Moving on to UTC

[Bootie]

^^^^ that’s gotta leave some pretty easy openings somewhere, right??

[The Jackal]

^^^^ that’s gotta leave some pretty easy openings somewhere, right??

It does. There should be space downfield and in the screen game. Furman tried to do both against ETSU, who was playing very aggressively up front. We broke a few long screens to the WRs.

In my view, when Furman gets in trouble offensively it is when they get behind the chains in the run game and are in clear passing situations.

Because Furman isn't necessarily a quick strike offense, I think defenses can take chances with pressure in the hopes of getting Furman in a negative play (sack, tackle for loss, etc.)

I noticed this while going back through some of the highlights. 3rd and long, Furman is in a passing situation. ETSU is bringing pressure, and we throw a screen.

I have no idea whether this was intended, but look who is covering Anderson man to man - a linebacker lined up on the other side of the field. Teams take some chances against us as they try to send four defenders to our weakside on a blitz. Fortunately, our play call was a quick throw the opposite direction, but ETSU was willing to gamble and sell out on a blitz even though it left them exposed in two different areas of the field.

[gofurman]

gofurman: Are you skeered of the Mocs?

Dave, I am very skeered

[gofurman]

no.

Salty, if we lose this post is why. No one other than Dave and I have done this Q/A for the entire year. I know not to mess with rattlers as that is for Bootie - I think it’s him. FUBeAR will handle the tunnels. Others have their thing. Most improved position etc.

I would feel better if you deleted the answer…

[gofurman]

Is their QB a run threat?

He averages about 15 yards per game on 51 total attempts. He rushed for 40 and 50 yards in the first two weeks of the season, respectively, but since then his top rushing game is 19 yards.

So, not really. He's much more of a passing QB.

He's a talented player. He's not going to be terribly different than what we saw in Heirs and Gonzalez - guys that can spin it, can run if they need to, but it's not a huge part of their game.

I wouldn't call him a real running QB, but Chase ran the ball really well in the first few games, but has been nursing an ankle injury the past few weeks and hasn't run the ball much. He did have a few nice scrambles against VMI but kept his eyes downfield and made the pass rather than take off and run. He hasn't looked gimpy, so I'm not sure if the change in his running has been by design or by necessity, but it's certainly been a noticeable change. He's not the running threat that Huff is or anything.

Mocs. Glad to see you here. Other than Ford at RB is any starter missing?

We are down two ILB. a starting OG. two RBs ( numbers 2 nd 3) Maybe our best DB - Blackshear who is rated top 20 DB in FCS .. and possibly - this is the Big one .. our starting OT. We looked out of sorts without him ( OT number 75) vs ETSU

[gofurman]

My guess is UTC isn't going to spend a lot of time trying to slam their QB or RB up into the teeth of Furman's run defense.

The Mocs are thinner at RB with Ford's injury. The backup Appleberry has a lot of experience, but I'm not sure how much depth they have behind him. The #3 RB had only registered 1 carry before Ford's injury in the ETSU game.

I suspect we'll see them try to force Furman to respect the run a bit, but my guess is their ticket to beating Furman is to let Artropeous drop back and throw it.

While he has not played much, FUBeAR understands the Mocs Coaching Staff is very high on Reggie Davis. In the Covid year, FUBeAR was impressed with Lance Jackson, but he has not seen many touches in his career there.

RUSHING
________________GP-GS Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Avg/G
Appleberry,Gino 8-4 109 496 17 479 4.4 6 41 59.9
Davis,Reggie 3-0 23 137 5 132 5.7 1 45 44.0
Houston,Chris 7-0 28 104 5 99 3.5 0 19 14.1
Jackson,Lance 4-0 9 25 5 20 2.2 1 8

Appleberry still getting the most work, but Davis’ Attempts are on the rise with Ford out…

#8 Appleberry,Gino
Rushing Receiving Passing Kick Ret Punt Ret all
Date Opponent no. yds td lg no. yds td lg c-a-i yds td lg no. yds td lg no. yds td lg purp
Sep 02, 2023 at North Ala. 11 48 1 12 1 10 0 10 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 58
Sep 09, 2023 KENNESAW ST. 6 16 0 5 1 7 0 7 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23
Sep 23, 2023 at Samford 11 48 1 12 0 0 0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 48
Sep 30, 2023 at Wofford 13 93 1 41 0 0 0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 93
Oct 07, 2023 WESTERN CARO. 8 33 0 17 0 0 0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33
Oct 14, 2023 at Mercer 19 57 0 14 1 7 0 7 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 64
Oct 21, 2023 ETSU 20 71 2 12 1 7 0 7 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 78
Oct 28, 2023 at VMI 21 113 1 19 3 39 0 19 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 152
Totals 109 479 6 41 7 70 0 19 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 549


