Week 11 of Southern Conference action sees four teams still alive for FCS Playoff and SoCon title contention, however, after Saturday that number is likely to be cut in half. No. 10 Mercer (8-1, 5-1 SoCon), East Tennessee State (5-4, 3-2 SoCon), No. 22 Western Carolina (5-4, 4-1 SoCon) and No. 23 Chattanooga all remain alive for the postseason as we head into the final three weeks of the regular season.
As a result of the parity atop the league’s four-team hierarchy, the league is probably deserving of four bids to the playoffs, based simply on the strength of schedule for schools like ETSU and Western Carolina, however, the league likely will end up with two and will have a remote chance as three teams in the postseason, with the worst-case scenario being the league left with one lone qualifier.
Bear-ing Down On a SoCon Title
Mercer has already clinched its FCS postseason bid and has played an all NCAA Division I schedule this season. The Bears will be in action in what will be their penultimate SoCon gridiron contest Saturday, traveling to Lexington, VA., to face off against VMI (1-8, 1-4 SoCon) in a kickoff time slated for 1:30 p.m. EST.
The Bears will step out of the league next Saturday with a trip to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 11 Alabama before returning home to face Furman in regular-season finale on Nov. 23.
A win Saturday over the Keydets would mean the Bears would clinch a share of the 2024 Southern Conference title, marking the first-ever league title for the Bears, who joined the SoCon 11 years ago.
It would be a vision realized for Bears Director of Athletics Jim Cole, who made a major commitment to football in middle Georgia and being a perennial SoCon title contender.
With its first FCS Playoff invite last season as an at-large qualifier to the 24-team field, the Bears made the most of that milestone moment by notching a 17-7 win over Gardner-Webb before having the daunting task of traveling to face reigning and eventual national title winner South Dakota State.
Though the game was more competitive than the 43-0 margin would indicate, the Bears were no match for the Jackrabbits.
Still, the season was a resounding success, and despite having to make a coaching change as a result of that success, with Drew Cronic departing to be the new offensive coordinator at the Naval Academy after four seasons in middle Georgia, the Bears haven’t missed a beat under new head coach Mike Jacobs, who like Cronic, also came to Macon after leading NCAA Division II juggernaut Lenoir-Rhyne, where he spent five seasons.
In four seasons prior to his arrival in Lenoir, N.C., Jacobs spent three seasons at NCAA Division II Notre Dame (OH).
He arrived with an impressive 74-17 in his eight previous seasons as a head coach, but the job he’s done at Mercer is arguably his best.
At 8-1 through nine games so far in 2024, it’s not only the best start ever for Mercer’s football program, but it has a chance to be the greatest in school history, which dates to 1892 when the Mercer football program took the field for the first time on Jan. 30 in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Mercer’s first stint as a football program dated from that inaugural campaign in 1892-1941. The Bears have a 45-39 all-time Southern Conference record since taking on its first season as a league member a decade ago.
The Bears played their first-ever game in the Southern Conference member on Sept. 6, 2014, at Five Star Stadium against Furman, dropping a 25-20 contest on that early season clash before a sellout crowd at Five Star Stadium.
A win Saturday over VMI could give the Bears the chance to see things come full circle in a couple of weeks when rival Furman visits Five Star Stadium, as the Bears would then have the chance to win the SoCon title outright against the same team it began its SoCon championship journey against a decade ago.
While Jacobs has turned in a SoCon Coach of the Year worthy season, he’s had two quarterbacks worthy of praise, in both DJ Smith and freshman Whitt Neubauer. With Smith continuing to work his way back from a lower body injury, Neubauer is having a strong season, having led the Bears to wins over both No. Western Carolina (W, 44-34) and last week against No. 23 East Tennessee State (). The Bears, who also have a road win at No. 13 Chattanooga (W, 10-3), giving the Bears three wins over ranked foes this season.
VMI Riding Momentum
Fresh off its first win of the 2024 season—a 21-17 win over Furman—the VMI Keydets will look to string two strong performances together Saturday when the Keydets welcome in current league leader Mercer into Foster Stadium for a 1:30 p.m. EST contest on Saturday.
Evidence of VMI’s improvement was notable with each passing week, and it was evident that the Keydets wouldn’t finish the season winless after VMI played as well as at did for the better part of three quarters in what was a 31-10 setback at ranked Chattanooga a week prior to knocking off the Paladins.
