Game #10 - Furman

For their tenth game of the season, the Catamounts travel down the mountain to Greenville, SC to meet the Paladins.

The Cats trail Furman 12-29-2 all-time in the series that dates back to 1976, when Western Carolina joined the Southern Conference.



When: Saturday, November 12th -  Time 4:00 pm ET
Where: Paladian Stadium, Greenville, SC
Radio: Catamount Sports Network
TV / video: WMYA, My40 TV & ESPN3

Game Notes:   Western Carolina    -        Furman           -         SoCon Weekly Release


The Series:  The Cats have won the last two in the series. winning the last game played at Furman by a final score of 35-17.

Last Season's Game vs. Furman (November 7, 2014):
Catamounts Cruise Past Furman to Close Home Season, 48-10 - Troy Mitchell recorded 360 yards of total offense and accounted for five touchdowns as Western Carolina used a total team effort to close the home portion of its regular season with a 48-10 victory over the Furman Paladins on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field. Mitchell threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, adding two scores on the ground and 55 yards as WCU put an exclamation point on an unbeaten home regular season - its first since 1986 and only the second in Division I history.

Last year’s record - 2015 (Furman):  4-7 overall, 2-3 home, 2-4 away (2-5 SoCon)

This  year’s record - 2016 (Furman):  2-7 overall, 0-4 home, 2-3 away (2-4 SoCon)/

Offensive Formation: Multiple

Defensive Formation: Multiple

In conference play, the Paladins won games over ETSU and VMI (both on the road), and have lost to Wofford (last weekend), Samford, Chattanooga and The Citadel. Furman also has lossess to Michigan State and Coastal Carolina in out of conference games.

Furman is #6 in scoring offense in the SoCon, just ahead of WCU at #7, and the Paladins are ranked #4 in scoring defense while the Cats come in last in this category. It’s no coincidence that Furman won two of their last three games following the return of their top two linebackers, seniors Carl Rider and Byron Johnson, from injury. The duo combined for 16 tackles, a tackle for-loss, and an interception in the win over VMI, a week after they combined to register 14 tackles, 2.5 tackles for-loss, and a sack against ETSU (52-7 win). Rider is Furman’s active career tackles leader with 315 stops, and Johnson owns 169 tackles in his Paladin tenure. That’s 484 combined career tackles for the Paladin linebacking duo. Furman redshirt senior wide receiver Andrej Suttles currently ranks second in Furman history in both receptions (171) and receiving yards (2,356) and is sixth in career touchdown receptions (14).

Furman’s six-game home losing skid is the longest in program history. The Paladins registered their last home victory on Oct. 3, 2015, against South Carolina State (17-3).

2016 Paladin Statistics (9 games):
Rushing Offense: 1131 yards
Yards per game: 108
Yards per rush: 3.5 yards
TDs rushing: 13
Passing Offense: 2448 yards or 272 yards per game
Passing Comp-Att-Int:  207-330-11
TDs passing: 18
Total Offense: 3417 yards or 380 yards per game
Passing 1st downs: 110
Rushing 1st downs: 60
Fumbles-Lost: 16 - 9
3d Down Conversions: 42 of 112 or 38%
4th Down Conversions: 9 of 18 or 50%
Field Goals - Attempts: 4 of 11
Red-Zone Scores: 26 of 31 (84%)
Red-Zone Touchdowns: 23 of 31 (74%)
Punts (No. Yards): 42 (1596 yds) Avg. per punt: 38 yds
PAT-Attempts: 30 of 31 - 97%
Field Goals-Attempts: 9 of 12
On-Side Kicks: 0 of 3

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