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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 4, 2021 10:00:13 GMT -5
Mercer & SoCon Teams in the Polls / Rankings… Stats Perform FCS Top 2512. ETSU (5-0, 2-0 Southern), 679 - Previous Ranking: 13; Week 5 Result: 27-21 win over Wofford 26. VMI 58 30. Mercer 4133. Chattanooga 33 FCS Coaches PollRANK SCHOOL RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS13 East Tennessee State 5-0 357 14 19 Chattanooga 2-2 200 19 29 Mercer 2238 VMI, 10 College Sports Journal Top 2514. East Tennessee State, 94 23. Chattanooga, 24 32. Mercer 633. VMI 4 College football top 25: Montana falls from top five, Mercer arrives in CBS Sports FCS Power Rankings10. East Tennessee State (5-0): Head Coach Randy Sanders and his Bucs squad are undefeated and coming off of their first win over Wofford since 1998. 24. Mercer (3-1): Mercer has knocked off both Furman and Samford, two long-time titans in the SoCon. The Bears appear to be bonafide challengers to ETSU this season. Now, can they handle success?Any Given Saturday (AGS) PollRank Team: Total Points First Place Votes15 East Tennessee State Buccaneers 622 29 Mercer Bears 63 31 Virginia Military Institute Keydets 52 33T Chattanooga Mocs 32 Massey Ratings - SoConFCS Rank | Team | Overall Record | PF | PA | SoCon Record | Conf PF | Conf PA19 ETSU 5-0 37.6 18.4 2-0 41.0 34.5 25 Mercer 3-1 38.0 23.3 2-0 34.5 22.537 Chattanooga 2-2 27.0 18.8 1-0 45.0 17.0 48 Samford 2-3 42.2 36.8 1-2 44.0 45.7 49 Furman 2-2 16.3 21.8 0-1 3.0 24.0 54 VMI 3-2 28.2 32.6 1-1 27.5 29.0 57 Citadel 2-2 28.8 31.8 1-0 35.0 24.0 64 Wofford 1-3 19.5 27.8 0-2 22.0 29.0 89 W Carolina 0-5 23.2 49.2 0-2 27.0 43.5
Sagarin Ratings - SoConFCS Rank Team RATING W L SCHEDULE (RANK)23 East Tennessee State 54.69 5 0 43.77 (214) *43rd easiest schedule in FCS 24 Mercer 54.60 3 1 57.96 (134) - *13th hardest schedule in FCS26 Chattanooga 52.76 2 2 44.34 (212) *45th easiest schedule in FCS 38 Furman 48.40 2 2 50.23 (173) 39 Samford 48.25 2 3 45.89 (204) 61 Wofford 43.01 1 3 50.98 (169) 62 VMI 42.77 3 2 42.00 (229) 64 The Citadel 42.30 2 2 50.58 (171) 100 Western Carolina 32.92 0 5 51.40 (167) * Ivy, SWAC, & MEAC Teams, which don’t or usually don’t (MEAC) participate in FCS Playoffs; along with the Non-Scholarship Pioneer Football League (PFL); and the Northeast Conference (NEC), which limits schools to 32 (vs. the FCS Allowed 63) scholarships account for 30 of the Easiest Schedules in FCS. In other words, ETSU & Chatt could be viewed as having played the 13th & 15th Easiest Schedules among fully participating, fully ‘scholarshipped’ FCS Teams. |
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Post by MUfan on Oct 4, 2021 11:30:20 GMT -5
Cullowhere?
