Our Playoff Future

[FU3]

Mercer is a very good team and much more dynamic on O than Chattanooga. Glad we aren’t playing them second round. It is the playoffs… everyone is pretty good .

Look at our scores vs Mercer and UTC. we killed Mercer. We escaped Chatt. Also Chatt did as expected and beat on Mercer. Chatt is much more physical

That said I don’t think we will see UTC. APSU is better I think

I think APSU may be better as well . What they did to us several years ago means absolutely nothing.We beat Mercer late in that game and the final score doesn’t represent how tight it was . We beat Chatty with our second string FR QB coming in cold off the bench with all of his college career having been trying to get the snap off while running down the last minute of the game. I would find it unlikely that many teams would want to face our D (away) in the second round.

[gofurman]

GF promise you Austin Peay will be here, not UTC. Like I said the only reason UTC got in is because their AD is on the committee. In all reality AP should have gotten a seed over Montana St, Villanove and even FU. We got the worst draw possible but all we had to do was beat Woffy and we completely blew it.

Sadly. I suspect this is true. APSU is scary

Hope utc wins for SoCon but I would favor APSU

Hope Mercer wins too.

[Affirm]

GF promise you Austin Peay will be here, not UTC. Like I said the only reason UTC got in is because their AD is on the committee. In all reality AP should have gotten a seed over Montana St, Villanove and even FU. We got the worst draw possible but all we had to do was beat Woffy and we completely blew it.

You are correct. We completely blew it on 11/18.

[Affirm]

We would fare better if we had gotten any of these teams that could have been our bracket opponent for 12/2 if we had NOT completely blown it against Wofford on 11/18:
Delaware
Lafayette
Nicholls State
Southern Illinois
NCCU
Richmond
Youngstown State
Duquesne
Sacramento State
North Dakota
Drake
North Dakota State
Glad our bracket opponent for 12/2 is not the winner of Gardner-Webb versus Mercer. Just am.

[FurmAlum]

APSU is my hometown team. They are well coached and have improved a lot since the first of the season. They won 9 FCS games and lost 1 and fared well against UT. I think they should have been seeded over Montana St. who lost 3 FCS games and didn't play anybody from the FBS.

They have a QB who can throw it but their defense is suspect so I think we might be able to move the ball on them if we play them.

Don't assume APSU will be in Paladin Stadium. Chatty will be a tough matchup for them.

[apaladin]

In hindsight we probably would have gotten this same matchup as a 2 or 3 seed but of course the big difference would have been the second game.

[The Jackal]

You all are acting like we didn't just beat Chattanooga on the road with a backup QB.

Austin Peay is good, but I think the played maybe only one currently ranked team all season.

I don't think it much matters who wins that game. Good news for Furman is we already have a game plan for Chattanooga, and our coaches can spend some time learning about Austin Peay.

[Davemeister]

I’ll be watching that game of UTC v Austin Peay. APU gives me PTSD

I hope that means you're skeered of The Governors.

[The Jackal]

Maybe I'm wrong, but perhaps losing to Wofford will be a silver lining. Maybe we needed a little shakeup.

Honestly, if you had told me the following:

1. Furman would play their last three SoCon games without Tyler Huff and turn the offense over to a freshman backup with barely any playing time.

2. Dominic Roberto would be limited to 25 total carries over those last three games, not play in one of them, and be limited to 10 carries in one.

3. Our starting running back in our last game of the season would have started the season as a wide receiver. His backup would have started the season as #5 on the depth chart.

I think we would have been thrilled to win an outright title and be seeded going into the post season. Honestly, we played with house money the last three games and the house always wins. All of those things eventually caught up with us at Wofford.

The draw is fine all things considered. We get a bye and a home game, which is all any seeded team is guaranteed. UTC is in our pod, but they were one of the last four teams in the tournament. Austin Peay is in the pod, but they haven't played an fcs team our calibre all season.

Yes, we're going to have to travel a long way in the third round if we advance. So what. This team showed they could travel last year on a long road trip to San Antonio. I think it'd be great to see a game like Furman at Montana, two of the few remaining teams at the FCS that have been in the playoff conversation for 30+ years. Besides, we owe them one for 2001.

[The Jackal]

If Furman can get Tyler Huff, Dominic Roberto, and maybe one of our running backs at something akin to full speed, I like our chances to make a run.

Remember, Furman is built for December football. We stellar defensively. We stop the run. We rush the passer. We force turnovers. We are good on special teams. Those are all parts that makeup a team built for postseason football.

[apaladin]

Maybe I'm wrong, but perhaps losing to Wofford will be a silver lining. Maybe we needed a little shakeup.

Absolutely not. There is NEVER a silver lining in losing to WC.

[FUBeAR]

I admit I wanted the Mercer Gardner Webb duo. Mercer was an easier win for us. UTC is TOIGH because they stop the run. We were lucky to win last time.

UTC. Austin Peay scares me. Not sure who I want

Conference Only
Rushing Defense
Team G ATT YDS AVG TD YDS/G
Mercer 8 257 824 3.2 6 103.0
Chattanooga 8 252 1038 4.1 9 129.8

All Games
Rushing Defense
Team G ATT YDS AVG TD YDS/G
Mercer 11 363 1233 3.4 10 112.1
Chattanooga 11 355 1701 4.8 17 154.6

Doesn’t work that way for FURMAN though. For us, who is all I care about…

THESE ARE THE FACTS THAT MATTER TO FURMAN FANS.

Furman vs Mercer
Furman 41 rushes for. TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO YARDS RUSHING. 5.4 per carry
Furman DOMINATES 38 - 14

Furman vs UTC
Furman 30 rushes. For SIXTY EIGHT YARDS. 2.3 per carry.
Furman escapes 17-14


We ran all over Mercer. No offense. JUST FACTS

Heck we ran - just rushing yards alone - for more on Mercer than we got TOTAL yards on a one win Wofford team. Think about that. People really don’t account for matchups enough. Something in the Mercer run stopping scheme doesn’t work well v Furman this year

What part of Montana are you from?

[The Jackal]

Discussing whether Mercer is a better matchup at this point is pretty irrelevant. If we see the Bears, it will be the national title game.

[gman84]

Maybe I'm wrong, but perhaps losing to Wofford will be a silver lining. Maybe we needed a little shakeup.

Absolutely not. There is NEVER a silver lining in losing to WC.

Losing to Wofford sucks! That place gets under my skin more than that fake military school in Charleston. I hope Jackal is right. I really agree with AP on this one!

[curiousfan]

NO WE WERE NOT! We were supposed to be at HOME UNTIL Frisco! All we had to do was WIN vs. WOE FORD!

I mean, it's not demonstrably different than 2005 where we lost to Western Carolina in Week 2. This year, we just suffered our head scratching loss late instead of early.

We were always likely to head to the Dakotas/Montana to make the title game. That's still the case.

If we can get Huff back, Roberto, and a bye week to heal up and let other teams bang around a bit, I think we'll have a good chance to make a run. We're built to win physical defensive games, which is what the playoffs will give us in December.