My Opinion

[MidlandsPaladin]

The title of the thread is "My Opinion", so I'm gonna go ahead and say it. As bad as our defense played, take away the horrendous throw on the pick six and the two sacks on the final drive when we are trying to get in field goal range, and we win that game. Plain and simple.

[FU3]

I realize that the frustration level of our staff must be very high but the statements CCH made to the Greenville News. don’t inspire much confidence.

“This is an extension of the spring (season). We didn’t have an offseason. We didn’t have 30 transfers come in. It’s just not going to change overnight.”
“We just make too many mistakes. We’re not talented enough to get away with them.”

Again all off season he has touted our talent level and depth. Last week loss was because our team was suddenly young. I don’t expect him to call out individuals on his staff but these new excuses are just that..excuses. Anyone who watches football on a regular basis knows we have structural problems on our O. These are the kind of statements usually made by coaches who won’t address or don’t know the problems and solutions necessary to turn things around. CCH from all appearances is a very good man and from everyone I have talked to who would know an outstanding position coach. But he is now an HC for the first time in his career and with his new found extension he isn’t going anywhere .I really hope he takes a hard look at the state of this program because he is the only one who can take the steps to fix things.

[Davemeister]

HS made some costly mistakes, but it wasn't his mistakes alone that cost us the game.

Our D leaves a receiver WIDE OPEN in the middle of the field for what turned out to be the winning score.

We fumble on a punt return that would have put us in scoring position.

A receiver drops a pass that would have given us a first down on the final possession.

Plenty of blame to go around.

[apaladin]

I thought all SoCon teams were required to have replay since 2019. Apparently WCU did not have it yesterday.

[The Jackal]

I realize that the frustration level of our staff must be very high but the statements CCH made to the Greenville News. don’t inspire much confidence.

“This is an extension of the spring (season). We didn’t have an offseason. We didn’t have 30 transfers come in. It’s just not going to change overnight.”
“We just make too many mistakes. We’re not talented enough to get away with them.”

Again all off season he has touted our talent level and depth. Last week loss was because our team was suddenly young. I don’t expect him to call out individuals on his staff but these new excuses are just that..excuses. Anyone who watches football on a regular basis knows we have structural problems on our O. These are the kind of statements usually made by coaches who won’t address or don’t know the problems and solutions necessary to turn things around. CCH from all appearances is a very good man and from everyone I have talked to who would know an outstanding position coach. But he is now an HC for the first time in his career and with his new found extension he isn’t going anywhere .I really hope he takes a hard look at the state of this program because he is the only one who can take the steps to fix things.

I didn't watch the game - camping. A couple of thoughts in review:

I was pleased to see the coaches committed to running the big bruisers. In my view, Furman has to commit to that.

I'm not exactly sure I understand their offensive philosophy. Roberto has gotten 10+ carries in a game only twice. In those two games he's put up 250ish yards and 5 touchdowns. Every other game he's used as a change of pace back. I mean, he's showing you he's the guy. Make him the guy.

I do not understand the QB change. If you are going to burn Wilson's redshirt, you might as well play him.

We were again doomed by our inability to throw the ball. Yes, the offense was better, but unless we are going to become an option team, 6 yards per completion isn't going to cut it. Why would a defense even worry about the ball downfield? We have shown almost zero ability to throw the ball more than 5 or so yards downfield.

Furman had 332 yards rushing and manage to lose. Like we saw against UTC and ETSU, you make enough mistakes and give teams the chance to beat you, odds are they will.

[apaladin]

Captain obvious here but with everything else considered, our inability to complete passes coupled with the inability to defend the pass are the 2 things that are hurting this team the most.
Yesterday:
WCU QB accounted for 477 yards(386 passing, 91 rushing)
FU QB accounted for 132 yards(102 passing, 30 rushing)- take away the long late run the total would be 98.
Difference in the 2 QB’s - 345 yds -that is ridiculous.

[gofurman]

I realize that the frustration level of our staff must be very high but the statements CCH made to the Greenville News. don’t inspire much confidence.

“This is an extension of the spring (season). We didn’t have an offseason. We didn’t have 30 transfers come in. It’s just not going to change overnight.”
“We just make too many mistakes. We’re not talented enough to get away with them.”

