#14 Furman @ Samford Oct. 5th

[The Jackal]

I think Samford's early SoCon schedule gave them a break.
Samford played Wofford early in the season with the Terriers trying to find their way offensively.
Samford played the CItadel with a hobbled QB still the Chucktown Dogs turned it into a dog fight.
Furman will come to Bama with something to prove, healthy, and prepared.

After Saturday lots of SoCon, landmines coming up.

Samford has VMI, Mercer, WCU, and Auburn on the road. Samford has ETSU and Chatty as remaining home games.
Wofford has ETSU, Clemson, and Mercer on the road. Wofford has Furman and WCU as remaining home games.
The Citadel has Furman and ETSU on the road. The Dogs have WCU, Mercer, and Wofford as remaining home games.
ETSU has Chatty, Samford, WCU, and Vandy on the road. The Bucs have Wofford, Mercer, and The Citadel at home.

Furman IMO plays on the road very well. After Saturday Furman has WCU, Chatty, and Wofford on the road.
Lots of critical games left in the SoCon.

Hot take - I'm not terribly impressed with either the Citadel or Wofford.

As always, we are in perfect alignment in our thinking.

I think folks feel like they are better than they are.

If Wofford beats ETSU this weekend, I will about face. My gut says that ETSU probably wins that game relatively easily.

jackal, i'll go against you on this one. ETSU has no O to speak of but because of the missin' DL on Woff that really helps as ETSU will run right at that. ETSU may win but not easy but hey, what do I know.. .lol

I'm always subject to being wrong, but ETSU's defense just held Austin Peay to 14 points the week before the Govs hung 52 on Jacksonville State. They held Furman to 17, an offense that before Saturday was averaging around 40 points a game.

They'll easily be the best team Wofford's faced this year.

[gofurman]

Jackal, i am always subject to being big wrong too! we have that in common. I like that we respectfully go back and forth. you are a good man . Appreciate you explaining things like DT alignment etc. to me !! Woff ETSU is an interesting game in that Woff will give some middle runs w the 2 DL out. So I think ETSU score about 20? But Woff can score about the same. I don't see ETSU having an easy win w their lack of O. ETSU may win but w the low scoring nature I would be surprised if by more than 7-10

I don't understand the post above about Samford having landmines in SoCon left. Can someone explain that tto me? Samford has beaten Woff and Citadel. Not counting us this week they then have Mercer... VMI and Western on road. that's the weakest three teams as their road slate. then they only have ETSU and Chatt (mediocre) at home .. I don't see much push on Samford other than us. Here was the post "After Saturday lots of SoCon, landmines coming up.
Samford has VMI, Mercer, WCU, and Auburn on the road. Samford has ETSU and Chatty as remaining home games. " ? When you bold Mercer as a tough game I would say you don't have many tough games left...

The others I agree with from Astro - Woff and Citadel etc have plenty of landmines left. the issue is if Sam beats us they may go undefeated or 7-1 easy. If they beat us I don't think they can do worse than 7 socon wins: I REALLY hope I am wrong as most figured you we could win SoCon w 7 wins and that still may be true as co-champs would be fine (we would go to playoffs as we are ranked) but we would have to pull for someone to upset Sam my opinion. Sam is just better than those bottom three and can outscore ETSU leaving a moderate Chatt team as the best chance to beat them. PLEASE WIN FURMAN!!!

[FUBeAR]

I think Samford's early SoCon schedule gave them a break.
Samford played Wofford early in the season with the Terriers trying to find their way offensively.
Samford played the CItadel with a hobbled QB still the Chucktown Dogs turned it into a dog fight.
Furman will come to Bama with something to prove, healthy, and prepared.

After Saturday lots of SoCon, landmines coming up.

Samford has VMI, Mercer, WCU, and Auburn on the road. Samford has ETSU and Chatty as remaining home games.
Wofford has ETSU, Clemson, and Mercer on the road. Wofford has Furman and WCU as remaining home games.
The Citadel has Furman and ETSU on the road. The Dogs have WCU, Mercer, and Wofford as remaining home games.
ETSU has Chatty, Samford, WCU, and Vandy on the road. The Bucs have Wofford, Mercer, and The Citadel at home.

