The Citadel - Oct. 16

[The Jackal]

Citadel game notes: https://citadelsports.com/documents/202 ... f?id=11976

If you didn't know that the Citadel has won the last two meetings, you can find that information about 10 times in the first two pages.

[FUBeAR]

Liked what ETSU was doing here.

The Citadel wants to stop the run, and ETSU invites them to do it. I formation with two TEs and a WR.

This is a fullback run for a touchdown. Watch the Bucs LT and LG just decimate the Citadel defensive right. They put a pile of 3 or 4 Bulldog defenders on their backs about 5 yards downfield. Hard to play defense on your butt.

Old-School Paladins will recognize this play as 40 Base, the complementary/counter play to 48 sweep. Some may remember Steve Bishop, Dinky Williams, Steve Bennett, and/or John Drye bursting through the line for big gainers and running over SoCon, Gamecock, Yellow Jacket, Wolfpack DB’s. Most likely, those runs were 40 Base.

Because we had athleticism & technique vs. bulk on our OL, we would have folded both OT’s inside for the LB’s and 1-on-1’d the DL using misdirection & angles to make up for lack of size vs. the Combo Blocks these OLmen are using. This is a counter play, as you can see, the FB is looking to bend it backside as soon as gets the handoff. D flow is all flowing to try to stop the sweep that ETSU has thrown at them 20x already and we used to see Safeties running right by the FB who had the ball to provide run support on the TB who didn’t. Our TB’s and QB’s did a much better job of carrying out their toss sweep fakes than these Bucs did, so CIT recognizes it pretty quickly, but the FB still only has to make the backside CB miss to get in the endzone.

It’s a great play when we’ll-executed as seen here. I wonder if Randy Sanders got ahold of some FU ‘Perfect Play’ cut-ups from the 80’s and is using them to Coach up the Bucs. They really are running our old O….pretty successfully…#7 in FCS in both Rushing O & Total O.

[The Jackal]

Got an all American linebacker, Eubanks, that can't make a tackle because his defensive lineman is getting driven into him.

If it feels like Eubanks has been around a while, he has. I imagine there are not too many players left in the SoCon that have registered a tackle against Cam Burnette and Kealand Dirks.

As I scan box scores, I was also interested to see that DiMarcus Clay played in the 2017 Citadel/Furman game was well. I don't know for sure, but I would have to think that Eubanks and Clay have to be the deans of SoCon defensive players.

[FUBeAR]

Got an all American linebacker, Eubanks, that can't make a tackle because his defensive lineman is getting driven into him.

If it feels like Eubanks has been around a while, he has. I imagine there are not too many players left in the SoCon that have registered a tackle against Cam Burnette and Kealand Dirks.

As I scan box scores, I was also interested to see that DiMarcus Clay played in the 2017 Citadel/Furman game was well. I don't know for sure, but I would have to think that Eubanks and Clay have to be the deans of SoCon defensive players.

Maybe*…since this guy didn’t enter the SoCon until 2018…but he was playing NCAA Football in 2014 & starts at ETSU today.

https://theanalyst.com/na/2021/07/more ... igibility/

* Nah - just checked - Mercer has 4 Defensive Players (Poole, Ward, Gammage, King) & 1 Offensive Player (Krieger) who played in 2017 & are still playing…and Poole & Krieger played in 2016…Probably quite a few 6 year guys on other SoCon rosters…Probably a 7 year one somewhere 4 “normal” years + Redshirt Year + Hardship year + Covid year.

Didn’t find any of those who would have been on Mercer’s 2015 roster - a Team FUBeAR knew well….

**but I did find this Player…who was a FR on Mercer’s 2015 roster, listed as a Soph on Bethune-Cookman’s 2021 roster

https://bcuathletics.com/sports/footba ... n-iii/4336

https://mercerbears.com/sports/footbal ... binson/675

** ERROR - One of those is Jimmie Robinson Jr., who Xferred to B-C from Mercer and the other is Jimmie Robinson III, Jr.‘s younger brother, who is now playing for B-C. Dad, Jimmie, must have been a George Foreman fan.

