 |
| Furman noseguard Caldwell Bussey (94) is recovering well following a scary injury suffered at Chattanooga Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
For the second consecutive week, Furman's defense helped an opposing freshman quarterback earn Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. After getting torched by Mercer's Braden Atkinson a week earlier, Chattanooga's Battle Alberson brought the gasoline and matches on Saturday.
Making his first collegiate start, Alberson completed 15-of-22 passes for 277 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions as the Mocs won, 45-28. On the few times Alberson couldn't find a receiver, he improvised his way to 85 yards rushing on seven carries. He was UTC's second-leading rusher as it had 252 yards as a team on the ground. It was led by Wofford transfer Ryan Ingram, who had 94 yards and improved to 3-0 against Furman over the past three seasons.
Furman's defense, which still has the FCS leader in sacks and tackles-for-loss in Joshua Stoneking, finished with one tackle-for-loss and no sacks Saturday. The Paladins (5-5, 3-4) fell to 0-4 in games in which they haven't recorded a sack and 1-3 in games in which they haven't forced a turnover. After Mercer went 10-of-16 on third down a week earlier, the Mocs (5-5, 4-2) converted 8-of-16 third downs and 3-of-4 fourth downs. That lone fourth-down stop came on the opening drive of the game, which lasted 16 plays and took 9:43 off the clock.
"To say I'm disappointed in how we played would be an understatement. First off, give (Chattanooga) a bunch of credit. They had a new quarterback and the kid played really well and they executed at a high level," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. "(Defensive coordinator) Coach (Duane) Vaughn and I agreed that in my nine years (as head coach), that was the worst-played defensive game we've had.
"Third down continues to hurt us with missed tackles and other fundamental stuff. Obviously, I wasn't very happy after the game and it was a long bus ride home. I had some time to think things through before we met on Sunday afternoon. Then at that team meeting, I told our team 'sometimes you think about what you said (after games) and I did, and I still felt the same way.' We were out-physicaled and out-executed. I'm really disappointed in that and disappointed in myself."
While they got manhandled statistically for the second week in a row, the Paladins once again weren't really out of it until the final minutes. They trailed Mercer 31-28 midway through the third quarter and trailed UTC 31-28 midway through the fourth.
Chattanooga pushed the lead to 38-28 with 7:23 left on a one-yard touchdown run by Journey Wyche on fourth down. On Furman's ensuing possession Trey Hedden was sacked on first down, but on 2nd-and-17 he found Joshua Burrell for a 29-yard gain. As Burrell turned around to head up the field, he was drilled. The ball popped out and the Mocs recovered.
On its next possession, Chattanooga faced a 3rd-and-7 when Wyche took a simple screen pass from Alberson for a 25-yard touchdown and a 45-28 lead with less than three minutes remaining. The Paladins drove to midfield on its next possession, but Hedden's last pass was intercepted by Amanuel Dickson off a deflection with 1:49 left. Kam Baah-Slay drilled Devin Hester at precisely the same time the ball hit Hester to cause the deflection.
After having the ball for more than 12 minutes in the opening quarter, Chattanooga had it more than 12 minutes in the fourth quarter as well. For the entire second half, Furman possessed the ball for less than eight minutes. Mercer had a 15:58 edge in time of possession against the Paladins, while the Mocs had a 16:52 advantage.
"It felt like we were doing some good things offensively ... we just didn't have the ball that much. ... I was in some of those service academy games where you just stand over there and stand there and stand there, and you just can't get people off the field," Hendrix said. "But in those games, it's a lot of third-and-shorts and fourth-and-shorts. There were some of those (Saturday), but we let their backs run into the back of a guy, bounce out of the pile and get 15 yards. That's disheartening and it takes a toll on you mentally."
While possession time was not ideal in the first and final quarters, the most detrimental portion of the game for Furman came right in the middle. The Paladins were seemingly in control leading 14-7 with less than four minutes left in the first half before Alberson threw a 66-yard touchdown to Josh Williams.
After a 76-yard kickoff return by Caleb Easterling to the UTC 23, Furman answered five plays later when grad student Kerry King caught the first touchdown of his career on a nine-yard throw by Hedden. That gave the Paladins a 21-14 lead with 1:21 left. On the fourth play of the Mocs' next possession, Alberson threw another bomb. This one went 47 yards to Markell Quick to help tie the game with 47 seconds left.
Jayquan Smith had a 31-yard return to UTC's 43 on the kickoff. Furman made separate first downs to the Mocs' 30, 15 and 4-yard lines, but never tried one pass into the end zone. The Paladins settled for an Ian Williams' 21-yard field goal, but it was blocked to end the half.
On the first snap of the second half, Hedden found Evan James for a 31-yard gain to midfield. On a 3rd-and-3 three plays later, Hedden's pass to James went straight into the gut of Chattanooga lineman Ky Tayo. Tayo returned the interception 51 yards for a touchdown to give the Mocs their first lead at 28-21.
As it seems to often do lately, Furman's offense responded to the huge swing in momentum by going three-and-out. On a shotgun handoff on 3rd-and-2, CJ Nettles was stopped for a gain of one yard.
Late in the third quarter, James caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Hedden to help cut the lead to 31-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
Hedden completed 19-of-27 passes for 296 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. James finished with 146 yards receiving on five catches. Nettles rushed 11 times for 48 yards and a touchdown, while Ben Croasdale had 10 carries for 43 yards and his first collegiate touchdown. It was a rare case of two Furman running backs averaging more than four yards per carry, but the Paladins couldn't run it more simply because they didn't have it enough. Furman had 51 offensive plays while UTC had 74.
"The thing that continues to haunt us is just giving up explosive plays. ... And then offensively, it's turnovers. Over the first five games, we committed six and got eight. Of those six, we committed three in one game and you can guess (Presbyterian) which game that was," Hendrix said. "Over the last five games, we've committed 12 and gotten two. That's a recipe to get beat.
"You watch us this year and last year and it's not even close how much better we are. Finding our edge and getting over that hump is what we're still trying to do. "
Bussey recovering
Saturday's game had a scary interruption midway through the third quarter when defensive tackle Caldwell Bussey was injured after taking a blow to the head. There was a delay of more than 11 minutes while Bussey was checked on, placed on a stretcher and departed the field in an ambulance. Hours after the game, Furman issued a statement that following evaluation and tests, Bussey was released from Chattanooga's Erlanger Hospital.
"He's doing great. He's been able to get out and watch practice and should be able to make a full recovery. We're forever thankful for that," Hendrix said Tuesday. "As for (Furman Director of Sports Medicine) Mike Brown and our training staff ... I told our team if that was me or my kid down, that's exactly how I would like to be cared for. So I want to thank him for that.
"I can say the same thing about Chattanooga and (Coach) Rusty Wright. They were phenomenal trying to assist any way they could - even into Saturday night. I'm really appreciative of them."
Senior Day Saturday
Furman can double its overall and SoCon win total from last season with a victory over last-place VMI Saturday at 1 p.m. on Senior Day at Paladin Stadium. Furman's seniors will take the field with their families to be honored prior to kickoff of what will be the final home game for some, but not all.
"We've got some fourth-year guys walking, some grad guys walking and some guys who graduate in the spring but have already told me they're coming back (next season) to grad school," Hendrix said. "It's been an incredible group. That's the great thing about Furman, just the quality young men you get to coach. Furman does a phenomenal job of preparing guys for life after this place and we certainly hope that football has a big say in that too."
No comments:
Post a Comment