.

[FU Hoopla]

This game won't be close

[The Jackal]

So everyone is convinced that this is going to be a complete blowout. As Lee Corso would say “Not so fast!”. This is a Furman/Citadel big rivalry football game. Strange things happen. As CCH said on his show: a couple of years ago FU scored 58 points in about 3 quarters at Samford then came home the next week and couldn’t move the ball against Citadel. 5-25 passing. Hope the team is ready beacuse Citadel will try anything and evetything come Saturday. I expect a tough game, afterall it is FU/Citadel.

Yes and no.

We know some things about the Citadel that five games has been a large enough sample to tell us - their defense is not very good. Their offense is not very good either.

Yes, it's a rivalry game. Furman is still a better football team.

The Citadel game you reference from a few years ago, if I recall, was played on a cold windy day with a freshman starting at QB. That was a much better Citadel team and a much worse Furman team than the two taking the field Saturday.

[FUBeAR]

So everyone is convinced that this is going to be a complete blowout. As Lee Corso would say “Not so fast!”. This is a Furman/Citadel big rivalry football game. Strange things happen. As CCH said on his show: a couple of years ago FU scored 58 points in about 3 quarters at Samford then came home the next week and couldn’t move the ball against Citadel. 5-25 passing. Hope the team is ready beacuse Citadel will try anything and evetything come Saturday. I expect a tough game, afterall it is FU/Citadel.

Yes and no.

We know some things about the Citadel that five games has been a large enough sample to tell us - their defense is not very good. Their offense is not very good either.

Yes, it's a rivalry game. Furman is still a better football team.

The Citadel game you reference from a few years ago, if I recall, was played on a cold windy day with a freshman starting at QB. That was a much better Citadel team and a much worse Furman team than the two taking the field Saturday.

CORRECT!

SCORING OFFENSE
Last updated Tuesday, September 26, 2023 11:34 am - Through games Saturday, September 23, 2023 (FUBeAR added 'updated through Saturday, September 30, 2023' data...except rank...can't do that one, but moving from 5.0 PPG (where they were @ #121 (next to last in FCS) to 6.8 PPG would not have improved their ranking - not sure what's wrong with NCAA Stats - Stats person was either drunk and only did half their job on Monday or jumped into the transfer portal halfway thru their shift)
Rank Team Games TD's PAT 2PT DEF PTS FG SAF PTS AVG
121 The Citadel 5 4 4 0 0 2 0 34.00 6.8

TOTAL OFFENSE
Last updated Tuesday, October 03, 2023 6:01 pm - Through games Saturday, September 30, 2023
Rank Team Games Plays Yds Yds/Play Off TD's YPG
118 The Citadel 5 252 1130 4.48 4 226.0

SCORING DEFENSE
Last updated Tuesday, October 03, 2023 6:01 pm - Through games Saturday, September 30, 2023
Rank Team Games TD PAT 2PT FG SAF PTS AVG
122 The Citadel 5 29 29 0 5 0 218.00 43.60

TOTAL DEFENSE
Last updated Tuesday, September 26, 2023 11:34 am - Through games Saturday, September 23, 2023 (FUBeAR updated as above - Rank would have dropped to #120 moving from allowing 520.5 ypg to 529.8 ypg)
Rank Team Games Plays Yds Yds/Play Off TD's Opp TD's Yds/Game
119 The Citadel 5 353 2649 7.50 29 29 529.8

Statistically, the bellhops are almost certainly the worst Team, on both sides of the ball combined, in FCS.

[The Jackal]

I try to respect every opponent and consider "how would I stop Furman if I were them."

1. Tackle. I saw a lot of diving and arm tackling from the Citadel on defense. It didn't work against WCU, and I doubt that's going to work against Furman, who almost across the board is built to be a bigger more physical backfield. Furman's smallest running back is still 20+ heavier than WCU's starter (Reid). Diving at ankles isn't going to work on Roberto and company.

