SoCon media day - rankings etc

[gofurman]

In other news.. I think today is SoCon media day? should be some rankings etc. Fun for discussion -

SoCon live stream schedule:
1:10 p.m. – Live stream begins
1:15 p.m. – VMI
1:25 p.m. – Samford
1:35 p.m. – Chattanooga
1:45 p.m. – Mercer
1:55 p.m. – The Citadel
2:05 p.m. – ETSU
2:15 p.m. – Western Carolina
2:25 p.m. – Furman
2:35 p.m. – Wofford
2:45 p.m. – Commissioner Jim Schau

Southern Conference Football Media Day attendees
The Citadel: Head coach Brent Thompson, QB Brandon Rainey and DL Joseph Randolph II
ETSU: Head coach Randy Sanders, OL Ben Blackmon and DL Nasir Player
Furman: Head coach Clay Hendrix, OT Bo Layton and LB Elijah McKoy
Mercer: Head coach Bobby Lamb, QB Robert Riddle and LB Will Coneway
Samford: Head coach Chris Hatcher, OL Nick Nixon and DB Nick Barton
Chattanooga: Head coach Rusty Wright, QB Nick Tiano and DB Jerrell Lawson
VMI: Head coach Scott Wachenheim, QB Reece Udinski and DB A.J. Smith
Western Carolina: Head coach Mark Speir, QB Tyrie Adams and DB Devarius Cortner
Wofford: Head coach Josh Conklin, QB Joe Newman and LB Jireh Wilson

[gofurman]

Almost identical :

2019 SoCon Preseason Polls

Coaches
No. Team (first-place) Points
1) Wofford (7) 63
2) FURMAN (1) 55
3) ETSU (1) 44
4) Chattanooga 40
5) Mercer 34
6) Samford 33
7) The Citadel 22
8) Western Carolina 21
9) VMI 12

Media
No. Team (first-place) Points
1) Wofford (21) 253
2) FURMAN (6) 229
3) ETSU (2) 187
4) Mercer 146
5) Chattanooga 134
6) Samford 125
7) The Citadel 111
8) Western Carolina 88
9) VMI 32

[The Jackal]

Odd to see them so close. Looks like the only difference is UTC/Mercer finishing 4/5

[gofurman]

I bet a lot of people could argue for ETSU not making the top 3... Nasir Player is a beast and they do return 4 of their 5 OL but can they win soooo many close ones?

I would put Mercer at 3rd myself. They scare me somehow. I get the Western ranking - Tyrie is phenomenal .. but lost all but one OL ! And lost 2 of 3 DL.. teams may kill them in the trenches. I hope we do !!!

[Afurmanfan]

Is there a cost to the SoCon live streaming? It says zero cost but wants me to enter billing info.

[MNORM]

I bet a lot of people could argue for ETSU not making the top 3... Nasir Player is a beast and they do return 4 of their 5 OL but can they win soooo many close ones?

I would put Mercer at 3rd myself. They scare me somehow. I get the Western ranking - Tyrie is phenomenal .. but lost all but one OL ! And lost 2 of 3 DL.. teams may kill them in the trenches. I hope we do !!!

Agreed. I thought the same thing when I first saw these.

[The Jackal]

I bet a lot of people could argue for ETSU not making the top 3... Nasir Player is a beast and they do return 4 of their 5 OL but can they win soooo many close ones?

I would put Mercer at 3rd myself. They scare me somehow. I get the Western ranking - Tyrie is phenomenal .. but lost all but one OL ! And lost 2 of 3 DL.. teams may kill them in the trenches. I hope we do !!!

I think the rankings are indicative of who the coaches/media consider the most complete teams.

Every team has question marks. I think that Wofford and Furman are the two squads that you feel pretty confident projecting their offensive and defensive capabilities at this stage.

Everyone else is a little more up in the air, in my opinion. ETSU looks good defensively, but has a lot of question marks on offense. Mercer looks good on offense, but has a lot of questions on defense. UTC was strong defensively last year, lost some really key players, and was terrible on offense, but returns some key players.

[tim]

Mercer goes 5-6 or 6-5 tops because thats what BL does. Tell me if y'all see Bear lurking around 'cause after saying that, I want a head start. Furman wins it all, Wofford tanks in their second year without Ayers and their first team in eleven years without Miles Brown and others on D. Surprise team will be WCU who will try it with some coaches this time. Shidadel will be tough. Leonard's Loser, VMI.

