Samford

[The Jackal]

The Bulldogs are 4-6. They have three SoCon wins - Wofford, Citadel, and WCU.

Samford is one of the most interesting FCS teams to me. Most of their games are close. As you might expect, most of their games are high scoring, and most of them are close.

Statistically, Samford has the 6th ranked scoring offense in the FCS. They have the 116th ranked scoring defense. So, they end up with a lot of close contests because as good as their offense is, their defense is equally as bad.

Defensively, we need to find Montrell Washington. He's a different test than VMI threw at us, with their longer more physical receivers. Washington isn't a big guy, but he's fast, shifty, and Samford finds a zillion ways to get the ball to him.

On offense, don't let Chris Edmonds beat you. He's one of those ball magnets that can create turnovers and return them for scores.

Best bet - do what we've done the last few weeks. Force Samford to play bully ball. I expect a high scoring contest where the team winning the turnover battle takes it. Not sure this is a game where you can afford to give the opponent extra possessions.

[FUBeAR]

1st rule for Saturday - NEVER, and FUBeAR means NEVER choose to put the ball in Samford #4’s hands. Do not, under any circumstances, Kick or Punt the ball where he has even the slightest chance of touching it.

Make Samford choose to hand or throw the ball to him & then deal with that.

FU Coaches…you ignore FUBeAR’s edict at your own peril. You have been warned!

[FUBeAR]

2nd Piece of Advice from FUBeAR…

Playing Samford is not the time for Macho “We do what we do on D & we’ll dictate to them what we’ll allow them to do.”

Samford’s Offense is NOT Football. It’s some kind of 7-on-7 game with extra men on the field. Since they are not playing Football, normal Football Defenses are not the way to go.

The 3-3-5 Tite is your friend on Saturday. Man up their outside WR’s with your best 2 cover guys, play 3 deep zone with the rest of the Secondary. Controlled, enveloping, containing pass rush with the front 3, and walk your most Athletic OLB’s as required by their formations, but don’t get caught short having too few in the box or able to get back to the box to play run.

That’s it…though this may be helpful. https://insider.afca.com/multiple-defe ... the-3-3-5/

Final thing - be sure to score A LOT of points. They really don’t mind, so take full advantage of their hospitality!

[apaladin]

Has FU ever played man to man pass defense?

[The Jackal]

Has FU ever played man to man pass defense?

Frequently.

[The Jackal]

2nd Piece of Advice from FUBeAR…

Playing Samford is not the time for Macho “We do what we do on D & we’ll dictate to them what we’ll allow them to do.”

Samford’s Offense is NOT Football. It’s some kind of 7-on-7 game with extra men on the field. Since they are not playing Football, normal Football Defenses are not the way to go.

The 3-3-5 Tite is your friend on Saturday. Man up their outside WR’s with your best 2 cover guys, play 3 deep zone with the rest of the Secondary. Controlled, enveloping, containing pass rush with the front 3, and walk your most Athletic OLB’s as required by their formations, but don’t get caught short having too few in the box or able to get back to the box to play run.

That’s it…though this may be helpful. https://insider.afca.com/multiple-defe ... the-3-3-5/

Final thing - be sure to score A LOT of points. They really don’t mind, so take full advantage of their hospitality!

I went back and watched the highlights from last spring's comeback win.

After a disastrous first quarter, which saw Samford return an INT and punt for a TD, Furman settled in pretty well and held the Bulldogs to only 13 points the rest of the way.

To your point - it looks like Furman sprinkled some 3-3-5 looks in there during the spring. Furman frequently deployed one "traditional" MLB, but used Jalen Miller and Dae'one Wilkins as hybrid safeties. So, they still had numbers against the run, but had 6 guys pretty adept at pass coverage.

This didn't get discussed much, but having Wilkins back against VMI was huge. He hadn't played since the Mercer game and is a real utility player for that defense.

[gman84]

Our offense will dictate this game imo. We don't need to be cute or complicated. With #8 establishing himself as a true weapon, use him. Play action and screens will be our friends. We might even get #32 on a wheel rout. Obviously we have to limit Samford's possessions. No quick scores for them off of turnovers or special teams as FuBear pointed out. Our defense will have their hands full for sure...our offense needs to be physical and keep their foot on the gas for 60mins. Don't sit on a lead, no matter what the score is. Please !!!

[dornb]

Our offense will dictate this game imo. We don't need to be cute or complicated. With #8 establishing himself as a true weapon, use him. Play action and screens will be our friends. We might even get #32 on a wheel rout. Obviously we have to limit Samford's possessions. No quick scores for them off of turnovers or special teams as FuBear pointed out. Our defense will have their hands full for sure...our offense needs to be physical and keep their foot on the gas for 60mins. Don't sit on a lead, no matter what the score is. Please !!!

AMEN!

[The Jackal]

Our offense will dictate this game imo. We don't need to be cute or complicated. With #8 establishing himself as a true weapon, use him. Play action and screens will be our friends. We might even get #32 on a wheel rout. Obviously we have to limit Samford's possessions. No quick scores for them off of turnovers or special teams as FuBear pointed out. Our defense will have their hands full for sure...our offense needs to be physical and keep their foot on the gas for 60mins. Don't sit on a lead, no matter what the score is. Please !!!

Furman hammered Samford in their last visit to Seibert.

Furman ran the ball 60 times that day. Darren Grainger had 4 TD passes on 9 total attempts. Completely overwhelming effort and certainly one of the best offensive showings I've ever seen from a Furman offense.

One thing that stands out - the Bulldog defense has practically wilted before the SoCon's feature backs. Quay Holmes had 169 yards against them. Aliym Ford 142. Irvin Mulligan 135. Fred Davis 278.

I expect a big day out of Dominic Roberto. If Devin Wynn is a full go, more's the better.

[apaladin]

Just saw the Vegas over/under Samford passing yards vs. FU It’s o/u 575.

[The Jackal]

Just saw the Vegas over/under Samford passing yards vs. FU It’s o/u 575.

I doubt it.

575 yards passing would be more than the total yards Furman has surrendered to Samford in the air since Duane Vaughn became the defensive coordinator.

[Paul C]

We need to get pressure....one thing that killed us against WCU is we never really seemed to get close the QB.

[FUBeAR]

We need to get pressure....one thing that killed us against WCU is we never really seemed to get close the QB.

Nah…not in the traditional sense. Just a controlled, containing rush…sort of a half noose being tightened. Can mix in a twist with the Mike on a few occasions, but not too frequently & not ‘sugared’ pre-snap…though ‘sugaring’ w/o sending Mike is fine & potentially helpful.

They will lose patience, get themselves behind the chains or screw up on their own. Then … SCORE!!!

[The Jackal]

Samford, I expect, is reading their own headlines this week. For maybe the first time in history, a football team surrendered 70 points, lost, and came away with a moral victory. Such is Samford football.

The Jackal's "Ford Keys to the Game"

1. Run the Ball.

We've got big, physical running backs. Hand them the ball. Samford doesn't tackle. They aren't a physical defense. They are not going to like Wynn/Roberto/Abrams/Anderson coming downhill at them. The absolute worst thing we can do is try to force throws, turn the ball over, or give their electric offense the ball back on quick three and outs.

2. Tackle the WRs.

Samford's offense is not that philosophically different than the option teams - they want to control the ball in small chunks of yards. Like against option teams, we've got to get the ball carrier on the ground. They'll kill you with YAC. You can't stop them from catching it, but you can stop them from running with the ball after they do.

3. Don't let #4 beat you.

Washington is their best player. He can beat you running, catching, and in the return game. Make one of their other guys win the game for them.