There have been several things that have contributed to VMI’s lack of success this season, with injuries and youth being the obvious couple of issues to pinpoint as a major reason for them. The one issue that has been a difficult one to solve for VMI has been quarterback, and that’s not something that has been a recent occurrence.
Since the Keydets won a historic Southern Conference title during the COVID-19 compromised 2020 season in the spring of 2021, the Keydets have had trouble finding a reliable presence under center since Reece Udinski transferred out to join the Maryland football program before ending his collegiate career in 2022 at Richmond.
Collin Shannon (29-of-103, 485 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) started this season as the starter, but a season-ending injury would bring a premature end to VMI’s most-experienced signal-caller has forced the Keydets to once again turn to youth. It’s been a season somewhat similar to the 2022 campaign, which like the current season, was also a season which saw VMI to find a win.
The Keydets would end up playing five quarterbacks during that particular season as a result of injuries, with Shannon logging his first action of his VMI career.
In last Saturday’s win over Furman, Chandler Wilson (37-of-72 passing, 357 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) looked good on the Keydets’ opening drive of the game, leading VMI to its first touchdown drive on the opening possession of any game this season.
Wilson’s progression as a signal-caller is noticeable with each passing week. When he faces the Bears this week, it will likely be the best defense he has seen since facing power five Georgia Tech in early September. Wilson could be one of three quarterbacks that will see action Saturday against the Bears, with Brady Hammonds (59-of-103 passing, 485 yds, 2 TDs, 5 INTs) and JoJo Crump (0-of-4 passing, 1 INT) being the other two.
Finally, though the offense has struggled this season, the Keydets have one of the most reliable running backs in all of FCS football, in Hunter Rice (142 rush att, 552 yds, 5 TDs, 3.9 YPC), who is winding down what has been a stellar career under for the Red and Gold.
The same can be said on the defensive side of the football when it comes to a tried and true playmaker, in middle linebacker Eric Rankin (80 tackles, 10.0 TFL, 5.5 sacks, 7 QBHs, 2 FFs, 1 PBU).Both players don’t get the recognition they deserve because it has been such a tough season in Lexington, but both are without question two of the best football players in the Southern Conference in 2024.
Catamounts Still in the Hunt
While Mercer is in search of the program’s first conference title in school history in its 11th season of membership in the Southern Conference, No. 22 Western Carolina’s grind to win a SoCon crown provides a little perspective on how tough it is to win the league.
In fact, the SoCon has been gaining in strength over the past three seasons, despite the fact the league hasn’t had a repeat title winner since Wofford won three-straight from 2017-19.
The 2024 season will mark the fifth-straight season the league will have a different champion, and it could mark the third in the last four that the SoCon has a first-time officially recognized title winner.
In 2022, Samford claimed a SoCon title with an 11-2 record, including finishing 8-0 in the league. Samford, which joined the SoCon in 2008, appeared to have claimed its first title in a three-way tie for the league crown in 2013, however, was forced to vacate that title three years later when it was learned that the Bulldogs played with an ineligible player of players.
It now looks very likely that we will have at least one first-time league champion this season, with either Mercer or Western Carolina or both being able to say that at season’s end.
The Catamount conference title drought has lasted 48 years, since the Purple and Gold first joined SoCon in 1976. The Catamounts have made one playoff appearance, which came in 1983, and should the Catamounts breakthrough and make the FCS playoffs to go along with their first potential league title, it would mark the first time the Purple and Gold has broken a huddle post-Thanksgiving since 1983.
The Catamounts likely would have to share the league title with Mercer should both win out, with the automatic bid going to the Bears by virtue of their 44-34 win over the Catamounts in Macon a couple of weeks back.
There have been a couple of recent examples of teams that have tied for the league title, however, have been left out of the FCS postseason. The 2013 Chattanooga Mocs and 2018 Furman Paladins were both part of three-way regular-season championship.
It will be in Taron Dickens (37-of-55, 493 yds, 6 TDs, 1 INT) the Catamounts trust on Saturday when Western Carolina heads to Johnson City for a key Southern Conference rivalry clash with East Tennessee State, as Cole Gonzales will miss the remainder of the 2024 season due to a season-ending injury he suffered late in the loss at Mercer a couple of weeks ago.
