By MONTE DUTTON

The National Football League has to do something about field goals.

As a colleague of mine used to be fond of saying, “Merciful God!”

I spent a lot of Sunday idly watching games. After high schools and colleges – going to one, writing about others, processing photos, posting stories, winning friends and influencing people – I’m not fit to do much on Sunday but watch games idly.

In an entire day and night, live and on halftime highlights, I saw only one field goal miss, and then the poor guy hit it but got iced by his own head coach and missed the encore. The Washington Commanders kicked only field goals, six of them, and won.

Get a first down, get it to the middle of the field and tee it off. The accuracy and range are incredible. The pros are slowly merging football and futbol, and the colleges aren’t far behind.

Nothing against kickers’ greatness, but the NFL made a bold effort to remedy its kickoff sickness this year.

Field goals have gradually been getting longer for decades. The first time the NFL tried to make it harder was to move its post from the front to the back of the end zone. What do they do now? Put the goalposts in the grandstands?

It’s becoming a war of artillery.

I’ve no problem, of course, with Ian Williams kicking a school-record 57-yarder on Saturday. There was drama in that.

Trey Hedden is Stats Perform FCS National Freshman Player of the Week, based on his sparkling 20/27, 267-yard passing performance in Furman’s 48-7 victory over Stetson.

Making his college starting debut, Hedden also rushed 13 yards for a touchdown.

The 6- 3, 231-pound native of Tampa, Fla., threw scoring strikes of 51 and 50 yards in Furman’s first triumph of the season. 

His 267 passing yards represented the third highest total by a true freshman signal caller in program history.

Furman (1-2) hits the road for a 6:00 p.m. clash against nationally ranked William & Mary (2-1) this Saturday at the Tribe’s Zable Stadium, the first game against the onetime Southern Conference rival since 2000, when Furman claimed a 34-10 win in Greenville.

Hedden and Williams are Southern Conference Offensive and Special Teams Players of the Week, respectively.

Williams turned in a splendid all-around performance in three key special-teams roles, converting field goal attempts of 48 and 57 yards, with the 57-yard effort establishing a school record, averaging 44.9 yards on five punts, and registering touchbacks on all nine kickoffs.

The 6- 3, 218, native of Charlotte, N.C., and preseason All-SoCon selection has converted 16 of his last 18 field goal attempts.

The news is hardly earth-shaking. Rita Gary is officially head coach of the Furman women’s cross country and track teams. Her husband, Robert, remains head coach of the men and takes the new title Director of Furman Cross Country/Track & Field.

“I want to express how grateful I am to be recognized in a head coaching capacity,” said Rita Gary. “I am grateful that athletic director Jason Donnelly, senior woman administrator Erin Mayes, and President Elizabeth Davis have allowed me the opportunity to continue to grow at Furman.

“I am very proud of what the women’s program has accomplished in the past 11 years … and have so much belief in our future opportunities. I have come to realize just how important it is for women working in the same role as mine — as a head coach — to be credited for the accomplishments of our leadership. It’s impactful on many levels, and, going forward, this will be the case at Furman.”

A native of Saline, Mich., Gary is in her 13th season at Furman.

Under Gary’s direction, Furman won the SoCon women’s cross country title for the 11th-consecutive season in 2023.

“I believe this title is a formality of sorts, as Rita has served in this capacity since we arrived here,” said Robert Gary. “She is obviously more than deserving of this title, and I am excited to be even clearer to alumni, donors, our student-athletes and, of course, recruits about how special of a job she does.”

The Garys are parents of a son, Percy. 

Trey Diehl (+2) was tied for 23rd to lead the Paladin men’s golf team after Monday’s two rounds of the Bearcat Invitational at Coldstream Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A senior from Orlando, Fla., Diehl opened the tournament by carding a 73 with three birdies in round one then shot an even 71 with a team-high four birdies in the day’s second round.

Senior Will Morlan (+3) recorded rounds of 73 and 72 on Monday and is tied for 30th entering Tuesday’s final round. Freshman Ludvig Josefsson (+8) fired a 2-under 69 to lead the Paladins in the opening round but slipped to an 80 in the latter round.

Louisville’s Sebastian Moss (-8) held a two-stroke individual lead after scoring 65-69=134 on Monday.  

Louisville (-6) led the team competition by four strokes heading into Tuesday’s final round. The Paladins (+10) were tied for 11th with Middle Tennessee State.

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