Again all off season he has touted our talent level and depth. Last week loss was because our team was suddenly young. I don’t expect him to call out individuals on his staff but these new excuses are just that..excuses. Anyone who watches football on a regular basis knows we have structural problems on our O. These are the kind of statements usually made by coaches who won’t address or don’t know the problems and solutions necessary to turn things around. CCH from all appearances is a very good man and from everyone I have talked to who would know an outstanding position coach. But he is now an HC for the first time in his career and with his new found extension he isn’t going anywhere .I really hope he takes a hard look at the state of this program because he is the only one who can take the steps to fix things.

I didn't watch the game - camping. A couple of thoughts in review:

I was pleased to see the coaches committed to running the big bruisers. In my view, Furman has to commit to that.

I'm not exactly sure I understand their offensive philosophy. Roberto has gotten 10+ carries in a game only twice. In those two games he's put up 250ish yards and 5 touchdowns. Every other game he's used as a change of pace back. I mean, he's showing you he's the guy. Make him the guy.

I do not understand the QB change. If you are going to burn Wilson's redshirt, you might as well play him.

We were again doomed by our inability to throw the ball. Yes, the offense was better, but unless we are going to become an option team, 6 yards per completion isn't going to cut it. Why would a defense even worry about the ball downfield? We have shown almost zero ability to throw the ball more than 5 or so yards downfield.

Furman had 332 yards rushing and manage to lose. Like we saw against UTC and ETSU, you make enough mistakes and give teams the chance to beat you, odds are they will.

Agree

Look, as Flagman and others said, we lost because of pass defense - or COMPLETE lack thereof. I mean a total lack of pass D. Good grief. It’s that simple.

However, since we don’t have much passing game why not have JW at QB. You want as many threats on Ô as possible. Run right. Run left. Between tackles. Run option (we don’t have this for some reason). Throw short. Throw deep. Etc etc etc. But one that often goes overlooked- and that Western beat us with in part - was QB running. We missed several sacks and their QB got key yards several times. JW offers this elusiveness . It’s definitely in his wheelhouse. Plus - with his redshirt burned - you want him to have as many live games of learning as possible.

Again, we lost because we can’t stop the pass. But I’m still baffled by the QB choice. And that’s not a slight on HS at all. It’s not.

[apaladin]

Agree GF, the qb was not a good move at all and had zero positive. All our yardage came on handoffs which any QB on the roster could have done.

[The Jackal]

So, I think there's a little context when Hendrix says we are young. I don't think it is an excuse, but at the same time, he isn't being hyperbolic, in my opinion.

Furman isn't loaded with seniors. We have two seniors starting on offense. We have 3 or 4 on defense, but rotate a lot of players on that side of the ball. Many times on defense our unit is mostly freshman and sophomores.

Besides that, I think he's getting to a larger point.

The last few weeks we've played teams loaded with transfers, many of whom are players playing out their COVID eligibility. WCU's new coach brought in gobs of transfers to try to win immediately. We already reported on UTC's team, which has a bunch of 5th, 6th, and 7th year players.

So yes, we have a team that skews younger. We have a team that really skews younger when playing against programs that loaded up on grad students.

This isn't a secret. For instance, this is Kerwin Bell's MO (https://www.citizen-times.com/story/spo ... 090191002/). He wanted to win immediately and the way to do that is to completely remake the roster in one off season.

We can have a discussion about whether this is the way forward in FCS football. Furman is trying to build through the recruiting pipeline, and I cannot imagine going forward they are going to be willing to take on 20+ transfers in a single offseason. Furman is building through recruiting, which is probably the best strategy long term. Building through transfers helps give a team instant credibility (see, WCU), but it's going to be a difficult strategy to execute over the long term.

[The Jackal]

Just scanned the WCU stats. By my count, 6 of their top 8 leading receivers didn't play for WCU in the spring.

Their standout receiver, Daquan Patten, who was among the team leaders in receiving in 2018 and 2019 with roughly 1,000 yards those two seasons, is now 9th on the receiving yards list with 88 yards.

[wcugrad95]

A couple of comments about WCU’s roster since it was brought up here (and seemed to be pointed to by your coach). We certainly did bring in quite a few new faces with the coaching change. Some were very planned (Wells and some other guys mainly on offense who have played in the Bell system previously). But there were also quite a few kids who transferred out of Western and we had to hit the portal hard to simply get numbers. The WR position was brought up, and yes R. Williams was brought in, but he is a RS FR who will have 3 more years in Cullowhee,. The other primary WRs like C. Jones, T. Horne, and J. Quillen were already here last year, and they also have 2-3 years of eligibility left. I believe C. Jones was a Speir recruit who still came, so he wasn’t brought in by this new staff.

