The SoCon Spread

If Furman's 2024 Football season could be described in one game, then the regular season finale at Mercer would probably be the one to best illustrate the few good things that went right, and the many bad things that plagued Furman on both sides of the ball throughout the 2024 campaign, as the Bears captured the outright Southern Conference title with a resounding 49-23 win over Furman Saturday afternoon in the blazing sunshine at Five Star Stadium before a crowd of 8,453 fans on-hand to witness the coronation of a new league champion.  For Mercer, who is under the direction of first-year head coach Mike Jacobs, it marks the first outright conference title in school history and first since winning the Dixie Conference Title in 1932. The Bears improved to 10-2 overall and 7-1 in SoCon play and now await their FCS Playoff Status, which includes heading into the  FCS Playoffs as the No. 7 overall seed and won't play until the second round of the postseason, which is slated for De...

  Furman true freshman QB Trey Hedden Has passed for 1,557 yards and 12 TDs in 2024 (Photo Courtesy of Furman Athletics) JOHNSON CITY, TENN-- No matter what this season and year has brought, Furman's football team and its staff never wavered and never threw in the towel, and if all that hard work and dedication could pay off in one Saturday, it did in the penultimate Saturday of the 2024 football season, as Furman held off No. 21 East Tennessee State, 24-21, in front of 8,436 partisan Bucs fans on-hand at William B. Greene Stadium. Furman's triumph allowed the Paladins to improve to 3-7 overall, including 2-4 in Southern Conference action, with one game remaining next Saturday at No. 10 Mercer. With the loss, the Bucs fell to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in SoCon action and will finish out their season next Saturday taking on VMI at Foster Stadium. With its third win, Furman avoids becoming the first team since 1972 to fail to win at least three games in a season. The Paladins also clai...

Furman running back Grant Robinson (photo courtesy of Furman athletics) Furman's woeful football season continued Saturday afternoon in what was the season home finale, as I-85 rival Wofford handed the Paladins their fourth-consecutive loss and second-straight in the series, claiming what was a 19-13 win in front of 8,327 fans at Paladin Stadium. The Paladins, which won 20 games over the previous two seasons and were projected to finish second in the SoCon this season off a 10-win, SoCon title winning campaign and FCS quarterfinal appearance a year ago, haven't yet been able to turn a talented, youthful crop of players into a winning product.  Furman will look to avoid becoming the first team since 1973 to win at least three games in a season when it faces arguably its two toughest games in succession--both on the road---the next two weeks (@ETSU Nov. 16 and @ No. 10 Mercer Nov. 23). Though it's been a tough season for many reasons, Furman's woes have also compounded by...

No. 24 Western Carolina (4-3, 3-0 SoCon) at No. 14 Mercer (6-1, 3-1 SoCon) Game Time and Venue: 3:30 EST/Five Star Stadium (10,200)/Macon, GA. How To Watch: ESPN+ Series: Mercer leads 8-2 Game Overview: When No. 13 Mercer hosts No. 24 Western Carolina Saturday, it won't just be a game between two teams trying to break through and win a Southern Conference title this season, if one of these two teams do manage to do that, it would manage the first time either has won a league crown. The Bears have posted an 11-23 mark against ranked opposition all-time, while the Catamounts are 16-88-3 all-time against teams with a number to the left of their name, which includes a 5-49-2 record on the road against ranked foes.  With its overtime win at No. 22/24 Chattanooga last season, the Catamounts snapped what had been a 47-game losing streak on the road against ranked foes, which dated all the way back to a 1984 win at Furman's Paladin Stadium.    The Catamounts are 4-2 against thei...

Eighth-year  Furman head coach Clay Hendrix has prided himself on making his football program a developmental one in a time when the easy thing to do is go to the transfer portal for all your season-by-season needs, however, as Furman is finding out this season, that developmental aspect of building a program can sometimes come with a huge dose of humility--at least in the short-term.  The 2024 season has had its share of strange and mostly negative occurrences for Furman's football program, and the latest came Saturday against Western Carolina, which handed Furman as thorough of a beating as they have had since the season-opening setback vs. Ole Miss (L, 0-76), on what turned out to be a record-setting Homecoming Saturday for all the wrong reasons, as the visiting Catamounts rolled to a 52-20 win over the Paladins before a crowd of 9,987 fans on-hand at Paladin Stadium. Cole Gonzales passed for a SoCon record 620 yards and five touchdowns, as WCU rolled up a league record 801...