[MidlandsPaladin]

Citadel game notes: https://citadelsports.com/documents/202 ... f?id=11976

If you didn't know that the Citadel has won the last two meetings, you can find that information about 10 times in the first two pages.

Our game notes should say “…and they would need to win the next 23 in a row to tie the series”.

[The Jackal]

Got an all American linebacker, Eubanks, that can't make a tackle because his defensive lineman is getting driven into him.

If it feels like Eubanks has been around a while, he has. I imagine there are not too many players left in the SoCon that have registered a tackle against Cam Burnette and Kealand Dirks.

As I scan box scores, I was also interested to see that DiMarcus Clay played in the 2017 Citadel/Furman game was well. I don't know for sure, but I would have to think that Eubanks and Clay have to be the deans of SoCon defensive players.

Maybe*…since this guy didn’t enter the SoCon until 2018…but he was playing NCAA Football in 2014 & starts at ETSU today.

https://theanalyst.com/na/2021/07/more ... igibility/

* Nah - just checked - Mercer has 4 Defensive Players (Poole, Ward, Gammage, King) & 1 Offensive Player (Krieger) who played in 2017 & are still playing…and Poole & Krieger played in 2016…Probably quite a few 6 year guys on other SoCon rosters…Probably a 7 year one somewhere 4 “normal” years + Redshirt Year + Hardship year + Covid year.

Didn’t find any of those who would have been on Mercer’s 2015 roster - a Team FUBeAR knew well….but I did find this Player…who was a FR on Mercer’s 2015 roster, listed as a Soph on Bethune-Cookman’s 2021 roster

https://bcuathletics.com/sports/footba ... n-iii/4336

https://mercerbears.com/sports/footbal ... binson/675

There's more than I thought there were, actually.

Liam Welch completed passes for Samford in 2016.

[FUBeAR]

Got an all American linebacker, Eubanks, that can't make a tackle because his defensive lineman is getting driven into him.

If it feels like Eubanks has been around a while, he has. I imagine there are not too many players left in the SoCon that have registered a tackle against Cam Burnette and Kealand Dirks.

As I scan box scores, I was also interested to see that DiMarcus Clay played in the 2017 Citadel/Furman game was well. I don't know for sure, but I would have to think that Eubanks and Clay have to be the deans of SoCon defensive players.

Maybe*…since this guy didn’t enter the SoCon until 2018…but he was playing NCAA Football in 2014 & starts at ETSU today.

https://theanalyst.com/na/2021/07/more ... igibility/

* Nah - just checked - Mercer has 4 Defensive Players (Poole, Ward, Gammage, King) & 1 Offensive Player (Krieger) who played in 2017 & are still playing…and Poole & Krieger played in 2016…Probably quite a few 6 year guys on other SoCon rosters…Probably a 7 year one somewhere 4 “normal” years + Redshirt Year + Hardship year + Covid year.

Didn’t find any of those who would have been on Mercer’s 2015 roster - a Team FUBeAR knew well….but I did find this Player…who was a FR on Mercer’s 2015 roster, listed as a Soph on Bethune-Cookman’s 2021 roster

https://bcuathletics.com/sports/footba ... n-iii/4336

https://mercerbears.com/sports/footbal ... binson/675

There's more than I thought there were, actually.

Liam Welch completed passes for Samford in 2016.

Yeah - heard him in an interview saying he spent 3 years sitting & watching Devlin Hodges play.

* See my edit/correction in my previous post - kinda funny

[gofurman]

Interesting rabbit hole Thompson went down related to recent Furman QBs from Jace to PJ. He called them similar (he described them as wiry, and they can scramble and throw).

Saturday will tell us a lot—number-wise Jace's performance as a rookie is tops when compared through PJ's first start. I do think Jace brings a few attributes that allow the Furman offense to be more difficult to handle.