[fufanatic]

I don't particularly care because I'm out of market and will watch all games through ESPN3 or ESPN+, but I found it bizarre that VMI of all teams is tied for the most SoCon Games of the Week with Wofford. I'm sure that Mars Hill at VMI game Sept. 7 will draw in the eyes of the nation.

https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2019/7/ ... -week.aspx

VMI - 4
Wofford - 4
Western Carolina - 3
Furman - 3
ETSU - 3
Mercer - 2
Samford - 2
The Citadel - 2
Chattanooga - 2

[gofurman]

Agree esp on how does Furman v Georgia State not get 'game of the week' on Sept 7 ?

[gofurman]

Mercer goes 5-6 or 6-5 tops because thats what BL does. Tell me if y'all see Bear lurking around 'cause after saying that, I want a head start. Furman wins it all, Wofford tanks in their second year without Ayers and their first team in eleven years without Miles Brown and others on D. Surprise team will be WCU who will try it with some coaches this time. Shidadel will be tough. Leonard's Loser, VMI.

"Furman wins it all, Wofford tanks in their second year without Ayers and their first team in eleven years without Miles Brown and others on D. Surprise team will be WCU who will try it with some coaches this time. " - I SOOOO want you to be right but am hesitant to
1) pick us as champs in a QBs first year of D1 ball
2) pick against Wofford until another year or so - it is still all Ayers guys on the field as Junr and Senr players. 2021 / 22 will be telling. This year though Wofford returns pretty much evryone from last year and the replacement guys are Ayers guys. I want to see how Conklin recruits and that will not show up this year
3) I still see WCU on the bottom half losing most of their OL and DL

[Paul C]

Mercer goes 5-6 or 6-5 tops because thats what BL does. Tell me if y'all see Bear lurking around 'cause after saying that, I want a head start. Furman wins it all, Wofford tanks in their second year without Ayers and their first team in eleven years without Miles Brown and others on D. Surprise team will be WCU who will try it with some coaches this time. Shidadel will be tough. Leonard's Loser, VMI.

I think Mercer will be better than that, because when BL has very good QB's he can take advantage of it. And they'll have good QB's down there for next few years. I think if Mercer can't get a ring and goes .500 over the next 3 years BL might be in trouble.

[apaladin]

Agree esp on how does Furman v Georgia State not get 'game of the week' on Sept 7 ?

Three teams are off that week. Others have FBS games on the road which are probably not eligible to be on SoCon GOW. The only 2 home games that week are MH at VMI and Shorter at ETSJ. Pick your poison. Still crazy that VMI has more games than FU and other contenders.

[fufanatic]

Agree esp on how does Furman v Georgia State not get 'game of the week' on Sept 7 ?

Three teams are off that week. Others have FBS games on the road which are probably not eligible to be on SoCon GOW. The only 2 home games that week are MH at VMI and Shorter at ETSJ. Pick your portions. Still crazy that VMI has more games than FU and other contenders.

Good point. Knew that road FBS games wouldn't be eligible, but didn't bother to look at the other options. In situations like this, the SoCon should really be able to pivot to a doubleheader one Saturday and just leave Sept. 7 open. Back-to-back SoCon games on TV in the Southeast would be awesome, especially late in the season.

[Flagman]

Agree esp on how does Furman v Georgia State not get 'game of the week' on Sept 7 ?

Three teams are off that week. Others have FBS games on the road which are probably not eligible to be on SoCon GOW. The only 2 home games that week are MH at VMI and Shorter at ETSJ. Pick your portions. Still crazy that VMI has more games than FU and other contenders.

Good point. Knew that road FBS games wouldn't be eligible, but didn't bother to look at the other options. In situations like this, the SoCon should really be able to pivot to a doubleheader one Saturday and just leave Sept. 7 open. Back-to-back SoCon games on TV in the Southeast would be awesome, especially late in the season.

But then, our start times would be dictated more by TV and not fan convenience. And since there's not a lot of money (probably none) coming our way for these games, I would hate for the game times to be determined by TV. These games may even be an expense for the schools. Maybe one of you knows the answer to that.