Note: The following was written by Scott Keeler, who worked as a reporter at the Greenville News for more than 25 years. Keeler can be found on Twitter @Scott_Keeler
Welcome to the in-season portion of “Keeler’s Corner,” a monthly recap of each Southern Conference team - in order of the SoCon standings. While Wofford is still alive in the FCS playoffs and The Citadel has a rivalry makeup game Thursday, this will be the final edition of the “Corner” this season.
ETSU (8-4, 6-2 SoCon)
Even though ETSU suffered its first home loss of the season in the regular-season finale to Samford, the Bucs took care of enough business earlier this season to earn a share of their first Southern Conference championship.
ETSU first-year coach Randy Sanders swept SoCon Coach of the Year honors by both the league’s coaches and media. Sanders guided the Bucs back to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 1996. That was the culmination of a remarkable turnaround for ETSU, which went 4-7 overall and 2-6 in the SoCon last season and was picked to finish eighth in the league this year.
The magical season for the Bucs ended with a loss at eighth-ranked Jacksonville State last Saturday in the opening round of the playoffs. After winning all six of its league games by three points or less, Saturday marked ETSU’s first single-digit loss as it fell 34-27. The Bucs, who led 20-10 at the half, appeared to be going in to tie the game in the final minutes before a fumble at the goal line was recovered by Jacksonville State.
ETSU put a league-best 14 players on the Coaches’ All-SoCon teams and 11 on the Media’s All-SoCon squad. That included SoCon Freshman of the Year and first-team All-SoCon running back Quay Holmes, who rushed for 928 yards, had 34 catches for 279 yards, averaged 27.3 yards per kick return and scored 15 touchdowns.
The Bucs’ turnaround this season was based by an outstanding defense led by lineman Nasir Player, linebacker Dylan Weigle and defensive back Tyree Robinson, who had a SoCon-best six interceptions.
MVP: Quarterback Austin Herink. There are plenty of candidates who earned All-SoCon accolades this season, but my vote goes for someone who didn’t. Without Herink coming off the bench to rally ETSU from a 27-6 deficit to a 29-27 win over Furman on Sept. 22, its season could’ve gone vastly differently. The senior finished his career second in ETSU history in completions, third in passing yards and total offense, and fifth in passing touchdowns.
FURMAN (6-4, 6-2)
After starting the season 0-3 overall and 0-1 in SoCon play, Furman won six of its last seven games to earn a share of the SoCon championship. In the 97-year history of the league, no team has won more football titles than the Paladins’ 14.
Furman clinched the SoCon crown with a thrilling 35-30 win at Mercer in the regular-season finale. Harris Roberts’ career-high fifth touchdown pass of the day went for 11 yards to Jake Walker midway through the fourth quarter for the go-ahead score.
That euphoric feeling faded the next day when it was revealed that Furman didn’t make the FCS playoff field. In the three-way tiebreaker for the league’s automatic bid, it came down to points allowed in SoCon games. Wofford allowed 175, Furman allowed 189 and ETSU allowed 217.
Furman didn’t make the FCS playoffs despite finishing with a higher Sagarin rating than six playoffs teams, including four that received at-large bids. The only other SoCon champion to not make the playoffs was Chattanooga in 2013. Coincidentally, both those teams beat the league’s automatic bid winner as Furman defeated Wofford this season and Chattanooga beat Furman in 2013.
In his only season of significant playing time, Roberts overcame a broken thumb in the preseason and a concussion suffered early in Furman’s only loss over its last seven games to lead the Paladins’ charge. The senior completed 68.8 percent of his passes, had 11 touchdowns and two interceptions, and helped Furman finish fifth in the FCS in passing efficiency (165.86).
