CAA had since James Madison left?

It's a fact that the SoCon did not have a team advance past the second round in 2016, for instance. Context is that the committee paired a 10-1 Citadel team and a 9-2 Wofford team in the same bracket, either of which could have made a run.

[Davemeister]

The perceived plight of App and GSU when they have a losing record every now and then does not make me feel any better about how absolutely irrelevant and putrid SoCon football has become.............

So . . . are you sayin' we've got a chance?

[FU Hoopla]

FU football has a grand total of 4 playoff wins since 2005 against the likes of SC State, Elon, Elon, UTC

The SoCon has not had a member in the title game since App St. in 2007.....
I believe the SoCon has also not even had anyone in the Semifinals since GSU lost in the 2012 Semifinals.........

That's not an entirely fair argument. If you remove the biggest national programs out of any conference in the same year, the conference is going to have to spend a long time wandering in the wilderness.

If the Missouri Valley lost South Dakota State and North Dakota State in the same season or the Big Sky lost Montana and Montana State at the same time, their conferences would look like a shell of themselves for years. The CAA is going through a similar transition right now, losing James Madison, Delaware, and now Richmond (albeit over a longer time).

I would also note that North Dakota State and then South Dakota State's rise to prominence in the FCS roughly corresponds with App State and Georgia Southern leaving the FCS. It created a power vacuum that those programs were the quickest to fill.

Its 100% fair for me to speak on facts, which is all I did.......
I operate on what is actually happening, not your imagery scenario of other leagues not being as good in order for the SoCon to be good once again........

You can throw out whatever facts you want, but you need to add context to the facts.

saying the SoCon hasn't had a team in the semifinals since 2012 is a fact, but ignoring that in 2013 the conference lost it's two biggest national programs is context. You think we'd have 12 years of no SoCon teams in the semis with App and GSU still in the conference?

Again, how many semifinal teams would the Missouri Valley have in future years if North Dakota State and South Dakota State left their conference tomorrow? How many has the CAA had since James Madison left?

It's a fact that the SoCon did not have a team advance past the second round in 2016, for instance. Context is that the committee paired a 10-1 Citadel team and a 9-2 Wofford team in the same bracket, either of which could have made a run.

Yes Jackal, I am sure there is an alternate parallel universe out there where the SoCon has now won its 20 straight national title, however that is not the one we have been graced with....................

[FUATT]

Hence the phrase, ONE COULD MAKE THE ARGUMENT.

I mean, one could make the argument that if we had. like, more Football in the Furman, such as in the State of Appalachain, there would be more learning students at the Furman. So here in the Furman we should be trying to help the Football, like, to build up our future.

[FUBeAR]

Hence the phrase, ONE COULD MAKE THE ARGUMENT.

I mean, one could make the argument that if we had. like, more Football in the Furman, such as in the State of Appalachain, there would be more learning students at the Furman. So here in the Furman we should be trying to help the Football, like, to build up our future.

Very true! Such as the Iraq.

[FUBeAR]

Not a great weekend of FCS football. Closest game was 14 points. As usual, the Dakotas and Montana are left to fight it out.

Mercer…Didn’t see the game

Shoulda just left it at this

I’ve watched it now. Mercer got azz kicked.

Just facts

* Game Score was NDSU 31 - Mercer 7
* NDSU scored 2 TD’s within 5 minutes and 29 seconds of Kickoff on 6 plays of Offense by each Team.
* 5 of Mercer’s 1st 6 plays on Offense were marred by fundamental ‘unforced errors.’ Similar to how the Bears started @ Samford earlier this season, they were truly awful and unprepared on Offense and the Defense seemed to be overwhelmed by the (kinda) sudden change / fundamental ineptitude of the Bears Offense.

* Those 5 minutes and 26 seconds and those 14 points, OBVIOUSLY ‘count.’ To pretend they don’t would be asinine. To ‘call out’ that they count, as a response to a deeper analysis of the full context of the entire game, would be even more asinine than that.

* For the next 52 minutes and 34 seconds, Mercer and NDSU engaged in a 10-7 rock fight (favoring NDSU by 3) that looked like a 10-7 rock fight between 2 evenly matched Teams with neither Team able to do much damage when they had the ball.
_____ * NDSU averaged yielding ~1 sack/game. Mercer sacked NDSU’s QB 4 times
_____ * NDSU averaged yielding ~4 tackles for loss/game. Mercer hit the bizuns for 10 TFL’s
_____ * NDSU’s QB had thrown 2 INT’s in 13 games. Mercer’s D doubled that number for him on Saturday
_____ * Mercer held NDSU to about 1/2 of their average yards rushing / game
_____ * NDSU gained 124 yards in the 1st 5:29. They gained ~200 yards in their next 9 possessions
_____ * 5 SoCon Teams threw for as many, or more yards on Mercer’s D as NDSU did
_____ * 3 SoCon Teams gained more total yards on Mercer’s D than NDSU did
_____ * 3 SoCon Teams scored as many, or more points vs. Mercer as NDSU did
_____ * Mercer’s RB’s gained 125 net yards on 19 attempts, with only 1 loss of yards - ~7 yds/attempt - certainly not a sign of being overmatched in the trenches.
_____ * Mercer’s RB, CJ Miller, avg’d over 14 yds/attempt, but only had 4 touches (5, 28, 23, 2), all in the 1st half. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

