Around the SoCon

[gofurman]

Congrats to Mercer on the win !
Won’t be a tie in SoCon this year.. Mercer and Etsu have lead and play next week for outright win!!

though I hope both go to playoffs and I wish them well. Win a few for SoCon in postseason

For FUBeAR I’ll say go Mercer ,!

Chat might have a shot at postseason?
.
Well. Wofford went winless. I believe someone here said that team wouldn’t win two SoCon games Nice prediction by said person. Couldn’t happen to a better coach. Hope Conklin stays for three more years !!

Nice to see Citadel and Wofford at Bottom. Lol

[The Jackal]

Wofford is in a huge pickle. They've got a coach that doesn't want to be there. They quit on the spring season. They are now winless in the SoCon and still have UNC to play. I believe they've lost 12 straight SoCon games.

The Terriers have few advantages in recruiting. They are lacking any sort of stability or team identity.

Mike Ayers used to get a lot out of his players with the "short haired dog" mentality. Conklin isn't Ayers. Conklin won with Ayers' players, but now that those guys are gone, they aren't beating anyone.

[The Jackal]

This SoCon is very different than SoCons of the years' past where one or two teams were dominant and there were a few doormats.

You'd have a hard time throwing down some of the score lines from this season and making sense out of any of it. There are not "gimme" wins in this conference.

[FurmAlum]

IMHO the SoCon is underrated this year. ETSU, Mercer, and Chatty all deserve playoff bids.

I would like to see multiple SoCon teams have a deep playoff run to validate that.

[Furmanoid]

This SoCon is very different than SoCons of the years' past where one or two teams were dominant and there were a few doormats.

You'd have a hard time throwing down some of the score lines from this season and making sense out of any of it. There are not "gimme" wins in this conference.

It’s happening all over. I have duel fan ship with Ole Miss. We beat A&M, the Bama slayer, yesterday. Last week lost to Auburn who managed to beat down and then lose to Miss State in the same game yesterday. Carolina is pretty bad but beat the Gators. UGA is the only dominant team, but I’m not at all sure they could beat a healthy Ole Miss or Miss State for that matter.

Mrs. Furmanoid drags me to Carolina Ale House for Ohio St. watch parties every week. Other than the Bucks, the B1G is unpredictable. Rutgers is winning!

Why is all this happening? I think it’s the portal. Woody Hayes used to recruit people just to keep them away from TTUN whether he wanted them or not (if he couldn’t get them to Columbus, he’d tell them how awesome Notre Dame was). Nowadays those 5 star bench warmers would just transfer. So you can’t hoard talent you aren’t even going to use.

[apaladin]

IMHO the SoCon is underrated this year. ETSU, Mercer, and Chatty all deserve playoff bids.

I would like to see multiple SoCon teams have a deep playoff run to validate that.

The SoCon will get 2 teams for sure, 3 is very doubtful. I don’t see any of the possible SoCon playoff teams going very far because of the lack of offense aka quarterbacks. None have qbs that can win games for you IMHO. Of course its all about matchups.

[FUBeAR]

IMHO the SoCon is underrated this year. ETSU, Mercer, and Chatty all deserve playoff bids.

I would like to see multiple SoCon teams have a deep playoff run to validate that.

The SoCon will get 2 teams for sure, 3 is very doubtful. I don’t see any of the possible SoCon playoff teams going very far because of the lack of offense aka quarterbacks. None have qbs that can win games for you IMHO. Of course its all about matchups.

Mercer’s QB won the game for the Bears yesterday…well, kinda

1st and 10 at UTC15 - Fred Payton pass intercepted by Boeck, Ty at the UTC5, Boeck, Ty return 85 yards to the MER10 (Fred Payton).

[DungeonRealm]

If ETSU beats Mercer next Saturday I could easily see only ETSU getting into the playoffs as a 10-1 AQ (maybe they could get a top 8 seed), no other SoCon school would really have a strong case for at-large

[The Jackal]

I'm just here for all the "SoCon's not good enough" content.

[Affirm]

Wofford is in a huge pickle. They've got a coach that doesn't want to be there. They quit on the spring season. They are now winless in the SoCon and still have UNC to play. I believe they've lost 12 straight SoCon games.

The Terriers have few advantages in recruiting. They are lacking any sort of stability or team identity.

Mike Ayers used to get a lot out of his players with the "short haired dog" mentality. Conklin isn't Ayers. Conklin won with Ayers' players, but now that those guys are gone, they aren't beating anyone.