2. Getting off blocks. From what I could see, the Bulldog defenders were getting physically blocked on the edges by WCU defenders. There were a lot of runs where WCU finished with an OL/WR driving the DBs to the ground 10+ yards into the backfield.

Again, Furman is built to be a bigger and more physical offensive attack than WCU. The Catamount wide receivers are in the 5'8-5'10 170-180 range. Furman's are in the 6'1-6'2 190+ range. If WCU was physically blocking them on the outside, I suspect Furman will be doing the same.

*Note: That's not a knock on WCU. The offenses are built differently.

3. Educated Guessing. We've highlighted a few times that the Citadel's defensive front is undersized. They are going to be giving up a lot of size to Furman's OL/TEs. I do not believe the Bulldogs can just sit there and ask their linemen to suck up double teams. They do not appear to get a lot of pass rush pressure (WCU's QB had all day to throw).

With an undersized defensive line, I think you'd have to call a lot of slants and pressures in attempt to use quickness and guesswork to your advantage. Maybe if you can guess and overload one side of the line, you can get the Paladins in some long down and distances. There's inherent risk in that approach as if you guess wrong you may give up big plays.

What I don't think they are going to be able to do is just try to stand in there and trade body blows with the Paladin offense for four quarters. That's to Furman's advantage.

[gofurman]

This is the only game that matters. the only one. I am still waiting for a question from Dave

[Purple rain]

I feel confident that CCH will have our team focused and ready to play on Saturday. DINS!
We have great leadership in not only our coaches but also our players! DINS!

[The Jackal]

I feel confident that CCH will have our team focused and ready to play on Saturday. DINS!
We have great leadership in not only our coaches but also our players! DINS!

Other than about 7 minutes of game time after the abysmal call against Samford last year, I haven't seen our team mentally disconnected/flat at any point the last two years.

[Flagman]

I feel confident that CCH and his staff will have our team focused and ready to play on Saturday. PALADINS!!!
We have great leadership in not only our coaches but also our players! PALADINS!!!
Beat the bellhops! Go Paladins!!!

[gofurman]

Dave - you gonna ask me a question? lol

[MidlandsPaladin]

I’m looking forward to an old-fashioned bellhop beatdown. Back to the days where they used to accuse us of running up the score when our third string was playing much of the second half. 45-3 sounds about right…

[gofurman]

Score guesses, lets hear em

I will go with 37-10. I honestly won't be happy with a 1 point win this time. Usually I could see that - rivalry, etc.. but they are bad. they ain't got not alibi... they is bad. That said, it is often closer than it is supposed to be - see the past two years... 10-15 point games?

LETS CRUSH EM. Guys, do NOT take this game lightly. This is Citadel's Superbowl !!!

I will say the one thing they do "ok" is run the ball on occassion. Citadel can Average 3+ yards per carry in some games which is a good way to play keep away. Cit did that (run for 3 or more yards per carry ) v UTC and WCU as two teams at the top of the SoCon.. Cit actually ran for 4+ yards per carry vs WCU which is fairly strong - otherwise they STINK lol

What are your real score guesses? Let us see who can get closest !

MidlandsPaladin comes in with 45-3 .... His guess above... I like it. Quite a defensive effort

[Chuckles]

Furman 51 Bellhops 0

[FUBeAR]

The Citadel @ Furman
Coach Hendrix’ better nature is the MVP in this one.
FINAL SCORE: Furman 49 - The Citadel 6

[Paladin82]

Furman - 45
citadel - 10

[apaladin]

I feel confident that CCH will have our team focused and ready to play on Saturday. DINS!
We have great leadership in not only our coaches but also our players! DINS!

Other than about 7 minutes of game time after the abysmal call against Samford last year, I haven't seen our team mentally disconnected/flat at any point the last two years.

I think you could say the team was mentally disconnected/flat in the second half of the SC game because of the last 50 seconds of the first half. It would be hard not to have been.