UTC - March 20

[The Jackal]

Back home. I have no idea what to think about the Mocs.

They did not play this past week. They should have beaten an FBS team in fall, had a game with VMI postponed, squeaked out a win against winless Citadel, and beat Wofford by 11 (I have no idea how good Wofford is).

It appears that they no longer have their excellent senior wideout, Bryce Nunnally, who played in the game this fall. I also see nothing from their standout running back Ailym Ford. That's a little curious because the preseason press indicated he was a full go for the spring. He was not on the depth chart last week.

I'm expecting a team that resembles a bit the ETSU team we just saw - gritty defensively with some athletes on offense, but not necessarily a four quarter barrage.

[FUBeAR]

Yeah - Other than EXPECTING Furman to Win, I wouldn’t make any handicapped investments in this property.

UTC is really taking an interesting ‘angle’ this Spring. It’s quite cagey of them, IMO.

They are SELLING hard that they are REALLY not even trying this Spring. Sure, they plan to show up, once they resolved the 15 different excuses they used to opt out of the VMI game, but to them, it’s really just a scrimmage. “Gosh, if the SoCon didn’t make us, we wouldn’t even need to turn the scoreboard on. Heck-fire, we’d let y’all have this as a Win, y’know, if the SoCon & NCAA would let us do that and still get our workout in.”

FUBeAR has read Huckleberry Finn though...and FUBeAR ain’t gonna paint that fence. Sure, they’ve even got their media mouthpiece bought into (or flat IN) this scam and their fans are all up there in the Scenic City holding paintbrushes. They’re claiming if they win the SoCon Autobid, they won’t accept the invitation to the Playoffs...and will ‘allow’ the 2nd Place Team to take their place.

FUBeAR just ain’t buying it. The SnakeBirdTrains are gonna come into Paladin Stadium with all guns a-blazin’ and every Player healthy enough & good enough to play will see action. They have good Players & they have good Coaches. They are capable of pulling off the win & they will put up a fight akin to what Samford, ETSU, and VMI have done to Furman.

All that said, if you have to win IN OT vs. a bellhop team that had their fannies whipped by Mercer & lost badly to WCU, then you are definitely NOT all that.

FU wins...I think I called it about 31-21.

[Paul C]

They held Cit and Woff to 66/203 and 39/148 yards rushing, respectively. Less that 4ypc for both. We will have to be diverse and unpredictable to move the ball consistently.

[apaladin]

Remember in the WC game, WC gave them the go ahead TD by fumbling a punt that wound up at the one yard line.

[tim]

Yeah - Other than EXPECTING Furman to Win, I wouldn’t make any handicapped investments in this property.

UTC is really taking an interesting ‘angle’ this Spring. It’s quite cagey of them, IMO.

They are SELLING hard that they are REALLY not even trying this Spring. Sure, they plan to show up, once they resolved the 15 different excuses they used to opt out of the VMI game, but to them, it’s really just a scrimmage. “Gosh, if the SoCon didn’t make us, we wouldn’t even need to turn the scoreboard on. Heck-fire, we’d let y’all have this as a Win, y’know, if the SoCon & NCAA would let us do that and still get our workout in.”

FUBeAR has read Huckleberry Finn though...and FUBeAR ain’t gonna paint that fence. Sure, they’ve even got their media mouthpiece bought into (or flat IN) this scam and their fans are all up there in the Scenic City holding paintbrushes. They’re claiming if they win the SoCon Autobid, they won’t accept the invitation to the Playoffs...and will ‘allow’ the 2nd Place Team to take their place.

FUBeAR just ain’t buying it. The SnakeBirdTrains are gonna come into Paladin Stadium with all guns a-blazin’ and every Player healthy enough & good enough to play will see action. They have good Players & they have good Coaches. They are capable of pulling off the win & they will put up a fight akin to what Samford, ETSU, and VMI have done to Furman.

All that said, if you have to win IN OT vs. a bellhop team that had their fannies whipped by Mercer & lost badly to WCU, then you are definitely NOT all that.

FU wins...I think I called it about 31-21.

Very curious, especially since VMI looked beatable when they opted out. But....... I can't paint that fence either.

[AstroDin]

I'll quote Jackal > "I'm expecting a team that resembles a bit the ETSU team we just saw - gritty defensively with some athletes on offense, but not necessarily a four-quarter barrage."

Furman is proving to be a physically-dominate fourth-quarter team.

I think Devin Wynn is just starting to shine. We're in the middle of the season, teams are starting to get bumps and bruises, and Wynn is getting stronger. Wynn only had 17 touches Saturday but he ended up with 152 total yards and two touchdowns. Clay mentioned post-game they should have gotten Wynn the ball more times.

