No. 21 Furman Hosts Gardner-Webb Saturday Night

Gardner-Webb WR Kenny Cook Provided Highlight-Reel Catches In The Bulldogs’ 28-21 Win In Boiling Springs Last Season.

Keeping Success In Perspective

Furman Heads Into Opener Against Gardner-Webb With A Preseason Ranking For The First Time Since 2007

Furman_Football_2014_Preview_(2)_vs._GWebb

When the 2013 season opened at Gardner-Webb, most Furman fans thought the Paladins might struggle,however, not many would have projected a loss in the season opener to Gardner-Webb.

The Bulldogs would go on to prove they would be a worthy team in 2013, knocking off both No. 13 Richmond and No. 6 Wofford en route to finishing the season with a 7-5 overall record. The Bulldogs knocked off previously playoff-bound Charleston Southern in the regular-season finale, most assuredly keeping the Buccaneers out of the postseason.

The Bulldogs were dealt a blow in May, however, as it was learned that All-American and one of the leading candidates for the Buck Buchanan award candidate Shaquille Riddick, who is transferring out to West Virginia. Riddick could affect a game in a significant fashion, as he led the Big South in tackles-for-loss (19) and sacks (8.5) last fall.

Still, the Bulldogs return enough talent to be more than a dangerous team in both the Big South, and as a season-opening opening opponent for the Paladins.

The question in Boiling Springs, N.C., becomes what will Carroll McCray do for an encore? McCray spent three years at Furman coaching under Bobby Lamb as the Paladins’ offensive line coach.

In hindsight, the loss to Gardner-Webb might actually have been a good thing for Fowler’s young team, who only remained hungry to get better with each passing week. That loss came as a result of Furman just flat getting out-hustled, and other than maybe the first 28 of opening 30 minutes against Wofford, but after that, the Paladins were inspired by winning a conference title and claimed a dramatic 13th Souhern Conference title.

The Bulldogs and Paladins will bemeeting for the fifth time in series history, with Furman having won three of the previous four meetings. Below is a brief synopsis of each of the meetings between the two programs.

Last season about this time, the Furman football team and head coach Bruce Fowler boarded a bus headed for Boiling Springs, N.C, to take on a tough, battle-hardened Gardner-Webb football team to open the 2013 season.

Five hours and a lightning delay later, the Paladins boarded that same bus saddled with a 28-21 loss to the Bulldogs. It would be a loss that would sting, but ultimately it would be a game that signal the start of Southern Conference championship campaign, and though no one would see it, the humbling experience proved to be one of the best things that could happen to a young football team short on experience and long on youyth. In fact, Furman headed into that game last fall with 62 of its 87 rostered players that were freshman or sophomores.

There’s a different attitude Furman heads into the 2014 matchup with, as well as a different confidence. The championship season did much to enhance the swagger of this program heading into its season-opening matchup with Gardner-Webb, but it’s a swagger head coach Bruce Fowler knows must be kept in perspective.

Furman is still a program striving to get back to the glory days, and while last season’s title did much in the way of enhancing those prospects sooner than later, work remains to be done, and the Paladins must now not only re-establish respect for itself as a program, but now without Georgia Southern and Appalachian State to fall back on, must carry the torch for the SoCon, as it looks to re-establish itself as one of the power conferences of FBS football.

In past seasons, Furman could rely on an eight-win season in an 11-game slate to qualify for the FCS postseason due to the degree of difficulty in winning the Southern Conference alone, especially in years when Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Marshall were members of the conference in the early-mid 1990s. The season opener against Gardner-Webb–a battle-tested Big South foe that offers a chance for the Bulldogs to put a feather in their own collective caps with a win over a reigning conference champion–as Gardner-Webb not only looks to build on its own tradition, but looks to continue to sway the power struggle in the direction of the Big South Conference.

The reality is, without the automatic bid to the postseason last fall, the Paladins would have not been able to get the opportunity to post the program’s first FCS playoff win since 2005.

