Western Carolina 52, Furman 20

[FurmanATT]

It pained me to write this. -- MD
The longest day. #Paladins https://wellpilgrim.com/2024/10/20/anot ... gns-52-20/

[tim]

" I'm sure there is strategy there, I'm just not sure what the strategy is" WTF?

[apaladin]

Gonzalez got a helmet sticker at the end of espn’s college footbal live last night. Funny they didn’t have a WCU helmet so they just used a plain black helmet.

[PaladinGooner]

I knew we would struggle this year, but losing to WCU by 32 points? Yikes.

[FurmanATT]

" I'm sure there is strategy there, I'm just not sure what the strategy is" WTF?

I feel as if I should add some context. I used the word "quipped" trying to convey that Clay was sort of thinking out loud. There were no actual quips during that press conference. Clay was saying that they had a number of players they had hoped to red-shirt, but the mounting injuries made that hard to do. He said they might try to play some players in two of the remaining games and two others in the other two. When he said what you noted above, he was referring to the changing situation as injuries increase.
Clay isn't going to host a talk show, or start a podcast, but he is an extraordinarily straight shooter, and I've been doing this a while. -- MD

[gofurman]

I knew we would struggle this year, but losing to WCU by 32 points? Yikes.

I hadn’t put it together that Western put more yards on us than OLE MISS!!! CMON. if nothing else our O should eat some clock and prevent that from happening.

Recall Citadel RAN for 250+ yards on Western. So in the last 4 years Furman RAN for -
We ran for 300+ yards on Western. That’s 2021 when we were 6-5
We ran for 400+ on Western. Just running. 400+. !!
We ran for 300+ yards on Western
And this year…. 55 yards rushing for 1.5 yards a rush. I realize we were playing from behind. But first half we were running. Many running plays …. Negative 2. Negative 1. Gain two yards. Just NOTHING happening.


We need an OL. what baffles me is our OL has not suffered the injuries. Tex Elliot? But basically our OL is who we expected it to be.

OL. Hard work and probably some TRANSFERS needed this summer. It is what it is. Influx of new guys and competition needed.

[gofurman]

It pained me to write this. -- MD
The longest day. #Paladins https://wellpilgrim.com/2024/10/20/anot ... gns-52-20/

Well. It is Halloween. As you say “. Take a look at the stats … if you dare “

[Stumpy]

Look on the bright side.

At least they didn't tear down our goalpost this time.

[Davemeister]

2024 is a Rebuilding Year for Furman Football. I hope that's what we are doing.

In the "Poop Squad" year of 1998 - which has been referenced in other threads - we won 5 games. I'd be tickled to death if we can equal that total this season.

[FUBeAR]

Look on the bright side.

At least they didn't tear down our goalpost this time.

They used it as a turnstile instead though.

[Paladin91]

2024 is a Rebuilding Year for Furman Football. I hope that's what we are doing.

In the "Poop Squad" year of 1998 - which has been referenced in other threads - we won 5 games. I'd be tickled to death if we can equal that total this season.

I realize we lost a lot of players and have had some injuries, but this is an established program, and we should not have to "rebuild". After several years, we should be in a position to only "reload."

[gofurman]

2024 is a Rebuilding Year for Furman Football. I hope that's what we are doing.

In the "Poop Squad" year of 1998 - which has been referenced in other threads - we won 5 games. I'd be tickled to death if we can equal that total this season.

I realize we lost a lot of players and have had some injuries, but this is an established program, and we should not have to "rebuild". After several years, we should be in a position to only "reload."

Paladin91, it’s a valid question that you have.
Look I understand crazy injuries. It’s My fetish right ? LOL. And I know about the numerous Covid year players last year - heck in my second edition of “how many games do we win now “. - after Having seen 4 or 5 games - I still thought we would compete for 5 wins. People thought I was negative guessing only 5 victories for us.