The scary thing about Wynn is his ability to break tackles at the line and at the second level. Could this be the game when Wynn busts some of his long runs? Maybe?

[FUBeAR]

Yeah - Other than EXPECTING Furman to Win, I wouldn’t make any handicapped investments in this property.

UTC is really taking an interesting ‘angle’ this Spring. It’s quite cagey of them, IMO.

They are SELLING hard that they are REALLY not even trying this Spring. Sure, they plan to show up, once they resolved the 15 different excuses they used to opt out of the VMI game, but to them, it’s really just a scrimmage. “Gosh, if the SoCon didn’t make us, we wouldn’t even need to turn the scoreboard on. Heck-fire, we’d let y’all have this as a Win, y’know, if the SoCon & NCAA would let us do that and still get our workout in.”

FUBeAR has read Huckleberry Finn though...and FUBeAR ain’t gonna paint that fence. Sure, they’ve even got their media mouthpiece bought into (or flat IN) this scam and their fans are all up there in the Scenic City holding paintbrushes. They’re claiming if they win the SoCon Autobid, they won’t accept the invitation to the Playoffs...and will ‘allow’ the 2nd Place Team to take their place.

FUBeAR just ain’t buying it. The SnakeBirdTrains are gonna come into Paladin Stadium with all guns a-blazin’ and every Player healthy enough & good enough to play will see action. They have good Players & they have good Coaches. They are capable of pulling off the win & they will put up a fight akin to what Samford, ETSU, and VMI have done to Furman.

All that said, if you have to win IN OT vs. a bellhop team that had their fannies whipped by Mercer & lost badly to WCU, then you are definitely NOT all that.

FU wins...I think I called it about 31-21.

Very curious, especially since VMI looked beatable when they opted out. But....... I can't paint that fence either.

Well...VMI did whip them in the final game of 2019, but I don’t think, in this case (unlike Woffy), they cancelled due to their opponent. For whatever reason, they just weren’t ready to or didn’t want to play in Week 1...so they Covid-ed out. Gave them an edge over Woffy - had the chance to see Woffy’s new O / new QB & didn’t have to show anything. That edge would have been ‘balanced up’ before their game 2...and they squeaked out an OT win over an anemic CIT squad.

Despite Woffy also being not very good, I was impressed with Chatt in their 1st game. Not so much in Game2. I guess it helps to have the answers to the quiz when the opponent does not.

We’ll know a lot more about who they REALLY are on Sat.

Regardless of the outcome, though, I fully expect them to stick with their, “Well, we’re really not trying to win” theme post-game. They are heavily invested in that narrative.

[The Jackal]

I'll quote Jackal > "I'm expecting a team that resembles a bit the ETSU team we just saw - gritty defensively with some athletes on offense, but not necessarily a four-quarter barrage."

Furman is proving to be a physically-dominate fourth-quarter team.

I think Devin Wynn is just starting to shine. We're in the middle of the season, teams are starting to get bumps and bruises, and Wynn is getting stronger. Wynn only had 17 touches Saturday but he ended up with 152 total yards and two touchdowns. Clay mentioned post-game they should have gotten Wynn the ball more times.

The scary thing about Wynn is his ability to break tackles at the line and at the second level. Could this be the game when Wynn busts some of his long runs? Maybe?

I understand Furman has a lot of backs it wants to rotate in and tries to distribute touches, but I'm not exactly sure why we don't just start feeding the ball to Devin Wynn.

[gofurman]

They held Cit and Woff to 66/203 and 39/148 yards rushing, respectively. Less that 4ypc for both. We will have to be diverse and unpredictable to move the ball consistently.

Agree. This is the best team we have played in my nhumble opinion. Again w the bad matchup of a run-stopping team in Chatt. I am not sure we can win by running every play in the first half and waiting to start throwing. It's all about matchups. It is appearing Western and Citadel are the only two teams that can't stop the run? STill shocked that we beat VMI 60-20 and Samford 50-20 or so last year and struggled so mightily with those same teams this year.
m*I found it somewhat telling this past week that w two QB sneaks we couldn't get five inches into the endzone. Yeah, it mighta been close but that should be a given. I don't mind the call, it should be something we can execute for a few inches... need a little more help from the OL push

FYI - second week in a row we have played a team coming off a bye. ETSU definitely benefited from that, as the announcer said, they gave us looks and then ran opposite of their previous tendencies.

Win this I will feel a lot better about our chances. I watched some of the Chatt Woff game - the ChattQB impressed me and is scary

[The Jackal]

They held Cit and Woff to 66/203 and 39/148 yards rushing, respectively. Less that 4ypc for both. We will have to be diverse and unpredictable to move the ball consistently.

