SoCon Football Comings 'n Goings
Week 2
By Dave Droschak (Posted 9-2-08)
Bruised Egos: Southern Conference teams were outscored 143-36 against three highly-ranked I-A opponents to open the season. This weekend, The Citadel and Furman play the two most disappointing – and likely angry -- ACC teams in Clemson and Virginia Tech, clubs that dropped in the weekly polls after losses to Alabama and East Carolina. In addition, Western Carolina travels to Florida State.
Southern Conference teams defeated four different I-A opponents since 2000, the most stunning being last year’s Appalachian State victory at Michigan. However, last week, the Mountaineers, Georgia Southern and Chattanooga lost thoughts of possible upsets by halftime. The three were outscored a combined 105-0 heading to the locker room.
“Going in, I was so impressed with the way LSU tackled, but I guess when you’re experiencing it you get the full impact of it,” said Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore. “We played as hard and as good as we could and still we couldn’t make a dent in the armor.
Chattanooga coach Rodney Allison, whose team trailed 50-0 at the break, said he wouldn’t be surprised if Oklahoma was “right there at the end” of the BCS title chase. “Oklahoma was much more conservative in its play-calling in the second half and we deeply appreciate that.”
Shutout Overload: The Clemson defense probably can’t wait to rebound against this week’s opponent since the Tigers have shut out The Citadel 21 times in its 35 meetings with the Charleston, S.C., military school, including the last meeting in 2000, a 38-0 whitewashing.
The Citadel scored 45 points in its opener, but that was against Webber International.
“You simply have to turn on the film to see we’re going to have all sorts of problems against Clemson, starting with their team speed,” said Citadel coach Kevin Higgins, whose team is ranked 20th in I-AA. “Let me say this, watching the game it’s incredible how good Alabama is. I’ve never seen a defensive line in college look as impressive as theirs. And Clemson did not play the game it was capable of playing. The Tigers are still one of the top 10 teams in the country.”
Lost Weapon: Furman starting wide receiver R.J. Webb, who missed six games last season with a knee injury, has been lost for the 2008 season after tearing the ACL in his other leg. The junior will have surgery Monday, according to coach Bobby Lamb.
“It’s very sad for a young man who has worked extremely hard coming back from an ACL last year and now he tears the ACL on his other leg,” Lamb said. “He’ll be back next year and be ready to go, hopefully.”
Webb caught 23 passes in five games last season for 317 yards. He also returned punts and kickoffs for the Paladins.
“This will be tough to overcome, but it’s part of the game unfortunately,” Lamb said.
Lamb said his offense will now have to get more creative without his big-play receiver, including getting the ball in the hands of running back Mike Brown out of the backfield.
Weather Watching: Appalachian State’s kickoff with LSU was moved up five hours last Saturday because of Hurricane Gustav. This week, several teams heading to the state of Florida or to the coast of the Carolinas are keeping an eye on the movement of Hurricane Hanna.
Wofford at Charleston Southern and Western Carolina at Florida State are the two main games of concern for Southern Conference officials.
“Our plan was leave at 3 p.m. on Thursday and travel to Atlanta and make the rest of the trip Friday,” said Western Carolina defensive coordinator Matt Pawlowski. “Now, we’re talking about leaving earlier on Thursday and then waiting and seeing how it’s going to affect things. We may have to stay in Georgia all day Thursday and all day Friday and then travel into Tallahassee on the day of the game. We’re going to feel our way down there.”
RB Down: Chattanooga running back Erroll Wynn, who gained 776 yards last season, has a fracture in the top of his hand and could be lost for a week or two, according to coach Rodney Allison.
“It looks pretty good, pretty favorably that he’ll be able to play quickly -- now whether that’s this week, next week or another week we just don’t know yet, but it’s as good as it gets when you’re dealing with a break or fracture in your hand.”
The Mocs can’t afford to lose any offensive players since they gained just 36 yards against Oklahoma last week.
“It was like we were playing the Green Bay Packers so we came out of it pretty good injury-wise,” Allison said.
Stat of the Week: Chattanooga’s Jeff Lloyd punted 13 times for 502 yards against Oklahoma – the length of five football fields.
Quote of the Week: “I doubt if we could have beaten LSU if we played them all week long,” Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore said.