The playoff selection committee would have looked back at that season-opening loss to the Bulldogs, and it likely would kept Furman out of the FCS playoffs had the Paladins not taken care of all the tiebreaker scenarios. The Big South won six out of nine games with the Southern Conference last fall, including that 28-21 Bulldog win over Furman in 2013.

It’s that kind of momentum which Gardner-Webb will enter the 2014 season with, and carrying the torch for a conference looking to assert itself as a reputable FCS league against the tradition-rich SoCon is almost as important as building on what the Bulldogs started last season, which saw the Bulldogs defeat three ranked teams and a conference title winner to account for four out of the program’s seven wins last season.

And just what is the most dangerous thing about McCray’s team, which he will bring to Greenville on Aug. 30? Well, for starters, it will be the return of 16 regulars from a year ago, including several national honors candidates slated to lead McCray’s group on both sides of the football in the season opener.

This isn’t the same Gardner-Webb program that came to Furman back in 2005, and was soundly beaten, 45-30, in a game Furman used as a tune-up for eventual national and Southern Conference champion Appalachian State the following week. In that contest, then-head coach Steve Patten’s club was dominated much more the final score would indicate.

It also not the same Furman program that Gardner-Webb that the Paladins faced on that warm early fall afternoon in Greenville, although Furman is certainly getting back closer to the program that can be dominant in the Southern Conference and in the FCS like that 2005 team was.

The big concern heading into last season’s matchup in Boiling Springs was size differential on both the offensive and defensive lines, with the Bulldogs being one of the bigger units in the trenches that the Paladins faced in 2014.

This season, four of those five starters return for the Bulldogs along the defensive front, but just one starter is back from the defensive front that helped shut down the Paladins in the second half of last season’s contest. The Bulldogs lost one of those players–Shaquille Riddick–to some unfortunate circumstances, as he transferred to West Virginia for his final season of football, hoping to improve his draft stock in his final season of eligibility.

Riddick, who would have entered the season as a national honors candidate and no doubt a Buck Buchanan Award candidate, completed the 2013 season by amassing 67 tackles, which ranked third on the squad in tackles, and posted a team-leading 19 tackles-for-loss and 8.5 sacks last fall.

The 19 TFLs were among the national leaders in 2013, and he was the Big South in that particular category. Needless to say, the loss of Riddick will affect the Gardner-Webb defesnse, which ranked tops in the Big South and fifth nationally (296.8 YPG) last fall.

What the Bulldogs do return up front is O.J. Mau, who heads into the season as one of the top nose tackles in FCS football. Mau will help anchor what should be a talented, but less-experienced defensive front for the Bulldogs this fall.

This game takes on a different dynamic than the one that took place between the Paladins and Bulldogs last season, but in one way it is the same. The pressure is once again on the Paladins, and that pressure is not to faulter under the pressure of a home opener at Paladin Stadium coming of a 13th SoCon title. However, it’s a different pressure than that which the Paladins entered the game last season at Gardner-Webb, with the heir of of being the tradition-rich, superior program.

But as much of the Furman coaching staff would most certainly agree, tradition and resting on past laurels won’t get you anywhere at any level of college football, and with the knowledge that the Big South was dominant against teams from the Southern Conference last season, the Paladins can at least enter the matchup motivated by something to prove.

To Furman’s credit, the loss to Gardner-Webb turned out to be maybe the best thing that happened to the young Paladins all season right out of the gates, and then dropping a game at No. 23 Coastal Carolina, 35-28, in Conway, saw the Paladins quickly reeling at 0-2 on the young season.

However, the Paladins didn’t fold, and despite injury issues and nay-sayers alike, the Paladins would claim seven out of their final 10 games, including seven out of nine against Southern Conference programs. The challenge for Bruce Fowler’s Paladins starts Saturday night, as Furman looks to embark on a quest to win back-to-back Southern Conference titles for the first time since 1989-90.

But Gardner-Webb was no fluke in beating Furman last season, and it was a team that was a legitimate title contender for a while in the much-improved Big South. While the Bulldogs were thoroughly beaten by Coastal Carolina (42-7), Gardner-Webb would play the role of spoiler against a Charleston Southern team that came to Boiling Springs ranked No. 12 in the nation and sporting just one blemish on its slate.

