The SoCon

[apaladin]

Chattanooga 29 Citadel 28 in OT Chatty is 2-0 but wins are over 2 bad teams. Hard to tell if they have improved. Citadel(0-2) is in a big hole early.
Woffy 59 VMI 14 Woffy is 2-0 but again have beaten 2 bad teams. VMI is just gosh awful, one of the worst teams in FCS. They are as bad now as they were when they left the SoCon.
Mercer 45 Jacksonville 3 Nothing to learn in this game. MU looked really bad last week against Memphis giving up 66 points. Memphis lost to Navy and scored only 21 points today. Hawaii scored 59 on Navy last week.
Tennessee 59 ETSU 3 Again nothing to learn from this game.
Elon 45 Furman 7 Right now FU looks like the most disappointing team in the league.
WCU-Idle looked unimpressive in a narrow win against Newberry last week.
Florida State 36 Samford 26 Sammy led the whole game until the end where they were dead on their feet. samford should walk thru the league. Hodges threw for 450+ yds. and 2 TD's but 4 ints. may have cost them the game. The last was when Sammy was driving for the winning score and he threw a pick 6. There was a blatant block in the back but the ACC refs picked up the flag. Imagine that. That even amazed the announcers. 2 of his ints came deep in FSU territory too. Maybe FU should get a transfer QB?

[The Jackal]

Yeah, but let's also remember that Furman has played easily (and it's not close) the toughest schedule of any SoCon team.

Samford, ETSU, and WCU have all played D2 teams. Mercer has played a non-scholarship squad. UTC has faced one of the worst FCS teams in the country and the Citadel. Wofford has faced both the Citadel and VMI.

Furman has faced arguably the nation's toughest team and then one of the FCS's toughest teams. Both on the road. I'm not suggesting we looked good, but comparing our performances to everyone else in the league isn't exactly a 1:1 comparison.

Also, while Samford gave FSU a great game, remember they played Shorter on Thursday Aug. 30. FSU played VT on Monday night. Samford had 4 extra days to prepare.

[apaladin]

Agree about the tough schedule but your argument would hold more water if we had scored before we were down by at least 45 in each game, especially Elon, or if were not out of the game at the half in both games. FWIW here is how I would rank the SoCon:
1. Sammy
2. Woffy
3. UTC
4. Citadel
5-8 Furman, Mercer, ETSU, WCU in no particular order.
9. VMI

[fufanatic]

I still think we can do some good things in the SoCon. There appears to be two teams that are even remotely close to being considered playoff teams right now ... Samford, who might be a top 5 team in the country, and Wofford, who hasn't beaten anyone special yet but gets the benefit of the doubt. The rest you can put in a big pile. I still like that we get the best teams at home and the not as good ones on the road. I'm pulling back from thinking playoffs for now, but finishing with a winning record would be a positive feeling after these first two weeks. I'm still hopeful for more, but we will have to see. Saturday is a monster game for so many reasons.

[sluggo]

Yeah, but let's also remember that Furman has played easily (and it's not close) the toughest schedule of any SoCon team.

Samford, ETSU, and WCU have all played D2 teams. Mercer has played a non-scholarship squad. UTC has faced one of the worst FCS teams in the country and the Citadel. Wofford has faced both the Citadel and VMI.

Furman has faced arguably the nation's toughest team and then one of the FCS's toughest teams. Both on the road. I'm not suggesting we looked good, but comparing our performances to everyone else in the league isn't exactly a 1:1 comparison.

Also, while Samford gave FSU a great game, remember they played Shorter on Thursday Aug. 30. FSU played VT on Monday night. Samford had 4 extra days to prepare.

True about facing the toughest; but not doing anything to speak of with the ball for 3.7 quarters is troubling.