Dickens certainly looked well within his element in helping lead the Catamount offense in the win over the Chattanooga Mocs last week, as he garnered STATS Perform FCS Freshman of the Week honors for his effort in the Catamounts’ 38-34 homecoming win over Chattanooga.
Gonzales was just two weeks removed from a SoCon single-game record 620-yard passing effort in a win at Furman, and Dickens would step in and step up to the challenge for the Catamounts last Saturday against a good Chattanooga defense.
All Dickens did was end up garnering the STATS Perform FCS Freshman Player of the Week honor, as he became the second Catamount in a three-week span to garner national recognition from the FCS news organization, as he joined his teammate Gonzales. In the four-point win over the Mocs, In his first-career start, Dickens connected on 34-of-48 passes for 431 yards and five TDs in the nation in passing offense (341.1 YPG).
While WCU has a plethora of talented options that can provide and dazzle on the offensive side of the football, it will be consistency that is required on the defensive side of the ball in the remaining three games that will determine whether or not the Catamounts find themselves in the destination in which they want to end up at season’s end.
The area that’s been the best unit on that side of the ball this season for the Catamounts has been its secondary, with the likes of Mateo Sudipo (43 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 PBUs, 2 INTs, 1 FF, 1 FR) providing both run support and great coverage in the passing game that has allowed the Catamounts to remain in the hunt for a first-ever Southern Conference title in 2024.
Early in the season, the Catamounts were guessing a lot on defense, getting some things right, but were giving up big chunk plays in the passing game as a result of some of those wrong guesses. Those haven’t been as prevalent lately for the opposition, and outside the Mercer game, the Catamounts have been much better against SoCon opponents.
Entering Saturday afternoon’s contest against the Bucs, the Catamounts rank about 20 spots lower than they ended the 2023 season, ranking 109th in the nation in total defense (437.8 YPG), which is the worst defense in the league.
The Catamounts are turning teams over, however, and that’s been why they have been able to hold serve in challenging for a league crown.
The Catamounts do create a lot of negative plays, ranking tied for seventh in the country in team tackles-for-loss (66.0 TFL, 7.3 TFL per game).
The Catamounts have three games left in the league, with all three tricky games. After the Catamounts travel to Johnson City on Saturday, they will host VMI next Saturday in the regular-season finale at EJ Whitmire Stadium before closing out the season at Samford.
The Bulldogs probably have had the matchup with WCU marked since that five-hour delay due to heavy storms and lightning in the area, with the Catamounts eventually able to wear down the defending champion Samford Bulldogs, 30-7.
The offense is good enough with Dickens under center to win all three, but it’s the defense that could be costly if something is to go wrong down the stretch. The Catamounts need wins in all three to have a shot at a SoCon Title and FCS Playoff bid.
Tre Lamb Has Taken the Wagon and the Wheel in Johnson City
East Tennessee State has certainly had quite a “wheel of emotions” to endure this season, however, the good news is that November is here and now that Tre Lamb has taken the proverbial wheel of the Bucs football program, a lot of folks have gotten back on the football Wagon, which had Johnson City and William B. Greene Jr. Stadium whipped into a frenzy of football fever not all that long ago.
On Saturday, the Bucs will begin the stretch run with what they hope will be a strong finish, and three wins vs Western Carolina and Furman at home and at VMI to close the season on the road would be enough to likely be able to land ETSU at worst on the bubble for the FCS playoffs, and at best a potential at-large bid.
The Bucs still have an outside shot at tying for the league’s regular season title, but have some help along the way.
ETSU could go a long way in helping itself Saturday when the Bucs host No.22 and rival Western Carolina Saturday afternoon in a high noon, high-stakes contest in Johnson City. It’s big enough to get celebrities involved who have dropped the city’s name in a remake of a popular country
The rivalry over the years has been a good one between the Bucs and Cats. Saturday’s clash, which is highlighted by an appearance from country music star and former Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker on-hand to sing “Wagon Wheel”, and it will mark the 54th all-time clash between the two rivals, with the Catamounts holding the narrow 27-25-1 lead in the all-time series.
The series between the Catamounts and Bucs got underway during the 1932 campaign, as the Bucs won in Cullowhee, and in fact, ETSU claimed the first six meetings in the series, out-scoring the Catamounts a combined 85-2. Western Carolina’s first win in the series wouldn’t come until 1948, as the Catamounts were able to score what was a 32-12 win in Johnson City.