Furman IMO plays on the road very well. After Saturday Furman has WCU, Chatty, and Wofford on the road.
Lots of critical games left in the SoCon.

Hot take - I'm not terribly impressed with either the Citadel or Wofford.

As always, we are in perfect alignment in our thinking.

I think folks feel like they are better than they are.

If Wofford beats ETSU this weekend, I will about face. My gut says that ETSU probably wins that game relatively easily.

Not sure about the score yet, but if the same QB’s that I’ve seen playing for both Teams play...and there are any broadsides of barns in the area, those barns can go ahead and mark themselves as “SAFE” on Facebook because they will NOT be hit!

[gofurman]

speaking of QBs - I think that's part of my 'fear' w Samford - they have the 2nd most dual-threat QB we will face yet. After GSU QB gave us fits I worry about those type guys (why I love us having Grainger !). GSU QB .. then Oladokun - I look at other QBs like VT and Riddle and ETSU and those guys aren't beating you with their feet. Well, I guess Adams WCU will but I don't think he has the team that Sam does. Oladokun is scary - watch these clips v Woff... just forward to when Sam has the ball in first half:

look at first quarter w 7 min left in actual game time / he flat has more speed than the entire Woff 2nd level.

other examples: watch the one where Samford hikes the ball at 5:50 left in game time in 1st Q... this dude just kills the Wofford D... look in 3rd Q w 11:30 left in game time as he extends play and hits a nice throw

[apaladin]

I believe Sammy has natural turf. True?

[Purpleglasses]

Nope. Not natural turf anymore.

[gofurman]

watching Woff play Sam I feel the edge is a place we might can run... also, can't let us go back to the 'this qb is mobile so we wont bring pressure' theory - wofford gave him time a few times and he killed them.. blitz a lot

[apaladin]

Nope. Not natural turf anymore.

Thanks, that is good, it could come into play with 94 degrees and a chance of t-storms.

[gofurman]

Nope. Not natural turf anymore.

Thanks, that is good, it could come into play with 94 degrees and a chance of t-storms.

Why do you think AstroTurf favors us?

[The Jackal]

Reading between the lines here, but Hatcher states he "hopes" to have Oladokun on Saturday and, when discussing Liam Welch, states "we'll need him again this week."

[gofurman]

Hope to see Welch as he is far less mobile though what is interesting is Oladokun played until Citadel led 38-24.. (I think). Then Welch led the amazing 2 TD comeback w 5 minutes left. That said I would rather play v Welch w less run ability

[The Jackal]

Hope to see Welch as he is far less mobile though what is interesting is Oladokun played until Citadel led 38-24.. (I think). Then Welch led the amazing 2 TD comeback w 5 minutes left. That said I would rather play v Welch w less run ability

I don't think there's much of a drop-off, frankly. Welch was the starter going into the season. Oladokun is a better runner and helps supplement what is usually a pretty anemic rushing attack for Samford. If Oladokun's isn't 100%, they'd probably be better off with a full speed Welch anyway.

[gofurman]

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... 820048002/

this one worries me:
Pressuring the Samford QB may not be the right plan

“Certainly, you’ve got to find some ways to pressure,” Hendrix said about getting to the Samford quarterback. “We didn’t do a very good job of that a year ago. It’s hard to get to them.”


“What’s a little unique about them is (the quarterback) doesn’t stand back there with (the ball) a lot," Hendrix said. "They just get back and get it out of their hands. They’re really big up front. Almost just kind of building a little wall there, and he gets it out of hands.

“As much as they screen and do what they do, a lot of times they’re almost waiting for you to bring pressure so they can run those screens. A screen for them is just another play.”

