By MONTE DUTTON

Surprisingly, I didn’t drive to Clemson on Saturday. I couldn’t go through all the hassles of big-time football just to watch the Paladins fall with a thud.

I’d watched a thud on Friday night, though that had nothing to do with passing up the inevitability of Tigertown.

I drove two miles to Bailey Memorial Stadium, where I could watch Presbyterian finish off their miracle. The Blue Hose kicked off at 1. The Paladins faced the Tigers at 4:30. I watched a lot of it. I was proud of Furman for doing the best it could.

Better times are coming.

After Clemson scored one final touchdown with eight seconds to play, I looked up the betting line. The Tigers were favored by 41-1/2 points. They still didn’t cover. Clemson paid a heap of money for the privilege of pounding the Paladins.

Betting. Payouts. It’s all money, except maybe at PC, where a kid who filmed the games as a freshman is now the leading tackler.

“Cade Klubnik connected with Antonio Williams on a pair of first-half touchdowns and Clemson raced out to a 31-0 lead en route to a 45-10 victory over Furman on Saturday.” That’s the way the release started. I feel like one of those tycoons in an old movie, dictating correspondence to his loyal secretary.

Ditto. Such and such. Etc., etc. Thoughtfully yours, J. Harold Calloway, Chief Executive Officer.

I also thought of what Dutch Meyer, coach at TCU back in antiquity, said: “We’ll fight ‘em until hell freezes over, and then we’ll fight ‘em on the ice.”

Furman (6-6) could do a lot worse than facing Dabo Swinney, who seems to try to run his program the right way or as close as modern times allow. The Paladins could have stared across a sideline at Lane Kiffin. Oh, yeah. That was last year.

I’ve told this joke to lots of people over the years. You know when a writer retires? When they find his head slumped on a keyboard with X’s streaming across the screen.

I’m going to write until hell freezes over, but I’m showing my age. A Friday night up to 2 a.m. going through photos, then up too early and heading off to a college game has reached the point where it takes a toll. My legs wear out on Saturdays. Once upon a time, I did it all before I went to bed. Sometimes I went from laptop to shower to truck.

The times, they are a-changing. 

Clemson finished with 456 yards of total offense, including 237 through the air and 219 on the ground. Klubnik completed 9/15 passes for 159 yards and two scores.

Trey Hedden completed 22/38 passes for 179 yards to surpass Ingle Martin’s single-season school record of 2,959 passing yards. Furman’s Kerry King caught six passes for 71 yards while Evan James grabbed six passes for 36 yards and a score.

Joshua Stoneking posted a sack and three tackles-for-a-loss to finish the regular season atop FCS with 14-1/2 sacks and 23 tackles for loss.

Hell, it wasn’t so bad, and even better, I wasn’t there to see it. The Paladins doubled their win total.

Clemson (6-5) finishes up in Columbia against South Carolina (4-7), which occupied itself with the 51-7 obliteration of Coastal Carolina. It wasn’t much of a cockfight.

This is a good time to start a new chapter. I’ll still write about sports a lot. I’ll spend more time trying to get a book or a screenplay published or just finding a place to play my guitar and sing once a week. Don’t worry. Wherever I go will still be in range of Furman. I’m going to try to skip the blow by blow and try to find the stories that move me, whether it’s football or observations of the larger world.

Take a look at the stats here.

Bob Richey’s basketball team defeated Queens (it’s in the city of Queen Charlotte), 90-79, on Sunday in the nightcap of a women’s/men’s doubleheader at Timmons Arena.

First, let’s dispel some myths about the Royals.

They’re not NAIA. They’re upwardly mobile. They may have delusions of grandeur, but they’re full-fledged members of the Atlantic Sun Conference, which is a breeding ground of the upwardly mobile. According to Wikipedia, Queens is merging with Elon next year.

Changing times has turned Richey into a chef who makes gourmet foods on the fly. While his is an acquired taste, he has become adept at it. It’s fun to watch his teams coalesce.

