Western Carolina hosts Samford in potential SoCon shootout

Southern Conference
Southern Conference

Western Carolina was, by most accounts, one of the first contending teams left out of the 2015 Football Championship Subdivision playoff picture after a 7-4 record that included losses to Texas A&M, Tennessee and Southern Conference co-champions The Citadel and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

A porous defense led to a bad campaign last year, as the Catamounts ranked last in the country in most defensive categories. Head coach Mark Speir made a change after a double-digit loss to UTC, and while there are still some issues, there's definitely a defense that can help an explosive offense.

The Catamounts (2-1) will have their SoCon opener against another prolific offense, Samford, when the Bulldogs head to Cullowhee, N.C., this weekend. It's the highlight of three league games taking place, as Mercer travels to East Tennessee State and UTC's Mocs visit Virginia Military Institute.

All three of the previous SoCon matchups this season have been decided by one possession.

WCU averages a league-high 41 points and 561 yards per game, while the Bulldogs currently rank fifth at 333 yards per contest.

"They're very athletic," Samford coach Chris Hatcher told SamfordSports.com after Monday's practice. "Of course, they're well coached. They have a new defensive coordinator in John Wiley, who was the defensive coordinator on all the great teams Appalachian State had in the early 2000s. He does a great job, and Coach Speir is a fine coach and a fine man. He'll have his team ready, we know that."

Speir was equally mindful of the Samford offense, led by quarterback and SoCon offensive player of the year Devlin Hodges, whose first college start was at WCU two seasons ago. Hodges threw for 4,088 yards and 36 touchdowns last year and has 785 yards and nine scores through the Bulldogs' first three games of this season.

"Any time a football team has a quarterback, they have a chance, and they have a quarterback," Speir said Monday on Catamount Football Weekly. "He's an excellent thrower, but he's a big guy who can run, and you have to respect him in the run game. He's as good as any quarterback in the country, but that offense does a good job of trying to keep you off-balanced.

"Our hands will be full. We have to affect him; if he sits back in his comfort zone, it's going to be a long day."

Furman improving

Clay Hendrix sees positives in his first Furman team.

He also sees the negatives, and things aren't getting any easier.

The Paladins (0-3) continue their rough early-season schedule by visiting a tough Colgate team Saturday. The Raiders (1-2) have a victory over then 23rd-ranked Cal Poly, with their losses coming to ninth-ranked Richmond and Football Bowl Subdivision member Buffalo.

Furman has losses to ninth-ranked Wofford, former SoCon member Elon and FBS member North Carolina State to open the year.

"Right now, we're leaving way too many plays out there," Hendrix said after the loss to N.C. State. "It's the same ol' story - leave big plays on the field and we can't get off the field on third down. Our kids are fighting and hanging in there against a really good football team, and any time you do that you better play extremely well, but there are phases and things to build on."

Players of the week

The Citadel's Dominique Allen, ETSU's Dylan Weigel and Samford punter Austin Barnard were named SoCon players of the week.

Allen, the Bulldogs' quarterback, threw for 104 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 52 yards and another score in his 10th-ranked team's 31-25 comeback victory over ETSU. Linebacker Weigel had 19 tackles in the loss.

Barnard averaged 43.8 yards on five punts in Samford's 42-14 loss to FBS member Georgia.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.

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