In fact, the Bucs beat Coastal Carolina, who of course went on to make that memorable run to the FCS Quarters last season before losing to eventual champion North Dakota State, and control of its own destiny when they rolled into Spangler Stadium to tangle with the Bulldogs on Nov. 16.

The Bulldogs won the game going away, handing the Bucs a 27-10 setback after leading 20-0 at the half, as the game was never really in doubt. If you consider what Gardner-Webb did last season, it is quite remarkable. Since joining the FCS ranks in 2000, the Bulldogs are just 5-22 against ranked foes, with three of those wins coming last season.

You can be sure the 21st-ranked Paladins will be ready for the Bulldogs in 2014, and it should be a great test for the defending SoCon champs, who did not lose a game on home turf in 2013.

Previewing Gardner-Webb:

Gardner-Webb got off to a dream start in the 2013 campaign, notching its first-ever win over Furman, with a 28-21 win in Boiling Springs to open the campaign, and then after a 55-0 loss at Conference USA member Marshall, Gardner-Webb proceeded to follow that lopsided loss by getting the attention of the rest of the FCS world, posting a 12-10 win at No. 11 Richmond at Spangler Stadium.

A week later in a driving rainstorm at Gibbs Stadium on the campus of Wofford College, the Bulldogs posted a 3-0 win in the deluge and were the fodder of plenty of water cooler conversations after wins over two teams expected to compete for conference titles in two of the strongest FCS conferences.

A win over a lower division foe a week later and Carroll McCray, who was in his first season as the head coach at Gardner-Webb, had seen his Bulldogs get off to a dream start to start the 2013 season, and by virtue of that 2-1 start, with a win over a pair of wins over ranked FCS foes would see the Bulldogs find themselves in the national rankings by the time the Bulldogs headed into their lone non Division I game of the season, facing Point University, ranked No. 25 in the nation by the Sports Network.

It marked the first time the Bulldogs had garnered a ranking in the nation’s Top 25 poll since 2003, as the Bulldogs entered the campaign ranked in the nation’s Top 25 poll coming off an 9-1 season in 2002, which saw Gardner-Webb ranked No. 25 in the final Sports Network poll in that particular campaign.

The season would not go according to plan from there however, as after a 55-7 win over Point, McCray’s Bulldogs would suffer back-to-back losses to both startup program Charlotte (53-51), as well as dropping their first Big South game of the season to eventual league champ and FCS quarterfinalist Coastal Carolina, 42-7, in Conway. A 24-0 loss to Liberty the following week and it was clear the Bulldogs were having trouble generating points, and with so many weapons on the offensive side of the ball, it was quite hard to believe.

The Bulldogs would eventually rebound to complete the season with a 7-5 record, with the signature win over the latter half of the schedule being a 27-10 win over league-leading and 12th-ranked Charleston Southern, bringing an end to the upstart Buccaneers’ FCS playoff hopes in what was a battle of first-year and former North Greenville head coaches.

The good news for the Bulldogs is plenty of accomplished talent returns on the offensive side of the football, but it was a unit that was inconsistent for the most part last season. This fall, the Bulldogs welcome the return of 15 starters, including three that were recently selected to The Sports Network’s preseason All-America team, with one on offense and two on the defensive side of the football.

Looking At The Gardner-Webb Offense:

Gardner-Webb had an offense capable of being explosive or stagnant last fall, displaying a very Bipolar personality in 2013.

With eight starters back on the offensive side of the football, including maybe the best receiver in FCS football, the Bulldogs will have plenty for Furman head coach Bruce Fowler and the defensive coaching staff prior to the Aug. 30 opener at Paladin Stadium.

Gardner-Webb is coming off a season in which it ranked 71st nationally in total offense (357.3 YPG), 86th in scoring offense (21.9 PPG), 52nd in passing offense (225.2 YPG) and 92nd in rushing offense (132.2 YPG).

