The SoCon Spread

                                Western Carolina (3-3, 2-0 SoCon) at Furman (2-4, 1-1 SoCon) Preview: Coming off one of its worst losses under head coach Clay Hendrix, which was a 41-10 setback to preseason SoCon favorite Chattanooga last Saturday, it gets no easier this afternoon, as the Paladins take on a Western Carolina team on the verge of the Top 25. The Catamounts have been playing some good football, having taken on a tough non-conference slate, and continue to be led by one of the top quarterbacks in FCS football, in Cole Gonzalez (145-of-230 passing, 1,528 yds, 5 TDs, 7 INTs), who is one of the top passers in all of FCS football.  The Paladins counter with true freshman Trey Hedden (77-of-130 passing, 1,030 yds, 7 TDs, 6 INTs), who had a bit of a tough start last week, throwing three first-half INTs before eventually being replaced by backup Carson Jones (34-of-53 passing, 303 yds, 1 TD, 3 IN...

Chattanooga's Intercepts Furman's Fun and Ends Three-Game Losing Skid in Emphatic Fashion  As thrilling as last Saturday was for Furman was in Charleston in the thrilling 17-16 come-from-behind win over arch-rival The Citadel, the Paladins were reminded of their youth and just how much things have changed in 2024 when the preseason SoCon favorite Mocs were in town Saturday afternoon for a key home league contest. No. 23 Chattanooga showed why it was the preseason SoCon favorite on Saturday afternoon, taking on a Furman team, which now with 37 of its 44 players gone from that team that defeated the Mocs twice last season, was a shell of its 2023 self-Saturday afternoon, as Chattanooga delivered a 41-10 beatdown of the defending Southern Conference champion Paladins Saturday afternoon Paladin Stadium. With the win, Chattanooga improves to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in Southern Conference play, while the Paladins fall to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Mocs snapped a three-game...

  Furman Set for Test From Chattanooga Overview: ##--Now that I have internet restored two weeks after the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene, previews and recaps should be more of a regular think (knock on wood)...Apologies on my end for not providing regular content both here and for Redshirt Sports over the past couple of weeks. No. 23 Chattanooga (2-3, 1-1 SoCon) and Furman (2-3, 1-0 SoCon) were projected to finish No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the Southern Conference preseason coaches’ poll, however, for both teams it’s been anything but easy navigating the early portions of the 2024 football season. Both enter Saturday’s clash at Paladin Stadium unranked, yet both are coming off two big conference road wins against a bitter rival. Furman came from a 16-3 fourth quarter deficit to upend The Citadel, 17-16, in a thriller last weekend in Charleston, as the Paladins started 1-0 in Southern Conference play for the fifth time in the past six seasons under head coac...

CHARLESTON, S.C.—If football had been included in one of Aesop’s Fables, there would have been no greater representation of the Tortoise and the Hare than Saturday’s latest classic in the Furman-The Citadel football rivalry before a crowd of a little more than 9,000 fans at Johnson-Hagood Stadium. The Paladins, which played the role of “tortoise” on Saturday afternoon, however, with the score reading in favor of The Citadel, 16-3 with a little more than eight minutes remaining, Furman and the narrative alluded to above was never a thought that would have crossed anyone’s mind, as the Paladins were just hanging on by a single hair, however, would dig deep to find a way to rally for 14 points in the final eight minutes and change to steal a 17-16 win over the “hare”—better known as the Bulldogs--in what was a wild Southern Conference game. For head coach Clay Hendrix, it was the same team with an altered mindset in the second half. That would ultimately be the tortoise mentality. It...

  Samford (6-5, 4-4 SoCon) was a team that came into the 2023 season off a historic 2022 campaign, which saw the Bulldogs win 11 games and make it the FCS Quarterfinals before eventually getting knocked off by North Dakota State (L, 9-27), who went on to the national championship game before getting beaten by South Dakota State. The Bulldogs were selected as the league co-favorites by the league's head coaches, while being picked second in the preseason by the league's media. There was plenty of reason to see why there were such high expectations for the Bulldogs entering the 2023 season, but the Bulldogs returned only nine starters from a team that went on to win the 2022 title. Six of those starters were back on the offensive side of the football, while three returned on the defensive side of the ball. Most of the excitement surrounding the Samford football program stemmed from the fact that the Bulldogs had one of the b...