After the Chattanooga Mocs disposed of the Mercer Bears last Saturday at Finley Stadium 41-21, they moved up in the FCS rankings from No. 8 to No. 6 this week but will have to take their act on the road this coming Saturday for another difficult Southern Conference test in the Furman Paladins.
The Paladins are right on the cusp of the FCS Top 25 at No. 26 as the team with the most in the category of the 'others receiving votes' and currently sit at 6-2 overall with a 4-1 conference record. Their only conference loss this season came at home vs. Samford 34-27.
Furman does possess an overwhelming pass attack with QB Tyler Huff leading the way throwing for just over 1,000 yards, 69% completion percentage, nine touchdowns, and four interceptions.
The running game is where their bread is buttered with a very talented junior running back Dominic Roberto who's racked up 779 yards on the ground (6.7 yards per rush) on 117 attempts, and eight rushing touchdowns. However, he doesn't get involved much in the passing game so the Mocs shouldn't have to worry about that with only five catches for 60 yards and one score.
When it comes to catching the football there is one clear lead target that Huff looks for and that's TE Ryan Miller who leads the team in every receiving category, 49 receptions for 515 yards, and eight scores.
Defensively, this is a team that goes by the phrase, 'strength in numbers' as four Paladins have tallied 30+ tackles this season and 11 different players have recorded a sack for 17 total. They do a good job turning the football over with 12 total and safety Hugh Ryan has accounted for three of those.
On the season, the Furman offense has averaged just a shade over 34 points per game (minus the Clemson game) and the defense is giving up only a shade over 17 points per game (minus the Clemson game).
This is one of the better teams in the SoCon, but Chattanooga is truly the better team but heading to Greenville, SC is going to be no easy task as UTC is 21-30 against Furman in the series history.
If Chattanooga can protect the football like they did against Mercer, stay ahead of the sticks, get off the field on third down, and run the ball effectively they'll win this pivotal road game that will be one step closer to them reigning supreme in the SoCon.
(Photo Courtesy of Derek Daniel/GoMocs.com)