Mercer - Sep. 23

[The Jackal]

Should be noted - since I failed to in my story - that Furman's defense did what it did Saturday without the services of Hugh Ryan for all but about two or three plays. Not sure Peevy has the same kind of day running-wise if Ryan is out there, which is to take nothing away from Jack Rhodes who played great.

Mercer gained 154 yards on those two drives sandwiched around halftime. It gained 16 over the rest of the game.

Rhodes had a heckuva game.

I was pleasantly surprised that (1) Johanning looked like he was already at full speed in his first game, (2) we lost one of the SoCon's best defensive players and did not appear to miss a beat, and (3) the offense kept moving with our 4th and 5th running backs and a wide receiver shouldering a lot of the rushing load in the second half.


Jayquan Smith was maybe my favorite player coming out of the '22 class. He's going to be a really good back for us.

[apaladin]

Mercer's first TD pass is a great job by Peevy. At the snap he is looking left and our db bites, he is beat at the snap and can never recover. A mental error which is fixable.

Yep same db got beat on the third down also. He gets beat deep more often than others. Needs some work. Still shocked Peevy did not throw more, only 16 passes, of course they only ran 52 plays. Still poor coaching with those 2 elite receivers and when it was obvious they could not run the ball except for qb scrambles. If they are going to be successful they will need to air it out the rest of the way.

[apaladin]

Yes , very impressed with #7 Hicks and #21 Smith. Those youngsters can scoot with power.

[The Jackal]

Mercer's first TD pass is a great job by Peevy. At the snap he is looking left and our db bites, he is beat at the snap and can never recover. A mental error which is fixable.

Yep same db got beat on the third down also. He gets beat deep more often than others. Needs some work. Still shocked Peevy did not throw more, only 16 passes, of course they only ran 52 plays. Still poor coaching with those 2 elite receivers and when it was obvious they could not run the ball except for qb scrambles. If they are going to be successful they will need to air it out the rest of the way.

Furman had an excellent game plan for Mercer. The Bears, other than two drives, really struggled to consistently move the ball all afternoon. Even on the first drive of the second half, Furman gave them more life than they should have.

Furman has got to be pretty relentless to play against. You cannot count on them making many mistakes. They are physical on both sides of the ball and just keep coming at you with a constant rotation of fresh players.

We may not win a lot of runaway games in the first half, but I think you saw by about the midway point of the third quarter that Furman - especially along both lines - was starting to impose their will. This Furman team is built to keep hammering at you for four quarters.

[The Jackal]

Yes , very impressed with #7 Hicks and #21 Smith. Those youngsters can scoot with power.

Even with Roberto graduating, Furman should still be loaded in the offensive backfield next season and will add a very impressive running back in the '24 class.

[Davemeister]

Saturday was a breakthrough game for the Paladins. In the latter stages of the 3rd Quarter and throughout the 4th, the 2023 Team looked like the team most people thought we were going to have this season. We physically whipped the Cocaine Bears on both sides of the ball. No way, shape or form did I foresee a 38-14 win over a Top 25 team.

O got it rolling late but Game Ball goes to the D. Except for the drives to end the first half & start the second, they dominated.

Hats off to gofurman for being appropriately skeered of Mercer.

[Paul C]

Yes , very impressed with #7 Hicks and #21 Smith. Those youngsters can scoot with power.

Is Grant Robinson hurt?

[gman84]

Yes, I think CCH said he might be out for the year.

[gofurman]

Yes , very impressed with #7 Hicks and #21 Smith. Those youngsters can scoot with power.

Is Grant Robinson hurt?

Yep - maybe gone for year. Roberto got banged up. and RB Kendall Thomas wasn't seen much or left during Mercer?
... we were at RBs 4 and 5... See the injuries thread

Sounds like Roberto will be back soon. I haven't heard anything on KT

[gofurman]

Saturday was a breakthrough game for the Paladins. In the latter stages of the 3rd Quarter and throughout the 4th, the 2023 Team looked like the team most people thought we were going to have this season. We physically whipped the Cocaine Bears on both sides of the ball. No way, shape or form did I foresee a 38-14 win over a Top 25 team.

O got it rolling late but Game Ball goes to the D. Except for the drives to end the first half & start the second, they dominated.