NDSU’s final score, the one that enabled them to ‘cover the spread,’ came on a relatively short field after Mercer, making a tactical risk/reward decision given the score/time remaining, turned the ball over trying/failing to convert a 4th down, just over midfield. FUBeAR would have punted there, hoping to pin them deep and get another turnover / turnover score. Much better chance of that than converting / going another 45 yards…with the way the game had gone. Regardless, that final TD / 54 yards only mattered to the gamblers & statisticians. It, of course, ‘counted.’ That’s right there in the box score, but it didn’t matter with regard to the outcome of the game or even very much at all, relatively, in an objective analysis of the game / competitiveness of the 2 combatants.

Now, FUBeAR does not like being critical of Coaches, but he has a lot of questions about Mercer’s Offensive game play, Offensive personnel moves/usage, and Offensive playcalling /design. Mercer’s PassPro was horrible all day as NDSU sent 6 and 7 on “passing downs.” After that 1st 5:29, the only aspect of the game where Mercer did look “overmatched” was PassPro / response to pressure.

NDSU definitely had the better Team overall. Their QB, Receivers, and D-Front are outstanding. They may win another National Championship. That said, though not as good, overall, Mercer, was not, and any of the Top 4 Teams in the SoCon, would not be “overmatched” by NDSU. On a neutral or home field, Mercer ‘24 probably wins 3 or 4 games out of 10 vs. NDSU ‘24 and ‘24 Chatt, ETSU, and WCU probably win at least 1 or 2 of those.

The bizuns are very, very good. They play hard, fundamentally-sound Football. They are talented and deep. They don’t beat themselves. They don’t ‘not show up entirely’ for 5 and a half minutes. They are half-a-head - not head and shoulders - above the best in the SoCon.

Watching the game AND understanding Football will inform an objective, informed observer of that reality.

[gofurman]

Not a great weekend of FCS football. Closest game was 14 points. As usual, the Dakotas and Montana are left to fight it out.

Mercer…Didn’t see the game

Shoulda just left it at this

I’ve watched it now. Mercer got azz kicked.

Just facts

* Game Score was NDSU 31 - Mercer 7
* NDSU scored 2 TD’s within 5 minutes and 29 seconds of Kickoff on 6 plays of Offense by each Team.
* 5 of Mercer’s 1st 6 plays on Offense were marred by fundamental ‘unforced errors.’ Similar to how the Bears started @ Samford earlier this season, they were truly awful and unprepared on Offense and the Defense seemed to be overwhelmed by the (kinda) sudden change / fundamental ineptitude of the Bears Offense.

* Those 5 minutes and 26 seconds and those 14 points, OBVIOUSLY ‘count.’ To pretend they don’t would be asinine. To ‘call out’ that they count, as a response to a deeper analysis of the full context of the entire game, would be even more asinine than that.

* For the next 52 minutes and 34 seconds, Mercer and NDSU engaged in a 10-7 rock fight (favoring NDSU by 3) that looked like a 10-7 rock fight between 2 evenly matched Teams with neither Team able to do much damage when they had the ball.
_____ * NDSU averaged yielding ~1 sack/game. Mercer sacked NDSU’s QB 4 times
_____ * NDSU averaged yielding ~4 tackles for loss/game. Mercer hit the bizuns for 10 TFL’s
_____ * NDSU’s QB had thrown 2 INT’s in 13 games. Mercer’s D doubled that number for him on Saturday
_____ * Mercer held NDSU to about 1/2 of their average yards rushing / game
_____ * NDSU gained 124 yards in the 1st 5:29. They gained ~200 yards in their next 9 possessions
_____ * 5 SoCon Teams threw for as many, or more yards on Mercer’s D as NDSU did
_____ * 3 SoCon Teams gained more total yards on Mercer’s D than NDSU did
_____ * 3 SoCon Teams scored as many, or more points vs. Mercer as NDSU did
_____ * Mercer’s RB’s gained 125 net yards on 19 attempts, with only 1 loss of yards - ~7 yds/attempt - certainly not a sign of being overmatched in the trenches.
_____ * Mercer’s RB, CJ Miller, avg’d over 14 yds/attempt, but only had 4 touches (5, 28, 23, 2), all in the 1st half. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