MVP: Bandit Adrian Hope. While Roberts got the offense going after recovering from his early injury and first-team All-SoCon kicker Grayson Atkins led the special teams, Hope sparked the defense’s turnaround. The freshman capped the Mercer game with a sack on the final play, thus not allowing the chance for a Hail Mary heave to the end zone. It was his Division I-best 15th sack of the season, which ranks as the third-highest single-season total in school history. He also finished second in Division I with five forced fumbles.
WOFFORD (9-3, 6-2)
Wofford celebrated its third consecutive trip to the FCS playoffs with its fourth consecutive home playoff win Saturday at Gibbs Stadium. Luke Carter kicked four field goals to help the Terriers post a 19-7 win over Elon, which was eliminated from the opening round by a former SoCon rival for the second year in a row.
One week earlier, Wofford got to celebrate earning a share of its sixth SoCon championship. While the Terriers were finishing up the regular season with a nonconference win over Presbyterian, ETSU’s loss at Samford clinched Wofford’s piece of the title pie. Once Furman allowed 17 points to Mercer later that same day, the Terriers’ automatic bid to the playoffs was sealed.
Seeing as how the “fewest points allowed in SoCon games” part of the autobid tiebreaker came into play this season, defense was obviously a huge part of Wofford’s run to the title. Led by lineman Miles Brown, who earned All-SoCon honors for the fourth time including first-team honors for the third consecutive year, the Terriers ranked first in the SoCon in total defense, scoring defense and rushing defense.
Brown was one of a school-record 11 Terriers to earn All-SoCon honors. That includes consensus first-team running back Andre Stoddard, who leads Wofford with 912 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns.
December game to watch: at Kennesaw State, Dec. 1. Hey, if you’re still playing games the following month of this column, this feature stays. Obviously, Wofford hopes to make this a multiple-choice decision as time moves on, but first things first is a trip to fourth-seeded Kennesaw State this Saturday in round two of the playoffs. This could be one of the shortest games of the year time-wise and a dream matchup for fans who enjoy watching teams run the ball. Among scholarship FCS programs, these are the No. 1 (Kennesaw State - 373.9 yards per game) and No. 2 (Wofford - 331.5) rushing teams in the country.
MVP: Offensive lineman Justus Basinger. Let’s show a little love for a typically unheralded position here. Basinger was Wofford’s other consensus first-team All-SoCon selection and the junior is part of an offensive front that paves the way for all those rushing yards. While Stoddard’s 5.9 yards per carry average is outstanding, it only ranks sixth-best amongst Wofford backs with at least 21 rushing attempts this season. Basinger and fellow All-SoCon linemen Michael Ralph, Blake Jeresaty and Josh Burger have helped the following backs average at least six yards per carry: Ryan Lovelace (12.9), D’mauriae VanCleave (9.0), Lennox McAfee (7.6), Nathan Walker (7.4) and Blake Morgan (6.5).
SAMFORD (6-5, 5-3)
While Furman would love to have a couple of plays from its loss at ETSU back this season, no team can think “what could’ve been” quite like Samford can. The Bulldogs finished in fourth place in the SoCon with the dubious - and downright bizarre - distinction of having defeated all three teams ahead of them in the standings. The fourth-place finish came thanks to losses to all three teams that finished right behind in a tie for fifth place.
Five turnovers sank Samford’s hopes of an upset win at Florida State on Sept. 10, which started a four-game losing streak. That included a pair of SoCon losses for the preseason favorite to win the league.
Samford turned things around with a four-game winning streak, capped by wins over Furman and Wofford. That gave the Bulldogs a direct path to storm all the way back and win the SoCon title and earn the autobid to the playoffs. That path was derailed in the next-to-last week of the regular season in Charleston, though, when Samford saw a 21-0 lead slip away as The Citadel rallied for a 42-27 win.
The Bulldogs closed out the year with a 38-27 win at ETSU to salvage a winning season. It’s Samford’s eighth consecutive winning season, which is the longest streak in program history.
