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| Furman's AK Burrell (bottom) tackles SC State's Mason Pickett-Hicks during the Paladins' 20-17 loss Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
While the sport of college football continues to grow in often unpleasant ways for many longtime fans, certain on-the-field things haven't changed. While Furman tried mightily to show otherwise last Saturday, it proved that not being able to run or catch the football still makes winning awfully difficult.
South Carolina State's No. 1-ranked rushing defense in the FCS lived up to the hype as the Paladins were held to 53 yards on the ground. While Furman had 264 yards passing, it should've had so much more. The Paladins had seven drops, including crucial ones on each of the final two passes of the night, as they fell to the 18th-ranked Bulldogs 20-17 before a crowd of 9,217 at Paladin Stadium.
"It was certainly a frustrating night, especially in the first half. ... Give South Carolina State a bunch of credit. They were the more disciplined team. I think that was really the difference in the game," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said afterwards. "I credit our guys. We have a group that will fight and battle to the very end. Man, if you don't have that, you don't have a whole lot. We've got talent, but we've just got to find a way to play better and it starts with me.
"I can't even begin to explain the drops. I'm at a loss for words for that. ... It was a big part of the game because yards were hard to come by."
After kickoff was delayed by 30 minutes thanks to a lightning delay, another slow start put the Paladins (2-2) in a hole. Furman trailed 14-0 midway through the first quarter and 17-3 at the half. The Paladins finally got things going in the second half. With 2:57 left, Furman found the end zone for the first time and a successful two-point conversion cut the lead to 20-17.
The Paladins' defense, which was tremendous over the final three-and-a-half quarters, forced a three-and-out that nearly ended in spectacular fashion - if not for a drop. Aaron Davis made a great diving play to break up the Bulldogs' third-down pass, but if he was able to haul in the interception, Furman would've been set up at the SC State 28-yard line. Instead, the Bulldogs' Max'Ceon Cobb - who might've been its MVP of the game - got off a 54-yard punt. Furman's Joshua Tarver actually muffed the punt, but recovered it before stepping out of bounds at the Paladins' 28. The Bulldogs clearly saw the successful way Tarver returned punts at Mercer the week before given how Cobb did a great job intentionally putting long punts just barely out of bounds for most of the game.
Connor Ackerley, who replaced injurted starter Jake Garcia early in the second half, threw a second-down slant pass to Daniel Haughton. The ball bounced off Haughton's chest to the ground as the Dartmouth transfer put his hands on his head in frustration. He likely would've made it to around midfield if not for his fourth drop of the game. Coming off a huge game at Mercer a week earlier, Haughton had one catch for 11 yards on Saturday.
On the next play, veteran pass catcher Ethan Harris dropped a throw that would've given Furman a first down. On fourth down and 10 yards to go, Ackerley's scramble came up two yards short and the Bulldogs were able to kneel out the clock.
"Give Connor a bunch of credit. I thought he gave us a spark coming in there," Hendrix said. "We've been really good in the two-minute offense and we were saying 'let's go down and score a win, not just a field goal.' ... He makes two great throws and they're dropped."
After having no words to describe the drops after the game on Saturday, Hendrix couldn't make much more sense of it as his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
"The real frustrating thing is I think just about every drop we've had has come from someone I'd label as having good hands," Hendrix said. "Most of those have been made by guys who've made big catches before. Very few of them have been contested. You just try to correct it and move on.
"You just try to stay positive because there's no doubt our guys care. ... We've just got to keep working."
There were quite a few signs early on Saturday that this might not be Furman's night. The Bulldogs' first possession began at their own 35 thanks to the opening kickoff sailing out of bounds. On the first play of the game, SC State - which entered as the leading rushing team in the FCS - threw a bomb. When Paladin cornerback Jordan Miller fell down, DJ Maultsby was wide open for the throw from Keely Watson for the touchdown.
Furman got a first down on its first play before having to punt three plays later. The SC State punt returner was forced out of bounds around the 16-yard line, but the ball was inexplicably placed at the 20. The official on that sideline was evidently too busy doing a terrible job of spotting the ball to notice a Bulldogs' assistant yelling at a Furman player, who had been engaged in typical special teams warfare with a S.C. State player.
