By MONTE DUTTON

Colton Hinton (Furman photo)

It took three plays for Western Carolina to score a touchdown at the beginning, but things got worse.

The Catamounts, led by quarterback Cole Gonzales, rolled up a Southern Conference record 801 yards of total offense in a 52-20 victory over Furman on Saturday that dampened homecoming more than any shower could have.

The afternoon was deceptively gorgeous.

As a frame of reference, when Mississippi defeated the Paladins, 76-0, on opening night in Oxford, the Rebels amassed 772 yards. The Rebels were fifth in the nation at the time. Western Carolina is 4-3, 3-0 in the Southern Conference.

As a consequence, the struggling Paladins are 2-5 and 1-2. It’s not a great time for anything, but it’s a good time for a week off.

Fifty-two to nothing was one gigantic thud in itself, but, if anything, the game was worse.

In eight seasons as head coach, head coach Clay Hendrix never lost consecutive home games until Saturday. It hasn’t happened at Paladin Stadium since 2016, when Furman lost to Kennesaw State and Samford back-to-back and ran the streak to three when Wofford won four weeks later.

As for the 801 yards, they were the most a Furman team has ever allowed. Western Carolina broke its own record for a Furman home game, topping the 691 yards gained by the Catamounts in 2022. The Paladins won that game, 47-40.

Furman is young, injured and erratic, and given the circumstances, it may have been unfair to expect it to be any other way. As Babu Bhatt called Jerry Seinfeld in another context, Gonzales was “a very bad man.”

Based on their secondary educations, Gonzales and Furman’s Trey Hedden are both Catholics from Florida. Gonzales is a junior from Ocala Catholic, and Hedden is a freshman from Tampa Catholic. There similarities ceased.

Gonzales completed 35/55 passes for five touchdowns and 620 yards, the last being the most ever accumulated by an opposition passer against the Paladins.

Hedden wasn’t bad – 22/34, 239 yards, two touchdowns, one interception – but his numbers were mortal as opposed to superhuman.

Three Western receivers – Zion Booker, Isaiah Johnson and Jai Boyd – exceeded 100 receiving yards. Boyd needed only three catches to gain 102.

The Catamounts merely outrushed the Paladins, 149-55. Furman ran with some effectiveness, but for the third straight week, conditions dictated that establishing the run was a luxury the Paladins couldn’t afford.

In opposition to the Catamounts’ 801 yards, the Paladins mustered 294. Colton Hinton, a sophomore from Ashton, Va., caught nine passes for 114 yards.

Hinton also returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and reeled off 162 yards in four of them. The problem with great kickoff returns is that, in most cases, the opposition has to score to get them.

Furman’s only turnover was on its final play, when WCU’s Zayveon Wells intercepted Hedden at the 16-yard line with 43 seconds remaining.

With injuries mounting, Furman is forced to play freshmen it would prefer to red-shirt. Hendrix said the coaching staff is trying to conserve eligibility by playing some selectively, sitting out some games and playing in others.

“I think there’s strategy to that,” he quipped. “I’m just not sure what that strategy is.”

Hendrix offered no explanation other than the obvious one.

“We’ve just got to keep working. … It comes down to the team. It’s got to play really well,” he said.

Where do the Paladins go next? Literally, it’s Lexington, Va., where Furman plays Virginia Military on Nov. 2 at 1:30 p.m.

Figuratively? Intangibly?

“Hopefully,” Hendrix said, “that’s where the character part comes. Our guys have got a lot of character.”

Take a look at the stats here. If you dare …

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