Wide receiver Kelvin McKnight, who earned All-SoCon first team honors, had 100 receptions for 1,453 yards and nine touchdowns this season. The senior leaves Samford as the school’s all-time leader in receptions (313), receiving yards (4,144) and receiving touchdowns (32).
MVP: Quarterback Devlin Hodges. While Samford is loaded with talent, picking the most decorated player in school history isn’t hard. Hodges wrapped up his incredible career as the FCS’ all-time passing leader with 14,584 yards, surpassing the previous mark of 14,496 set by Alcorn State’s Steve McNair. He also is the FCS’ all-time leader in completions with 1,198. Hodges broke his previous school record for passing yards in a single season this year with 4,283. He earned SoCon Offensive Player of the Year honors for the third consecutive season.
THE CITADEL (4-6, 4-4)
While the Bulldogs are assured of finishing with a losing record for the second consecutive year, they appear to be leaving plenty to build off of with a strong November. The Citadel opened the month with a trip to Western Carolina, where it played without five suspended players. After falling behind 24-10 at the half, the Bulldogs shut out Western’s powerful offense in the second half to rally for a 38-24 win.
The next week, The Citadel fell behind Samford’s powerful offense 21-0 in the second quarter before rallying for its first home win of the season, 42-27.
The following week, the Bulldogs sent shockwaves throughout college football with its first-half performance at FBS No. 1-ranked Alabama. The Citadel was tied with the Tide 10-10 at the half, before falling 50-17. The Bulldogs’ 275 rushing yards were the most allowed by Alabama in four seasons. Freshman Dante Smith rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns to join Ezekiel Elliott, Darren McFadden and Todd Gurley as the only players ever to rush for 100 yards against a Nick Saban-coached Alabama team.
The Citadel wraps up the 2018 season Thursday as it hosts Charleston Southern at 7 p.m. This game was originally scheduled for earlier this season before being postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Florence. The Bulldogs will try to end their four-game losing streak in the series.
MVP: Quarterback Brandon Rainey. Picking a player who’s seen action in just three games this season might be a reach, but Rainey’s undoubtedly been Citadel’s MVP in November. Since being inserted into the lineup for the Western Carolina game, the sophomore has run wild. He rushed for 188 yards against Western, 217 against Samford and 79 against Alabama. He also completed 5-of-7 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown against Samford.
MERCER (5-6, 4-4)
Given the ups and downs that Mercer went through in the 2018 season, it’s no surprise the Bears finished .500 in SoCon play and one game below overall. Mercer had one two-game winning streak and one two-game losing streak this season, but never any more in either direction.
The Bears opened November with a 21-18 loss to ETSU. The next week, Mercer traveled to Chattanooga, where it put up just 149 yards of total offense but somehow scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a 13-9 win. Stephen Houzah had a 73-yard kick return to the 19 to set up the first touchdown and a 91-yard kick return to the 1-yard line to set up the game-winner.
That left a home game against coach Bobby Lamb’s former school, Furman, as a chance for Mercer to secure its first winning season since joining the SoCon. The Bears rallied from a 29-17 third-quarter deficit to take a 30-29 lead in the fourth quarter before falling, 35-30.
Injuries at the quarterback position plagued Mercer this season. After freshman Robert Riddle was lost for the year with a broken collarbone in September, sophomore Kaelan Riley - the 2017 SoCon Freshman of the Year - played well before injuries sidelined him, as well.
MVP: Running back Tyray Devezin. After Tee Mitchell became the school’s all-time leading rusher on Oct. 20 against Western Carolina, he suffered an injury the following week against Wofford. But then the Bears unleashed a rising star in Devezin, who ended up second in the SoCon in rushing with 949 yards. In the season finale, Devezin looked like Herschel Walker running over defenders to a career-high 185-yard rushing day. Devezin, who also caught five passes for 50 yards and a touchdown that day, was just the second running back to run for more than 100 yards against Furman this season.
