By MONTE DUTTON

Furman fans were not alone. The first full weekend of college-football brought little to savor for Palmetto State partisans.

What could be worse than Ole Miss pounding the Paladins, 76-0?

Oh, Furman fans are downtrodden, but the Paladins were playing well above their pay grade … literally.

A 34-6 loss to top-ranked Georgia left Clemson fans in a high dudgeon. In other words, they were pissed off.

South Carolina’s 23-19 escape from Old Dominion pleased no one. Wofford won by two points and The Citadel by one. Erskine won big. The combined score of the games about which I wrote from afar was 139-10. If every weekend (Thursday/Saturday) went like that, no one would write about sports for long. (The high-school game in between made it tolerable.)

Lane Kiffin’s Rebels were bent on annihilation. Mission accomplished. It gave them one position in the coaches’ poll.

Furman head coach Clay Hendrix didn’t mince words on Tuesday at his weekly media conference.

“I think you’ll see it more. If somebody’s got the will to do that, they can. … We learned a lot, and it will help us,” he said.

Ole Miss was one of the more powerful teams the Paladins have ever played, and they were out to prove it.

The entire trip to Oxford, Miss., took 48 hours. The Paladins rode on a bus for 18 of them.

“Obviously, there [are] a lot of things we can do better,’’ Hendrix said, but no one was kidding himself. The Rebels used 76 points to pound Furman worse than anyone since 1955.

Even I wasn’t born.

“I hope the game (Charleston Southern) slows down a bit,” Hendrix said. “I think we learned some things about ourselves. We came out fairly healthy.”

Thus chastened, Furman returns to Paladin Stadium on Saturday night to face the Buccaneers, just edged by The Citadel. The atmosphere was great, the money was greater, and now it’s time to get to the business of winning.

As Hendrix said, “I’m sure they’re feeling like they’re coming off a game they should have won.”

Charleston Southern led 14-3 at halftime and 21-9 with 6:20 remaining in the third quarter. Garrison Johnson’s one-yard run with 1:55 left, and Ben Barnes’ kick, saved The Citadel, 22-21.

Rob McCoy, the Buccaneers’ quarterback, hit 20/25 passes for 290 yards.

“They’ll give us their best shot,” said Hendrix. “They’ll get ours, too.”

Charlotte scored a goal in each half to blank Furman, 2-0, in non-conference men’s soccer action Monday evening at Transamerica Field in Charlotte, N.C.

The 49ers improved to 2-0-1 and claimed their ninth consecutive home victory, the fourth longest streak in the nation. Furman suffered its first defeat of the season to fall to 2-1-1.

Charlotte took the lead with just 35 seconds to go in the opening half on a goal by Richardson. Casey McCloskey won the ball in the midfield and played a long ball down the right wing to Ben Fisher who picked out Richardson just inside the top of the box. The freshman lined a one-timer into the left-hand corner past a diving Aaron Salinas at the 44:25 mark to break the deadlock.

Natsuki Ogata doubled the Charlotte lead in the 64^th minute. The 49ers intercepted a pass in the midfield and fed the ball to Ogata on the left side. He dribbled into the box and laced a left-footed shot into the left corner at the 63:53 mark to up the margin to 2-0.

Leo Stritter made one save to secure the shutout in goal for the 49ers while Salinas posted four saves for the Paladins. Charlotte compiled a 16-3 advantage in total shot attempts and a 7-1 edge in shots on goal. The 49ers earned 10 corner kicks to just two for the Paladins.

 Furman is back at home at Stone Soccer Stadium when it hosts ACC foe Virginia Tech as part of a United FU Day doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. The Furman women’s team hosts USC Upstate at 2 p.m. with the men entertaining the Hokies at 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Ashlyn Goila’s first-half goal proved to be the difference as Furman snapped a four-game skid with a 1-0 shutout of Georgia Southern in women’s soccer Sunday in Statesboro, Ga.

With under 19 minutes remaining in the first half, the Paladins regained possession in the midfield and Maddie Massie received a pass into space down the left flank. The sophomore slid a bouncing cross towards the near post that Goila redirected past GSU goalkeeper Katie Oakley and inside the near post at the 26:12 mark for her first score of the season.

Furman’s back line held the Eagles to just a single shot on goal over 90 minutes, and freshman Reese DeJong recorded one save to notch her first career shutout as the Paladins improved to 2-4-0 on the season. The loss dropped Georgia Southern to 1-3-1.

“We consistently emphasize being a blue-collar team and playing low risk in the back and we certainly accomplished that this afternoon,” said Paladin head coach Andrew Burr. “This team has delt with a lot of injuries early on and has stayed focused on building our depth and preparing for SoCon play. We’ll continue with that same mentality going forward.”

Furman returns to Stone Soccer Stadium on Thursday to play UNC Asheville. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and admission is free.

Furman is ranked 15th in this week’s Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll.

The Paladins,, who were ranked 12th in the preseason before falling to sixth-ranked Ole Miss in Saturday’s season opener, have appeared in the last 22 Stats Perform Polls.

Furman (0-1) is among three Southern Conference teams ranked this week, including Chattanooga (11th) and Western Carolina (17th).

Reigning champion South Dakota State tops the poll after receiving 36 of 56 first place votes, followed by North Dakota State and Montana State. Montana and Villanova round out the top five.

The Paladins kick off their six-game season home slate this Saturday when they play host to Charleston Southern (0-1) in a 6 p.m. contest. The Buccaneers dropped a 22-21 home decision to The Citadel on Saturday.

Take a look at the full rankings here.

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