Hats off to gofurman for being appropriately skeered of Mercer.

Dave, my man ! We will keep the mojo going through the year !

[gofurman]

This game was won in the trenches. Can't say enough how important it is to have #55 back!! I know we gave up a couple of chunk plays that some are very focused on, but how about the number of short yardage drive stops made. Mercer is a solid well coached team that we may see again. I never felt that we lost control of this game. When we needed to slam the door we did.

AGREE. how many times did we stop them on 3rd and short or 4th and short ? AWESOME. That was the game in a nutshell. When they needed two yards they couldn't get it.

[Bootie]

Good to see the refs mics working properly. How did you like the portable video screen? My daughter that usually goes to a game or 2 a year said with all the money FU has spent on upgrading the stadium they really need to spend some money on a new video/scoreboard.

I was confused as to the usefulness or need for that second video screen on the far sideline. First, as bright and beautiful of a day it was, it's nearly impossible to get a portable screen that can overcome the daylight. While the image was readable and visible, the scoreboard screen was much more clear, bright and functional. I was up near the press box about midfield. Even someone sitting in the student section, I felt, would be better off looking at the scoreboard screen but I never went down that far to actually compare.

TBH, I feel like our video board is plenty fine and sufficient. I hate the game of trying to upgrade something like that every 5 years. That stuff is expensive. Your last sentence is financially illogical and contradictory. The very fact that a lot of money has been spent on upgrades means there isn't as much available for other upgrades. It's not a bottomless well. I'd be happy with our current video board for another 5 years at least. What is it about the current video board that you feel is insufficient?

[gofurman]

Quick note. Very impresssed with the game and our LOS ! Awesome - seriously, I am impressed.

But To the timeout before half, I know what we were going for.. either a stop on third and a punt block or a stop on third and get the ball with 30 + seconds or whatever to try and drive for a FG. Not sure how much time there was exactly. The thing is, we have tried this similar thing twice now.. at USC and Mercer and both times it bit us. Bad.

At USC we took some Time out I think (near the half) which - in the end - allowed USC time to throw to Leggette and score another TD... and the game was over...
With Mercer it was 17-0 vs a strong team. I get the "kill shot" mentality but sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. Sure, hindsight and all that but this is the second time we have done this and it has bitten us. The odds of us blocking the punt or getting in FG range IF - IF we stop a pass play which is not our best defensive strength - aren't that great... And if we don't stop the 3rd and long we are in the "pass only" mode of D which has been our weakness (USC, KSU, etc.)

personally, if I were the coach - and be glad I am not lol - I would skip on the timeouts near halftime as I am not sure the possible gain for us is more than the possible gain for them. Be interested to see if that happens again. Diferent if we are up 27- on Citadel at halftime. That's different as not much to lose - fine, go for it. Take a timeout to kill em. But with any of Mercer, Samford, UTC and WCU that timeout scares me.

[FUBeAR]

Coach FUBeAR takes the timeout there 11 times out of 10. It’s practically a no-brainer.

[apaladin]

Good to see the refs mics working properly. How did you like the portable video screen? My daughter that usually goes to a game or 2 a year said with all the money FU has spent on upgrading the stadium they really need to spend some money on a new video/scoreboard.

I was confused as to the usefulness or need for that second video screen on the far sideline. First, as bright and beautiful of a day it was, it's nearly impossible to get a portable screen that can overcome the daylight. While the image was readable and visible, the scoreboard screen was much more clear, bright and functional. I was up near the press box about midfield. Even someone sitting in the student section, I felt, would be better off looking at the scoreboard screen but I never went down that far to actually compare.

TBH, I feel like our video board is plenty fine and sufficient. I hate the game of trying to upgrade something like that every 5 years. That stuff is expensive. Your last sentence is financially illogical and contradictory. The very fact that a lot of money has been spent on upgrades means there isn't as much available for other upgrades. It's not a bottomless well. I'd be happy with our current video board for another 5 years at least. What is it about the current video board that you feel is insufficient?

Just hard to see much detail from where I sit. Too small. I would be fine to move it closer to that endzone but know thst will not happen. If and when the endzone project ever gets built that is when the scoreboard will have to be updated or at least moved. I can live with it until then if I live that long!