CHATTANOOGA (6-5, 4-4)
For the first two months of the season, the second-biggest SoCon turnaround after ETSU was at Chattanooga. By the end of October, the Mocs had doubled their season win total from 2017 and had hopes of possibly earning their first trip back to the FCS playoffs since 2015. But when the calendar turned colder, so did Chattanooga. The Mocs went 0-3 and scored a total of just 28 points in November.
In a season of peculiar stats in the SoCon, here was Chattanooga’s: In FCS games this year, the Mocs went 4-1 in games in which they allowed at least 20 points. They went 2-3 in games in which they allowed 17 or fewer. That included November losses of 16-10 at Furman at 13-9 to Mercer to sink Chattanooga’s SoCon title and postseason hopes.
The Mocs finished last in the SoCon in scoring offense despite solid play from junior quarterback Nick Tiano. The Mississippi State transfer threw for 2,710 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Sophomore Bryce Nunnelly earned first-team All-SoCon honors after finishing fifth in the FCS with 1,237 yards receiving on 79 catches, including seven touchdowns. After Chattanooga had just five plays of more than 40 yards as a team in 2017, Nunnelly had 11 receptions of at least 40 yards this season.
MVP: Defensive lineman Isaiah Mack. Mack earned SoCon Defensive Player of the Year honors after capping off a tremendous career in style. Mack was second in the SoCon with 8.5 sacks, 7.5 of which came over the final five weeks of the season. Mack finished with 78 tackles, including 11.5 for loss this year.
WESTERN CAROLINA (3-8, 1-7)
Western Carolina got off to its best start in 42 years this season at 3-0. But as the season wore on, the hits kept piling up on dynamic quarterback Tyrie Adams and the Catamounts couldn’t survive. While they Catamounts were potent enough to put a scare in each of the three SoCon tri-champions along the way, they ultimately ended with an eight-game losing skid.
After a 44-38 loss at Furman in September and arguably the most agonizing loss of the season for any SoCon team, 45-43 in triple overtime against ETSU in October, WCU jumped out to a 20-7 lead on Wofford on Nov. 10. However, the Terriers rallied for a 38-23 win.
Linebacker Mitchell Chancey earned first-team All-SoCon honors with a SoCon-best 135 tackles, the fourth-highest single-season total in school history.
Senior punter Ian Berryman, a three-time first-team All-SoCon pick, finished his 206-punt career with a school-record average of 43.8 yards per punt.
MVP: Quarterback Tyrie Adams. Adams overcame injuries in 2018 for another eye-popping season. On the final play of the year, in a 49-26 loss at North Carolina, Adams ran for an 18-yard gain to become just the 10th player in FCS history to throw for 2,000 yards (2,417) and rush for 1,000 (1,006) in the same season. Adams led the SoCon in rushing and had 10 touchdowns on the ground. He completed 62.7 percent of his passes and threw 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. Adams’ 3,423 yards of total offense is a new school single-season record. He will enter the 2019 season just eight yards shy of breaking the school’s career record for total offense.
VMI (1-10, 0-8)
While VMI made big strides offensively in 2018, it didn’t register into any wins over Division I competition. After snapping a 25-game losing streak with a 20-11 win over Div. II Tusculum on Nov. 3, the Keydets closed out the season with lopsided losses to Furman and FBS member Old Dominion.
While VMI will carry a 26-game losing streak against Div. I opponents into the 2019 season, it will be returning some key players from this season.
Sophomore wide receiver Kris Thornton, a second-team All-SoCon selection, broke the school record for receptions with 87. He finished third in the SoCon with 998 yards receiving and had four touchdowns. Junior Javeon Lara, who was fourth in the SoCon with 814 yards receiving, averaged 15.4 yards per catch and scored seven touchdowns.
MVP: Quarterback Reece Udinski. Udinski finished second in the SoCon in passing with a single-season school record of 3,066 yards. He tied the school record for touchdown passes in a season with 20.