The leader of the Gardner-Webb offense once again this season will be quarterback Lucas Beatty (229-of-377 passing, 2,497 yds, 12 TDs, 13 INTs), who will head into the season as an all-conference candidate under center, and he finished the season as the Bulldogs’ third-leading passer. Against Furman last season, Beatty finished the game against the Paladins hitting on 22-of-31 passes for 276 yards and a pair of scores, without throwing an INT. He’ll need to more consistent this fall if the Bulldogs hope to make a serious run at the Big South league crown, as his 13 INTs were than the 12 TDs he threw last season.

One thing is for sure, Beatty will have one of the nation’s top wideouts in the nation to throw the football to this fall, in preseason All-America selection Kenny Cook (76 rec, 1,008 yds, 9 TDs, 13.3 YPR).

Cook, a 6-4 wide receiver, will begin the season as a part of the Walter Payton Award list, and last season, Cook led the Big South in all three major receiving categories, including tying Coastal Carolina’s Matt Hazel’s league leading nine TD catches. Against the Paladins last season, Cook turned in a monster game, hauling in nine passes for 113 yards and a pair of TDs.

Coming into his senior season, Cook has hauled in 124 passes for 1,674 yards and 16 TDs in two seasons at Gardner-Webb since transferring in from junior college a couple of years ago. The 6-4 wideout is regarded as a future NFL talent, and his 1,008 yards receiving last fall marked the first time since Rodney Robinson in 1992.

Cook was the epitome of clutch receiver last season, as 21 of his 76 catches coming on third-and-long, including a couple of crucial third-and-long receptions against Furman. Nineteen of his 21 catches on third-and-long resulted in first downs for the Bulldogs. His 76 catches in 2013 ranked him 21st nationally in receptions.

Joining Cook as solid options for Beatty in the passing game will be senior wideout Deonte Swinton (26 rec, 274 yds, 10.5 YPR) and senior tight end Seth Cranfill (16 rec, 132 yds, 8.2 YPR), with Cranfill likely to enter the season as an All-Big South selection.

The 6-4, 239-lb Cranfill had a solid game against the Paladins last year, and hauled in a crucial catch on a two-point conversion pass to allow the Bulldogs the seven point lead which they eventually held on to win by.

Another leading option as receiver on the offensive side of the football is tight end Mike Estes (18 rec, 278 yds, 1 TD), who is coming off a solid season of his own in 2013. Estes garnered preseason praise, as he was selected preseason First-Team All-Big South honors after breaking into the starting lineup last season, leading all Big South tight ends in receptions last fall, with 18 receptions.

Plenty of talent also returns in the Gardner-Webb ground game this fall, and it all starts with tailback Juanne Blount (257 rush att,1,040 rush yds, 9 TDs, 4.0 YPR), who was sensational rushing the football last season for the Bulldogs, especially against the Paladins. Blount would finish that evening with a career-high 162 rushing yards and three TDs, while also playing a big role in Gardner-Webb’s win over Wofford, amassing 139 yards on 35 carries in the 3-0 win over the Terriers.

Blount also showed the ability to be an effective receiving option coming out of the backfield, hauling in 15 receptions for 118 yards last fall. He is the third Gardner-Webb running back since 2000 to eclipse the 1,000-yard plateau, and he was a preseason Second Team All-Big South selection at the recent Big South Media Day last month. He already ranks seventh in school history in rushing yards, having gained 2,125 yards and scored 18 TDs so far in his three seasons as the Bulldogs’ running back.

Playing alongside Blount in the Gardner-Webb backfield this fall will be J.J. Hubbard (63 rush att, 269 yds, 2 TDs, 4.3 YPC), who’s is more of the change-up back for the Bulldogs, and a guy the Paladins had trouble bringing to the turf at times in last season’s matchup. The slippery, 5-7, 168-pound running back is strong, and runs low-to-the-ground, with a good center of gravity and great balance.

Hubbard has excellent speed, and is one of the fastest Bulldogs on the roster. He is an All-Big South candidate as a return specialist, as the senior from Tampa, FL, enters the regular-season having rushed for 442 yards and 11 scores in his career, as well as coming into the campaign with 2,421 all-purpose yards for his career.