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Post by BearDownMU on Oct 4, 2021 13:37:39 GMT -5
I will tell you this: Cullowhee is one of my favorite places to go to a game. It is absolutely gorgeous up there. And it's 20 minutes from Harrah's Cherokee.  |
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 4, 2021 14:15:34 GMT -5
WCU, always expecting a cakewalk over Mercer (despite losing the last 5 in a row by an avg of 2 TD’s), has decided to impress their Alums by scheduling the Bears as their Homecoming Feast. Coach Kerwin Bell says they will not accept a loss to Mercer on Homecoming on Saturday - WESTERN CAROLINA FOOTBALL AT CHATTANOOGA - Post game Interview (about 4:48:00)…and he also said their Starting QB has a shoulder injury (which knocked him out of the Chatt game) and that they are down to their 4th string Center. The Catamount announcers added to these injury announcements and said they are down many Players in the Secondary, the OL, and I think DLine too. |
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Post by cat fan on Oct 4, 2021 21:18:57 GMT -5
WCU, always expecting a cakewalk over Mercer (despite losing the last 5 in a row by an avg of 2 TD’s), has decided to impress their Alums by scheduling the Bears as their Homecoming Feast. Coach Kerwin Bell says they will not accept a loss to Mercer on Homecoming on Saturday - WESTERN CAROLINA FOOTBALL AT CHATTANOOGA - Post game Interview (about 4:48:00)…and he also said their Starting QB has a shoulder injury (which knocked him out of the Chatt game) and that they are down to their 4th string Center. The Catamount announcers added to these injury announcements and said they are down many Players in the Secondary, the OL, and I think DLine too. LOL.
Western always schedules homecoming in October, and this year WCU only has 1 home game in October, it just happens to be against Mercer. Besides, you know as well as I do, WCU does not schedule it's conference games, the SoCon schedules everybody's conference games (so good try with that one, WCU was not trying to impress anyone with a homecoming opponent).
I also think you should listen to that post game interview again, Bell didn't make his statement quite the way you paraphrased it, good try though
I know you're trying for locker-room bulletin board material, but it just ain't there.
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 4, 2021 23:47:33 GMT -5
WCU, always expecting a cakewalk over Mercer (despite losing the last 5 in a row by an avg of 2 TD’s), has decided to impress their Alums by scheduling the Bears as their Homecoming Feast. Coach Kerwin Bell says they will not accept a loss to Mercer on Homecoming on Saturday - WESTERN CAROLINA FOOTBALL AT CHATTANOOGA - Post game Interview (about 4:48:00)…and he also said their Starting QB has a shoulder injury (which knocked him out of the Chatt game) and that they are down to their 4th string Center. The Catamount announcers added to these injury announcements and said they are down many Players in the Secondary, the OL, and I think DLine too. WCU does not schedule it's conference games, the SoCon schedules everybody's conference games (so good try with that one, WCU was not trying to impress anyone with a homecoming opponent).
I also think you should listen to that post game interview again, Bell didn't make his statement quite the way you paraphrased it, good try though So…the SoCon League Office dictates to Western Carolina University which of their 4 SoCon Home Football games they are required to select as their University’s Homecoming game? Not exactly. How do you say it? Oh yeah…”good try.” ”Mercer on Homecoming - That’s gonna be our only focus. We don’t accept these losses. We’re not going to continue to accept them. I don’t care what the situation is.” - WCU Head Coach Kerwin Bell |
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Post by cat fan on Oct 5, 2021 8:08:30 GMT -5
WCU does not schedule it's conference games, the SoCon schedules everybody's conference games (so good try with that one, WCU was not trying to impress anyone with a homecoming opponent).
