At ETSU

[gofurman]

yes, a week out but I am really hoping we get this one. Pulling for ETSU to beat Citadel and be a top ten team this week.

Be back later with edits but first note, I was unaware of this one from the spring:

1) Big loss for ETSU - South Carolina has dipped back into the transfer portal to add another tight end, as former East Tennessee State standout Nate Adkins announced Tuesday that he will play his final season for the Gamecocks. Adkins, a two-time All-Southern Conference selection at ETSU, received interest from multiple SEC schools, including Alabama and LSU. He joins his father, Greg Adkins, who's entering his second season as South Carolina's offensive line coach. Adkins, who is 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, is a bruising blocker but also had 73 catches for 749 yards and four touchdowns during his career at ETSU. During the FCS playoffs last season, Adkins made several acrobatic catches in the 32-31 second-round win over Kennesaw State, and his 2-point conversion catch proved to be the game winner for the Bucs.


Today 9/10 is about great play vs Clemson!!!

. As we move on to ETSU though it does take a little luster off the game (ETSU v Furman ) with Citadel beating ETSU. I really wanted ETSU to escape with a W to stay top ten. I suspect they fall from 9 to 18 or so. Still it’s a BIG game. Wish it were at home.

Welcome to the Quarles era ETSU

[purplehorse]

Beating ETSU would be huge regardless of their loss to the Citadel. We can’t afford to lose our first conference game. Need to build confidence and momentum. We have been mentally soft the last several years. A lot of the game is mental. Need to start strong out of the gate.

[FUBeAR]

FWIW - W&M nearly doubling up Campbell the week after the Camels nearly tripled up the bellhops; the same bellhops who just went into Johnson City and beat the (perceived) top Team in the SoCon, will not be missed by Poll voters. They may completely overlook Samford thrashing the #7 Team, but they won’t miss this ‘opportunity’ to bash & downvote SoCon Teams.

[The Jackal]

We know every year that the Citadel and Samford are going to beat a team they shouldn't. Happens every season. The positive for Furman is that both of those head scratchers happened in the first two weeks of the season.

Furman can't control what ETSU does. We can only control going up and whipping them next week.

[AstroDin]

Listening to McMorris interview Ryan Miller after Clemson—told me all I need to know.
Miller said I've already forgotten this game cause the big game is next Saturday night against the Bucs.
That game is what Miller said he was looking forward to.

Now that we're back to our weight class - I'm excited to see how JR will use our skill players.

I love how JR uses our runningbacks in the run and passing games. But I want more Devin Abrams (my cowbell reference). Abrams seems to be playing this season with some fire, not taking away anything from Roberto; he played well too. Along comes Myion Hicks to quickly come in and make the longest run of the game for the Paladins.

I forgot two more highlight players worth calling out from yesterday…

Dominic Morris's coverage on a deep pass was exceptional-and he almost made the interception.
Joshua Harris 's finger-tip catch over the middle being flanked by Clemson defenders.

[The Jackal]

1. Miller is going to be a nightmare for defenses. Clemson's got one of the nation's best defenses and they were struggling to cover him.

2. Abrams and Roberto look like basically 1a, 1b. I don't see a drop off.

3. Harris really looked like he might be taking that next step as a WR. He made some excellent catches in traffic.

4. Huff looked like he's going to be a real problem for defenses. Quick, fast, creative, and with great field vision.

[gofurman]

FWIW - W&M nearly doubling up Campbell the week after the Camels nearly tripled up the bellhops; the same bellhops who just went into Johnson City and beat the (perceived) top Team in the SoCon, will not be missed by Poll voters. They may completely overlook Samford thrashing the #7 Team, but they won’t miss this ‘opportunity’ to bash & downvote SoCon Teams.

Technically the citadel ETSU game was in Charleston. Not Johnson City. That is a difference - I don’t think Citadel wins at ETSU. Charleston has been a house of horrors for many. Home field is huge. Wish it were at Furman but hey, you have to play em where they are

I do hate that Quarles will have the teams attention more since they lost. Had they eeked out a win they may be thinking we can just show up and win

[youwouldno]

ETSU was only a 7 point favorite per Massey. Not a huge upset. By the same token though, it's tough going to ETSU . . . Paladins are quite likely the better team, but still not an easy assignment.

[FUBeAR]

FWIW - W&M nearly doubling up Campbell the week after the Camels nearly tripled up the bellhops; the same bellhops who just went into Johnson City and beat the (perceived) top Team in the SoCon, will not be missed by Poll voters. They may completely overlook Samford thrashing the #7 Team, but they won’t miss this ‘opportunity’ to bash & downvote SoCon Teams.

