Fantastic Furman...aww, hell...WooHoo!!!!

It's a cloudy, cool fall afternoon at Paladin Stadium. 

Apparently we can't afford long pants for all cheerleaders.

A showdown with the Wofford Terriers is the day's agenda.  Victory will yield a share of the Southern Conference championship.  This and a win by the Samford Bulldogs will bring an automatic bid to the playoffs, ending a nine year drought.

The band is ready

So lets kick this thing off.  Paladins take the field!

Yes! Flawless entrance! Ooo, Sir Paladin looks impressed!

Didn't get thrown today. Boo yah!

Furman gets the ball first.  We've done well on first drives at home.  But today the offense stalls out. a condition which persists for the entire first quarter and most of the second, while Wofford is able to scratch out two long touchdown drives.  A 14-0 deficit is no way to kick off a playoff run. 

Sir Paladin's trusty mount, Fury, is getting anxious.

And then, in the middle of the 2nd quarter,  a long Furman drive.  Smeeling the end zone, the Paladin QB lobs a pass...into the hands of a Terrier defender. (Yap, yap, yap!) Le sigh!

Wait! What's this? Fumbllleee!  Throw it up top! TOUCHDOWNNNNN!!!!

A stop.  A drive.  A field goal.  And Furman trims the margin to 14-10 at halftime.

In the second half, the Paladins add to the momentum. A first drive stop is followed by a touchdown drive, and Furman takes the lead.

Still the Terriers are not the kind to fold their tents.  They drive into Furman territory and attempt a fake punt only to be turned back on an interception.  Furman converts the turnover into 7 points.

Again Wofford drives, threatening the endzone; only to be intercepted there as well.  again the Paladins convert a turnover into points.  A field goal makes the score 27-14 in favor of the Paladins.

Wofford takes the ball with 6:41 on the clock and drive to the Furman 7.  There they face a fourth and two, and gain only one yard! The Paladins take over with just over 2 minutes left.  And facing 3rd and 3, they do this...

In case, you can't tell, that is a 25 yard run!  And down 13 point with under two minutes left, Wofford coach Mike Ayers shows he's a class act and leaves his last time out in his pocket. 

Victory formation!

And now, a brief aside.  Furman is an institution that prides itself on graduating its student-athletes.  Despite its rigorous academic demands, from the late 70's to the early 90's, Furman was a football powerhouse.  Even becoming the first (and until a few years ago only) private school to win the NCAA I-AA (FCS) national championship.  The football team has won more SoCon titles than any other school.  But after a revival in the late 90's and early 2000's (including a national title runner up in 2001) it had not even sniffed a conference title since 2004 or a playoff appearance since 2006.

So I hope you can understand how special this moment is:

Let the flag wave proud.

Any comment, Sir Paladin?

That's right. Go Paladins!

Fabulous Furman Football

No photos this week.  There was a threat of rain so I eschewed taking my technology with me.

Squirrel!

Ahem.

As you may recall, we last left our heroes, the Furman Paladins, struggling on the field, failing to execute their entrance onto the field, and with the paladin laid out on the ground after being thrown by his horse.

I was very miffed this week when, with no camera, the music, band, cheerleader, paladin, and team all expertly choreographed their parts in the entry of the Paladins.  Or I was miffed until the guy behind me pointed out the paladin laying on the ground again with both teams' trainers rushing to him.  (The horse's name is Fury. Indeed.)

And then the announcer declared the score would be kept on the field because the scoreboard wasn't working.  Actually the video screen, the advertising banner, and the opponent side of the scoreboard worked fine.  Only the part where Furman's score would be was down.  No ill omens here; move along people.

This weekend was the farewell to Appalachian State.  The mountaineers and the Georgia Southern Eagles are moving up to the Sunbelt Conference next year.  So the Paladins, of course, want to make a lasting impression by beating them.  Alas, Elon is also leaving, and we didn't do so well there.

A Pondering on Penalties

Coming into this game, Furman was among the nation's least penalized teams.  Only 12 penalties for 99 yards issued over the first 5 games.  The Paladins would amass 80 yards worth of flags in the first half.  And they would come at the worst times, as Furman approached the end zone.