I also think you should listen to that post game interview again, Bell didn't make his statement quite the way you paraphrased it, good try though So…the SoCon League Office dictates to Western Carolina University which of their 4 SoCon Home Football games they are required to select as their University’s Homecoming game? Not exactly. How do you say it? Oh yeah…”good try.” ”Mercer on Homecoming - That’s gonna be our only focus. We don’t accept these losses. We’re not going to continue to accept them. I don’t care what the situation is.” - WCU Head Coach Kerwin Bell Dude, you still read what you want to read... as I said, the SoCon makes the conference schedule, period. As I also said, WCU traditionally holds Homecoming in the month of October. Were there 4 home games scheduled in October or even 3, or 2, your argument might hold some weight, but with only one home game in October 2021, there was little choice but to take that game, an that game is Mercer. So much for your bulletin board material. Your quote of Bell is also a lot different than your orginal paraphrase of it as well. So, what coach accepts losses? When he says I don't "care what the situation is", he's speaking of the 30+ injured players. Give it a break, you can't win on this one. |
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 5, 2021 9:16:56 GMT -5
So…the SoCon League Office dictates to Western Carolina University which of their 4 SoCon Home Football games they are required to select as their University’s Homecoming game? Not exactly. How do you say it? Oh yeah…”good try.” ”Mercer on Homecoming - That’s gonna be our only focus. We don’t accept these losses. We’re not going to continue to accept them. I don’t care what the situation is.” - WCU Head Coach Kerwin Bell Dude, you still read what you want to read... as I said, the SoCon makes the conference schedule, period. As I also said, WCU traditionally holds Homecoming in the month of October. Were there 4 home games scheduled in October or even 3, or 2, your argument might hold some weight, but with only one home game in October 2021, there was little choice but to take that game, an that game is Mercer. So much for your bulletin board material. Your quote of Bell is also a lot different than your orginal paraphrase of it as well. So, what coach accepts losses? When he says I don't "care what the situation is", he's speaking of the 30+ injured players. Give it a break, you can't win on this one. 1) WCU decides which Home game, thus the opposing Team, they want to hold their Homecoming. (WIN 1-0)2) WCU is NOT ‘bound’ to have their Homecoming in October…. Football 11/3/2018 9:03:00 PM Catamount Athletics
Second Half Surge Pushes The Citadel over WCU, 38-24
Cullowhee, N.C. – The Citadel used a pair of third-quarter blocked punts…to spoil Homecoming at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field.
WCU has a Home game on 11/6/21 - not too dissimilar from their 11/3 Homecoming Date in 2018. Other options were available, but WCU CHOSE Mercer as their Homecoming opponent. (WIN 2-0)3) Paraphrase vs. Quote… Paraphrase - “Coach Kerwin Bell says they will not accept a loss to Mercer on Homecoming” Quote - ” Mercer on Homecoming - That’s gonna be our only focus. We don’t accept these losses. We’re not going to continue to accept them.” A lot different? Not. Dang near identical. (WIN 3-0)Seems “cat fan” is the one who is winless. Speaking of winless…cat fan, any thoughts on your Catamounts & the game on Saturday or do you only wish to quibble around semantics? |
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Post by speakindatruth on Oct 5, 2021 14:41:41 GMT -5
I’m not in the semantics debate, but I do see a skull drugging of epic proportions. Coach Chronic will use this as a game to ensure there is no doubt they are a top 25 team. Little bit of rain scheduled too, I say the Bears win big. I’m saying a 56-3 blowout. Just got a gut feeling he will be all gas and no brakes.
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Post by cat fan on Oct 5, 2021 14:55:54 GMT -5
I’m not in the semantics debate, but I do see a skull drugging of epic proportions. Coach Chronic will use this as a game to ensure there is no doubt they are a top 25 team. Little bit of rain scheduled too, I say the Bears win big. I’m saying a 56-3 blowout. Just got a gut feeling he will be all gas and no brakes. All I can do is hope you are very wrong. However, if we don't get some of the injured players back on the offensive and defensive lines, you may well be correct. Example, the 4th string center played most of the game last Saturday. Both lines have multiple injuries, but hey, that football. Last week the total injury list was up around 30 across the whole team. We will be there with whoever is capable of playing, and playing to win, hoping for the best. |
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Post by speakindatruth on Oct 5, 2021 17:30:45 GMT -5
I’m not in the semantics debate, but I do see a skull drugging of epic proportions. Coach Chronic will use this as a game to ensure there is no doubt they are a top 25 team. Little bit of rain scheduled too, I say the Bears win big. I’m saying a 56-3 blowout. Just got a gut feeling he will be all gas and no brakes. All I can do is hope you are very wrong. However, if we don't get some of the injured players back on the offensive and defensive lines, you may well be correct. Example, the 4th string center played most of the game last Saturday. Both lines have multiple injuries, but hey, that football. Last week the total injury list was up around 30 across the whole team. We will be there with whoever is capable of playing, and playing to win, hoping for the best. There is no doubt y’all have injuries and no doubt you will show up. There is also no doubt Coach Chronic will do his dead level best to make a statement. And it’s not just because it’s you; it’s anybody. He has a winners mentality and that is what it takes to get the guys on the team to respond. Best of luck! |
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 5, 2021 19:24:48 GMT -5
For the 1st time this season, Mercer is projected, by a leading FCS pundit, to be a Playoff Team. Sam Herder is currently projecting the Bears as the last Team to be included as an At-Large berth into the Playoff field.
