FURMAN PREVIEW

I think an introduction to Furman University is necessary. Furman is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina. It is the oldest and largest private academic institution in SC and one of the top liberal arts colleges in the U.S. I’m sure it doesn’t hold a candle to the “Harvard of the Midwest”, aka Truman State University, home of the fighting Wildcats, er, Bulldogs but I digress. Furman was founded in 1826 and enrollment is approximately 2,550 undergraduate and 525 graduate students. Athletically Furman competes in the Southern Conference (SoCon) of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly Division I-AA). Their mascot is the Paladins, which, according to Wikipedia, were the “twelve peers and foremost warriors of Charlemagne’s court”…so they have THAT going for them. Consistently, the Paladins have been one of the more dominant - SORRY. I. JUST. CAN’T. DO. IT…executive decision: I’m referring to them as “FU” for the remainder of this piece, seriously, PALADINS??? – anyway FU is one of the better FCS teams but are coming off a down year in 2008 (7-5 overall, 4-4 in conference). In week 1 they handled Presbyterian 45-21 and won their conference opener on Saturday at Chattanooga 38-20.

When Furman has the ball
FU returns 7 starters from a spread attack that averaged 361 yards and 25 points per game a year ago. Thus far in 2009, they’ve averaged 416 yards and scored 41.5. They had some growing pains in 2008, their first year of the spread offense. They run more than they pass and so far in 2009 they’re relying on 5-8, 206 lb Soph RB Tersoo Uhaa to carry the load. He’s rushed for nearly 5 yards per carry and scored four touchdowns. Entering the season, Uhaa was set to play second-fiddle to returning rushing leader Mike Brown but the senior RB has been out with an ankle injury for the first two games and will not play vs Mizzou. True Fr Jerry Williams will spell Uhaa from time to time in the backfield and is a weapon as a receiver as well. Sr QB Jordan Sorrells is in his 2nd year at the helm of the offense and is an accurate passer at 71.4% on the season with 4 TDs against 2 INTs. The lefty, Greenville native, is backed up by UCLA transfer Soph QB Chris Forcier (older brother of True Fr Michigan QB Tate Forcier – that information is free…). Right now there is no QB controversy with FU but Forcier is a speedster and in a game like this, look for him to be in for a handful of snaps perhaps as a receiver or in some sort of Wildcat package. Forcier made his debut in last week’s game and logged 29 yards on 3 carries. Receiver targets include Jr Adam Mims who doubles as their return guy, Sr David Hendrix and Sr RJ Webb, who is returning to action after missing most of 2007 and 2008 with separate ACL injuries. Tennessee transfer, Soph Tyler Maples has already contributed in his first season for FU. Sr TE Chris Truss is an All SoCon performer and might be the only one on their roster with D-1 size at his position (6-4, 264). He’s caught 34 balls in his career for 470 yards and 7 TDs. The FU Offensive Line lost both tackles and their center from a year ago but have improved their ypc figure by 33% from a year ago. Their line averages 6-2, 278 lbs. This season they’re about 60/40 run, but last week in their win vs UT-Chattanooga, they were closer to 2:1 run. Mizzou will have to do a better job of stopping the run at the outset this week than they did against Bowling Green.

When Furman is on defense
Furman only brings back 4 starters from 2008’s defense that allowed 346 yards and 22 points per game. In their first two games, they’re allowing 373 yards and 20.5 pts. As with the offense, FU broke in a new defensive scheme in 2008, moving from a 4-3 base to a 4-2-5 alignment. This philosophy essentially replaces a linebacker with a theoretically faster defensive back and is one of the “en vogue” defenses to counter the myriad of spread offense attacks permeating college football. This switch allowed them to cut nearly 10 points and 50 total yards off of their 2007 defensive stats. Two names on their D-Line to look out for are Sr NT Justin Brown who leads the roster in starts and is an All SoCon performer and Jr DE Shaun Van Rensburg, who has good size (6-4, 250) and led the team in sacks a year ago. Their D-Line averages 262lbs, which is about 45 lbs a man they’re giving up against Mizzou’s O-Line. This has to be an area Mizzou looks to attack – running the football. This should be a huge advantage for the Tigers. The FU back 7 include two new starters at LB, Sophs Kadarron Anderson and Chris Wiley. The name to watch on the PU defense is Jr Max Lerner who plays the rover position which is likely some sort of safety/linebacker hybrid. He led the team in picks a year ago with 4 and has already grabbed another one last week on the first snap from scrimmage, returning it 43 yards for a score.

Lest you think FU is going to get all knock-need and queasy entering the Zou on Saturday night, you should know that they traveled to Virginia Tech last season and didn’t get completely blown out (24-7 loss). Sure they’re the lower division and Mizzou should pound them but I don’t think we’re looking at a game like SEMO last year where the 3rd string Tigers could beat them by 40. But let’s not get crazy. The bottom line is that these kids (collectively) are NOT Division 1 athletes. I am sure some of them could have played at that level, I’m sure some were recruited by bigger schools, hell they have guys on their roster that left schools like UCLA and Tennessee to play for Furman…but Mizzou CLEARLY should have the athletic advantage over these guys. I am not suggesting it is a show-up, flash your black jerseys, get a few growls out of the sound system and BOOM, 50 pt blowout, but if Mizzou just plays their game, this isn’t a remotely close game. Cannot look past and completely dismiss them (see: Michigan vs Appalachian State 2007), but let’s be real here. The talent discrepancy is far too great. I could go on but what’s the point. If Mizzou doesn’t handle them fairly easily, well, the Illinois game was the aberration, not Bowling Green. I’m calling this one 45-13 Tigers.

Quick note from the Tiger injury front: backup RB De’Vion Moore likely out again with high ankle sprain, hoping to be back at it for Nevada next Friday. Reserve LB Jeff Gettys tore his ACL against BGSU, he’s done for the year. Safety Hardy Ricks has a bum ankle but should be back full strength by Saturday. Jarrell Harrison (JuCo safety transfer) has missed all action to this point with a dislocated elbow – he’s been cleared to play but not sure what kind of utility he has with the arm yet.


TIDBITS TO HELP YOU DOMINATE WATERCOOLER CONVERSATION

Furman’s starting Right Guard is named Heath Cockburn. I can’t make this stuff up.

FU hasn’t allowed a rushing TD this season. I expect that to be a memory by about 1:27 pm CST.

Furman QB Jordan Sorrells and I share a birthday (ironically enough, we share that birthday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il). This is all free information, you don’t have to pay for any of it!!!

Sean Weatherspoon is the Big XII leader in tackles with 11.5 per game – that’s good enough for T-12th nationally. Also, Spoon was actually born in Greenville, SC (home of FU) but only lived there 6 months. Spoon’s mom was a student at FU for a short period of time.

Aldon Smith is 6th nationally in TFL yardage (4 tackles for loss, 29 yards)