The Bulldogs have starting experience returning on the offensive line this fall, as well, as four of five starters return from a unit that helped Gardner-Webb field what has to be considered an offense that was pretty balanced in 2013, and a unit that certainly gave the Paladins’ defense its fair share of difficulties last season.

The four returning starters up front will be (RG) Dylan Hopper, (LG) David McConnell, (RG) Matt McAlvin, and (C) Ashanti McPhee all returning to the fold this season for head coach Carroll McCray’s offensive front, which looked dominant in the second half against the Paladins last season. The lone starter that must be replaced along the offensive front this fall is at left guard, where Jeff Harris has departed at left guard.

With the loss of Harris, McConnell will make the move from tackle to guard, and David Sutton will step into the starting role at left tackle.

It’s one of the bigger lines the Paladins will face this fall, too, with McPhee being the centerpiece of that offensive front. The 6-3, 304-lb, redshirt junior from Orlando, FL, is one one of the more

most of his time last season at center.

The smallest returning starter along the offensive front for the Bulldogs this fall is McAlvin, the right rackle, who enters his redshirt junior season, standing 6-5, and weighing, 275-lbs. McConnell is the largest of the returning starters along the front line this fall for the Bulldogs, as he comes into the campaign, at 6-5, 305-lbs. Hopper, who will likely start at right guard, heads into his junior a shade under 300-lbs, at 6-4, 297-lbs.

Gardner-Webb’s offense will no doubt be tough to stop once again this fall, and with that kind of beef up front, the concern for having McCray’s unit establish the ground game against the smaller, yet more athletic, Furman defensive front will remain a concern for the Paladin coaching staff heading into the season opener.

Looking At The Gardner-Webb Defense:

Gardner-Webb was no less than stellar on the defensive side of the football last season against the Paladins, allowing just 43 yards in the second half, and a total of seven first downs in the entire game, as the Bulldogs held on for the 28-21 win over the Paladins.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 2013 season which saw them rank fifth nationally and lead the Big South in total defense last fall, yielding a meager total of 296.8 YPG, and that unit would set the tone in the season-opening win over the Paladins last fall.

Additionally, the Bulldogs ranked tied for 29th nationally in scoring defense (23.0 PPG), 10th in pass defense (174.3 YPG) and 16th in rushing defense (122.5 YPG).

It is amazing to think that including the FCS postseason last fall, Furman faced three of the nation’s top defensively last season, which of course includes Gardner-Webb, North Dakota State and South Carolina State, and if you count the Top 20 defenses last fall, the Paladins faced four, as they also squared off against the Chattanooga Mocs, who ranked 17th nationally in total defense last fall.

One of the areas that made that Gardner-Webb defense so tough to penetrated in 2013 was its vaunted defensive line, which included Buck Buchanan Award candidate Shaquille Riddick at defensive end. Riddick, who finished the 2013 season with 67 tackles, 17 TFLs and 8.5 sacks is no longer a part of the Gardner-Webb football program, having decided to transfer to West Virginia to play his final year of eligibility, which will certainly be felt by the Gardner-Webb defense this fall.

The best news for the Bulldogs heading into the 2014 season is the fact that three veterans of the front seven return for the 2014 season, with returning along an all-league performer along the defensive line, while the Bulldogs return two of four starters to their linebacking corps from a year ago, while also adding a high-profile transfer at the other linebacker position in their 3-4 defensive scheme.

While Riddick has gone elsewhere to play his final season, the Bulldogs will look to a talented performer to anchor the front this fall, in O.J. Mau (54 tackles, 9.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks, 1 FR), while Jebrai Regan (3 tackles, 0.5 TFL) will take over the rush end position, which was once occupied by Riddick last season. Mau will play the nose guard position, and along with Riddick, Mau was named an FCS All-American last season and will enter the season as a preseason All-American, according to the Sports Network.

Regan has the unenviable task of trying to replace the outstanding Riddick at the rush defensive end position this fall, but is coming off what was an outstanding spring and he is an athletic talent, which the Bulldogs will boast on the perimeter this fall.