Technically the citadel ETSU game was in Charleston. Not Johnson City. That is a difference - I don’t think Citadel wins at ETSU. Charleston has been a house of horrors for many. Home field is huge. Wish it were at Furman but hey, you have to play em where they are

I do hate that Quarles will have the teams attention more since they lost. Had they eeked out a win they may be thinking we can just show up and win

LOL - that’s not “technically” … that’s “Hey FUBeAR, you moron - the game was in Charleston. I thought you followed this stuff…jeez.” FUBeAR’s mental bust there. Apologies.

Regardless, ETSU will still drop in the polls faster than [insert appropriate FU coed name from your days]’s knickers on Saturday night. They won’t get the “gutter guards” that Kennesaw, Southern Illinois, and Stephen F. Austin got in the prior week.

[The Jackal]

ETSU was only a 7 point favorite per Massey. Not a huge upset. By the same token though, it's tough going to ETSU . . . Paladins are quite likely the better team, but still not an easy assignment.

ETSU won a lot of close games last year. Like, really close.

They lost a lot of talented players. On offense. On defense. The difference in that may be what you saw yesterday - they lost a close game they probably would have won last season.

With the Bucs, they have two home run hitters on offense - Jacob Saylors (RB) and Will Huzzie (WR). To beat them, we really need to stay in front of those two guys. They're going to get their yards, but the goal is to force them to earn those yards the hard way and not pop off big plays.

In a perfect world, Furman can start fast and let ETSU try to chase the game. We need to recognize at all times, though, that this is a good team at coming back late in games and it'll be a four quarter fight.

[gofurman]

FWIW - W&M nearly doubling up Campbell the week after the Camels nearly tripled up the bellhops; the same bellhops who just went into Johnson City and beat the (perceived) top Team in the SoCon, will not be missed by Poll voters. They may completely overlook Samford thrashing the #7 Team, but they won’t miss this ‘opportunity’ to bash & downvote SoCon Teams.

Technically the citadel ETSU game was in Charleston. Not Johnson City. That is a difference - I don’t think Citadel wins at ETSU. Charleston has been a house of horrors for many. Home field is huge. Wish it were at Furman but hey, you have to play em where they are

I do hate that Quarles will have the teams attention more since they lost. Had they eeked out a win they may be thinking we can just show up and win

LOL - that’s not “technically” … that’s “Hey FUBeAR, you moron - the game was in Charleston. I thought you followed this stuff…jeez.” FUBeAR’s mental bust there. Apologies.

Regardless, ETSU will still drop in the polls faster than [insert appropriate FU coed name from your days]’s knickers on Saturday night. They won’t get the “gutter guards” that Kennesaw, Southern Illinois, and Stephen F. Austin got in the prior week.

Lol. I was being nice to my Furman brethren. Hope they stay top 20 in polls.

[gofurman]

We know every year that the Citadel and Samford are going to beat a team they shouldn't. Happens every season. The positive for Furman is that both of those head scratchers happened in the first two weeks of the season.

Furman can't control what ETSU does. We can only control going up and whipping them next week.

Oh I agree. But you yourself had said ( I paraphrase) earlier in the week that. “ all Furman fans should be pulling for an ETSU victory vs Citadel so we gad a shot at top ten team in East Tennessee

[The Jackal]

We know every year that the Citadel and Samford are going to beat a team they shouldn't. Happens every season. The positive for Furman is that both of those head scratchers happened in the first two weeks of the season.

Furman can't control what ETSU does. We can only control going up and whipping them next week.

Oh I agree. But you yourself had said ( I paraphrase) earlier in the week that. “ all Furman fans should be pulling for an ETSU victory vs Citadel so we gad a shot at top ten team in East Tennessee

We did. We would have preferred ETSU win, but they didn't

[gofurman]

We know every year that the Citadel and Samford are going to beat a team they shouldn't. Happens every season. The positive for Furman is that both of those head scratchers happened in the first two weeks of the season.

Furman can't control what ETSU does. We can only control going up and whipping them next week.

Oh I agree. But you yourself had said ( I paraphrase) earlier in the week that. “ all Furman fans should be pulling for an ETSU victory vs Citadel so we gad a shot at top ten team in East Tennessee

We did. We would have preferred ETSU win, but they didn't

agree. that was all I was saying - and now hearing that ETSU may not even be top 25 stinks (in another thread per Sam Herder). Other conferences they would leave at 18 - hope ETSU is in top 20

[The Jackal]

Small sample size, but this is an interesting trend.

In 2022, Furman has averaged 24.5 receptions per game at around an 80% completion percentage.

In 2021, we averaged 13.5 reception at a 55% completion percentage

In 2019, we were about 10 receptions per game at 52%.

Right now, two weeks into the season, Ryan Miller has already caught as many passes as Ryan Deluca did all of last season (our #3 receiver).

Again, small sample size, but that sample also includes playing Clemson and a D2 team where we basically ran up the middle most of the second half.