Jace's shiftiness, and his ability to throw strikes on rollouts.
Calm demeanor and leadership beyond his years.
Advanced football IQ (we've always IMO had smart QBs) Jace in a way is like Tiger Woods. He's been coached by his father for many years. Jace said he has prepared since stepping foot on campus to start.

Last thing that has to concern Thompson and his defense. Jace played within the Furman offense against Wofford, but he showed the ability to make game-defining plays. He has the arm, the touch, and the legs to create explosive plays.

There is a 100% likelihood that Citadel is going to throw the kitchen sink at Wilson. They will try to confuse him. They will try to make him throw the ball into tight windows. They are going to play a lot of zone and keep eyes on him. I expect they will spy him. They'll blitz from odd places. It's all coming.

Coach Thompson, for whatever reason, has found a lot of success scheming up confusion against Furman's young quarterbacks. He did it to Blazejowski. He did it to Grainger. He did it to Sisson. He'll try to do it to Wilson.

For Furman's part, they are going to have to stay out of predictable passing situations. Take risks when the odds favor you, but maintain possession.

The one difference in Coach Thompson's Blazejowski experience is who else is in the backfield with the QB. In 2016, when El Cid harried Blazejowski all night, the Paladins second leading rusher (behind PJ) was Richard Hays with 19 yards. The Bulldogs are going to have a very different problem against this Furman team with Wynn/Anderson/Abrams/Roberto.

As you heard coach say on his show, they are working hard to stop the run. Everything the Citadel is going to want to do defensively is going to begin and end with not letting Devin Wynn do what he did last week. Furman, of course, needs to force the issue.

The Citadel is an underdog. They are on the road. It's a night game. The corps will be there. They'll be chippy. They'll be in our faces. This is a HUGE game for them. We have to expect it. We have to counter it. We need to play angry like we did against Wofford.

Wilson strikes me as a kid that's not easily rattled. That's great. However, we are going to need our backs and offensive line to put this one on their shoulders.

True. He really got inside our qb’s heads and we literally couldn’t complete 7 yard WIDE OPEN passes. Passes would fall 3 yds short of receiver. The citadel sold out on run stop and left receivers open and we couldn’t hit them.
Hoping for string OL play to take pressure off qb but we have to hit short and medium passes to pull them out of box unless we absolute kill them at LOS like we did woff

[FurmAlum]

Great analysis from JK and FuB.

I would like to add that the way to beat El Cid is to smack them before they smack you. And if the former doesn't work then smack them back harder.

This game needs to be won at the line of scrimmage. Don't put it on the freshman QB.

Having said that it appeared last Sat. that Jace made some great decisions. A couple times he wanted to throw the ball to receiver A, but didn't and made a less risky throw to B, or just took off and ran.

I think we can get the job done Sat. night. Maybe Coach T won't be so brash after he gets sher-lacked by the Paladins 38-10 or something like that.

[The Jackal]

Good writeup by Keeler on Luke Shiflett: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... 101913001/

This is not a dense evaluation on my part, but I think while Wilson and Wynn got a lot of the headlines against Wofford, you really could see the immediate impact Shiflett had on the game in his first extensive time playing at WR. As you watch the Wofford game, he played a ton.

Couple of musings:

1. Shiflett is a big kid (6'2 200+) and is not only a threat in the passing game, but is a sizable run blocker on the outside who is going to outmuscle a lot of defensive backs. Furman used him well in this capacity.

Looking back, Shiflett gives Furman a bit more flexibility in running the ball out of 3 WR sets, something you haven't seen us do a whole lot of under Hendrix. Example:

This formation shows up a few times against Wofford and frequently with great success. Furman shows trips to one side of the field with Deluca (split), Shiflett (slot), and TE (flex). Harris lines up split to the other side. Single running back.

