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| Isaiah Davis (26) rushed for 113 yards and Furman's lone touchdown in the Paladins' 56-9 loss at Tennessee Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
Furman began this football season by going from one extreme to the other. After opening with a night win over a team with 36 scholarships, the Paladins got roasted on Rocky Top Saturday afternoon by a team with 105 scholarships - and a $31 million NIL valuation.
With those games in the rear view, Furman's schedule gets back to normal this week as it opens FCS and Southern Conference play at Mercer Saturday at 6 p.m. Well, maybe "new normal" is a better description considering the fact that the Bears' roster includes 75 names that weren't on it last season.
Seventy. Five.
"I can't even imagine," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. "I was trying to think how we'd even try to get 75 players admitted to school here."
Recapping Rocky Top
Outside of scorching on a sunny afternoon at Neyland Stadium where the temperature was 90 degrees at kickoff, the 100,000 Tennessee fans in attendance had about as perfect a Saturday as could be had.
There were beautiful tributes to world hero and Locust Ridge, Tenn. native Dolly Parton. Heralded freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon was as smooth as Tennessee whiskey. And the Pride of the Southland Band got to play plenty of renditions of Rocky Top thanks to the Volunteers' 56-9 win.
"I knew we had to be perfect to even have a chance, and the chances of being perfect weren't very good," Hendrix said. "It's just gotten so challenging because of the divide (in scholarships between the FBS and FCS) and the money.
"The most disappointing thing for me was the missed opportunities we had. When we get a chance to make a play, we've got to make a play."
On the first play of the game, Furman quarterback Jake Garcia was sacked for an eight-yard loss and that was a sign of things to come. When Garcia was sacked on the first play of the second quarter, that was the Vols' fourth of the day and they finished with six. On the rare occasions that Garcia had enough time to get a throw off, there were six dropped passes.
On its opening possession, Tennessee marched down the field. Brandon, the youngest starting quarterback in Vols history, capped the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Davis.
Furman looked to answer on its next possession. On fourth-and-inches at the Paladins' 44, Garcia took a shotgun snap and was dropped for no gain. Furman's defense answered the bell by also forcing a turnover on downs after Brandon's fourth down pass fell incomplete.
It was still just 7-0 Tennessee early in the second quarter when the Vols had first-and-goal at the one. Furman's defense recorded back-to-back tackles-for-loss, first on a combined tackle by Demetrius Baldwin and Eli Lipscomb then a solo stop by Garrison Butler. On third down, Brandon ran the option to perfection keeping the ball for a six-yard touchdown run.
If there was such a thing as a critical play in a game this lopsided, it came on Furman's next possession. A 20-yard run by receiver Jerrod Williams on an end around plus a Tennessee late hit penalty gave the Paladins a first down at the Vols' 39. On fourth-and-three, it appeared that Jake Garcia's slant pass converted the first down. However, when the defender made contact with Ethan Harris, the ball fell to the ground for an incompletion and a turnover on downs.
"It's less than eight minutes to go in the second quarter, still 14-0, and we got the ball down there. We've got a chance to get points," Hendrix said. "Coach (Justin) Roper makes a great call. Jake makes a great throw. We protect it. Ethan Harris ran a great route. Perfect ball, but it's dropped. You figure if you convert there, you get three points, if not a touchdown.
"Not to mention that when they get the ball back, there's probably less than four minutes to go in the half. Instead, they go down and score twice. We didn't respond very well defensively there."
What could've been a 21-7 or 17-3 lead for the Vols at the half, was 28-0 instead. The Paladins' defense played well for most of the first two quarters. But with the heat and being on the field so much, it looked gassed by the end of the half and that tank seemed to remain empty after halftime.
Brandon opened the second half with touchdown passes of 55 and 52 yards, respectively, to help push the lead to 42-0. Half of the Vols' eight touchdowns came over a game stretch of 6:27, from the 3:05 mark of the second quarter to the 11:38 point of the third quarter.
Furman got on the scoreboard midway through the third quarter when Nathan Chapman hit a 50-yard field goal on fourth-and-16.