Following last season’s 58-7 loss in Cullowhee, the Bucs will not need motivation to get up for this game. In fact, some of the blowouts issued by the Catamounts in the past couple of seasons have the feel of Kerwin Bell trying to be “The Old Ball Coach” of the Southern Conference, and that’s something that Bucs fans can relate to, especially since Steve Spurrier is Johnson City’s most famous son and star quarterback.
The 58 points scored last season by the Catamounts were the most ever scored by either team in series history. They’d like to deliver a little payback for that lopsided loss and from the hometown of one former Gators great signal-caller to another, in Bell, who during the time he was leading the Gators, would end up leaving as the SEC’s all-time leading passer at that time when he graduated in 1987.
While Bell has been a quarterback whisperer in his time as the WCU head coach, Tre Lamb, who was a star QB in his own right at Tennessee Tech, hasn’t gotten the kind of consistency under center required yet in his first season that a league title demands. Had the Bucs gotten consistency out of both Jaylen King (113-of-217 passing, 1,515 yds, 9 TDs, 11 INTs), and to some extent Gino English (25-of-40 passing, 465 yds, 4 TDs, 2 INTs), it could be argued the Bucs might be atop the league standings.
King has been most effective as a running threat this season, having rushed for 406 yards and five TDs on 99 attempts (4.1 YPC). He needs just 94 more yards to become just the second quarterback in ETSU history to rush for 500 or more yards in a single season.
Lamb has a chance to get the Bucs back in the playoff picture Saturday when No. 22 Western Carolina comes calling Saturday.
The Bucs have had a few high stakes games in Greene Stadium this season and have gone 0-2 in those games against then No. 2 North Dakota State and a Chattanooga team, which at the time was receiving votes. In fact, the Bucs need a win Saturday to secure a win over a ranked FCS foe, which will be their final opportunity to do so during the regular-season.
At this point, even with a win, you have to consider that while ETSU’s schedule has been strong, they do have a win over a non-Division I foe, in UVA-Wise, and that could prove costly to the Bucs’ playoff hopes in the end should ETSU win its final three games of the season.
A Calendar Year of Contrasts
At this time last year, Furman was well on its way to doing something it hadn’t done in 33 years, which is win an outright Southern Conference title for the first time in 33 years, which was clinched when the Paladins dominated VMI in the Paladins regular-season home finale, as the league’s gold standard program lifted its 15th regular-season SoCon title.
That Saturday last fall would see the Paladins recognize 43 seniors, which was not only the biggest senior class in program history but was also one of its most celebrated because of their commitment and loyalty to Furman football.
Furman’s experience was a key ingredient in helping the Paladins reach a point in the FCS playoffs they hadn’t graced in almost two decades (2005 FCS Semifinalist) when it headed to Missoula, MT, to take on the Montana Grizzlies in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, and by the time the Paladins reached the 10-game mark against last season, they had 35 players that were a junior, senior or graduate student in terms of eligibility status.
When the Paladins face Wofford in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry Saturday (first meeting in 1889/first game played in the Palmetto State of South Carolina) to celebrate senior day 363 days later, the Paladins have 33 of its 44 listed on the two-deep roster listed as freshmen or sophomores in terms of eligibility status.
Furman has had 24 players make their debuts this season, and as you might expect, it has been a steep climb in an unforgiving and tough conference.
If you add in the tragic death of rising senior defensive tackle Bryce Stanfield just prior to spring practice in early February, and the dismissal of arguably the team’s top returning offensive player for a criminal offense, in wideout Joshua Harris, it has made the 2024 season a trying one for Furman football.
With that said, the life lessons learned and what this team has gained by going through it all—both on the field and off—are priceless and has a big pay off in terms of success coming in the future.
But that hasn’t been this season. This season has been one of contrasts and tribulations, but it’s the kind of season that could end up being a pearl of great price—a starting point, which without such adversity, the ceiling of success that this team presumably reaches in the future wouldn’t have been remotely possible without the hardships and lessons learned in 2024.
Furman senior bandit linebacker Luke Clark (27 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks, 1 INT, 4 PBUs), who spoke to the media at Furman’s weekly press conference this past Monday, exemplified the character of the program head coach Clay Hendrix has built in now his eighth season as the head coach. Furman’s football culture remains in a very good place, despite the season having gone south.