I'm not sure of the exact play call, but I think Furman is putting Wofford in a tight spot here. Off the snap, the TE (Miller) is going to run a bubble screen while Deluca and Shiflett block. Wofford has to deal with the fact that Furman has a lot of size and speed in a trips formation, and they send their safety out there to help deal with it. Presnap, Wilson is probably just "counting hats" - Furman isn't blocking the backside DE/OLB, so there are 5 defenders in the box and 5 men to block them. So, he hands it to Wynn.

I suspect that if Wofford doesn't pull the safety outside the tackle box to deal with the trips formation, that Wilson would fake the run action and throw it to Miller. At that point, Furman would have the numbers advantage outside. This is one of those plays where the personnel can make Wofford "wrong" whatever they decide to do.


2. Shiflett is also fast. We saw him outrun Wofford DBs on a few pass plays, but I like this play, where he doesn't even touch the ball.

Shifett runs a jet/fly motion across the formation. He did this a few times, and Furman never gave him the ball (but, of course, at some point they could).

Wofford has to respect Shiflett's ability to run the ball, his speed, and his size. Even though he's not getting the ball, the hope is usually to screw up the linebacker's read with "window dressing."

The ILB on the defensive right sees Shiflett and takes a step or two toward him off the snap. Just those quick steps in the wrong direction allows Johanning the opportunity to get on him and seal him off with a good angle. Anderson then explodes through the hole.

[AstroDin]

^^^ Furman has no shortage of weapons.
Miller, DeLuca, Harris, and now Shiflett
Then you have to worry about the backs - running and catching.

Jackal, you've said it before we just need a person at QB that can stir the drink.
Jace appears to be the stir we need.

[The Jackal]

^^^ Furman has no shortage of weapons.
Miller, DeLuca, Harris, and now Shiflett
Then you have to worry about the backs - running and catching.

Jackal, you've said it before we just need a person at QB that can stir the drink.
Jace appears to be the stir we need.

One thing you can also see a bit with the run game is Wilson's ability to hold the backside DE/OLB with his run threat. That's typically a guy we are not blocking in the zone read game. Even when not blocking him, he cannot afford to crash the backfield against our running backs because of the threat Wilson poses to get to the edge.

As I see it, on that Devin Wynn run above, you can see that Wofford is effectively having to defend against four things - (1) an inside run with Wynn, (2) the bubble throw to Miller, (3) a QB keeper around the left side, and (4) a deep ball to Harris against single coverage.

The safety is in pass coverage first, but he's also the guy not accounted for in the blocking scheme and is essentially the man Wynn has to beat. You don't want to be a DB late to the Devin Wynn party. It doesn't go well.

Bottom line, I think this is what our offense is supposed to look like.

Now, sure as I say all of this we'll rush for 75 yards and score 6 points against Citadel.

[AstroDin]

My hunch is we'll have a pretty exciting next six games to watch.

Part of me says dang it, I hate the debacle against Mercer.
But the loss was obviously the gut-punch this team and coaches needed.

I'm just a fan so my take here is just from that lens.
I think for a while now especially the spring and at times this season, Furman has struggled to take advantage of the weapons it has. A friend and fan mentioned to me pre-Wofford game that maybe Devin Wynn has lost something?
After his dominating performance, I think you can say that's not the case. All that Wynn (throw Anderson in to) needs is a crease and that is going to cause problems against any defensive backfield.

We will see if Jace can keep the opposing defense on its heels when they become more focused to not allow the running game to beat them. The Paladin offense showed tremendous patience last Saturday no doubt we will need to continue to beat opposing defenses numb the rest of the season.

Go Dins!

[Furmanoid]

I know what you mean. If we had somehow hung tough with Mercer and lost a close one, I doubt any changes would have been made. It looks to me like the change they finally made sort of transformed things. But it could be that Wofford just absolutely sucks. Tomorrow should settle that question. If we thrash a team that just beat us a few months ago, that’s a pretty good indicator that we are now a different team.

[FUBeAR]

the change they…made sort of transformed things.

AND

Wofford just absolutely sucks.

FYP