Stepping in to replace Preston Pemasa at the other defensive end position this fall will be Tyler Hough-Jenkins (13 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 1.0 sack), as the 6-4, 274-lbs senior heads into his final season in great physical condition and ready to be a big contributor along the defensive front this fall for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs should also be strong at linebacker coming up this fall, with leading tackler and preseason All-Big South performer Tanner Burch (107 tackles, 7.0 TFL, 0.5 sack) returning to the fold to anchor the unit at one of the inside linebacker spots. Burch will team with OLB Chad Geter (82 tackles, 9.0 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 2 FFs, 2 INTs, 1 FR, 6 PBUs), who was second on the team in tackles last fall, making linenacker one of the most experienced positions on the defensive side of the football once again this fall.

Burch has registered 100 or more stops each of the past two seasons, earning All-Big South honors each of the past couple of seasons, while Geter moves to the outside after having played safety last season for the Bulldogs.

Geter is one of the better athletes on the defensive side of the football for the Bulldogs heading into the 2014 season, giving support on the edge against the run, while giving support as an extra edge pass-rusher. Geter was a Second-Team All-Big South honoree last season. He garnered Big South Defensive Player of the Week honors after collecting 12 hits (11 solo)

The other two starters at linebacker will be Bradley Taylor (42 tackles) who will start at the other inside linebacker position, while Aaron Cook (25 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 0.5 sack) will start at the other outside linebacker. Taylor is an experienced linebacker and started 12 games at linebacker last season.

Cook was one of the top reserve linebackers for the Bulldogs last season, and will bring athleticism to the bandit linebacker position.

The Bulldogs come into the season having been hit hardest bad by graduation in the defensive backfield, however, the best of the returnees in the secondary is Ivan Toomer (40 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1 INT, 2 FFs, 8 PBUs), who will anchor the unit this fall from his cornerback position.

Toomer, a 6-1, 203-lb redshirt junior from Homestead, FL, has good size and athleticism. Toomer had an outstanding game against the Paladins last fall, as he registered his only INT of the season against the Paladins and returned it 13 yards early in the second half, setting up a Gardner-Webb TD. That INT would prove to change the momentum of the entire game and led the Bulldogs to victory in the opener.

The Bulldogs secondary will be rounded out by redshirt freshman Trey Lucas at the other cornerback, while redshirt senior Steven Cristobal (9 tackles, 1 FF) is set to start at the strong safety spot, while redshirt freshman Spencer Havird rounds out the talented Gardner-Webb defensive unit.

Final Prediction:
Furman will open 2014 season with its highest expectations as a program since Bruce Fowler arrived in Greenville in December of 2010, and now, what was once a familiar role for Paladin teams–having the bull’s-eye on their collective backs entering a season–has become a somewhat unfamiliar and awkward position entering a season in recent years.

However, this position is a welcomed awkward, and for the first time since 2005, the Paladins enter a campaign off a SoCon title, and for the first time since 2006 off an FCS playoff appearance.

Fowler’s biggest asset as a coach, and this staff as a whole, has been a disciplined approach, despite the success of last season, and that disciplined approach has allowed the Paladins to keep dwelling on the sudden success at a distance. In fact being so young last season has seemingly only made the Paladins hungrier to get another league title and garner another playoff spot. Gardner-Webb will be a stern test, and Furman’s ability to run the football will determine if they emerge as the victors on Saturday night at Paladin Stadium.

One of the things most forget about the 2013 season is that Furman didn’t set the world on fire defensively, and it was turning people over and being opportunistic which allowed the Paladins to have so much success. The Paladins cannot become reliant on that aspect of the game, and it all starts with stopping people at the point of attack.

Having said that, I have seen a lot of Furman football games over the years and have seen a lot of defenses that should of been good on paper. This defense, if it progresses the way most think it should have since last season, could be as good as some of the best in program history, including those units of 1999, 2000, ‘03 and dare I say, 1988? Only time will tell, but Gardner-Webb’s versatility will give the Paladins quite a test in week one.

Furman 28, Gardner-Webb 17