He projects Mercer to play Kennesaw in the 1st round of the Playoffs. If that happened and, as projected, neither Team was seeded, the Home Team would be determined by the financial ‘bid’ placed with the NCAA to host the game, assuming both stadiums are ‘qualified’ to host - which, given that they are both relatively new, should be the case.
Also, in Mr. Herder’s bracket, the winner of the owlets vs. The Bears would travel to Huntsville, TX to face the #2 seeded & defending FCS National Champion, Sam Houston BearKats.
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 6, 2021 7:41:40 GMT -5
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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 6, 2021 9:57:38 GMT -5
Everybody has injuries at this stage of the season, but as most of you know WCU has been down for several years now and injuries (especially in the o-line) means we are an even more depleted team. No excuses - the Cats have been more competitive in most games (I was only really disappointed in the Gardner Webb outing and of course Oklahoma), but moral victories don't count for much. And all of that being said, while we have shown more fight on defense we are still not very good on that side of the ball giving up way too many big plays. And that can be disastrous against a RB like Fred Davis.
Western will have to cut out as many big plays as we can and find someway to not turn the ball over so much to make this game interesting. I think WCU is heading in the right direction, but it takes time to turn around a battleship that needed major overhauls and upgrades while trying to spin the wheel at the same time. I think after seeing the Mercer vs FU game the Bears are for real, and my hope is that we can hang around and play like we did against Samford. But it will take WCU's best game so far to to stay competitive.
As for Cullowhee, obviously I am biased - but it is a beautiful place to take in a game and to visit for the weekend in October. As for FUBeAR's normal stirring the pot efforts, I see nothing wrong or "bulletin-board material" in Coach Bell's comments. And the idea that tons of thought go into who your opponent is for Homecoming is not really something most schools do nowadays. Long-gone are the days people schedule "easy wins" in the middle of their season. I would expect most schools pick the part of the season they want generally before they even know the schedule. WCU historically tries to have homecoming in the middle of the season, so this year that would have meant Mercer on 10/9 or Furman on 11/6. As the other WCU poster mentioned, we tend to try and have that weekend be during October presumably because of Fall and people wanting to come to the mountains for the leaves changing and other related events in Western North Carolina.
Good luck to the Bears, and I hope some of you do make the trip to Cullowhee - I think you would enjoy it.
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 6, 2021 10:07:43 GMT -5
Everybody has injuries at this stage of the season, but as most of you know WCU has been down for several years now and injuries (especially in the o-line) means we are an even more depleted team. No excuses - the Cats have been more competitive in most games (I was only really disappointed in the Gardner Webb outing and of course Oklahoma), but moral victories don't count for much. And all of that being said, while we have shown more fight on defense we are still not very good on that side of the ball giving up way too many big plays. And that can be disastrous against a RB like Fred Davis.
Western will have to cut out as many big plays as we can and find someway to not turn the ball over so much to make this game interesting. I think WCU is heading in the right direction, but it takes time to turn around a battleship that needed major overhauls and upgrades while trying to spin the wheel at the same time. I think after seeing the Mercer vs FU game the Bears are for real, and my hope is that we can hang around and play like we did against Samford. But it will take WCU's best game so far to to stay competitive.As for Cullowhee, obviously I am biased - but it is a beautiful place to take in a game and to visit for the weekend in October. As for FUBeAR's normal stirring the pot efforts, I blah, blah, blah Good luck to the Bears, and I hope some of you do make the trip to Cullowhee - I think you would enjoy it. FUBeAR thinks your Football & Cullowhee assessments are 100% spot on. However, your assertion that FUBeAR’s commentary ever holds a shred of nefarious intent is utterly outlandish! |
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