From our 2-deep against Furman we started 2 grad students on offense and 1 on defense. Conversely, we started 7 FR/RS FR/SO on offense and we started 6 underclassmen on defense. The point is WCU didn’t do like some may be thinking in bringing in several one-and-done guys. This offense will look pretty much the same next year with Carlos Davis at QB instead of Wells.

In today’s college football (at least this season after COVID), lots of guys moved. I think maybe the question might be why didn’t Furman try and take advantage of the opportunity vs Coach Hendrix saying everybody else did?

[FU3]

So, I think there's a little context when Hendrix says we are young. I don't think it is an excuse, but at the same time, he isn't being hyperbolic, in my opinion.

Furman isn't loaded with seniors. We have two seniors starting on offense. We have 3 or 4 on defense, but rotate a lot of players on that side of the ball. Many times on defense our unit is mostly freshman and sophomores.

Besides that, I think he's getting to a larger point.

The last few weeks we've played teams loaded with transfers, many of whom are players playing out their COVID eligibility. WCU's new coach brought in gobs of transfers to try to win immediately. We already reported on UTC's team, which has a bunch of 5th, 6th, and 7th year players.

So yes, we have a team that skews younger. We have a team that really skews younger when playing against programs that loaded up on grad students.

This isn't a secret. For instance, this is Kerwin Bell's MO (https://www.citizen-times.com/story/spo ... 090191002/). He wanted to win immediately and the way to do that is to completely remake the roster in one off season.

We can have a discussion about whether this is the way forward in FCS football. Furman is trying to build through the recruiting pipeline, and I cannot imagine going forward they are going to be willing to take on 20+ transfers in a single offseason. Furman is building through recruiting, which is probably the best strategy long term. Building through transfers helps give a team instant credibility (see, WCU), but it's going to be a difficult strategy to execute over the long term.

I understand that there may be a kernel of truth when he compares our roster to transfer happy programs. I don’t think there is any chance Furman is ever going to add transfers in large numbers.But it is obvious that our O is just lost right now and that is why we are losing full stop. We knew entering the season our QB choices were a RS Jr. coming off a bad spring season, a true freshman and a transfer who the coaches really wanted to move to WR. None of them had skill sets with much similarity… what could go wrong? What about going to the portal and finding someone who could help right away while letting our young QB mature ? Until the structural problems are addressed the other excuses are window dressing.

[HB88]

Even when conceding the primary point of a longer-term, organic approach, it should not be overlooked that Hendrix has been head coach long enough to have tangible results from such an approach. I am not sure the current issues can be attributed to the last 12 months or so.

[FUBeAR]

In today’s college football (at least this season after COVID), lots of guys moved. I think maybe the question might be why didn’t Furman try and take advantage of the opportunity…

This is all you needed to type.

In today’s Transfer Portal, Covid issues/opportunities, NIL, Cost-of-Attendance, Conference Realignment environment, the Administration of a School that cares about having a successful / winning Football program will do everything they can, within the broadest guidelines / interpretations of the overall mission & goals of the school, to support that Football program in Recruiting, Retention, and (overall) Development of Football playing Students. The Adminstration will recognize that the environment is extremely volatile & turbulent, and, of course, EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE, thus requiring new & innovative solutions to effectively support the Football Program.

If FU’s Administration cares about having a successful Football program and has been, are, and will continue to do that, FANTASTIC!

If FU’s Administration cares about having a successful Football program and has NOT been doing that, they must begin to do so immediately.

If FU’s Administration does not care about having a successful Football program, no need to make any changes.

[gman84]

In today’s college football (at least this season after COVID), lots of guys moved. I think maybe the question might be why didn’t Furman try and take advantage of the opportunity…

This is all you needed to type.

In today’s Transfer Portal, Covid issues/opportunities, NIL, Cost-of-Attendance, Conference Realignment environment, the Administration of a School that cares about having a successful / winning Football program will do everything they can, within the broadest guidelines / interpretations of the overall mission & goals of the school, to support that Football program in Recruiting, Retention, and (overall) Development of Football playing Students. The Adminstration will recognize that the environment is extremely volatile & turbulent, and, of course, EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE, thus requiring new & innovative solutions to effectively support the Football Program.

If FU’s Administration cares about having a successful Football program and has been, are, and will continue to do that, FANTASTIC!

If FU’s Administration cares about having a successful Football program and has NOT been doing that, they must begin to do so immediately.

If FU’s Administration does not care about having a successful Football program, no need to make any changes.

YES, YES and YES !!!