No sooner had the Furman Paladins passed their initial football test with a 23-21 victory over William & Mary, some surprising news arrived on Saturday night from Macon, Ga.

Presbyterian College, a non-scholarship program from Clinton, upended Mercer, the reigning Southern Conference champion, by a score of 15-10.

Now the Blue Hose visit Furman for a game that seems considerably more threatening.

It’s Youth Day at Paladin Stadium. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
A 2-0 start for Furman would be only the second under head coach Clay Hendrix, whose program last won its first two outings in 2021, defeating North Carolina A&T (29-18) and Tennessee Tech (26-0). In five of Hendrix’s eight seasons, the Paladins have faced a FBS foe in the first two weeks. Furman plays Clemson on Nov. 23.

To extend the early-season momentum, the Paladins will have to turn back a Presbyterian squad that shocked the FCS world by beating 11th-ranked Mercer, in Macon, Ga., on Saturday. The Blue Hose resurgence has been in the works since last year when PC won its final four games under fourth-year head coach Steve Englehart, whose record, if plotted on a graph as a stock price, would be the talk of Wall Street.  From 1-10 in 2022, PC improved to 4-7 in 2023, and then to last year’s 6-6 mark.
The win at Mercer was no fluke as the Blue Hose, who outgained the Bears 416-241, covered 80 yards in 13 plays to score the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining.

Presbyterian quarterback Collin Hurst completed 23/35 passes for 279 yards. Dominic Kibby caught nine of them.
Saturday’s contest will mark the first meeting between the Paladins and Blue Hose since 2014.  PC won that clash, 10-7, in Clinton after the teams waited out a one hour and 47 minute lightning delay, but series results, otherwise, have been unkind to the Blue Hose as Furman won 15 straight from 1980-2013.  Furman sports a 13-0 mark versus PC in Paladin Stadium and holds a 37-8-1 all-time mark versus the Blue Hose in Greenville and 43-12-1 overall series lead.

Against the Tribe, the Paladins rallied from a 21-14 third quarter deficit for the victory.  While Ian Williams’  three second half field goals covering 50, 42, and 32 yards accounted for the e winning points, it was teed up primarily by the Paladins’ own second half defense, one that produced three of the Paladins’ four sacks and limited the Tribe to just 22 total yards on their final three possessions.

Headlining that effort were redshirt sophomore defensive end Joshua Stoneking, who had two sacks over the final period, and graduate safety  Taylen Blaylock, who capped a brilliant performance in his Paladin debut with a critical four-yard tackle for loss on third down and a pass breakup on the next play that gave Furman possession on downs with 1:56 remaining.

The specialists didn’t go unnoticed as Blaylock, whose 43-yard interception return helped give Furman an early 7-0 lead, was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week, and Williams was tabbed both league and Stats Perform National Special Teams Player of the Week.

Ten players made their Paladin starting debuts against William & Mary, among them true freshman wide receiver Evan James, who caught a game-high seven passes for 68 yards, including a four-yard touchdown grab.
There were other notable performances, probably none more inspiring than that of running back Jayquan Smith, who returned to the field after almost two years following a knee injury.

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