I trust our coaches but the GSU game was pretty bad on D and we tried a few blitzes and then just went to the ol' keep the recvrs in front of us for 7 yard gains.. and gave up 48 points. I understand that was an outstanding QB and OL. I do. Also strong WRs. It appears we have learned from that (still never understand why guys doing this for 20+ years have to learn not to let a good QB get comfortable as every week all the NFL announcers say that) and I get that Samford throws screens etc. But I just watched Sam v Woff and Woff did well in stopping Sam (21 points is all they scored) when they brought at least 4 guys and sometimes 5. When they lay back or couldn't get to the QB he carved them up. Please bring heat and get to QB !!! No 3-8 unless really long

[MNORM]

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... 820048002/

this one worries me:
Pressuring the Samford QB may not be the right plan

“Certainly, you’ve got to find some ways to pressure,” Hendrix said about getting to the Samford quarterback. “We didn’t do a very good job of that a year ago. It’s hard to get to them.”


“What’s a little unique about them is (the quarterback) doesn’t stand back there with (the ball) a lot," Hendrix said. "They just get back and get it out of their hands. They’re really big up front. Almost just kind of building a little wall there, and he gets it out of hands.

“As much as they screen and do what they do, a lot of times they’re almost waiting for you to bring pressure so they can run those screens. A screen for them is just another play.”

I trust our coaches but the GSU game was pretty bad on D and we tried a few blitzes and then just went to the ol' keep the recvrs in front of us for 7 yard gains.. and gave up 48 points. I understand that was an outstanding QB and OL. I do. Also strong WRs. It appears we have learned from that (still never understand why guys doing this for 20+ years have to learn not to let a good QB get comfortable as every week all the NFL announcers say that) and I get that Samford throws screens etc. But I just watched Sam v Woff and Woff did well in stopping Sam (21 points is all they scored) when they brought at least 4 guys and sometimes 5. When they lay back or couldn't get to the QB he carved them up. Please bring heat and get to QB !!! No 3-8 unless really long

Going forward, I'm holding off reading any of your pregame posts until Friday nights. Going to create a new drinking game where every time you write "I'm scared" or "I'm worried" one has to take a shot.

[gofurman]

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... 820048002/

this one worries me:
Pressuring the Samford QB may not be the right plan

“Certainly, you’ve got to find some ways to pressure,” Hendrix said about getting to the Samford quarterback. “We didn’t do a very good job of that a year ago. It’s hard to get to them.”


“What’s a little unique about them is (the quarterback) doesn’t stand back there with (the ball) a lot," Hendrix said. "They just get back and get it out of their hands. They’re really big up front. Almost just kind of building a little wall there, and he gets it out of hands.

“As much as they screen and do what they do, a lot of times they’re almost waiting for you to bring pressure so they can run those screens. A screen for them is just another play.”

I trust our coaches but the GSU game was pretty bad on D and we tried a few blitzes and then just went to the ol' keep the recvrs in front of us for 7 yard gains.. and gave up 48 points. I understand that was an outstanding QB and OL. I do. Also strong WRs. It appears we have learned from that (still never understand why guys doing this for 20+ years have to learn not to let a good QB get comfortable as every week all the NFL announcers say that) and I get that Samford throws screens etc. But I just watched Sam v Woff and Woff did well in stopping Sam (21 points is all they scored) when they brought at least 4 guys and sometimes 5. When they lay back or couldn't get to the QB he carved them up. Please bring heat and get to QB !!! No 3-8 unless really long

Going forward, I'm holding off reading any of your pregame posts until Friday nights. Going to create a new drinking game where every time you write "I'm scared" or "I'm worried" one has to take a shot.

Good plan - note I was scared of Mercer.. we rolled. I did NOT post and literal 'worry' about ETSU and others said we will kill these guys by 30+ and .. we escaped w a 7 point win. A win I like but a really close one nonetheless. So my plan going forward is to be more 'worried' !!!

My lack of worry almost caught us last week ! So I had to get back on the 'worry' to help us this week. My fault last week was so close a game ! - well, me and those guys who said we would win by 30+; karma and all that stuff. I hope those guys who thought we win by 30 over ETSU don't bet on football !


If I can 'worry' and we beat Samford for the first time ever under CH. I'll keep on worryin' - that said, I do not fear Citadel near as much as Samford as we a) have beaten Citadel both years under CH. Lost to Samford both times under CH and b) stop the option much better than we stop the pass attack as shown by the record