NDSU’s final score, the one that enabled them to ‘cover the spread,’ came on a relatively short field after Mercer, making a tactical risk/reward decision given the score/time remaining, turned the ball over trying/failing to convert a 4th down, just over midfield. FUBeAR would have punted there, hoping to pin them deep and get another turnover / turnover score. Much better chance of that than converting / going another 45 yards…with the way the game had gone. Regardless, that final TD / 54 yards only mattered to the gamblers & statisticians. It, of course, ‘counted.’ That’s right there in the box score, but it didn’t matter with regard to the outcome of the game or even very much at all, relatively, in an objective analysis of the game / competitiveness of the 2 combatants.

Now, FUBeAR does not like being critical of Coaches, but he has a lot of questions about Mercer’s Offensive game play, Offensive personnel moves/usage, and Offensive playcalling /design. Mercer’s PassPro was horrible all day as NDSU sent 6 and 7 on “passing downs.” After that 1st 5:29, the only aspect of the game where Mercer did look “overmatched” was PassPro / response to pressure.

NDSU definitely had the better Team overall. Their QB, Receivers, and D-Front are outstanding. They may win another National Championship. That said, though not as good, overall, Mercer, was not, and any of the Top 4 Teams in the SoCon, would not be “overmatched” by NDSU. On a neutral or home field, Mercer ‘24 probably wins 3 or 4 games out of 10 vs. NDSU ‘24 and ‘24 Chatt, ETSU, and WCU probably win at least 1 or 2 of those.

The bizuns are very, very good. They play hard, fundamentally-sound Football. They are talented and deep. They don’t beat themselves. They don’t ‘not show up entirely’ for 5 and a half minutes. They are half-a-head - not head and shoulders - above the best in the SoCon.

Watching the game AND understanding Football will inform an objective, informed observer of that reality.

I appreciate the calm and objective response.

- Agree NDSU covered the spread.
- Agree with you that all plays count whether in those 5 minutes or not. ( I see people say “well if we took out these 10 minutes for team X “ ). You can’t delete those minutes.
- appreciate you noting NDSU is the better team. They are. Do they have a huge home field advantage? OH YES. THEY DO. but going 10-2 or whatever and beating SDSU earns them that right. I mean it’s SDSU, South Dakota, and NDSU (plus a great MSU team this year). The MVFC REALLY has owned it this even more than normal. Often 2 of 4 semifinalists. This year 3 of 4. Just ridiculous how good that league is now

Side note. I’m slightly surprised that South Dakota ( who played even with SDSU and NDSU this year and just beat a good UC Davis team) is getting 9 points vs MSU but I guess the perception is only XDSU can possibly stop MSU. all of South Dakota season indicates they are as good as NDSU and SDSU

And a huge congrats to Mercer on winning the SoCon. Now we just need someone, anyone, to get to the final four

[The Jackal]

Saw this graphic pop up. Even among those programs still in the FCS, it's odd that outside of Montana there's not a lot of recent success between them. We haven't really seen Northern Iowa, New Hampshire, etc. make any noise in a while.

[FU Hoopla]

Saw this graphic pop up. Even among those programs still in the FCS, it's odd that outside of Montana there's not a lot of recent success between them. We haven't really seen Northern Iowa, New Hampshire, etc. make any noise in a while.

They should just remove App, GSU, JMU and Delaware since we don't care anymore about them as they are FBS.....

So the current top 12 is actually:

1) Montana (27)
2) UNI (22)
2) EKU (22)
4) Furman (20)
5) New Hampshire (17)
6) Villanova (16)
6) McNeese (16)
6) EIU (16)
9) NDSU (15)
9) Eastern Washington (15)
11) SDSU (14)
11) Montana St. (14)

[The Jackal]

You forgot Eastern Washington and Villanova.

[apaladin]

GF-we had that talent in 2023, but it was a one time thing due to several reasons. We had one chance, one play away from a home game in the semi-finals. Unfortunately a false start took that chance away.

Talented in 2023? I think you posted many many times we were terrible in 2023 and that "we are not who we think we are" and that CCH should be fired and on and on. Indeed, if it were not for your numerous posts pointing out how poor Furman was FUTEX would not have put on his perpetual happy hat of optimism to counter your doom and gloom. So, in a round-about way, we owe our rather advanced collective knowledge of possumry to you.

That’s a stretch but whatever makes you happy. FU all the time. Now carry on with your possum silliness.