The importance of the moments beyond football and the perspective gained was something that Clark described as meaningful to him in Monday’s presser.
“As a captain and as someone that’s been here awhile I’ve come to appreciate different stuff…I appreciate the opportunity to come back and to have the opportunity to be a leader and develop and I think that’s been the most important thing for me and not necessarily caring so much about the result but caring more about the process,” Luke Clark said in Furman’s weekly football press conference this past Monday.
Clark will be one of a small group of seniors or players that have opted for it to be their final season at Furman in 2024. Coming into the season, the Paladins had just six seniors among their 44-man two-deep roster. His goal is to close out the season strong he told me after the press conference, and he wants to finish his career with 20 sacks. He currently has 14 quarterback takedowns in his career.
Another important piece to the Paladin defense over the past five seasons has been Evan DiMaggio (78 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks), who has brought energy and hard work to the unit, play-in and play-out over the past five years. DiMaggio is a quiet, humble young man, but his game on the field is loud and physical. DiMaggio currently ranks fourth in the SoCon in tackles this season, having recorded 78 tackles on the season.
The Paladins have struggled to run the ball all season long but have been making strides with each week. In last Saturday’s loss at VMI, the Paladins rushed for a season-high 195 yards, with true freshman running back Gavin Hall (43 rush att, 253 yds, 1 TD, 5.3 YPC) leading the way with a career-best 121 rushing yards on just 13 carries, averaging an impressive 9.3 yards-per-carry.
But maybe the biggest contrast between the 2023 Paladins and the ’24 edition has been the huge difference when it comes to turnover margin and taking care of the football.
The Paladins finished the 2023 season by turning over the football only 10 times (8 INTs/2 fumbles), while forcing a total of 27 turnovers (18 INTs/9 fumble recoveries). That was good enough for the Paladins to finish the 2023 season with a +1.31 turnover margin and that led the SoCon and ranked second nationally.
The 18 INTs last season by the Furman defense led all of FCS football. In 2022 and ’23 combined, the Paladins forced 56 turnovers (35 INTs, 21 FRs), which is an astonishing total over a two-year span.
This season, the Paladins have turned the football over 18 times (11 INTs/7 fumbles) and have forced a total of eight turnovers (5 INTs/3 fumble recoveries) through eight games in 2024. After finishing the 2023 season second nationally in turnover margin, less than a full year later, the Paladins currently rank 119th out of 123 teams this season in turnover margin (-1.25).
While the contrasts are stark, Furman has plenty of talent within its ranks and the goal now is to finish strong, and as head coach Clay Hendrix said in his weekly press conference, winning the state title is always a goal at the beginning of every season.
While the Paladins did lose a 24-20 contest to Charleston Southern in its home opener in 2024, the Paladins are 1-0 against Palmetto State rivals from the Southern Conference this season, owning a 17-16 come-from-behind win at The Citadel.
Saturday offers the opportunity to achieve at least one of those goals the Paladins set prior to each season, which is beat both of its in-state and SoCon rivals—The Citadel and Wofford.
After dropping a 19-13 contest as the No. 2 ranked team in FCS last season to Wofford at Gibbs Stadium, you can wager a good amount of money that Furman has had this game circled for a long time.
The Paladins have arguably the toughest finish to a season than anyone in the league, as following Saturday’s showdown with Wofford, the Paladins have trips remaining to both FCS Playoff contenders East Tennessee State (Nov. 16) and Mercer (Nov. 23) to close out the campaign.
Furman has won at least three games in 52-straight seasons, or since 1973. The Paladins currently sit at 2-6 overall and 1-4 in league play.
Bulldogs Building a Strong Base
The Citadel has strung together back-to-back league wins and is all of the sudden finally starting to learn how to win under second year head coach Maurice Drayton.
The Bulldogs head into Saturday’s contest with the momentum of back-to-back wins under their collective belts, having knocked off VMI () and Samford () in back-to-back weeks. The next test for the Bulldogs comes in the form of No. 23 Chattanooga, which visits Johnson-Hagood Stadium Saturday for homecoming.
The Citadel has been in every game this season before finally breaking through against VMI. The Bulldogs have been a little inconsistent on the offensive side of the ball this season, but quarterback Jonathan Bennett (103-of-201 passing, 1,394 yds, 5 TDs, 6 INTs) were in every game before finally breaking through.
