Cat in NC wrote:I'll fill everyone in as much as I can during the course of the week. I've seen Furman play twice this year (most recently the slaughter at ASU). Primarily a run oriented team, as mentioned in this thread. Their fullback is a beast, plain and simple.
Our O vs. their D: Depends on which Cat offense shows up. If it's yesterday's O, I give the advantage to Furman. If it's an average Cat O, advantage MSU.
Their O vs. our D: No question, advantage Cats. Especially if the D plays like yesterday.
Climate: If the weather holds in Bozeman like it's "supposed" to, weather is a wash. FU would have difficulty in snow & real cold, but the Carolinas are far from the tropics. They've played well (except this year) in Boone vs. ASU. Boone is nearly as high as Bozeman and the weather can be pretty chilly. The ASU/FU game this year was downright bitter with the wind chill. Of course, trying to guess Bozeman's weather 6 days from now is damn near impossible...
This one should be a great game. By the way, to answer an earlier question, a paladin's like a knight.
A lof of info from a Furman guy:
Our site is
www.theuffp.com but is having trouble....be patient
I am a furman fan and my first thoughts about this game, etc - congrats to you on making the playoffs. I keep up with 1aa a lot and we too lost a great QB in Ingle Martin last year who is now on the Packers roster as third string after transferring from UF. Why are we traveling to your stadium?- You must have outbid us because I have to think you were the last team in? Not a slight - just that most people thought you had to win yesterday to get in. Anyway, good job. We have had a real injury-riddled season and if you look at our scores it shows: (look at the difference in points we score when everyone was healthy for three games):
09/02 Jackvl St W 17-13
09/09 W Georgia W 24-7
09/16 at UNC L 45-42
09/23 W Carolina W 42-7
09/30 at Wofford W 35-21
10/07 at Coast Car L 29-27
10/14 The Citadel W 23-17
10/21 UT-Chatt W 28-22
10/28 at App St L 40-7
11/04 at Elon W 24-13
11/11 G Southern W 13-10
The three games where we had Gray (starting QB) and Felton (best FB in 1aa) we put up 42, 45, and 35. I try to be objective - I really think a healthy Felton is the best FB in 1aa. Ask those from teams we played early in the year. We have never had both healthy since.... Not an excuse, just a clear fact along with OL injuries as mentioned by someone else. Heck, NC State couldn't put but 9 on UNC yesterday. But I don't think we could do much right now. We had an off week this week so maybe some people got healthy.
I see when you played Montana (who we played for the title in 2001) you had some guys hurt pretty bad - " INJURY REPORT: The physical nature of Saturday’s Cat-Griz game manifested itself on Sunday’s injury report. RB Evin Groves (knee) is likely lost for the remainder of the season. The most prominent of the bumps and bruises suffered by the rest of the team came to QB Jack Rolovich (upper torso) and CB Michael Beach (knee), but both are expected to play. LB Will Claggett (knee) and WR Deon Toliver (collar bone) are likely lost for the season. "
Was groves your starting RB? Were Claggett and Toliver starters? Have you had any injuries to others throughout the year? At what position???? Thanks for information - I am interested in this matchup.
A summary of FU football:
We have a proud tradition - won the title in 88 and played in the title game in 85 and 01. We were the only 1aa team to beat National Champ App State last year. We do not rortate QBs as someone on this board said - that was only out of injury necessity. Gray is our starter if available. Unfortunately, as your coaches will see, he was hurt (ankle) for the fourth time against Georgia Southern in our last game. On to the important stuff.... we are a much better running team than passing team. I would say we run 60/70% of plays. We are much better at stopping the run than the pass. Lately our O has dropped off considerably and our D has had to carry us as you can see by our scores.
KEY STAT THAT KILLS ME: We have won 13 consecutive home games in a traditionally good conference and this year we are 6-0 at home. On the road this year we are 2-3.....This does not bode well for Saturday.
STAT YOU HAVE TO LOVE: The last two years the team to knock us out of the playoffs went on to win the NC - we lost to James Madison 14-13 in 2004 and lost to App State 29-23 in 2005. So if you beat us you have a lot to live up to
We are a private school of ~2500 students in Greenville, SC and the only private school to ever win the 1aa title.
Good Luck.