The Paladins found the end zone early in the fourth quarter following a fumble recovery by Lipscomb at the Tennessee 26. Three plays later, Isaiah Davis ran up the gut for a 23-yard touchdown. Much like so many passes to Furman receivers Saturday, the extra point snap bounced off the fingers of backup holder Nehuel Garcia leaving Furman with its final total of nine points.
Davis, a sophomore from Cleveland, Tenn., finished with 113 yards on eight carries. While some ignorant folks could blow that off as Davis running against Tennessee's backups, Davis was in there with plenty of Furman's backups as well.
"He was going up against guys that are still part of their payroll," Hendrix said. "We're running the football pretty well and I feel like we're only going to get better."
By the numbers
- Despite the six sacks, Furman finished with 178 yards rushing - more than any rushing total from last season.
- The flip side was that the Paladins had just 43 yards passing as a team. That's the lowest total for a Furman team in at least 15 years. The closest challenger to that total was 44 yards in a 27-10 loss to The Citadel on a rainy afternoon at Paladin Stadium in 2019.
- Meanwhile, Tennessee finished with 329 yards rushing and 309 passing. Brandon completed 13-of-17 passes for 226 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He ran 10 times for 68 yards and two scores.
- Davis became the first Paladin to rush for more than 100 yards against an FBS foe since Hank McCloud ran for 106 against South Carolina in 2014.
- Official attendance Saturday was 101,915, the largest crowd Furman has ever played in front of.
- The 90-degree weather was the fourth hottest kickoff in Furman history. The record is 92 degrees, which the Paladins experienced in a pair of games at South Carolina State - first in 1989 and again in 1997.
- Furman collected $500,000 for its visit to a blue blood of the SEC, where it just means more ... money.
Injury update
As a team, Furman is in good health and had just one serious looking injury on Saturday. That occurred when sophomore cornerback/kick returner Caleb Easterling had his right leg rolled up on by a teammate. Easterling popped right up, but could not put any pressure on the leg and he was assisted off the field. An MRI done on Monday revealed good news though and Hendrix said that Easterling is "day-to-day."
Hendrix said that starting punter and holder Gray Gitter might be back this Saturday. Gitter injured his elbow early on in the opener and missed the Tennessee game.
Looking ahead
Mercer (2-0) enters its third home game to start the season ranked No. 18 in the Stats Perform FCS poll. Last season, the Bears and Paladins each suffered upset losses to Presbyterian. Not that many who were part of that loss for Mercer are around Macon anymore, but the Bears avenged that loss in a big way last week. Under new head coach Joel Taylor, the Bears piled up 600 yards of total offense in a 62-3 win over the Blue Hose.
Among those 75 new players on Mercer's roster is a name familiar to the SoCon in quarterback Jaylen King. After leading Gardner-Webb to the 2023 FCS playoffs as a freshman, King split time at quarterback at East Tennessee State in 2024. King moved on to Florida State last season, where he appeared in just one game - a 66-10 win over Kent State. Saturday against PC, King threw four touchdowns and ran for two more - all in the first half.
For the season, King has completed 29-of-45 passes for 425 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. He's rushed for 82 yards and two scores. It will be interesting to see how the Paladins respond to seeing a similar style of quarterback as Brandon again this week.
"King can run it and throw it and now we have a little bit of experience with it," said defensive tackle Baldwin, who had Furman's lone pass breakup Saturday. "Having film of going up against bigger SEC guys helps us see what needs to be corrected. It shows what we need to do scheme wise to become better at containing the quarterback, rushing the quarterback and stopping the run."
When Furman and ETSU faced off in 2024, King started at quarterback but was one of three who played in the Buccaneers' 24-21 home loss. He completed 3-of-4 passes for 21 yards and ran six times for 16 yards that day.
"I didn't play much that day, but I remember seeing him use his legs a ton and he made some good throws," Baldwin said. "We know we have to come out (Saturday) and be able to cover and be able to attack. We need to get them on their heels."
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