The Citadel currently ranks 95th in the nation in total offense (313.0 YPG), but it’s been its tenacious efforts on the defensive side of the football that has put the Bulldogs in every game this season with a chance to win more often than not.
The Bulldogs enter Saturday’s showdown with the Mocs ranking as a top 50 defense, positioned tied for No. 47 in the country in total defense alongside Montana, yielding 347.9 YPG.
The strength of the unit has been its third down defense in 2024, holding foes to just 32.7% on the penultimate down (37-of-113) so far this season. The leader of the Bulldogs defense continues to be linebacker Thomas Wyatt, who enters Saturday’s contest with 74 tackles, 9.5 tackles-for-loss and four sacks, with two pass breakups and three quarterback hurries. Wyatt currently ranks 43rd nationally in tackles-per-game. Defensive back Dominick Poole (45 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 3 INTs, 4 PBUs) has a team-leading three INTs this season, which has run his career total to 10 INTs.
The Bulldogs and Mocs will be meeting for the 58th time in series history, with the Bulldogs holding what is a 35-20-2 all-time series edge. This has been a sneaky good series over the years, however, last year’s meeting between the two was not one of those, as Chattanooga coasted to what was a 48-7 win in the Scenic City. The Bulldogs and Mocs will kick things off at 2 p.m. EST at Johnson-Hagood Stadium.
Mocs Hope To Remember November For All the ‘Wright’ Reasons
Chattanooga’s season was going swimmingly well until it wasn’t. A five-game winning streak came to an end last Saturday in Cullowhee with a 38-34 loss to Western Carolina in Cullowhee, which would have been fine except for the fact that the Mocs started the season 0-3 and needed to likely to live up to their preseason expectations of being the SoCon favorites to get back to the postseason.
The problem for Chattanooga has been their struggles in the month of November during the Rusty Wright era, and last season aside, the Mocs have seen both FCS playoff hopes, lofty preseason expectations and league title hopes all dissipate in four of five seasons Rusty Wright has been at the helm.
Really three of the previous five seasons because Chattanooga opted out of the COVID-19 spring season midway through to prepare for a big run in 2021, which never materialized. The most admirable traits about Rusty Wright have been the fact that he’s a man of integrity and a man of his word.
Unfortunately, in today’s world of college athletics, those two character traits aren’t as celebrated and practiced like they should. Wright is old school, and if I am honest, that’s what I like about him the most.
Heading into Saturday’s contest against The Citadel, Chattanooga is a combined 4-8 under Rusty Wright in the most important month of the season. Rumors have swirled about what is actually wrong with quarterback Chase Artopoeus (125-of-216 passing,1,800 yds, 9 TDs, 5 INTs ), however, the fact is that he was going to start against Western Carolina he suffered an apparent undisclosed injury late in the week, which coach Wright to his surprise. It was something that was somewhat of a curveball with such a big game on the road against a good Catamount team, and last-minute adjustments had to be made to the overall gameplan.
That undisclosed injury will once again keep him sidelined Saturday at The Citadel. Whatever the injury is, it’s bad timing for Chattanooga, and it was about this time last season when Artopoeus had to hang it up for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.
With that said, Luke Schomburg (16-of-33 passing, 1,800 yds, 9 TDs, 5 INTs) is a good quarterback and he will come in and try and keep both playoff hopes and league title hopes alive Saturday. You have to wonder what the future looks like for Wright and the Mocs if things go south this November. Just a year ago, the Mocs played the entire season without an off week and battled all kinds of adversity to make the postseason.
In my opinion, the loss that has affected this season more than any other was Chattanooga’s 10-3 SoCon-opening loss to Mercer. Chattanooga and Wright have been playing catch up ever since.
Mocs fans also know how tough the Bulldogs can be. Remember in 2021 when the Mocs had the FCS playoffs within their sights and then dropped a 24-21 home contest to Brent Thompson’s The Citadel team.
Thompson’s win saved his job for another season in Charleston. The Bulldogs won’t be an easy out in Charleston Saturday. If the Mocs can find a way past The Citadel, they host Samford next week before closing out the season at Austin Peay.
Redshirt Sports Predictions for Week 11:
No. 10 Mercer 35, VMI 14
ETSU 35, No. 22 Western Carolina 31
The Citadel 21, No. 23 Chattanooga 20
Furman 20, Wofford 17
Samford 45, Tennessee Tech 30
