2018 Football Preseason Preview: Furman

Throughout this preseason, Purple & Gold will preview all of Western Carolina's 2018 football opponents.

For the fourth game of the season, the Cats are on the road, this time to Travelers Rest, SC  to meet the Paladins in the 2018 football edition of The Battle for Purple Supremacy.

The Cats have dropped two straight to Furman and are looking to change that streak.







Furman

When: Saturday, September 29 - Time: 2:00 pm  EST

Where: Paladin Stadium, Greenville, SC

Radio: Catamount Sports Network

TV / video:  ESPN3 or ESPN+

The Series: The Cats are only 12-31-2 overall against the Paladins in the series.

The last game played vs. Furman:  October 28, 2017 - Catamounts Drop Homecoming Game to Furman, 28-6 - Furman's Antonio Wilcox rushed for a career-high 202 yards and a score while backfield teammate Kealand Dirks added a pair of scores and 119 yards on the ground as the Paladins rushed past No. 18/20 Western Carolina, 28-6, on a rain-soaked Homecoming Saturday at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field. The win was the sixth-straight for the Paladins after starting the season at 0-3, while WCU saw its four-game home winning streak snapped. Furman moved into a tie for first-place in the SoCon with an upstate rival, Wofford, while WCU slipped into a tie with Samford for third overall.

Head Coach:  Clay Hendrix -  Hendrix in his second season at Furman is a former Paladin offensive guard and assistant coach who returned to his alma mater following a decade as an assistant coach at the United States Air Force Academy, is the 23rd head coach in the history of Furman football, which dates from 1889. He succeeds Bruce Fowler, who resigned his head coaching duties on Dec. 2. “I am thrilled to welcome Clay and his family back to Greenville. The future of Furman football is bright,” said Buddie. “An extensive search led us to an obvious choice in Clay Hendrix. His incredible record of winning football games and developing young men of high character make him a perfect fit for Furman.” “We could not be more excited and humbled with the opportunity to return to Greenville and our alma mater,“ said Hendrix,


Last Season's Record (Furman): 2017 - 8-5 overall, 4-1 home, 4-4 away,  6-2 SoCon  - SoCon losses were to Wofford and Samford

Offensive Formation: Multiple

Defensive Formation: 3-4

Starters returning/lost:  18  /  7

Offensive starters - Returning/Lost:   5  /  6

Defensive starters - Returning/Lost:  10  /  1

Specialist - Returning/Lost:    3  /  2

Key Personnel Lost  -
Offense -  QB - P.J. Blazejowski; All-SoCon RB - Antonio Wilcox; All-SoCon TE - Andy Schumpert, All-SoCon LG - Terrell Bush, All-American C - Matthew Schmidt, SE - Logan McCarter, P - J.C. Hollingsworth, PR - Logan McCarter,

Defense -  All-SoCon Freshman LB - Reynard Ellis

Since the end of last season, the Paladins lost their offensive coordinator, Drew Cronic to the head coaching position at Lenior Rhyne University. Furman head coach Clay Hendrix moved asst. coach George Quarles' from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and hired Connor Shaw as the Paladins' new tight ends coach.

This will be Quarles first stint as an offensive coordinator, coming to Furman as a successful high school head coach in Tennessee. Other situations on the offensive side of the ball requires that the Paladins must replace 6 starters due to graduation, including starting quarterback PJ Blazejowski, All-American center Matthew Schmidt, All-SoCon running back Antonio Wilcox, and All-SoCon tight end Andy Schumpert, who caught 32 passes for 652 yards and a team-leading nine touchdowns en route to earning consensus All-Southern Conference honors.  These are major losses on offense for the Paladins to replace in 2018 on offense.

The defensive side of the ball should be the Paladians strength in 2018, as they lost only one starter, but All-SoCon Freshman team LB - Reynard Ellis.  Furman was very young last season on the defensive side of the ball and finished 3d overall in scoring defense in the SoCon


2017 Furman Statistics:
Rushing Offense: 2936 yards
Yards per game: 225.8
Yards per rush: 4.7 yards
Rushing 1st downs: 147
TDs rushing: 36
Passing Offense: 2571 yards or 197.8 yards per game
Avg. per pass: 10.3 yards
Passing 1st downs: 111
Passing Comp-Att-Int: 251-249-5
TDs Passing: 19
Total Offense: 5507 yards or 423.6 yards per game
Fumbles-Lost: 17 - 10
3d Down Conversions: 88 of 181 (49%)
4th Down Conversions: 17 of 26 (49%)
Field goal attempts: 9 - 13
PAT-Attempts: 55 of 55 (100%)
On-side kicks: 0-1
Red Zone Scores: 44 of 52 (85%)
Red Zone Touchdowns: 37 of 52 (71%)
Punts - Yards: 47 - 1951 - Avg per punt: 41.5


Game prediction:  Per the Massey Ratings, the Cats have a 27% probability of winning (28-35) over the Paladins.

According to Massey, Cats should be 3-1 after this game.  I'm going to dissagree, the Cats are 4-0 after this game.

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