Furman (3-3) scored a season-high 90 points and shot .533 from the field.

Freshman Alex Wilkins scored 23 points to lead five Paladins in double figures and added seven assists.

Junior Cooper Bowser threw down three dunks in the opening four minutes of the second half as Furman opened the period on a 13-4 run to extend its lead to 58-38 with 16:20 to play.

Queens trailed by 19 with under seven minutes left, but converted on seven consecutive field goal tries to trim the Paladin lead to single digits with over three minutes to go. Eddrin Bronson and Charles Johnston responded by both draining a pair of free throws and Wilkins sliced to the basket for a layup to restore the double-digit lead as Furman won for the third time in four games at home.

The Paladins controlled the glass with a 36-27 rebounding margin and committed just four turnovers, the fewest by a Furman squad since a victory at Western Carolina on Jan. 1.

Maban Jabriel scored 16 points off the bench to lead the Royals. Jordan Watford and Nasir Mann netted 14 apiece and Chris Ashby and Avantae Parker tallied 12 and 10, respectively. Queens shot .475 and hit 14/17 free throws.

 Furman travels to Kissimmee, Fla., to take part in the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational on Nov. 27-28 at State Farm Field House. The Paladins face Richmond in the opening game in the Imagination Bracket on Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. on ESPN2. On Friday, Furman will play either Charlotte or Illinois State with the consolation contest slated for 12:30 p.m. on ESPN+ and the championship game scheduled for 3 p.m. on ESPN2.

Relax. The team is markedly different and is going to be good come the new year.

Take a look at the stats here.

Demeara Hinds scored 16 points, Mia Moore contributed 13 and 11 assists, and Clemson used hot second-half shooting to overcome a halftime deficit en route to a 76-58 victory over Furman in the women’s prelim.
Clemson (4-2), which trailed 33-31 at intermission, hit on 18/28 shots (.643) over the game’s final 20 minutes to record its third consecutive win its series with Furman (2-5).  
Hinds scored all of her 16 points in the second half, connecting on 7/8 shots and a pair of free throws, to pace the Tigers, and Rachel Rose contributed 10 of her 11 points over the final two periods.
Furman sophomore guard Lauren Bailey matched Hinds with a game-high 16 points, splashing all five three-point attempts, and Chantelle Stuart added 13 points and eight assists.
Furman shot ,444 (20/45) from the field and made 10/-17 attempts from beyond the arc.

Take a look at the stats here.

Trip Campbell netted the lone goal of the match in the 43^rd minute to propel 16^th-seeded Furman to the Sweet Sixteen with a 1-0 victory over Western Michigan in the second round of the Division I Men’s Soccer Championship Sunday afternoon at Stone Stadium.

The Paladins (15-1-4) on the season and riding a nation-best nine-match winning streak, will host Hofstra in the third round on Sunday, Nov. 30, at Stone Stadium. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

With the match scoreless and less than three minutes remaining until halftime, sophomore Wilfer Bustamante held the ball near the top of the box and back-heeled a pass to Diego Hernandez along the end line. The SoCon Player of the Year sent a low cross through the six-yard box to Campbell, who tapped in his shot for the go-ahead goal at the 42:47 mark.

Furman’s defense, made up of four freshman and a sophomore, held the Broncos (8-10-4) without a shot on target in the second half to record the shutout. Redshirt-freshman Ivan Horvat, the SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year, stopped one shot to notch his seventh clean sheet of the season.

 The Paladins will be playing in the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in program history and first since 2002. Furman advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 1999.

For years, my site has been supported by reader contributions. If you’re interested, you can make modest monthly payments on my Patreon page or a one-time contribution via Venmo (@DHKSports).

Or, if you’d like to make a contribution by check or cash, my mailing address, for now, is: Monte Dutton, 11185 Hwy. 56 N., Clinton, S.C.  29325.

Every little bit helps. It keeps gas in the truck for road trips.

Most of my books are available at Amazon.