I'm not ready to feel sorry for Wofford yet. Maybe I will after we beat them about 10 times consecutively. Or probably sooner, since we don't want our top rival to be THAT bad.

[DungeonRealm]

I'm just here for all the "SoCon's not good enough" content.

Been a huge decline for sure 100%, it was a good league once upon a time, not anymore

[The Jackal]

I'm just here for all the "SoCon's not good enough" content.

Been a huge decline for sure 100%, it was a good league once upon a time, not anymore

Back in ______, that's when men were men and football was the best ever played.

[DungeonRealm]

I'm just here for all the "SoCon's not good enough" content.

Been a huge decline for sure 100%, it was a good league once upon a time, not anymore

Back in ______, that's when men were men and football was the best ever played.

Back when the SoCon had multiple teams competing for a national title, not just hoping to squeak out a first round playoff win.
Its a shame to see what the league has come to, I really enjoyed it back during its peak, it was fun!

[The Jackal]

I'm just here for all the "SoCon's not good enough" content.

Been a huge decline for sure 100%, it was a good league once upon a time, not anymore

Back in ______, that's when men were men and football was the best ever played.

Back when the SoCon had multiple teams competing for a national title, not just hoping to squeak out a first round playoff win.
Its a shame to see what the league has come to, I really enjoyed it back during its peak, it was fun!

I get the angst, but you have to realize that the college football environment was completely different.

There are 24 playoff teams right now. There are now autobids going to conferences that previously didn't have one. There are more teams and more games to win.

The set up of the playoffs doesn't help SoCon teams. Frequently, as happened in 2016 and 2017, SoCon teams are meeting in the second round. In 2016, 10-2 Citadel got a seed and then got to play top 10 Wofford in the second round.

Either one of those teams would have buzzed through most of the rest of the nation, but eliminated one another. That Wofford team went on to the quarter finals and had YSU on the ropes for most of the game - a team that would eventually play in the finals that season.

The SoCon also lost two powerhouse programs in one season to the FBS. No other conference has had to deal with that at this level. One, yes. Two? No. They replaced those schools with new programs (ETSU and Mercer). We all knew it was going to take some time to adjust. 5 years in we had a pandemic. We are just now seeing what the SoCon looks like after an adjustment period.

I just don't think you can say, "we'll the SoCon sucks." This group has a team that blew out an SEC school. Another team had another SEC school on their heels for four quarters. We don't know what they'll look like in the post season.

Is the conference different? Sure. Is it 100% worse than it used to be? I'm not so sure.

[DungeonRealm]

I'm just here for all the "SoCon's not good enough" content.

Been a huge decline for sure 100%, it was a good league once upon a time, not anymore

Back in ______, that's when men were men and football was the best ever played.

Back when the SoCon had multiple teams competing for a national title, not just hoping to squeak out a first round playoff win.
Its a shame to see what the league has come to, I really enjoyed it back during its peak, it was fun!

I get the angst, but you have to realize that the college football environment was completely different.

There are 24 playoff teams right now. There are now autobids going to conferences that previously didn't have one. There are more teams and more games to win.

The set up of the playoffs doesn't help SoCon teams. Frequently, as happened in 2016 and 2017, SoCon teams are meeting in the second round. In 2016, 10-2 Citadel got a seed and then got to play top 10 Wofford in the second round.

Either one of those teams would have buzzed through most of the rest of the nation, but eliminated one another. That Wofford team went on to the quarter finals and had YSU on the ropes for most of the game - a team that would eventually play in the finals that season.

The SoCon also lost two powerhouse programs in one season to the FBS. No other conference has had to deal with that at this level. One, yes. Two? No. They replaced those schools with new programs (ETSU and Mercer). We all knew it was going to take some time to adjust. 5 years in we had a pandemic. We are just now seeing what the SoCon looks like after an adjustment period.

I just don't think you can say, "we'll the SoCon sucks." This group has a team that blew out an SEC school. Another team had another SEC school on their heels for four quarters. We don't know what they'll look like in the post season.

Is the conference different? Sure. Is it 100% worse than it used to be? I'm not so sure.

To clarify the 100% is to say there has been a big decline with firm conviction, not to say a 100% overall decline.
Look, I am not here to tell anyone how they should feel, I just know that for many years I would get excited about football around here and unfortunately its just boring now to me, just seems small time. Fortunately basketball at FU which was living in the dark ages is fun again for me.