WCU Game Thread

[purplehorse123]

Have not read thread. Have season tickets but have not been to a game. A rebuilding year. Have had adversity. Not a good team. Trust the process. Work on getting better for next year. It happens. GO DINS!

[AllTimeFU]

So many thoughts and mixed emotions on this game and season...

- We have been decimated by the injury bug
- We have a true freshman at QB
- Offenses seem to be able to gain junk plays through the air at will
- As stated earlier, it seems we are playing for who we wish we were vs who we are
- a seemingly lack of creativity in play calling. I presume passes over the middle are minimized to limit risk to a young QB. Pass to set up the run, draw, outside zone, etc...
- We continue to search for answers at the OL
- 8 must show a significant better ability than 5 in practice at QB
- To bring in 5 as a decoy on those 3 stopped running plays was an absolute face slap
- You would think 5 would be much better at processing what the D is giving based on experience (not much game, but practice anyway). With the state of our OL that's even more important to be able to process quickly.
- 51 started at C. 72 played sporadically at G. 61 came in for the last 2 drives at C which did lead to a TD. 77 worked in at RT.
- 65,69, 72 and 79 all worked around at G.
- With 2 losses and no signs of turning this thing around, I wonder how the older OL(R-SR) guys will respond. Step back to eliminate injury risk? Also, 2 R-JR, who might be close to graduation.
- We now should be playing OL that will be here next year.
- We have good skill talent on O. For the life of me I can't figure out why we don't have a big passing game.
- I'm not sure if 3 was even targeted once in the game and he is a big time possession receiver.
- 1,3,19,0 and 2 6'5" TEs see like real trouble to cover. Add to that skittish 33. We have the weapons.

I would imagine 11 being out for injury and 2 off the team is a big impact. However, we do have capable players in those same positions. I haven't seen anything that makes me think having either of those two players would result in any different results on O. We came into the season thinking we'd be throwing it all over the park.

[Paladin83]

Post game press conference was a total piece of crap. Strap a set on and just say we played like garbage and we’re gonna bust our butts to get better. First half was not competitive. It was 381-62 in yards. Second half was worse. 808 yards!!! 808 yards!!! Let that sink in! Worst performance in history against a mid level team. Not acceptable regardless of any circumstances!

[gofurman]

Post game press conference was a total piece of crap. Strap a set on and just say we played like garbage and we’re gonna bust our butts to get better. First half was not competitive. It was 381-62 in yards. Second half was worse. 808 yards!!! 808 yards!!! Let that sink in! Worst performance in history against a mid level team. Not acceptable regardless of any circumstances!

Right. Admit we suck. Apologize. As Coach K said after getting KILLED by UVA when a booster said “here’s to Forgetting tonight “. Coach K replied angrily “here’s to NEVER forgetting tonight !!!

Get pissed !!! Get mad. Stew on this and play angry

[MidlandsPaladin]

I am having a hard time understanding the “cupboard is bare” situation. Someone explain it to me like I’m a first grader.

According to Hero Sports we had the 2nd ranked recruiting class in 2020:
https://herosports.com/football-2020-r ... ings-ajaj/. There are other such rankings during the CH tenure and to my knowledge Hero Sports is a fairly reputable FCS source. These kids, unless they graduated early, should be seniors or redshirt juniors this year. Where did they all go? Surely attrition isn’t that bad, is it?

[Furmanoid]

dont know if this has been said already, but early on with a new center the snap was very slow. The TV announcers said the same thing. This allowed the D line to get ahead of the play all day.. IMHO

If your line isn’t great, a really fast accurate snap makes a big difference, especially on screens. If a line is good, floating an easy to handle rugby snap is ok.

[The Jackal]

I am having a hard time understanding the “cupboard is bare” situation. Someone explain it to me like I’m a first grader.

According to Hero Sports we had the 2nd ranked recruiting class in 2020:
https://herosports.com/football-2020-r ... ings-ajaj/. There are other such rankings during the CH tenure and to my knowledge Hero Sports is a fairly reputable FCS source. These kids, unless they graduated early, should be seniors or redshirt juniors this year. Where did they all go? Surely attrition isn’t that bad, is it?

2020 Signees:

Julian Ashby - LS - Played extensively for us and transferred to Vandy.
Luke Clark - OLB - Still a dude and currently injured.
Dylan Davis - OL - Transferred to Illinois and now plays for Marshall, I believe.
Evan DiMaggio - ILB - Still a dude.
Kelton Gunn - WR - Mostly ended up a special teams player and graduated, I guess.
Noah Henderson - WR - Transferred in, was a contributor.
Bailor Hughes - WR - Has primarily been a special teams player and bounced from WR to RB.
Blake Hundley - OL - On roster. Has started 11 games at multiple positions.
Jeremiah Jackson - DL - On roster. Multi-year starter
Seth Johnson - DL - Looked promising at NG. I seem to think he reclassified and graduated early.
Ryan Leavy - P - punted for us.
Jack Rhodes - S - Contributed as a backup safety to Hugh Ryan.
Caden Richards - S - Role player type that played a good bit.
Micah Robinson - CB - Transferred to Tulane
Kendall Thomas - RB - Had some injuries, but played at RB a good bit.
EJ Wilson - OL - Has been a rotational OL piece to this point with a number of starts.
Ivan Yates - CB - Transferred to Colorado
Ty Youngblood - ILB - Moved to TE, I think, and never played much

Of that 2020 class, a large portion of the class contributed for us. Most of them have moved on.

