Post game summary and questions

[gofurman]

Great
- we won !!! no more ' we have won the last two ...'
- Our D was phenomenal in the first half. For 20 minutes I literally thought it was just about perfect option D.
- Great OL and running early in game and then late in game
- ELIJAH MCKOY !!! get you some ... Wow
- -glad that wasn't a targeting on Scianna, I saw it on ESPN+ and even our announcers felt it should have stood as a targeting..

The not so good -
- The D wore down and things changed quickly as the 3q progressed.. a lot due to the lack of just some first downs by the O. We only need to score 25 to win most games (imo) - but also, like last year we had about 6 drives of 3 and out (from early 2nd Q to 4th Q) and our D was Gassed...
- Hope we see Wynn and Gilby and Wilkins again, and soon
we really need a Passing Game !!! we Literally went 4-15 passing.. that is eerily like last year's passing vs Citadel that cost us that game and others - please we need more passing accuracy. some of those passes were to wide open WRs and were just painful to watch...
- the Citadel out schemed us at halftime. Things that were working early stopped working and our D stopped being effective even before they were gassed .. IE our D allowed too many yards early in the 3rd Q.

What are thoughts?

Is it our sysytem on O or what is holding us back? Clearly the lack of a passing game is killing us. I thought Jace would have this but he looked out of sorts on the passes. the rest was all good

[furmandad]

Sisson's long Q4 pass hit Peterson in a bad place. Have to come down with those in tight games.

[purplehorse]

After the Mercer loss I had no expectations for the season. Hopeful moving forward but still not optimistic at all largely because of our offense.

I am very thankful we beat Wofford and Citadel this year-at least part of the world order has been realigned and things are as they should be.

[apaladin]

Citadel had the ball 38+ minutes, Furman had it for 21+ minutes.
Citadel had 364 yds Furman had 289
Citadel ran 89 plays, Furman ran 52
Citadel converted 11-21 third downs Furman was 3-13
Citadel had 21 first downs Furman had 10
Other: 1. take away the 2 long TD’s FU ran 50 plays for 141 yds.
2. outside the short completion/long run TD, Furman was 3-14 passing for 26 yds
STATS LIE:
Furman won!

[Flagman]

Stats were the complete opposite from last week.

[Davemeister]

It wasn't a pretty "W" like we had vs. Wofford, but we did what we had to do and that is what winning is all about.

We are in as good a place as anyone could have reasonably predicted at this point: 4-2 with a very good shot at a winning season and the possibility of post-season play.

[youwouldno]

The Paladins are 8th out of 9 in SoCon scoring offense and 9th out of 9 - by a fairly wide margin - in offensive yards per game. Unbelievably bad. The offensive coaches are lucky to be in a situation where they don't have to really worry about accountability.

This season bears some resemblance to 2015 (also worst offense in the SoCon) . . . in the first 5 games, the Paladins played 2 FBS games, Coastal, and a decent SC State team, and were sitting 3-2, before finishing 1-5.

The 2021 Paladins have a better defense than that team, and the top of the SoCon is far weaker now, so I expect the remaining games to mostly be competitive. But the overall situation is the same as what we've seen for years. In a "good" year, the Paladins are mediocre and nationally irrelevant, even if there is like a 5-10% chance at the auto-bid.

[The Jackal]

The Paladins are 8th out of 9 in SoCon scoring offense and 9th out of 9 - by a fairly wide margin - in offensive yards per game. Unbelievably bad. The offensive coaches are lucky to be in a situation where they don't have to really worry about accountability.

This season bears some resemblance to 2015 (also worst offense in the SoCon) . . . in the first 5 games, the Paladins played 2 FBS games, Coastal, and a decent SC State team, and were sitting 3-2, before finishing 1-5.

The 2021 Paladins have a better defense than that team, and the top of the SoCon is far weaker now, so I expect the remaining games to mostly be competitive. But the overall situation is the same as what we've seen for years. In a "good" year, the Paladins are mediocre and nationally irrelevant, even if there is like a 5-10% chance at the auto-bid.

I don't think it's fair to say the top of the conference is "far weaker." Brent Thompson said on his coaches show that ETSU was the best team they'd played since those UTC teams of 5 or 7 years ago.

Whether the teams are excellent or terrible, the conference is competitive. I don't care what the conference did in 2015 or 2005 or 1992. All we can do is deal with 2021. We're going to need to bring our game every week.

With the offense, the bottom line is that we don't throw the ball well. It's been a problem for several years. It should encourage us somewhat that receivers are open, the difficulty has just been getting the ball from point A to point B.

At the same time, we are starting a true freshman. There is going to be a learning curve. We all know that. There is definitely going to be a learning curve against a team as aggressive as the Citadel. Unlike what has typically happened when we've started young QBs against the Bulldogs (Blazejowski, Sisson, Grainger, and Wilson), we won.

I think we've got something in Wilson. He's learning on the job, but the arm is there, the athleticism is there, the ability to escape, the ability to run. All the tools are there. We've just got to figure out how to get the ball from Point A to Point B.

[purplehorse]

Did not realize our OFFENSE was as bad as the above stats show. OUCH!

[gofurman]

Citadel had the ball 38+ minutes, Furman had it for 21+ minutes.
Citadel had 364 yds Furman had 289
Citadel ran 89 plays, Furman ran 52
Citadel converted 11-21 third downs Furman was 3-13
Citadel had 21 first downs Furman had 10
Other: 1. take away the 2 long TD’s FU ran 50 plays for 141 yds.
2. outside the short completion/long run TD, Furman was 3-14 passing for 26 yds
STATS LIE:
Furman won!

