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Post by The Cats on Oct 29, 2023 11:35:36 GMT -5
The Terriers are 0-8 (0-5 SoCon) so far this season and are coming off a bye week to host Western Carolina in their Homecoming game of 2023 (returning the favor, as Wofford was the WCU homecoming opponent in 2022.
Wofford comes into the game having scored 10 TDs in the season, as well as, 9 field goals, placing them in 8th place in the conference in offensive scoring, and is in 5th place in defense (scoring) giving up 29.3 points per game. In rushing, the Terriers are in 9th place, rushing for 107.3 yards per game, and are in 7th place in passing with 135.3 yards per game in the air.
Unfortunately, we need to spoil their homecoming and win the games we should win.
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Post by bobfolsom on Oct 29, 2023 11:52:18 GMT -5
The obvious, we miss Desmond running the ball, and we miss the two awesome Offensive Linemen, Derek Simmons and Caleb Carter, as with the loss of the running back and these two linemen, our running threat is seriously impeded.
We need to find out tomorrow from Coach Bell if one or both of the offensive lineman will be able to play against Wofford.
My thoughts: If Derek, Carter, and Reid are out, I predict a tossup in the game with Wofford. If Simmons and Carter are back, I predict WCU 28, Wofford 20. My final prediction is if all 3 are back at 90 to 100%, a Western win 38 to 17.
Does anyone know if Jaylin Williams is still on the team, and if so, is his injury season ending?
GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by The Cats on Oct 29, 2023 12:41:48 GMT -5
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Post by The Cats on Oct 29, 2023 13:22:35 GMT -5
In the last two weeks, we've gone from first place to 4th place in the conference standings.
If we're not careful, we will end up with that 5th place finish predicted in the preseason polls.
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catman72
Redshirt Freshman
2023 SoCon Football Pick'em Champion & 2022 SoCon Football Pick'em Co-Champion
Posts: 407
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Post by catman72 on Oct 29, 2023 13:35:33 GMT -5
I'm telling you right now even with there lack of talent but with there fight within them Wofford has heart and is going to give us all we want.....The military schools will fight you to the end regardless of talent....After 3 years of Kerwin Bell there is no doubt of much improvement on the offensive side of the ball but to be honest our defense is no better than when he took the job....They can't tackle ( last 2 games ) missed assignments on pass coverage leaving people wide open.....Even our own announcers yesterday made the comments that Western didn't have a defender within 5-8 yards of the Mercer receiver...We can blame bad calls only so far until we need to look in the mirror and take action.....No doubt that without Reid that has hurt us but to be honest not sure with our O-L they could have opened holes for him either.....I hope we can somehow get thru these next 3 games but Coach Bell needs to address the problems and hold people accountable and stop blowing smoke up!!!! I have heard him say several times how much depth this team has and losing a starter we have a backup who can step-up and do the job.....OK....Like someone else said stop with the video productions and reading your own headlines and get back to basics.....The way you are playing right now being ranked should be the least of your concerns....We have lost our way and the control and focus needed to win...( 12 penalties yesterday JUST STUPID ).....The last thing please don't fall back on those old talking points we heard for 9 years ( WE ARE YOUNG )....
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Post by catamountsfan98 on Oct 29, 2023 15:18:30 GMT -5
Haha. That’s one ferocious “terrior”. |
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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 30, 2023 7:45:50 GMT -5
Wofford’s highest point total of the season was 20 in a LOSS to non-scholarship Presbyterian. They also scored 17 by getting a late TD (1:21 left) against Mercer to lose 31-17. All their other games they scored 10-14 points.
Does that mean we can’t go out there and keep them in it by making a bunch of mistakes (turnovers and penalties)? Of course not. A game that made me think they might be getting better was against UTC several weeks back, but I think the Mocs are showing they sometimes play down to bad competition. Wofford has not looked that good since then - they have lost by double-digits to every SOCON team except VMI in a mud bowl with the Keydets.
I’m tired of being down in the dumps. I say we come out and blow Wofford’s doors off regardless of if Reid plays or not. Get Reid healthy to make sure he is good for the VMI and possibly playoff games. Since Bell got here we have finished seasons strong. In 2021 we won 4 of our last 5 and were the team “nobody wanted to play” at the end. Last year we won our last 3 including beating a ranked UTC. So no reason not to keep that up!
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Post by Speedwell Cat on Oct 30, 2023 8:14:59 GMT -5
Desmond is a very, very good running back. But if we can’t win games without him we aren’t a playoff caliber team.
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Post by The Cats on Oct 30, 2023 10:21:10 GMT -5
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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 30, 2023 11:19:05 GMT -5
If we had Reid the last 2 weeks and still lost, would that mean we also would not be playoff-caliber? We lost to two teams who are good enough to be in the playoffs (one of them is currently #2 in the country and looking at a #2 or #3 seed). We shot ourselves in the foot multiple times last week to lose to a now ranked team. I want to hold-off judgement on how good or bad we are without Reid when we play a team we should beat regardless of if we have him or not. That will happen this weekend. Had we lost Saturday to Wofford or ETSU that would be a lot different.
Win the next 3 without him and it shows we are a good team, and that we are a REALLY good team with him. It would be nice to win the next 2 (giving him 3 weeks of rest) and then maybe he is healthy enough to knock some rust off in the VMI game at the end.
But I keep reminding myself we lost two in a row, but to two really good football teams in games we still had chances in.
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