#36 Davis,Reggie
Rushing Receiving Passing Kick Ret Punt Ret all
Date Opponent no. yds td lg no. yds td lg c-a-i yds td lg no. yds td lg no. yds td lg purp
Sep 02, 2023 at North Ala. 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1
Oct 21, 2023 ETSU 15 68 0 13 0 0 0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 68
Oct 28, 2023 at VMI 7 65 1 45 0 0 0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 65
Totals 23 132 1 45 0 0 0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 132

I understand the staff is high on Reggie Davis as well. He was hurt in the first quarter of the tUNA game hence why he seemed to disappear until recently. Lance has looked impressive at times, but as you said, hasn't gotten many snaps - I'm not sure why. Appleberry is a veteran guy and has looked better this year, but as you remember last year vs. Furman, he was pretty ineffective. My take is that he's a serviceable back but he's not Ford. Hopefully he proves me wrong this weekend.

My real concern is with the Mocs defense, which has looked really good at times, and really bad at times. The game on Saturday may depend on which unit shows up.

In my view, the playbook that seems to work against Furman the best is a lot of man coverage, bringing a safety up to add numbers against the run, and keeping a defender free on the backside to guard against the boot action.

Where Furman is most vulnerable, IMO, is when Huff can't seem to get into a passing rhythm. Furman is not a quick strike offense (or hasn't been) so teams have basically sacrificed trying to defend the big play in favor of just throwing as many bodies in the backfield as possible.

Agreeed. And while it leaves openings downfield we don’t seem to capitalize enough. Thus ETSU 16-8. They brought safeties up and held us to 16 points. We have to make people pay more for so many people in the box. Literally 8/9 vs the run is just more than we can block. And we are determined to run on first downs sometimes. I hope we hit some basic 10 yard routes just to make them back up. When you have Hinton or Harris one on one you have to make them pay. We don’t capitalize on that as much as we should. ETSU sent tons of guys in the box and we scored one touchdown. One. Plus three solid FGs. CCH said as much.

I hope we can run successfully but I think we are going to need to hit some moderate passes. Even 7 yard types

[FUBeAR]

no.

Salty, if we lose this post is why. No one other than Dave and I have done this Q/A for the entire year. I know not to mess with rattlers as that is for Bootie - I think it’s him. FUBeAR will handle the tunnels. Others have their thing. Most improved position etc.

I would feel better if you deleted the answer…

FUBeAR handles our supportive IDF Lady Commandos. They will undoubtedly be quite offended at how you’ve characterized them in your comment here. As they are presently fully engaged in their primary duties, you still may have enough time to go completely off the grid before they return to exact the satisfaction necessary to restore their honor after your slanderous slur. Carefully consider your options.

[apaladin]

Just finished watching the UTC@VMI game. VMI was very impressive and had every opportunity to beat UTC but UTC escaped. VMI missed a fg, missed a couple of wide open and I mean wide open recevers that would have been easy tds, threw an interception in the end zone early in the 4th qtr from inside the UTC 10. After that they pulled their qb and the second team qb led them to the tying td midway thru the 4th only to miss the xp. VMI has a very impressive rb, he ran for 208 yds and 3 tds Saturday. UTC’s QB only threw 17 passes and completed only 9 but averaged 20 ypc. With all that said UTC didn’t act too excited to be playing just like FU Saturday. Regardless of what happens Saturday VMI will be a tough game next Saturday for FU. I think VMI beats ETSU this coming Saturday. I am sure FU will see a totally different UTC team come Saturday and hopefully UTC will see a totally different FU team than the oned that played last Saturday.

[The Jackal]

Honestly, UTC looks a lot like us. They probably are not quite as big at certain spots, probably not quite as physical, but have similar DNA. There isn't a lot of smoke and mirrors - they are lining it up, running it at you, then using the run to set up the pass.