Funny how we can (no one in particular, just different fans etc) see the game differently. I am Sure Citadel feel they outplayed us - and in many respects they did... especially Passing ! man

Many Furman fans probably didn’t realize how we were outplayed in pretty much every aspect of the game.

My take is always if you out gain a team by 100 or more yards you deserve to win. Citadel almost hit that and it took a wonderful play or two by Mckoy(!) and the D to save us. So it kind of fits the narrative of yardage gained

Anyway. Need more O. Need passing game to hit. while some passes were tough some were to wide open WRs (it appeared) and we missed. have to hit a better percentage of these passes ! heck, the Citadel - with a RB at QB in the option was a better passing team than we were ! think about that.

[The Jackal]

Did not realize our OFFENSE was as bad as the above stats show. OUCH!

I think we tend to hyper focus on one element of a team sport.

The offense hasn't been good. No one debates that.

At the same time, statistics are just part of the story. I watch the games and I see good offensive line play. I see a strong running game. I see open receivers. Playcalling I have a love hate relationship with. What we frequently lack is execution. We aren't getting whipped offensively, we just have a lot of misfires, particularly in the passing game.

Still, it's a team game. Right now, our offense scores more than our defense surrenders. You do that every week and you'll win a lot of football games.

Alternatively, we could be Samford. Samford has all the offense they want, but they can't play defense. Their defense surrenders more points than their offense scores. You'll lose most of your games doing that.

So, bundles of offense isn't necessarily the answer. Yesterday, Furman had a chance in the second quarter to bury the Citadel. We didn't execute. We could have made a comeback attempt much more difficult by simply maintaining some possession in the 3rd quarter. We didn't execute. However, when the rubber met the road, we scored enough points to win.

I'm just encouraged because I see the talent and I see the potential. I just haven't seen us consistently put it all together yet.

[gofurman]

Did not realize our OFFENSE was as bad as the above stats show. OUCH!

I think we tend to hyper focus on one element of a team sport.

The offense hasn't been good. No one debates that.

At the same time, statistics are just part of the story. I watch the games and I see good offensive line play. I see a strong running game. I see open receivers. Playcalling I have a love hate relationship with. What we frequently lack is execution. We aren't getting whipped offensively, we just have a lot of misfires, particularly in the passing game.

Still, it's a team game. Right now, our offense scores more than our defense surrenders. You do that every week and you'll win a lot of football games.

Alternatively, we could be Samford. Samford has all the offense they want, but they can't play defense. Their defense surrenders more points than their offense scores. You'll lose most of your games doing that.

So, bundles of offense isn't necessarily the answer. Yesterday, Furman had a chance in the second quarter to bury the Citadel. We didn't execute. We could have made a comeback attempt much more difficult by simply maintaining some possession in the 3rd quarter. We didn't execute. However, when the rubber met the road, we scored enough points to win.

I'm just encouraged because I see the talent and I see the potential. I just haven't seen us consistently put it all together yet.

passing stats
Citadel 9-17 / 1 INT
Furman 4-15 (! man) 1 TD

4 for 15. sheesh. that is very similar to last year vs Citadel. I'll give Citadel staff this - they sure can get in our QB's head and take away the passing game. two years in a row we look worse than some High School teams passing attack.

Spring we were 6-22 with 2 INTs and one TD. omg. this weekend we were 4-15 with one TD. in the past two games we are 10 -37 passing against the Citadel. that is Unbelievable. 10 - 37 ?? Even the most optimistic people on here admit we need to complete 50-60% of passes to make an offense work. Otherwise the best teams will stop us as a one dimensional team.

Last year Citdl stacked the box.. this fall they did the same and made sure to hit us very hard (literally) off the edge early (played around with some blitzes and coverages) .. I wonder if that got to JW a little? Even though JW made a Great play to make the next guy in the backfield miss (it was a different play where Citadel had a guy get to him and JW escaped with a great move) it still can stay with you that "hey, these guys are getting back here"

We HAVE to get this passing game fixed. or it's gonna be same ol' same ol' with the blueprint to beat us.. stack the box w too many guys and see if they can complete 60% of moderately easy passes.

[Sir William]

24-14

…the only statistic from Saturday night that actually matters.

[The Jackal]

Some of it is a matter of perception.

We scored 24 points. Folks seemed bummed.

If we'd scored 28 points against the Citadel, I think most of us would have felt pretty good. I know I would have. 30 points is sort of the standard for a strong offensive football team.

Of course, we got the ball deep in Citadel territory after the punt/tackle and turned that into a field goal. It could be that the difference in feeling good or feeling bad is punching the ball in that one drive. That would be a 4 point swing.

Yardage is just a marker of a team able to move the ball. Yards are not the indicator of winning the football game. The game is dependent on points. It is a team game. The defense, offense, and special teams work together both score points, and keep the other team from scoring points.

I think we're close.

[gofurman]

24-14

…the only statistic from Saturday night that actually matters.

Sort of. For one game you are right. Just win. Beat citadel. Awesome! . However, As others have said during CBF era …… some things aren’t sustainable. During CBF we had some strong D and got to playoffs and won SoCon but eventually he was let go. Why? No offense consistency. Eventually the lack of offense caught up.

One other thing I keep waiting for - helps o- is a good KOR to midfield. Don’t think we have had that. Just like how mckoy got us a short field so would a great KOR

Other teams - Woff etc - have had good returns. Time we get that going. Oh. I did forget the awesome punt tackle. That counts !!!