Friday, October 12, 2012

North Carolina Wesleyan @ Ferrum
Game Preview

It's homecoming at Ferrum, and I look for this to be a great weekend for the Panthers. Coming off a disappointing loss at CNU, Ferrum has a chance to get back in the W column as North Carolina Wesleyan comes to town. The Bishops are struggling with a 1-4 record, and statistically are not particularly impressive. Their rushing offense is ranked 226th out of 239 teams. They are ranked 235th in sacks allowed, and 220th in scoring offense. Lastly, they are ranked 225th in sacks.

Conversely, Ferrum's rushing defense is ranked 139th, falling from 70th after the loss to CNU. As far as sacks, Ferrum ranks tied for 127th, and ranks 112th in total defense. Lastly, Ferrum is ranked 10th in the nation for sacks allowed.

I look for this to be a solid win, but NCW is a well coached team, and has a history of being a contender for the conference. Ferrum cannot get over confident, but odds are Ferrum alumni will have a happy homecoming.

Go Panthers!

5 comments:

  1. I am watching the ferum game and see that they are finally doing well and should win but I would like to know where was all of this passing and catching and acutually playing defense for a change last week? I don't understand that Ferrum has to win out and that road has a long way to travel and reading comments before about how its not the coaches fault so tell me who's fault it is? I know that ferrum can't wait for what you call years of improvement. You said it takes years what 7 years after the 2005 season and yet ferrum still can't get the job done its plain and simple start making the right decisions and stop making excuses!!!

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  2. Coaches? I dont se where the coaching is hindering Ferrum in the least. Let's look at what has happened in Harper's first two seasons as head coach. Year one: 7-3, played for the conference championship. Graduation took Mayo, McDowell, Walker, & Donnelly. from the offense. The other losses included Duble, Bossio,D. Lesine,and Tae Gilbert. That's almost your entire offensive line and backfield.
    Defensively, they did not lose all that many, but they did lose Josh Olier, and one linebacker...maybe a second . Also gone was long snapper Tavis Henry.
    So Far this year, Ferrum has a record of 4-2. Thanks to a win over CNU, LaGrange has put the Panthers back in the hunt for the championship.
    In my opinion, Ferrum's biggest hurdle is recruiting a player to attend a school that is in a rural setting, and has a tuition of 37K per year. While there are programs that help lessen the cost, it is still difficult to win recruiting battles with schools with nicer facilities, that cost less, and are not so isolated...IE: CNU. Once they get a player to decide to attend Ferrum, the second biggest hurdle is keeping the student there. Recruiting and retention.

    As for making the right decisions, every game is different, and I am sure every game plan is different.
    Ferrum is not undefeated, but, according to the USA South web site, is tied for first place in the conference. How badcan the decisions be if they are this competitive?

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  3. Not to mention jatavious adams is doing a great job at troters middle linbacker spot. I dont know what all the bad coments about the staff is about .motley ,ham, tapscot and the rest of the secondary seem to be playing great as well. No one is perfect sombody wins and sombody looses thats the way it is. Coaches are doing a great job with the players we have. Keep in mind we have not been out of any of our losses by much so, so our kids are just as good as the ones we are playing against. Only a few good plays away from a championship. You may be suprised this year. Dont let these guys fool you we may just get it done.

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  4. I think the Offense has far surpassed expectations with all the players lost from a year ago!! The Defense has not performed as well as it should based on the returning players but Ferrum is 4-2 and tied for the Conference. The punter & kicker combined are probably the best in the conference with special teams coverage improving with every game. Overall, the team is where they should be if not a little ahead. If not for 1 bad game at CNU where the Defense struggled, no skepticism about this years team would be talked about. At least a share of a conference title is back in the players/coaches hands with the CNU defeat this weekend. Now we see if the Black Hats have what it takes to be mentally and physically prepared to take the next step forward. Go Panthers!!!!

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  5. Negative comments about coaching at the D III level is just plain foolish. These guys have a revolving door of players to deal with every year. And last I checked, they ain't getting rich filling these coaching positions. Teams have bad games, get beat by better teams, lose to teams they shouldn't lose to. Look at CNU. No way they should have lost that game last weekend, but they did. I heard Kelchner even used 2 timeouts on 4th down only to send the punt team out. Think people are calling for his head this week?

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