Tuesday, October 21, 2014

SoCon Football Power Rankings



Welcome to this week's Purple & Gold SoCon Power Rankings for the week beginning 10-20-14. The power rankings are published weekly on Tuesday.

The Southern Conference will feature four conference games this week, and no out of conference contests. The first of Saturday's games kicks off at 12:00 pm as Mercer travels to Chattanooga.  Next up, it's VMI at Wofford and Samford at Furman, both games have starting times at 1:30 pm.  The final game is The Citadel at Western Carolina with a 2 pm kickoff.

Lots of possibilities for a shake up this week, but if both Chattanooga and Western Carolina end the day with victories, it sets up a huge game in Cullowhee the following week, with first place on the line, that game will not lock up a championship, but it certainly would put the winning team in the driver's seat and master of their own destiny.


1. (1)  Chattanooga 
Last Game: UTC 34 - The Citadel 14
Record: 4-3 (3-0 SoCon)  - Up next - Mercer, 5-3 (1-3 SoCon)
The Mocs are coming off a surprisingly easy win in Charleston and face a determined Mercer Bear team that will probably upset someone this season, so it's best not to look past them to next week's Western Carolina game. 

2. (3)  Western Carolina 
Last Game: WCU  35 - Mercer  21
Record: 5-2 (3-0 SoCon)  - Up next - The Citadel, 2-5  (0-2 SoCon)
The Cats remained tied for first place in the conference as they picked up their second road conference win of the season defeating Mercer,  In the Catamounts Homecoming game they face a Bulldog team that was somewhat embarrassed by the Mocs last week, so the same advice applies, don't look past the Dogs to the Chattanooga game next week.  

3. (4)  Wofford 
Last Game: Wofford 24 - Samford 20                                                                                                               Record: 4-3 (2-1 SoCon) - Up next - VMI, 1-7 (0-3 SoCon)                                                                                 Still in the race for a conference championship, the Terriers face last place VMI in Spartanburg.  It should be an easy pick up, but VMI is going to surprise someone.  
4. (2)  Samford 
Last Game:  Samford 20  -   Wofford 24
Record: 3-3 (2-2 SoCon) - Up next - Furman, 2-5  (1-1 SoCon)
The Bulldogs dropped a close game to Wofford last Saturday, but combined with the loss to Chattanooga, puts the Bulldogs back to the wall in this week's game facing Wofford.  Three SoCon losses would most likely eliminate any chances of a repeat conference crown in Birmingham. 

5. (5)  The Citadel 
Last Game: The Citadel 14 - Chattanooga 34
Record: 2-5 (0-2 SoCon)  - Up next - at Western Carolina, 5-2 (3-0 SoCon)
Much like Samford, these Bulldogs backs are to the wall as well, finding themselves facing the first place Catamounts.  With 2 conference losses already, a third will leaving the Bulldogs playing only for pride.
6. (6)  Furman 
Last Game: Furman 10 - South Carolina 41
Record: 2-4 (2-1 SoCon)  - Up next - Samford, 3-3  (2-2)
With only one conference loss, the Paladins are still in the thick of the conference race, with a win over the Bulldogs, they can pretty much eliminate the Bulldogs from the race.  
7. (7)  Mercer 
Last Game: Mercer 21 - Western Carolina 35
Record: 5-3 (1-3 SoCon) - Up next - at Chattanooga, 4-3 (0-0 SoCon)           
With three conference losses, the Bears have basically been eliminated from any prospects for a shot at the league championship and have a very big challenge this week.  After playing #1 Western Carolina last week, they travel to Chattanooga to meet the other #1 team, Chattanooga Mocs.  
8. (8)  Virginia Military Institute 
Last Game: VMI 41 - Gardner-Webb 47
Record: 1-7 (0-4 SoCon) - Up next - at Wofford, 4-3 (2-1 SoCon)                                                                         This week the Keydets travel to Spartanburg to play an upbeat Terrier team, fresh off a victory over Samford,  This may not be the week, but the Keydets will get that conference victory.  

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