Furman and Citadel to battle for the 105th time

Furman's defensive line in 1978 prepare to stop Citadel at the goal
line on the final play of a 17-13 win. Photo courtesy of Furman

One week after renewing the deep South's oldest rivalry at Wofford, Furman will resume hostilities with its most prolific rival this Saturday. The Paladins host The Citadel at 2 p.m. at Paladin Stadium for the 105th game in the series.

While Furman and Wofford first played in 1889 - 24 years before the Paladins' first game against the Bulldogs, Furman hasn't played any other program 100 times. Some younger fans may consider the Terriers to be Furman's biggest rival. Before some Southern Conference teams left to go play regular season games on Tuesday nights with hopes of reaching one postseason game a year in places like Boise, Shreveport or Albuquerque, some may have considered Marshall, Georgia Southern or Appalachian State to be Furman's biggest rival.

But the truly biggest rival has always been Citadel. If for no other reason than one of the most important moments in program history. When the teams wrapped up the 1978 season at Sirrine Stadium, Furman was clinging to a 17-13 lead as Citadel had the ball at the Paladins' one-yard line. Bulldog legend Stump Mitchell was stopped for no gain on the final play and Furman claimed its first SoCon championship before a crowd of what has to have grown to 150,000 by this point.

Quarterback David Henderson became the first Paladin to win SoCon Player of the Year honors that season, while tight end Brette Simmons became the first Furman player to earn the league's Jacobs Blocking Award. In his first year as head coach, after Art Baker left for Citadel, Dick Sheridan was named SoCon Coach of the Year. Most importantly, the SoCon's biggest championship dynasty was born.

Clay Hendrix has been a part of about one-third of the games in this series as Saturday will mark his 32nd. When he first came to Greenville as a freshman offensive lineman in 1982, nobody really told him what this game meant. He could just tell.

"I was a scout team guy all year. That was back when we played them in the last game of the year, like we should have," Hendrix said. "I don't remember if we had won the conference championship or had to beat them to do it, but there was something about our coaches. Their demeanor changed that week. I remember going out to practice and they were different guys than they had been all year. They had lost down there the year before after winning the conference championship the previous week.

"So it got ingrained in me pretty quick about just how important this game was. I know there's a ton of Citadel people in Greenville and it's just been a great, great rivalry."

In addition to the excitement of a rivalry game, it's Homecoming weekend at Furman. No other group of students may be more excited to be home Saturday than the football team. It's just the Paladins' second home game since Sept. 6. Furman would love to replicate that one home game from three weeks ago when it put up 500 yards of total offense in a 31-22 victory over East Tennessee State.

Over the past two weeks, injuries have decimated the wide receiver position and catastrophic turnovers that plagued last year's team have returned. That's led to Furman's portion of the scoreboard being pretty quiet in lopsided losses at Western Carolina and Wofford. After losing six turnovers over the first five games - three of which came in the Presbyterian fiasco, the Paladins (4-3, 2-2) have lost eight over the past two weeks.

Playing without your top three receivers - Evan James, Ja'Keith Hamilton and Ethan Harris - as Furman did last Saturday certainly factors into how the offense has performed of late. In addition to hurting a running game that's yet to really get going this season, there's probably also been timing and communication issues with new receivers in the mix. With Furman getting behind by a large deficit, sophomore quarterback Trey Hedden has likely tried to force some throws as well.

As Hendrix has said several times, he wants the Paladins to "control what they can control." Controlling the football better has to be No. 1 on that list.

"We'll look at what we've been doing. Trey's certainly got to play better and I don't think there's anyone that cares more about doing that than Trey," Hendrix said during Tuesday's weekly press conference. "He's made some fantastic throws and some good decisions this season. Each week's just a little different with what people present you with."

James didn't play last week but did dress out, which would lead one to believe he might play Saturday for the first time since the win at Samford on Sept. 27. Despite missing the last three games, James was one of 22 players named this week to the Stats Perform 2025 Jerry Rice Award Watch List earlier this week. The award is presented annually to the top freshman in the FCS. James has 32 receptions for 379 yards and two touchdowns this season, as well as 52 rushing yards and a score on just four carries.

Furman's defense will be challenged in a different way than what they've seen this season. While Citadel doesn't run the ball in the same style as it did for years, the Bulldogs do love to run it a lot. Citadel has six players with at least 125 yards rushing this season and each one of them averages at least four yards per carry. The two leading rushers split time at quarterback for the Bulldogs in Quentin Hayes (354 yards) and left-hander Cobey Thompkins (350). Hayes has rushed for five touchdowns, while Thompkins has thrown for four.

"(Citadel coach) Maurice (Drayton) has done a really good job since taking over there. They've evolved and actually kind of evolved during this year if you watch what they've done these last few weeks," Hendrix said. "They've become a wishbone team in the (shot)gun. There's not a lot of triple option, but there's a lot of double option. ... This is one of those games defensively where you've got to be willing to get in there and fight.

"Most games in this league are decided by four or five plays - unless you turn it over a bunch. You never know when those plays are going to be, so you've got to play them all. Our guys are still confident because we've played some really good football at times with these same guys. We've got to play hard and smart for four quarters on both sides of the ball. That's what we're shooting for."