The Paladins would make their so far customary long first drive of the (home) game.  But penalties would force them into a 53 yard field goal attempt.  And it's gooood!
An App State fumble would put Furman inside the Mountaineer 25.  Furman would go backwards and kick another field goal.
Furman would force a punt.  Another long drive.  Another series of penalties.  and this time they would miss the field goal.

And the the purple partisans' stomachs would gurgle as Appalachian state gained momentum.  They would kick a field goal to halve the lead.  A Paladin drive across the 50 would end in a fumble.  And the Mountaineers would drive down to the Furman 2 yard line.  A trick play...a reverse...no, a reverse pass!  And the receivers throws the ball...directly into the gut of a Paladin defensive end!

Down the sideline he runs!  His teammates swarm to him!  He almost runs out of gas, but the convoy gets him to the endzone.  And he runs through the endzone, almost into the band!  Touchdown!

The band lives here during the game

Both teams would then exchange punts on drives cut short by penalties.  And App State would have a short drive before halftime.  The Paladin's held a (what felt like shacky) 13-3 lead.

First drive of the second half, App State fumbles the ball away!  A long pass inside the 5!  And the Paladins punch it in!

The teams exchange punts.  The mountaineers fumble again.  A long pass to the end zo-o-one! Touchdown! Huzzah! Huzzah! (What? Paladins are olde times. Huzzah is technically correct!)

And that in essence was the game.  The Paladins would punt on the last 3 drives.  App State would fumble, punt, score a touchdown, and have the game end.

There were numerous penalties on both sides.  App State would have 8 for 60 yards, including one that negated a successful onside kick.  Furman would finish with 11 for 112 yards.  In fact, looking at the statistics, Furman was outgained by over 100 yards.  They won the turnover battle and not much else.

But it was a 27 to 10 victory!  Fare thee well App State.

Fabulous Football Fall Saturday

Ah, a clear blue sky, but more to come...

After two close losses and two injuries to quarterbacks, the Furman Paladins rolled(?) into a (mostly) refurbished Paladin Stadium for the first home game of the year.  Unlike most of the home games last year, not cloud was to be seen.

New press box and facilities

Paladin on the plaza seems excited

Concession choices seem limited

Luxury boxes aren't finished yet

Dad checks out new seating

Synthetic turf, looks the same

 The Paladins took the opening kick and drove, drove, drove down the field.  No passing, nothing fancy, they just ran over the visiting Blue Hose.  With half the 1st quarter gone they punched it in for the touchdown.

I got excited, but trust me, they scored here.

 On PC's first drive, after and inital penalty by Furman, it was three plays and punt.  Oh glorious stadium! Oh, glorious performance! Oh, glorious day!

Yeah...about that.

After the PC punt was a drive that should have ended in a Furman punt.  Should have....but a bad snap left the Furman punter diving on the ball.  And giving the ball up inside your own 10 yard line is a bad way to keep the other team out of the end zone.

And so it went.  A fumble coughed up.  A long drive allowed.  A missed field goal.  The half ended with PC up 20 to 7, with only a missed PC extra point keeping the margin from being two full touchdowns.  The normally late arriving Furman crowd began heading for the concession stands, and for some the exits.

The Paladin is not impressed.

At halftime, Furman unveiled it's new paladin logo:

 And a performance by the Paladin Regiment and Paladin Dancers:

With extra xylophones:

Seriously, there's like 5 xylophones.

The second half brought a turn of fortunes.  A PC fumble couple with 2 penalties placed Furman first and goal at the Blue Hose two yard line.  Touchdown!  A very short PC punt led to another Furman
touchdown drive.  And the Paladins entered the 4th quarter with a slim 1 point lead.

Back and forth the ball went.  Short drives. Punts.  Agonizing incompletions. Stagnating offenses.

But with 6:30 left in the game PC got the ball for their final drive.  They converted third downs.  they converted a fourth down.  They had missed 2 field goals, but crept closer and closer.  With 8 seconds left, they were in chip shot range, with the ball in the center of the field.

 And the kick issssss....

blocked!!!!




And blue skies prevail!

Including my sun burn