The QB reminds me a bit of the Mercer kid, Peevy. Not outstanding lateral movement, but quick enough to keep plays alive and fast enough to gain yards on the ground. We may see UTC try to utilize Artropeous as that secondary runner like Mercer did against us.

Defensively, they get a big pass rush from their edge guys. Furman is a tough team to go for broke against in the pass rush game due to Huff's elusiveness - one missed tackle and its a 50 yard run. Maybe we can use that aggressiveness against them.

[Mocs123]

Is their QB a run threat?

He averages about 15 yards per game on 51 total attempts. He rushed for 40 and 50 yards in the first two weeks of the season, respectively, but since then his top rushing game is 19 yards.

So, not really. He's much more of a passing QB.

He's a talented player. He's not going to be terribly different than what we saw in Heirs and Gonzalez - guys that can spin it, can run if they need to, but it's not a huge part of their game.

I wouldn't call him a real running QB, but Chase ran the ball really well in the first few games, but has been nursing an ankle injury the past few weeks and hasn't run the ball much. He did have a few nice scrambles against VMI but kept his eyes downfield and made the pass rather than take off and run. He hasn't looked gimpy, so I'm not sure if the change in his running has been by design or by necessity, but it's certainly been a noticeable change. He's not the running threat that Huff is or anything.

Mocs. Glad to see you here. Other than Ford at RB is any starter missing?

We are down two ILB. a starting OG. two RBs ( numbers 2 nd 3) Maybe our best DB - Blackshear who is rated top 20 DB in FCS .. and possibly - this is the Big one .. our starting OT. We looked out of sorts without him ( OT number 75) vs ETSU

We're down two offensive linemen (both starters from last year - one a four year starter) that went down in summer camp. Both are out for the season. We're also missing our starting TE and Kicker. Ford and our #4 RB are out, our #3 RB has been out too, but I saw him dressed against VMI but he did not play, but I imagine that must mean he's cleared and available. We actually got two key guys back for VMI, our #3 RB (whom is now #2 with Ford out) and our starting MLB, who had been out a couple of weeks. I know we have a lot of other guys banged up but as far as I know everyone else is available to play on Saturday.

[gofurman]

Is their QB a run threat?

He averages about 15 yards per game on 51 total attempts. He rushed for 40 and 50 yards in the first two weeks of the season, respectively, but since then his top rushing game is 19 yards.

So, not really. He's much more of a passing QB.

He's a talented player. He's not going to be terribly different than what we saw in Heirs and Gonzalez - guys that can spin it, can run if they need to, but it's not a huge part of their game.

I wouldn't call him a real running QB, but Chase ran the ball really well in the first few games, but has been nursing an ankle injury the past few weeks and hasn't run the ball much. He did have a few nice scrambles against VMI but kept his eyes downfield and made the pass rather than take off and run. He hasn't looked gimpy, so I'm not sure if the change in his running has been by design or by necessity, but it's certainly been a noticeable change. He's not the running threat that Huff is or anything.

Mocs. Glad to see you here. Other than Ford at RB is any starter missing?

We are down two ILB. a starting OG. two RBs ( numbers 2 nd 3) Maybe our best DB - Blackshear who is rated top 20 DB in FCS .. and possibly - this is the Big one .. our starting OT. We looked out of sorts without him ( OT number 75) vs ETSU

We're down two offensive linemen (both starters from last year - one a four year starter) that went down in summer camp. Both are out for the season. We're also missing our starting TE and Kicker. Ford and our #4 RB are out, our #3 RB has been out too, but I saw him dressed against VMI but he did not play, but I imagine that must mean he's cleared and available. We actually got two key guys back for VMI, our #3 RB (whom is now #2 with Ford out) and our starting MLB, who had been out a couple of weeks. I know we have a lot of other guys banged up but as far as I know everyone else is available to play on Saturday.

Mocs123. thanks! Amazing, Actual football discussion on a football board !!

[gofurman]

My guess is UTC isn't going to spend a lot of time trying to slam their QB or RB up into the teeth of Furman's run defense.

The Mocs are thinner at RB with Ford's injury. The backup Appleberry has a lot of experience, but I'm not sure how much depth they have behind him. The #3 RB had only registered 1 carry before Ford's injury in the ETSU game.

I suspect we'll see them try to force Furman to respect the run a bit, but my guess is their ticket to beating Furman is to let Artropeous drop back and throw it.

