It’s a fine schedule: challenging, well balanced.

The Paladins, coming off consecutive 10-3 seasons, have many replacement parts to install. They’re playing six at home and six away. As for the Southern Conference, Samford, Chattanooga, Western Carolina and Wofford are all coming to Paladin Stadium. The Paladins are touring The Citadel, Virginia Military, East Tennessee State and Mercer.

Ole Miss. Yikes.

Charleston Southern checks in from the Big South and its inexplicable home, North Charleston.

Stetson. Ooh. Could be ugly.

William & Mary. Nice get.

SoCon. Tough and getting tougher. For a while, the SoCon was a placement office for the low end of FBS. It took a while to compensate for the losses of Appalachian State, Marshall and Georgia Southern.

The slack is now thoroughly picked up.

Clay Hendrix’s seventh season brought results comparable to teams he played on. The Paladins return, by the current math, 31 lettermen and 15 players with starting experience. Hendrix’s eighth requires skillful replenishing. He and his staff are skillful.

The Paladins and Rebels are not exactly familiar with each other, though they have played before. Furman won it, 7-2, close to a century ago. It was in Greenville, on Nov. 14, 1924, when Ole Miss wasn’t nearly as ole.

Last year, Ole Miss (11-2) defeated Penn State, 38-25, in the Peach Bowl. Furman has played the Rebels once and the CSU version of Buccaneers twice.

The home opener eliminates the need to find Charleston Southern of North Charleston.

Furman won but struggled in the 2022 matchup, 24-19, down there. The Paladins socked them, 46-13, in 2019.

Stetson, the Hatters of DeLand, Fla., play Furman for the first time. Stetson is a mate of Presbyterian and Davidson in the Pioneer Football League and acclimated to trips longer than Greenville. In lieu of football scholarships, the Hatters regularly visit locales such as San Diego, Calif.; Saint Thomas (of Saint Paul, Minn.); and Drake of Des Moines, Iowa. They’ve seen Pacific waves as well as amber ones of grain.

Then the Paladins are off to colonial Williamsburg, Va., to face William & Mary of the Coastal Athletic Association. It’s rare nowadays to find such serendipity in a college-athletics world gone wild. Furman has played the Tribe, once a SoCon member and a playoff team last fall, 15 times and won the past two, 34-10 in 2000 and 52-6 in 1999.

On Sept. 28 Furman kicks off SoCon play and the university’s Family Weekend when it hosts Samford, the last league foe to record a win in Paladin Stadium with a 34-27 verdict in 2022.  Furman has since reeled off eight consecutive triumphs against conference opposition. The last four Furman-Samford clashes, over which the Paladins have gone 3-1, have been decided by seven points or less.

 The Paladins are scheduled to face long-time rival The Citadel on Oct. 5 in Charleston. Furman, which has won the last three encounters with the Bulldogs, leads the SoCon’s oldest active football rivalry, 63-37-3.

Chattanooga will provide the opposition on Oct. 12 when the Mocs return to Paladin Stadium for the second time in less than a year.  In 2023 Furman knocked off UTC, 17-14, in Chattanooga to claim the SoCon championship, and in late November, steamrolled the Mocs, 26-7, in FCS second round playoff action in Greenville.

On Oct. 19, Western Carolina pays Furman a visit for Homecoming Weekend and will no doubt be looking to turn the tables on the Paladins, who downed the Catamounts, 29-17, in Cullowhee, N.C., a year ago in a battle of then-highly ranked teams.  Furman holds a commanding 36-13-2 edge in the all-time series with WCU.

Following an off weekend, Furman’s calender flips to November for its final four games, including three road affairs.

On Nov. 2 the Paladins travel to VMI to face the Keydets, who fell a year ago in Greenville, 37-3, and the next week, Nov. 9, Furman plays its final home game of the regular season when it squares off against Wofford in the 98th renewal of the Deep South’s oldest football rivalry, which began in 1889.

Furman wraps up the regular season with road battles at East Tennessee State (Nov. 16) and at Mercer (Nov. 23).  The Paladins have won the last two meetings against both the Buccaneers and Bears.

2024 Furman Football Schedule

Aug. 31 @ Ole Miss

Sept.7 Charleston Southern

Sept.14 Stetson

Sept. 21 @ William & Mary

Sept. 28 Samford (Family Weekend)

Oct. 5 @ The Citadel

Oct.12 Chattanooga

Oct. 19 Western Carolina (Homecoming)

Nov. 2 @ VMI

Nov. 9 Wofford

Nov.16 @ East Tennessee State

Nov. 23 @ Mercer

Thanks so much for the contributions. I’m aware that some folks appreciate what I do, particularly the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

Blue, Green, Purple & Red cannot solely be funded by advertising. There’s not enough room.

In the off chance anyone would like to contribute, a convenient means is sending a contribution to DHK Sports on Venmo. If you prefer, make a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people.

In the off chance anyone would like to read my novels, they’re all available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites.

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