apaladin wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 12:47 am
Mercer has locked up the SoCon champiinship and auto bid. If UTC wins the next 2 they likely get an at-large. They have Samford at home and then at Austi-Peay.
12:00 FURMAN AT ETSU the payback to FU season continues. ETSU a very very longshot at playoffs.
1:00. VMI @ WCU WCU can keep FU out of the cellar in a meaningless game.
1:30. SAMFORD @ UTC A must win for UTC to keep playoff hopes alive.
1:30 CITADEL @ WOFFORD WC can secure a .500 season for the first time since 2019. I like Citadel here.
2:00. MERCER @ ALABAMA MU catches Ala at a good time and Ala lacks a passing game so may be closer than ya think.
THE REAL STORIES ARE…
Mercer has locked up,
at least a share of, the SoCon Championship and auto bid.
If Mercer defeats Furman in Macon in 2 weeks, the Bears will win the Championship outright.
A Mercer loss to Furman means that WCU, ETSU, and/or Chattanooga could each also win A SHARE of the SoCon Championship, IF…
- Chattanooga defeats Samford next week AND/OR…
- ETSU defeats Furman AND VMI in the next 2 weeks AND/OR…
- WCU defeats VMI AND Samford in the next 2 weeks.
It’s the SoCon…nothing would be a surprise.
If UTC wins the next 2 they will receive an at-large. They have Samford at home and then at Austin Peay.
12:00 FURMAN AT ETSU - If ETSU wins out (impressively), they almost certainly will receive an at-large playoff bid. The Bucs’ shoulda-won game vs. #1 NDSU will hold a lot of sway with the Selection Committee. At present, they have only lost to an FBS and 1-score games to 2 certain & 1 highly probable FCS Playoff Teams; 2 of those possibly being seeded in the Top 4/Top 8. Their non-D1 win will hurt them, but less so in a 12 game season.
1:00. VMI @ WCU - WCU is holding out slim hopes that they can back into the Playoffs with a combination of winning out impressively in the next 2 weeks, a win over highly probable playoff Team (Chatt), narrow road losses to Playoff/possible highly seeded Mercer & possible Playoff ETSU, a strong (though losing performance) on the road to probable playoff / possible highly seeded Montana, AND a lot of help from several bad losses by (bubble-y) Teams Ranked in the 12-25 range. If they lose to VMI or Samford, they are definitely OUT. This will be Sr. Day for them and Coach Bell will have them sold that they will continue to have a shot at the Playoffs if they win BIG. FUBeAR expects the Catamounts to try to score 100 on the Keydets.
1:30. SAMFORD @ UTC A must win for UTC to keep playoff hopes alive.
1:30 CITADEL @ WOFFORD WC can secure a .500 season for the first time since 2019.
2:00. MERCER @ ALABAMA - Mercer rested at least 3 Offensive Starters at VMI. Their 4th Team RB had the most Rushing Attempts. The Bears substituted 3-deep vs. the usual 2-2.5 deep rotations on Defense from the 1st quarter on at VMI. If Mercer had nothing to play for in the weeks ahead, FUBeAR is certain they would play to try to win @ Bama. As they know they are already in the Playoffs and losing 63-3 to Bama will hurt them no worse than losing 35-14, FUBeAR will be very surprised if Coach Jacobs treats this like anything other than an exhibition game. ONLY Fully healthy Starters will start, and they will play several series. Liberal substitutions will begin after the 2nd series and FUBeAR would not expect to see any Mercer starters play after the 1st series of the 2nd half, when Mercer’s 2nd & 3rd Teamers will be seeing how they fare against Bama’s 3rd and 4th Teamers the rest of the way. Now, if chaos ensues and Mercer lucks into a 21-0 lead 4 minutes into the game, that plan could change, but doubtful. Mercer will be focused on trying to defeat Furman the following week, and getting healed up, without getting rusty - possibly during a bye week in the 1st round. President Underwood’s expectation is that Mercer needs to at least win a 2nd round game this year to build on last year’s 1st round win.