Yep. have to agree, the kid can throw from what I have heard. Started at UCLA - the kid has talent !!!!!!!!!!!!

[FUBeAR]

Is their QB a run threat?

He averages about 15 yards per game on 51 total attempts. He rushed for 40 and 50 yards in the first two weeks of the season, respectively, but since then his top rushing game is 19 yards.

So, not really. He's much more of a passing QB.

He's a talented player. He's not going to be terribly different than what we saw in Heirs and Gonzalez - guys that can spin it, can run if they need to, but it's not a huge part of their game.

I wouldn't call him a real running QB, but Chase ran the ball really well in the first few games, but has been nursing an ankle injury the past few weeks and hasn't run the ball much. He did have a few nice scrambles against VMI but kept his eyes downfield and made the pass rather than take off and run. He hasn't looked gimpy, so I'm not sure if the change in his running has been by design or by necessity, but it's certainly been a noticeable change. He's not the running threat that Huff is or anything.

Mocs. Glad to see you here. Other than Ford at RB is any starter missing?

We are down two ILB. a starting OG. two RBs ( numbers 2 nd 3) Maybe our best DB - Blackshear who is rated top 20 DB in FCS .. and possibly - this is the Big one .. our starting OT. We looked out of sorts without him ( OT number 75) vs ETSU

We're down two offensive linemen (both starters from last year - one a four year starter) that went down in summer camp. Both are out for the season. We're also missing our starting TE and Kicker. Ford and our #4 RB are out, our #3 RB has been out too, but I saw him dressed against VMI but he did not play, but I imagine that must mean he's cleared and available. We actually got two key guys back for VMI, our #3 RB (whom is now #2 with Ford out) and our starting MLB, who had been out a couple of weeks. I know we have a lot of other guys banged up but as far as I know everyone else is available to play on Saturday.

Mocs123. thanks! Amazing, Actual football discussion on a football board !!

Please enjoy this outstanding “actual football” video

[Mocs123]

Yep. have to agree, the kid can throw from what I have heard. Started at UCLA - the kid has talent !!!!!!!!!!!!

I wasn't sure what to expect when we signed him. He was a walkon at UCLA and had never thrown a collegiate pass. I heard good things from spring camp, but then he proceeded to have a terrible spring game, and I was back to questioning if we'd have a QB this fall. In the end though, Artopeous has really impressed me. He's smart, accurate, and is mobile enough to keep defenses honest. Personally I think he has a chance to be the best QB the Mocs have had in a decade (considering Jacob Huesman was more of a RB at QB than a true QB). It's truly a shame that we never got to see much of Artopeous and a healthy Ford on the same field - we could have been really good on offense.

In the end history remembers the ones that step up in big games, and this Saturday is a HUGE game for the Mocs - I'd argue even bigger for the Mocs than the Paladins.

[wcugrad95]

Since WCU has played both teams I'd share that we had to approach both games very differently. On offense, we were at full-health (O-line and Reid) and we ran the ball very well against UTC. Before he went out, Reid had over 200 yards and even after he was out we ran the ball effectively (Adams averaged over 10 YPC). They have some guys who absolutely can get after it on the pass rush, but as Jackal pointed out if they miss or if you hit a run past their rush there are lots of yards to be had. UTC struggled a bit running the ball until later on in the game against WCU, but they carved us up trying to play man against those WRs. This year, Furman has had some issues covering guys deep, so an effective pass rush and probably playing a little more zone to keep those guys in front of you might be what is needed. Chase can absolutely throw the football, and #6 for them had as good a game at WR as I have seen in a very long time against the Cats.

It is hard to compare the two defenses because without Reid Western did not entirely abandon the run against Furman, but we were certainly not using it the way we were earlier in the season. If we played UTC as more of a one-dimensional offense (i.e. no Reid) like we did against Furman, there is little doubt we would probably have lost relying primarily on the pass. If they get ahead and Furman has to go to a pass-first approach, that is where Chattanooga can really cause you problems with sacks and TFLs.

Two teams who want to be physical. One who will pass it more, but both who ideally want to control the game and the clock. UTC has more home-run hitters with their WRs, Furman has the better O-line who can just keep getting 4-5 yards and win the game. I anticipate a close one. If this game gets into the 30s it will be in Chatt's favor but not automatically a win. If it stays in the 20s I think no doubt Furman wins.