By MONTE DUTTON

Furman is historically significant in the football lore of the Southern Conference. The Paladins were the first private school to win the FCS (then I-AA) championship in 1988. They have won more league titles (15) than any other SoCon member.

Virginia Military Institute joined the SoCon in 1924, left it for the Big South in 2003 and returned in 2014. The Keydets have won eight conference championships but only three in the past 60 seasons.

When Furman (5-5, 3-4 SoCon) takes on VMI (1-9, 0-6) on Saturday in Paladin Stadium at 1 p.m., it means a lot.

A victory doubles the Paladins’ victory total over a year ago. It clinches a break-even season. It redresses a rare victory by the Keydets (21-17) last season. Furman leads the series, 31-11, and has won 16 straight in Greenville.

It may not be impressive that these factors are important, but they are.

Last week, Chattanooga defeated Furman, 45-28.

“To say I’m disappointed in how we played would be an understatement,” Hendrix said on Tuesday. “Give them a bunch of credit. They played a new quarterback (Battle Alberson). The kid played awfully well. They executed at a high level.

“[Defensive coordinator Duane Vaughn] and I are in agreement that maybe, in nine years, that’s the worst we’ve played defensively in a game. … We were ‘out-physicaled,’ which we don’t think should ever happen. … I’m disappointed in me. There have been times in every game where we played really well. I don’t think there was any time we played well (at Chattanooga). There were times where, on offense, we showed some spark, but we couldn’t get the ball.”

In the last five games, Furman has committed 12 turnovers and benefited from two.

“We’ve got to handle adversity better,” Hendrix said. “It’s not even close how much better we are (than 2024). Finding our edge back and getting over the hump is what we’re trying to do.”

Hendrix guided Furman to back-to-back 10-3 seasons in 2022-23. The Paladins, thin and injury-plagued, slumped to 3-8 last season. They’re back on the rise, but it’s been more modest than aspirations.

“Every week we watch the game from the year before,” said Hendrix. “It’s night and day in terms of the things we’re able to do. At times, we look like a really good team. It’s the inconsistency as far as the execution and the things we’re able to do. That and the way we’ve handled adversity. I don’t think it’s anybody giving up. Our leadership needs to speak up.

“We are what we are. We are what our record says.”

VMI is coming of a 52-10 home loss to Wofford.

The best news from Chattanooga – and perhaps only good news – was that defensive tackle Caldwell Bussey is expected to make a full recovery from a scary injury that delayed the game and sent him to a local hospital. He was able to watch practice this week.

“He’s a strong guy and a strong teammate,” said center Chris Luna, like Bussey a redshirt sophomore. “What I thought about was that he would want us to finish it for him. He’d want us to play our hearts out for him. He would do that for one of us.”

Furman looks for more offensive consistency from quarterback Trey Hedden, who has passed for 2,513 yards and 14 touchdowns this fall. He’s had notable success throwing to Evan James, one of the top FCS freshmen who heads into the contest as co-owner of Furman’s freshman receptions record (50) and 690 receiving yards, seven shy of that standard.

The Paladin ground attack lost starter Gavin Hall in a 24-14 win over The Citadel.  The emergence of freshman C.J. Nettles, who ran for 105 yards against Mercer in the Paladins’ most recent home game, has been a plus, as has been the work of Ben Croasdale, who ran for a career-high 91 yards versus The Citadel.

 Defensively, Furman needs a bounce back from its last two outings, and a good place to start is its pass rush, where redshirt sophomore end Joshua Stoneking, the FCS leader in tackles for loss (19), will look to add to his SoCon-leading sack total (12-1/2)

The Keydets average only 2.7 yards per carry on the ground, led by Leo Boehling with 425 yards (4.1). At quarterback, Collin Shannon has completed 147/268 (.549) passes for 1.984 yards, 13 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Saturday’s game will be live-streamed via ESPN+ and aired over Furman flagship The Fan Upstate and its four stations: 97.7 FM/1330 AM in Greenville, and 97.1 FM/950 AM in Spartanburg.

“The focus is on us taking care of us,” Hendrix said. “We’ve talked about that all year. We haven’t quite been able to do it. … That’s what our goal is.”

Raina McGowens scored 24 points and drained a pair of free throws with 20 seconds to go in overtime to break an 87-87 tie and propel Furman to a 90-89 overtime victory over Georgia State in women’s basketball Thursday evening at Timmons Arena.

The win evened both Furman and Georgia State’s records at 2-2.

With Furman trailing 87-85 with under a minute to play in overtime, the Paladins’ Alyssa Ervin converted two free throws to tie the game at 87-87. 

Georgia State’s Gabbie Grooms then missed a 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession, and McGowens was fouled after claiming the rebound. The sophomore guard from Pelzer went to the line, where she converted both chances to put Furman up, 89-87. The Panthers’ Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu drove the lane but couldn’t put down a short jumper, which was rebounded by Clare Coyle. Ervin was fouled with 11 seconds left and made one of two free throws to give Furman a 90-87 lead.

Georgia State’s Crystal Henderson’s three-point try missed, and Grooms was fouled on the rebound with 0.2 seconds on the clock, She made the first free throw, and her second attempt, at an intentional miss, rebounded hard into the basket for the game’s final point.

Furman then ran out the clock on the inbounds play.

McGowens’ 24 points were a career high and came on 7/18 shooting in 40 minutes of play and 8/10 work at the free throw line to go along with 10 rebounds, another career high.

Coyle, a sophomore who also posted career highs with 22 points and 17 rebounds, helped force overtime when, with the Paladins trailing 75-73 with 0.8 seconds remaining in regulation, she was fouled under the basket on an inbounds pass from Chantelle Stuart. Shaken up on the play, Coyle exited the court and was replaced by Channing Warren, who sank both free throw chances with 0.5 seconds on the clock to knot the game at 75-75.

Furman helped overcome 32 turnovers by posting a 59-37 rebounding advantage.

Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu led the Panthers with 25 points.

The Paladins return to action on Sunday when they play host to Campbell in a 7 p.m. game at Timmons Arena.

Take a look at the stats here.

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