By MONTE DUTTON

It’s a football season both wonderful and weird. The best example is on Saturday at Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg, where Furman completes the regular season at noon against Wofford.

The Paladins have two fierce rivals, the Terriers and the Bulldogs of The Citadel, also rivals who played last Saturday in Charleston, where Wofford’s 11-3 victory gave it one victory this season and left the Bulldogs without one.

It almost makes one sad. But not quite. Maybe next year.

At the moment, the Southern Conference rivals are Western Carolina, Chattanooga, Samford and Mercer.

Furman (9-1, 7-0 SoCon) still has much to gain from taming the Terriers. Stranger upsets have happened deep in the recesses of time. In 1980, the Paladins finished 9-1-1. The loss was to North Carolina. The tie was to Wofford, then in the NAIA. It may be ancient history, but it’s an ancient rivalry, the oldest in the so-called Deep South.

A victory Saturday gives Furman 10 victories and enhances a little the Paladins’ playoff seeding. A catastrophic loss is catastrophic when the brackets are set. No indications suggest it is imminent. Furman has passed every test. Wofford (1-9, 1-6) has passed one. It’s easy to look past the Terriers … but unwise, and this Furman team has been nothing if not wise.

“One of the most special things about this group is it’s really been unselfish,” head coach Clay Hendrix said.

“Our coaches do a great job every week with preparation,” said Braden Gilby, the graduate middle linebacker from Saint Petersburg, Fla. “We prepare all week to win. We expect to win when we get out there. We’ve just got to take care of business.

“I’ve been around here a little bit. I’ve won a few games. I’ve lost my fair share, too.”

Not this year. That’s the point.

“I just play every play like life itself,” Gilby said. “You can’t look at scores from different games. You’ve got to play everybody.

“Winning in 2018 (co-championship) was cool, but this is just crazy, especially being a seventh-year guy because I’ve been playing with these guys forever. Just to do it how we’ve done it and do it all year with a target on our backs. This is my last year with my boys. I got to see us all grow up. This is just special. It really is.”

No Furman team(s) have ever won 14 straight SoCon games over two seasons. No single team has ever won eight SoCon games in one season, in part because most never played that many. None has won nine straight games since 1989. In Furman’s 118-year football history, only three (1927, 1985, 1989) have won 10 games. This will be the 20^th to play in the FCS playoffs.

The Paladins’ defense has been building steam in many ways. The curve has turned upward in dynamic areas: quarterback sacks, forced turnovers, interceptions. Special teams have gotten progressively better, too. The trending is impressive and encouraging.

Dan Scianna, the senior linebacker from Frankfort, Ill., described it in this manner: “We found our identity. We’ve known it, but it’s becoming more apparent. Stop the run, and when we stop the run, we start punishing the quarterback. Our pass rushers rush, and [the rest of] our defenders defend. It works out well.”

Sounds simple, huh? Anyone who watches the constant rise in prolific offense knows it’s not. It’s a rare and precious thing these days.

By any standard, Furman plays lots of players, particularly on defense. They seem to have both excellent and interchangeable parts. Perhaps just as rarely, all seem to play enough to keep them happy. Victory is a powerful passion.

“Everyone embraces his role,” Scianna added. “When they get that role, when they get that opportunity, every guy has a role and does a darn good job at it.”

Wofford’s season is reflected in its statistics. The Terriers have had their moments, but across the season they’ve averaged about half as many points, and two thirds as many first downs, rushing yards and passing yards. They’ve played a lot of people because they’ve tried a lot of things. They’re playing a little better because they’ve found some things that work.

Ryan Ingram has rushed for 726 yards, 136 against The Citadel. Wofford has used four principal quarterbacks who have each completed about 55 percent of their passes. Four receivers have 12 catches apiece. The leader, Alec Holt, has 20.

All is fleeting. Furman, at present, is where Wofford aspires to be. The Terriers have fallen fast. They’ll be back. It can wait a while longer.

A difference at the moment is “buy-in.”

“We have a really unique kid here,” Hendrix said. “He’s bought in to the education. He’s bought in to the challenges that come with going to school here. You get enough of those guys around one another … you don’t win every game, but you’re a hard group to beat even when you don’t win every game.”

Many people have said they intended to make a contribution to keep the site alive. I reckon they just don’t get around to it. I always list an address to send a check. I finally got it through my thick head that not that many people write checks nowadays. For example, me. A more convenient means might be sending a reasonable amount to DHK Sports on Venmo.

Support the advertisers, and help keep the site – the game stories, the blogs, the photos – alive by making a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Another way I can make a little is if you purchase my books at MonteDutton.net. They’re quite entertaining in spite of the fellow who wrote them. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions. The latest, The Latter Days, is about baseball.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.