This is literally the worst I’ve ever seen. We are just getting blown off the field now. And here’s the thing. If I could see the talent and speed etc … like I do in Hinton and a few guys then OK… I guess the execution will come later. But I see WRs blow by our DBs … DL just KILLING our OL. and our OL are not that young.. no real injuries there on OL.

Put another way, and this is gonna sting, but please read calmly. it comes from the reasoning of PaulC etc. PaulC gave me heck because we won in the 80s with HEART and EXECUTION- not pure Talent. Ok, let’s run with that reasoning. We went to the title game in 85. Won it all in 88. Coulda won it all in 89. Well, if we were out-talented back then as Paul and FUBeAR maintain ( and I’ll buy that ) and yet able to maintain consistent superior play …. Title worthy play…. Conference championship worthy play for an entire DECADE(!!!) …. Then what is different now ? They (Paul and FUBeAR) said you don’t need talent just coaching and execution and heart…. So that leads to the only conclusion that we just don’t have guys with execution or grit or something right now. It’s simple deductive reasoning

[Paladin91]

2024 is a Rebuilding Year for Furman Football. I hope that's what we are doing.

In the "Poop Squad" year of 1998 - which has been referenced in other threads - we won 5 games. I'd be tickled to death if we can equal that total this season.

I realize we lost a lot of players and have had some injuries, but this is an established program, and we should not have to "rebuild". After several years, we should be in a position to only "reload."

Paladin91, it’s a valid question that you have.
Look I understand crazy injuries. It’s My fetish right ? LOL. And I know about the numerous Covid year players last year - heck in my second edition of “how many games do we win now “. - after Having seen 4 or 5 games - I still thought we would compete for 5 wins. People thought I was negative guessing only 5 victories for us.

This is literally the worst I’ve ever seen. We are just getting blown off the field now. And here’s the thing. If I could see the talent and speed etc … like I do in Hinton and a few guys then OK… I guess the execution will come later. But I see WRs blow by our DBs … DL just KILLING our OL. and our OL are not that young.. no real injuries there on OL.

Put another way, and this is gonna sting, but please read calmly. it comes from the reasoning of PaulC etc. PaulC gave me heck because we won in the 80s with HEART and EXECUTION- not pure Talent. Ok, let’s run with that reasoning. We went to the title game in 85. Won it all in 88. Coulda won it all in 89. Well, if we were out-talented back then as Paul and FUBeAR maintain ( and I’ll buy that ) and yet able to maintain consistent superior play …. Title worthy play…. Conference championship worthy play for an entire DECADE(!!!) …. Then what is different now ? They (Paul and FUBeAR) said you don’t need talent just coaching and execution and heart…. So that leads to the only conclusion that we just don’t have guys with execution or grit or something right now. It’s simple deductive reasoning

I think my biggest issue is the Offensive Line - yes, we lost personnel there, but we have a group that should be performing at a higher level. CH is a former offensive lineman and I'm just really surprised at how poor our execution has been on the OL. We literally get no push against the opposing DL. Either our recruiting for offensive linemen has really dropped off or we need to find an OL coach that can push these guys to peak performance. I don't think the issue is with our running backs - when they can find a hole, they gain yards. Our lack of first downs from the running game leaves lots of time on the clock, resulting in opposing offenses killing our tired defense. Improving our O-line play should be a key priority heading into the second half of the year and off season.

But anyway, back to the original point, programs like GA, Alabama, North Dakota St., Montana, etc. find a way to reload their programs without having to "rebuild". Sure, we're going to have a down year from time to time, but I'm not that hopeful that we wil see significant improvement with our current lineup heading into next year. We need a strong recruiting class and some talented transfers.

[apaladin]

Not sure you can call this a rebuilding year. Teams that win 10 games 2 years in a row don’t fall this far and hard the next season. More like startng from the bottom up.

[Davemeister]

If we reloaded, we shoulda used live ammo. Right now we're shooting blanks.