By MONTE DUTTON

It’s improbable. It’s unlikely. It’s unexpected.

Furman is playing South Carolina on Saturday night at 7:30. The Paladins have lost eight of their last nine visits to Columbia and 13 of their last 14 games in the series.

It’s not impossible. No one who was in Columbia on Oct. 16, 1982, thinks so. It’s been a long time since Furman upset South Carolina, 28-23. Much has changed. The Paladins are taking on the Gamecocks between North Carolina and Georgia on this year’s schedule. Yes, Furman is FCS, and South Carolina is FBS, the Paladins in the SoCon and the Gamecocks in the SEC.

But Furman is good. One of the games that signaled the Paladins’ 10-3 season in 2022 was a 35-12 loss at Clemson. Furman outgained the Tigers (384-376 yards) but was unable to capitalize on most of its opportunities.

Tyler Huff made his second Furman start at Clemson that day, having previously experienced only the atmosphere of Presbyterian College games and one game at Paladin Stadium. That day the PC graduate transfer from Orange Park, Fla., completed 31/40 passes for 259 yards.

Recalling that hot afternoon at Death Valley, Huff said, “On our first drive we drove all the way down there and had a really good chance to score. We slipped up a little, but I think that first drive gave everybody confidence, you know, that this isn’t impossible. This is something we can do. I think that’s the same goal this week.

“Just be confident. They’re not unbeatable by any means, especially from what we’ve watched on film (of South Carolina). It’s a tall task, but it’s something we can definitely manage.”

Furman head coach Clay Hendrix was a freshman at Furman when the Paladins upset the Gamecocks. This isn’t his first rodeo.

“They’ve got 25 more scholarships,” he said. “We don’t have a single guy on our team they recruited. I don’t think we have one they offered a walk-on spot to.

“But we’re certainly going down there to play. When I was a freshman (Hendrix didn’t make the trip to Columbia), we went there and won, and [Williams-Brice Stadium] is a vastly different place now. I wish we were playing that [USC] team, and that was a very good Furman team. We went down and played. I think we may play with great poise this week.”

Two years ago, North Carolina State drubbed the Paladins, 45-7, but that was a different team, a 6-5 team. This Furman team is ranked sixth in FCS. That won’t make an SEC program quake in its cleats.

“All we’ve got to be is the best team out there on Saturday,” Hendrix said. “It’ll take an unbelievable effort from our kids.”

The natives are unsettled in Columbia. The Gamecocks opened with a 31-17 loss to North Carolina. The game was played in Charlotte. South Carolina’s star quarterback, Spencer Rattler, completed 30/39 passes for 353 yards, but the Tar Heels robbed the Gamecocks of offensive continuity by sacking Rattler nine times. As a team, South Carolina netted minus-2 yards on the ground.

“You look at a North Carolina team not many people thought was very good defensively a year ago,” Hendrix said. “North Carolina was probably a little tired of hearing that.

“[South Carolina] wants to run the football. I’m sure they’re gonna try to run it right down our throats. They’ve got a great quarterback, a great talent, and they’ve got talent everywhere. … I think we’ll see a much different team in the way they play us. I hope they’ll see a much better team in us.”

Any similarity between Tennessee Tech, which Furman thumped, 45-10, on Aug. 31, and South Carolina is modest, but the Paladins’ defense was impressive.

“We didn’t let them in the red zone (20-yard line in) once,” noted defensive tackle Matt Sochovka. “We shut them out in the second half.

“It starts up front. Putting pressure on [South Carolina] will help. A lot of times they make your guys tackle the perimeter. They like their guys out in space, and especially against us, they’re gonna try a lot of that because, last year at Clemson, that was a lot of our downfall. Tackling in space is gonna be a major key.”

The Gamecocks, a week after a disappointing loss and a week ahead of a game against the national champion, is undoubtedly poised, and a bit desperate, to deliver a crushing defeat on Furman. It could make South Carolina frantic and impatient. In concentrating on winning big, they may lose sight of the need just to win at all.

“I think the best feeling last year at Clemson was seeing the shock and surprise in their faces whenever we did what we did against them,” Huff said. “They probably didn’t expect to have their starting defense out there after the second quarter, but they played all the way until early in the fourth. I think that was pretty surprising for them because, just like every Power Five team, they think they can just manhandle an FCS team.

“A team like us, we go in there with a chip on our shoulder to go in there and prove we’re not nobodies, and we’re here to play and compete, and make sure we get a chance to win at the end of the game.”

Win or lose, a $500,000 payoff is significant for Furman athletics. Sneaking out of Columbia with an upset would be like making a heist of the casino in Monte Carlo.

It’s a long shot, but it’s worth taking one.

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