SoCon Sports Report

Twelth-ranked VMI fell behind 21-3 at the half to No. 1 James Madison, but as has done throughout the spring of the 2020-21 season, the Keydets never threw up the white flag, and in fact, would make things interesting before finally falling 31-24 in their first-ever playoff game Saturday afternoon at Bridgeforth Stadium.  With the win, the Dukes extend their season moving on to the FCS quarterfinals where it will host North Dakota at Bridgeforth Stadium next Saturday, while the Southern Conference champion Keydets conclude their 2020-21 campaign with a 6-2 overall record. As heartbreaking as it might have been for VMI player's, fans and coaching staff, what was accomplished will live on in the annals of the Southern Conference history books as one of the more memorable league championship runs by anyone in league history. It was fitting that, in the SoCon first spring football season, the Keydets would end up breaking through and garnering its first-ever FCS national ranking, as we...

VMI wins first SoCon title since 1977/photo courtesy of VMI athletics When we look back on the weird year that was the 2020-21 football season in the Southern Conference, we should all salute the VMI Keydets for accomplishing what virtually no one except the team and coaching staff itself envisioned--A Southern Conference title.  To me, when I think about this championship run for VMI, I think about soccer. Wait, before you stop reading, I am going somewhere with this...Remember back to 2015-16 and virtually every sports fan remembers Leicester City's unreal run to the Premier League title. Though it was Leicester City's first Premiership, and it won't be VMI's first SoCon title, you get the point. No one really saw this coming, and for that, I am pretty sure most of the SoCon not named Mercer or Citadel fans were hoping to see the Keydets get the win over the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon at Foster Stadium. In a season of several firsts for the VMI football progr...

The Citadel 26, Furman 7 In what was the 100th meeting between The Citadel and Furman, the Bulldogs' opportunistic special teams unit blocked a punt, and recovered a Paladin mishap on the ensuing kickoff in the final two minutes of the opening quarter to build a 13-0 lead, and then a ball-control offense and a dominant defense were able to keep the Paladins in check for the remaining three quarters en route to a 26-7 Southern Conference win over their bitter rivals from the Upstate at an overcast Johnson Hagood Stadium. In the past two meetings combined, the Bulldogs have out-scored the Paladins 43-17, and out-gained the Paladins 678-469, including  out-gaining the Paladins 286-254 on Saturday.  The win marked the first time since 2016 that the Bulldogs defeated both Furman and Wofford in the same season.  The Paladins were limited to just 129 rushing yards for the game, with 44 of those yards coming on the final rush of the game by Jeff McLveen.  With the win, the B...

Furman and The Citadel meet for the 100th time Saturday  With Wofford having become the second team to call it a spring season in the SoCon, only two matchups highlight Saturday's SoCon football action, with the first game of the day representing the most-played rivalry in the Southern Conference between Furman and The Citadel in what will mark the centennial meeting between the two bitter rivals.  The second matchup of the day will have Southern Conference title implications on the line, as East Tennessee State visits red-hot Mercer Saturday evening. There was one other note from the SoCon gridiron that was announced on Friday, as Western Carolina, which finished 1-8 during the 2020-21 season, has decided to part ways with head coach Mark Speir. Speir posted a 32-60 record in his nine seasons in Cullowhee, which included a trio of seven-win campaigns. He had the Catamounts on brink of the FCS playoffs on three occasions.  Western Carolina Director of ...

Mercer 26, Furman 14 Freshman quarterback Carter Peevy passed for a school-record 406 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while rushing for another, as Mercer out-gained No. 17/21 Furman 507-243 in total offense en route to a 26-14 Southern Conference win Saturday afternoon at Five Star Stadium. With the win, Mercer kept its faint hopes alive for a Southern Conference title this spring, as the Bears improved to 4-5 in the 2020-21 season, including a 4-2 mark in SoCon play. It was Mercer's third-straight win, including its second over a ranked foe in as many weeks.  Furman saw its faint hopes of a Southern Conference spring title, as well as its FCS playoff hopes come to an end in Saturday's loss, as the Paladins fell to 3-3 overall and in league play in the 2020-21 campaign.  Points were not easy to come by in the opening half of play, however, it was the Bears who got on the board first, putting together one of their most impressive drives of the entire spring...

VMI claimed a 31-24 win at ETSU in OT last season (photo courtesy of VMI athletics) To say it's been an eventful week in Southern Conference football is a bit of an understatement to say the least.  The big news this week is that Chattanooga decided it does not want to complete its spring season, opting out of its remaining three games of the spring due to COVID-related issues.  This has caused some major headaches for the conference office, as the Mocs were in the running for the spring championship, having posted a 3-1 record so far this spring. The Mocs postponed their first game of the spring against VMI, citing COVID-19 as the reason for having to cancel that game. With the Mocs' cancellation of the remainder of the fall season, that means Western Carolina will automatically have an off-week built in for this week. Transfer Portal: We've seen some strange things we aren't used to this spring, however, one thing we haven't been expecting is player'...