Possibly no Southern Conference football team has dealt with as much adversity through the first three weeks of the season as The Citadel.
That’s why the off week for the 10th-ranked Bulldogs is coming at the right time.
The 2015 SoCon co-champions began the season with a 24-23, last-minute road victory over Mercer, which was followed by a 19-14 win at home over Furman. That gave the 10th-ranked Bulldogs a 2-0 slate in SoCon play, and they followed that with another nail-biter, a 31-24 win at Gardner-Webb.
Southern ConferenceThe Bulldogs have platooned at quarterback between redshirt freshman Jordan Black and junior Dominique Allen, who entered the season as the starter but had to miss the season opener against Mercer due to suspension. Black has filled in well, with 97 yards rushing and three touchdowns, while Allen, a more explosive runner, has 123 yards and a pair of scores in two games.
The Bulldogs also had to deal with a loss in their extended family. Michelle Copeland, the mother of senior linebacker Dondray Copeland, died the morning of Sept. 16. He went on to play the next night against Gardner-Webb and had seven tackles in the team’s third comeback victory in as many weeks.
“When my mom went on life support, I’m pretty sure she knew what was going to happen,” Copeland told the Charleston Post and Courier last Saturday. “I talked to her every day this week, and she told me not to miss any games no matter what happened. She knew the team was my second family, and she had a lot of trust in them.”
The Bulldogs play at Western Carolina on Oct. 1.
ETSU making strides
East Tennessee State won two football games last season. The Buccaneers already have matched that total in 2016.
The Bucs rallied from a 21-3 deficit to win 34-31 over Western Carolina in the Food City Bucs at Bristol game at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The game was played in front of 13,863 fans. While a far cry from the 156,990 at Bristol a week before for Tennessee against Virginia Tech, it was the largest attendance since the re-emergence of the ETSU program.
Cleveland native Austin Herink threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns, earning the honor of SoCon offensive player of the week.
“A lot of teams would have folded when trailing 21-3,” coach Carl Torbush said on Buc Sports Radio on Tuesday. “I’m proud of how the team came back, scored before the half and gained momentum. We did what we needed to do and beat a very good, athletic Western Carolina football team.”
The Bucs were one of six SoCon teams to earn votes in the latest STATS (media) poll. They play at Wofford on Saturday and host UTC next week at Science Hill High School.
Battle-tested Furman
No team in the league will have a tougher four-game stretch to start the season than Furman. The Paladins started the season with FBS eighth-ranked Michigan State (2-0), followed that with FCS 10th-ranked The Citadel (3-0) and third-ranked UTC (3-0) and will make a short trip this week to Coastal Carolina, which is 2-1 and ranked 17th in the FCS despite being in a transition season to the FBS.
The reprieve? Hosting Big South opponent Kennesaw State on Oct. 1.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.