If you had to pinpoint something, what's probably hurting us right now is that the two CBs (Yates and Robinson), both of whom started opposite Blackshear, transferred. That's the primary reason our CB group has 1 grad student transfer and a bunch of freshmen.

[Furmanoid]

Is Clay gonna pull a Jay Wright, Tony Bennett, Nick Saban? Kidding aside it’s gotta be frustrating dealing with the new rules of the road at a place like FU.

I’d try to avoid the too young o line problem for good. I’d try to portal in an all grad student o line of grownups. Get DII All Americans & FCS all conference guys.

[Paul C]

Is Clay gonna pull a Jay Wright, Tony Bennett, Nick Saban? Kidding aside it’s gotta be frustrating dealing with the new rules of the road at a place like FU.

I’d try to avoid the too young o line problem for good. I’d try to portal in an all grad student o line of grownups. Get DII All Americans & FCS all conference guys.

I have it from reliable sources that this was tried in the offseason and we struck out. Need to re try again this year.

And to my comment on the cupboard is bare, when your team looks so completely out gunned physically, that’s not something experience can really remedy.

[Yadkin]

A sneak peek as to why (and this is just one group)?

Since the end of last season, scratch 11 players in our secondary (CBs, Spur, SAFs). Our top eight from 2023 graduated, and we’ve lost three starters (projected + reality) this year to injury, including both SAFs in preseason (Burrell, Hartwell) due to injury, and top CB (Moson) due to injury (vs. CIT).

That’s how you end up with a bunch of newbies on the field.

This program was clearly mortgaged for success in 2022 and 2023, and it delivered. This was going to be at best a 5-6 win season. Any team that plays the number of newbies we’re running out there is going to struggle, in any league.

[Davemeister]

"Okay, everyone off the Hype Train!"

Welcome to Realsville.

[AstroDin]

I've been a fan and supported Furman for a long time — win or lose.
I got up this morning, and guess what? I'm still a fan.

On my way out of the tunnel, I ran into Teri Stanfield. I got to know Teri a bit in Montana. I can only hope to aspire to be a fan like Teri and Fred. She told me we have to stick together for those boys. I got emotional. She noticed that I went to the game and didn't have to use my cane. She just hugged me.

This has nothing to do with the loss, but it does speak to why I'm a Furman fan and supporter and will continue to be.

Regarding Clay's post-game presser, I saw an honest coach who was realistic about the type of team they are right now.

I'll also say Kerwin Bell poked the bear… in the fourth quarter; I kept wondering why Gonzales was still in the game and why they kept throwing with the next QB. The audacity to get pissed that he didn't get another roughing the passer call on DiMaggio while leaving Gonzales in that late in the game.

As Clay said, some teams care about yards and points - If you listen closely, Clay said he told Bell that and didn't appreciate it. This isn't a verbatim quote, but what comes around goes around Coach Bell.

[apaladin]

This program was clearly mortgaged for success in 2022 and 2023, and it delivered. .
[/quote]

This is reality. That is why I have said many times that I am thankful for those 2 years. To be truthful those were the only really good years since 2004 and 2005 that we were competitive on a national scale. They were not the norm by any stretch. Those of you that will be around 20 years from now will look back on 2022 and 2023 and Tyler Huff the same way we currently do at 2004 and 2005 and Ingle Martin. Hope I am wrong but to think anything close to ‘22 & ‘23 will be repeated in the near future is just wishful thinking,

[Sad Din]

hello all, just a little PR work..

if you are like SD and like the positivity of winning in Dins sports, given this is a rebuilding year for FB, check out these other Dins sports that have excellent teams this year ( in no particular order)

Mens Soccer
Womens Soccer
Ladies and Mens Golf
Ladies and Mens XC (ranked in top 25)

Do have to note that Mens Soccer play is excellent plus the ladies play very hard and are fun to watch especially live

[FU3]

A number of the posters lamenting this years team and predicting that we are going to be the new VMI for the foreseeable future were telling us at the time that our teams in 22 and 23 really weren’t that good and that we were either A. Lucky or B. Our competition sucked. Furman thru its generous donor base has invested a lot of money in this program in the past decade and I have little doubt that this investment will continue to produce quality teams that graduate real college students.