Agree. This is the best team we have played in my nhumble opinion. Again w the bad matchup of a run-stopping team in Chatt. I am not sure we can win by running every play in the first half and waiting to start throwing. It's all about matchups. It is appearing Western and Citadel are the only two teams that can't stop the run? STill shocked that we beat VMI 60-20 and Samford 50-20 or so last year and struggled so mightily with those same teams this year.
m*I found it somewhat telling this past week that w two QB sneaks we couldn't get five inches into the endzone. Yeah, it mighta been close but that should be a given. I don't mind the call, it should be something we can execute for a few inches... need a little more help from the OL push

FYI - second week in a row we have played a team coming off a bye. ETSU definitely benefited from that, as the announcer said, they gave us looks and then ran opposite of their previous tendencies.

Win this I will feel a lot better about our chances. I watched some of the Chatt Woff game - the ChattQB impressed me and is scary

I do think those numbers require a little context as it relates to the Citadel.

The Citadel had a lot of their key players from the fall drop off. Just for example, against EKU this fall the Bulldogs rushed the ball 67 times. 56 of those 67 carries were by players that did not play last week against WCU.

I'm also not sure of the story, but their excellent linebacker, Willie Eubanks, played briefly against UTC and then hasn't recorded any other action. Not sure if he's injured or a hold out at this point.

So, I wouldn't read too terribly much into the Citadel's rush numbers. Their leading ball carrier last week, for instance, didn't record a carry this past fall and their QB is a converted defensive back.

I will say, though, defensively, it's hard to know what to make of him. WCU's Donovan Spencer rushed for 220 yards against the Bulldogs on Saturday. Same kid managed 19 yards against Furman.

[gofurman]

They held Cit and Woff to 66/203 and 39/148 yards rushing, respectively. Less that 4ypc for both. We will have to be diverse and unpredictable to move the ball consistently.

Agree. This is the best team we have played in my nhumble opinion. Again w the bad matchup of a run-stopping team in Chatt. I am not sure we can win by running every play in the first half and waiting to start throwing. It's all about matchups. It is appearing Western and Citadel are the only two teams that can't stop the run? STill shocked that we beat VMI 60-20 and Samford 50-20 or so last year and struggled so mightily with those same teams this year.
m*I found it somewhat telling this past week that w two QB sneaks we couldn't get five inches into the endzone. Yeah, it mighta been close but that should be a given. I don't mind the call, it should be something we can execute for a few inches... need a little more help from the OL push

FYI - second week in a row we have played a team coming off a bye. ETSU definitely benefited from that, as the announcer said, they gave us looks and then ran opposite of their previous tendencies.

Win this I will feel a lot better about our chances. I watched some of the Chatt Woff game - the ChattQB impressed me and is scary

I do think those numbers require a little context as it relates to the Citadel.

The Citadel had a lot of their key players from the fall drop off. Just for example, against EKU this fall the Bulldogs rushed the ball 67 times. 56 of those 67 carries were by players that did not play last week against WCU.

I'm also not sure of the story, but their excellent linebacker, Willie Eubanks, played briefly against UTC and then hasn't recorded any other action. Not sure if he's injured or a hold out at this point.

So, I wouldn't read too terribly much into the Citadel's rush numbers. Their leading ball carrier last week, for instance, didn't record a carry this past fall and their QB is a converted defensive back.

I will say, though, defensively, it's hard to know what to make of him. WCU's Donovan Spencer rushed for 220 yards against the Bulldogs on Saturday. Same kid managed 19 yards against Furman.

Jackal, thanks !! I am always open for any information. I wasn't aware that Chatt wasn't playing Ford - he is a stud RB - and Nunnally so far. I hope that holds for our game

[The Jackal]

It's difficult sometimes to figure out who is playing. The statistics are sort of melded together from the fall and spring.

I also understand that some teams may hold a guy out if he can be available in the fall. Not sure what Ford's situation is, but they may have determined that they want him 100% by fall instead of 80% in the spring.

[FUBeAR]

Nunnelly won’t be playing for the Mocs any longer...

...and CIT’s Eubanks was injured early against Chatt & did not play against WCU. He is the heart & soul of their D. Also preseason SoCon DPOY. They are thin with him and really, really, really thin without him. A bit surprising Chatt. wasn’t able to exploit his absence a bit more - as WCU was - oh, wait, I forgot...nothing but a scrimmage for the Mocs. Not really trying to win. Just working on getting game reps for young Players and also get some situational work in. Probably, intentionally put their own O into bad down/distance situations just to see how they would respond.

[apaladin]

FU offense will need to wake up before halftime.

[Davemeister]

FU offense will need to wake up before halftime.

Are you sayin' we need a "Woke" Offense?