I normally wouldn't mention something so meaningless as this was a hard-hitting, but respectfully played game between two teams who displayed nothing but class throughout. I mention it because of what happened two plays later. Two plays later, Tarver was held on a run to that sideline. He turned around and said something for maybe two seconds to that same official before turning to get back to his defensive position. Whatever was said hurt the official's feelings enough for a flag to fly as soon as Tarver turned his back to him. Tarver should not have said anything, but when is the last time you've seen unsportsmanlike conduct called on a player taking to an official? In a physical game like Saturday's was, safety is the last position you want a player to be one unsportmanslike penalty away from being ejected.
Nevertheless, S.C. State "grown manned" the Paladins for the rest of that drive. After Josh Shaw converted two third downs on runs earlier in the drive, he had three consecutive runs once the Bulldogs entered the red zone. The last resulted in a nine-yard touchdown to push the lead to 14-0 with 6:28 left in the first quarter.
It sure didn't feel like it at the time, but that was SC State's final trip to the end zone for the night. Furman's defense held the top-ranked rushing attack in the FCS to 124 yards and 3.4 yards a carry. The Bulldogs came in Saturday averaging 332.3 yards rushing and 7.9 yards per carry.
"Growing up, you just always dream of playing in big games like this. Especially coming off an injury (last season), I've just been hungry. As I've gotten healthier, I've gotten hungrier," said Furman safety AK Burrell, who had four tackles and an interception. "We just went out there, played fast and aggressive, and did the best we could."
Furman got on the board early in the second quarter, but it wasn't exactly a celebratory score. After converting on fourth-and-two to get a first-and-goal from the Bulldogs' five-yard line, Garcia was sacked on second down and his helmet came off. That resulted in a cold Ackerley having to come in for third down. After his pass sailed incomplete, the Paladins settled for a 27-yard field goal by Nathan Chapman.
After S.C. State got the lead back to 14 thanks to a field goal, Furman looked poised to answer on its final drive of the first half. The Paladins once again converted a fourth down when CJ Stokes had a seven-yard run to the S.C. State 25. Furman had to settle for a field goal on fourth-and-nine, which missed from 41 yards out. An offsides penalty gave the Paladins another shot, but they went for it this time and Garcia's pass was harmlessly knocked away.
"We kicked that one really poorly. If we'd have made the kick, I probably would've kept the points," Hendrix said. "We have about one of those per game where we just don't hit it very well. Four yards should be doable. I just thought if we could make it 17-10, what a difference that would make."
Following an outstanding combined band performance by the Paladin Regiment and SC State's Marching 101 at halftime, the second half began with more bad news for Furman. On the first play, Garcia ran for one yard and was tackled hard with his throwing shoulder driven into the ground. After a handoff resulted in a one-yard loss, Garcia was too injured to continue. The ball had already been placed ready for third down though, so Furman had a waste a timeout 66 seconds into the second half to get Ackerley in. His third-down screen pass on third-and-10 resulted in a one-yard gain and Furman punted.
Chapman hit a 49-yard field goal later in the third quarter and a 44-yarder early in the fourth to cut the lead to 17-9. A 29-yard punt return by Tarver set up Furman's next drive at its own 38. On fourth-and-seven from the Bulldogs' 38, Ackerley was sacked for a seven-yard loss to the Bulldogs' 45.
SC State (4-0) took that momentum and pounded the ball down the field like it had not since the opening quarter. The Bulldogs ended up settling for a 28-yard field goal, but an 11-point lead with 3:03 remaining seemed insurmountable.
Much like the first play of the game, an SC State cornerback fell down on the next play. That allowed Luke Shields to get wide open for a 67-yard touchdown. On a night when he had so much trouble catching open passes, Haughton made a fantastic catch with a defender draped all over him on the two-point conversion.
Shields' touchdown capped a breakout night for the Tennessee Tech transfer. Shields had seven receptions for 133 yards and the touchdown. Ackerley finished with 164 yards on 10-of-18 passing with no interceptions.
Braylon Peebles had 10 tackles to lead Furman's defense, while Ryan Earl had nine. While the Paladins' defensive effort was tremendous, it was only able to come up with three tackles-for-loss and no sacks. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had three sacks as part of their nine tackles-for-loss.
"We've either got to change some things we're doing, get somebody else in there or both. That's what we will do," Hendrix said. "We'll have another big challenge next week on the road."
Furman next plays at Richmond (3-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
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