Spring Game

[The Jackal]

That play, I think, demonstrates a bit of what we'll see out of Furman's new offense.

You've got the H back offset to the left and the back to the right. Defenses are going to have to respect Furman's backs running down hill with numbers to that side of the field.

You see the H back leaking out the back side and putting the linebacker in a tough position in pass coverage.

I expect you'll also see Furman run the QB out of this. QB puts his eyes on the linebacker, if he steps up against the run, pull the ball and use the TE as your lead blocker around the edge. Jace Wilson is going to be tough for a linebacker to beat to the edge after he's already stepped inside.

[apaladin]

The long countdown without spectator sports at FU is underway 156 days and counting.

[The Jackal]

The long countdown without spectator sports at FU is underway 156 days and counting.

The softball team literally plays Wednesday. A double header, in fact.

[FUBeAR]

The long countdown without spectator sports at FU is underway 156 days and counting.

The softball team literally plays Wednesday. A double header, in fact.

FU has 42 (SoCon) Athletics Competitions scheduled between today & September 1, 2022. One’s definition of “spectator sports” may/may not be relevant…

https://soconsports.com/calendar.aspx

WLAX also has at least 9 games (Big South) & WGolf (not listed on the SoCon Calendar) still has the SoCon Championships to go…so….52ish events.

Wish those included baseball, of course…

[dornb]

Great article by Scott Keeler in the Greenville News:

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... -NLETTER65

[The Jackal]

I was perusing some of Holy Cross' videos from last season and seeing what Roper's offense may look like this fall.

To the best of my recollection, Furman last committed to a single back offense under Tim Sorrells with Reese Hannon at QB. While the offense has its positives and negatives (as all do), my biggest gripe in those years was Furman seemed unwilling to commit to utilizing the QB as a runner.

Roper looks to have a different approach. One of the benefits of running the single back offense in a more modern style is to allow for more blockers at the point of attack and force defenses to account for the QB as a runner.

Here, Holy Cross has a trips formation, fakes a handoff, and then utilizes the RB as a lead blocker as the QB tucks in behind.

This isn't philosophically that different than what Furman has done for years with a fullback clearing the way for a tail back. Instead of the TB, the QB carries the ball. By using the QB as a runner, defenses have to account both for the receivers as well as the numbers in the box.

[apaladin]

That looked great but unfortunately there are no Georgetown quality defenses in the SoCon.

[The Jackal]

That looked great but unfortunately there are no Georgetown quality defenses in the SoCon.

You've apparently not watched Western Carolina or Samford in recent years.

The SoCon is a better football conference, but let's not pretend like there aren't some absolutely atrocious defensive football teams in the conference.

There were four SoCon football teams ranked worse than 105th nationally (out of 123 teams) in scoring defense. Literally some of the nation's worst defensive football is played in the SoCon.

[FUBeAR]

That looked great but unfortunately there are no Georgetown quality defenses in the SoCon.

You've apparently not watched Western Carolina or Samford in recent years.

The SoCon is a better football conference, but let's not pretend like there aren't some absolutely atrocious defensive football teams in the conference.

There were four SoCon football teams ranked worse than 105th nationally (out of 123 teams) in scoring defense. Literally some of the nation's worst defensive football is played in the SoCon.

Nah…Georgetown ain’t lining up against Offenses from Oklahoma, Alabama, NC State, Clemson, Florida et al.

In OOC FCS regular season games last season, SoCon Teams averaged giving up less than 23 ppg (which ain’t too bad). And, you are right…with WCU ‘leading’ the way in that regard by giving up 52 to Gardner Webb.

Furman, Mercer, Chattanooga, and ETSU all had excellent Defenses in 2021. VMI was mostly solid also.

The SoCon is doing nothing that is the “nation’s worst”…other than failing to fight the PR battle about the quality of play in the league…maybe because, with a few exceptions, unlike fans of Teams in the MVFC, the Big Sky, and the CAA; SoCon fans only beat their drums for their own Team, while they constantly denigrate the overall quality of SoCon Football. It’s definitely not a helpful approach.

[The Jackal]

That looked great but unfortunately there are no Georgetown quality defenses in the SoCon.

You've apparently not watched Western Carolina or Samford in recent years.

The SoCon is a better football conference, but let's not pretend like there aren't some absolutely atrocious defensive football teams in the conference.

There were four SoCon football teams ranked worse than 105th nationally (out of 123 teams) in scoring defense. Literally some of the nation's worst defensive football is played in the SoCon.

Nah…Georgetown ain’t lining up against Offenses from Oklahoma, Alabama, NC State, Clemson, Florida et al.

In OOC FCS regular season games last season, SoCon Teams averaged giving up less than 23 ppg (which ain’t too bad). And, you are right…with WCU ‘leading’ the way in that regard by giving up 52 to Gardner Webb.

Furman, Mercer, Chattanooga, and ETSU all had excellent Defenses in 2021. VMI was mostly solid also.

The SoCon is doing nothing that is the “nation’s worst”…other than failing to fight the PR battle about the quality of play in the league…maybe because, with a few exceptions, unlike fans of Teams in the MVFC, the Big Sky, and the CAA; SoCon fans only beat their drums for their own Team, while they constantly denigrate the overall quality of SoCon Football. It’s definitely not a helpful approach.

I get the argument.

At the same time, I disagree with you.

Sure, SoCon teams play tougher competition. But there are four teams that were just really bad defensively last season - Wofford, Citadel, WCU, and Samford. None of those teams were consistently good defensively regardless of the opponent. Yeah, they played some tough FBS schools. They also played some not-tough FCS schools and looked bad there too.

Now, to the main point, I think Roper's offense will be just fine in the SoCon.

I think I can be pro-SoCon and still recognize that a few conference teams don't carry much water on defense.

[FurmanATT]

Holy Cross wears purple, so it has to work.
What conference has no bad defenses?
Certainly not the Big 12... -- MD

[apaladin]

Great article by Scott Keeler in the Greenville News:

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... -NLETTER65

Article doesn’t sound too encouraging regarding the offense. Maybe we are missing some peeps?

[The Jackal]

Great article by Scott Keeler in the Greenville News:

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... -NLETTER65

Article doesn’t sound too encouraging regarding the offense. Maybe we are missing some peeps?

It's not uncommon for the defense to be in front of the offense in the spring, especially with a second year QB learning a new offense.

Last year, we didn't even have a spring game.

[Davemeister]

Last year we had seven spring games.

[The Jackal]

Last year we had seven spring games.

I'm pretty sure the coaching staff would have preferred a normal spring to develop players rather than throwing them into a full conference season.