By MONTE DUTTON

The Citadel is coming! The Citadel is coming! The Citadel must be stopped.

It’s easy to say it’s just another football game. It’s easy to say, oh, the rival is Wofford now. Well, Wofford won last week.

When Furman plays The Citadel and Wofford, I always think of Cally Gault, the all-time patriarch of Presbyterian College and fellow Clintonian I knew for most of his life and mine.

In hard times, Gault would always say, “You beat Wofford, you beat Newberry, it’s a good year.” PC hasn’t played Newberry since 2006. Thank God Furman still has The Citadel to kick around. Things have changed a lot more there (at Presbyterian) than here.

The Paladins started fast, succumbed to a Bulldog comeback and the horse found a second wind in the stretch drive of Saturday’s 24-14 triumph. Homecoming was the perfect occasion for a fifth straight conquest over the Lords of the Low Country.

Furman (5-3, 3-2 SoCon) defeated The Citadel (3-5, 2-3) for the 65^th time in 105 tries, marred by three ties that were so frustrating they aren’t allowed any more.

I’ve so much admiration for El Cid head coach Maurice Drayton, who said last week that purple makes him puke. That’s what The Citadel’s commander ought to say. Somebody send him a case of Pepto-Bismol. On the house.

Jayquan Smith scored a pair of second-half touchdowns and a two-point conversion to help power Furman past The Citadel in front of a lovely, spirited crowd of 10,017 at Paladin Stadium. The Paladins lead the series, 65-37-3.
After Furman saw a 9-0 halftime lead evaporate following a pair of 46-yard touchdown catches by The Citadel’s Jihad Marks within a four-minute span in the third quarter, the Paladins regrouped to take a 17-14 lead on a Smith two-yard scoring run and two-point conversion with 3:30 to go in the period.

Smith, who suffered a season-ending injury in the 2023 game against The Citadel, an injury that sidelined him for the 2024 campaign, capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a seven-yard scoring burst with 3:21 remaining to extend Furman’s advantage to 24-14.
Smith finished the game with 11 carries for 52 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Croasdale led all rushers with 18 carries for 84 yards, helping Furman finish with 140 yards on the ground, its second highest total of the season.

Ian Williams scored all the first-half points with field goals of 45, 36 and 21 yards.
Trey Hedden completed 16/22 passes for 211 yards, and freshman wide receiver Evan James returned from the injury list to catch eight passes for 126 yards. James missed three games after sustaining a shoulder injury in a 31-13 win over Samford on Sept. 27.

James’ 38-yard reception on the first play of the Paladins’ final scoring drive gave Furman a first down at The Citadel 42. Nine plays later Smith took a handoff from Hedden and covered seven yards off left tackle for the touchdown and a 24-14 lead following Williams’ PAT.
Furman’s defense, which limited The Citadel to just 17 total yards in the first quarter, saw the Paladins’ 9-0 halftime advantage evaporate when Quentin Hayes twice found Marks open behind Furman coverage for identical 46-yard touchdown passes in the third quarter that put the Bulldogs up 14-9.

The record shows the Paladins took the blows and did it their way. Apologies to Paul Anka and Frank Sinatra.
A 46-yard Williams punt to the three-yard line led to a James Platte boot that gave Furman the ball at the Bulldog 40 with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter.  Hedden used a 16-yard connection to James and 20-yard hook-up with Devin Hester Jr., to the Bulldog four, where two plays later Smith scored on a two-yard run for a 15-14 lead.  Smith made it 17-14 following a one-yard conversion run following an offsides penalty on the The Citadel.

Taylen Blaylock and A.K. Burrell led the Paladins with 10 tackles apiece, and Joshua Stoneking, the FCS leader in tackles for loss and sacks and owner of one of America’s top defensive names, had four stops, including two for losses of 14 yards, two sacks, and a caused fumble.

Once upon a time, by the way, a player named Steve Stonebreaker played for the Baltimore Colts and New Orleans. Comparatively, though, he was no Stoneking.
Furman plays host to Mercer (6-1, 5-0) next Saturday in a 2 p.m. SoCon clash at Paladin Stadium. Any glimmer of hope involving the Paladins and an FCS playoff berth probably involves an upset of the Bears.

Western Carolina (5-3, 4-0) has games remaining against Chattanooga, Mercer, East Tennessee State and Virginia Military. The Paladins have games remaining with Mercer, Chattanooga (4-4, 3-1), VMI (1-7, 0-4) and Clemson (3-4).

Take a look at the stats here.

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