The ETSU football team has defeated Furman University three times in the Memorial Center in the past five years, and on Saturday the Bucs hope to use that record for another victory over the Paladins. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on Comcast Sports-South.
“In order for us to win, we have to play our best game,” ETSU head coach Paul Hamilton said. “Watching Furman play, you realize that they’re playing as well as any team in I-AA.
“We’ve been fortunate at home. The kids play hard at home.”
The Bucs came up short last year, falling 31-6 in Greenville, S.C. But in 2000, the Bucs came from behind to dismount the Paladins 23-21.
“We’ve gotten some breaks against Furman, we got lucky against them one time,” Hamilton said. “Against Georgia Southern last year, we had some breaks.”
Furman head coach Bobby Lamb said playing the Bucs at home hasn’t always been tough for the Paladins. Before ETSU’s recent three-game win streak, Furman was 8-1 in the Dome.
This year, however Lamb believes his Paladins may face a tough contest on Saturday.
“Going up there is a great challenge,” Lamb said. “We’ve lost three very close games up there and I really believe that it’s because East Tennessee has out-executed us. People like to make light of The Dome, but East Tennessee State has played very well at home.”
The Bucs’ offense got a boost from their 31-15 win over Elon University Saturday. QB Jatavis Sanders connected with Cecil Moore for four touchdowns. Sanders finished the day, completing 17 of 29 passes for 287 yards through the air.
“Sanders did a nice job throwing the ball,” Hamilton said. “He read the coverages and put the ball between those coverages.
“We’ve been a good team and we’ve had some bounces go our way. That’s been a real factor.”
ETSU’s defense also had a good showing against Elon. The Bucs had nine sacks and Justin Reinier and Lamar Beam each had four sacks. Freshman Primus Glover also recorded his first interception of his ETSU career to go along with two pick-offs from Montreal Harkley.
“Lamar caused a lot of havoc,” Hamilton said. “He’s been working real hard to be the kind of football player we thought he could be.”
Furman is coming off a 37-10 win over The Citadel. Running back, Lamar Rembert, finished with a game-high 87 yards on five carries as Furman piled up 345 yards on the ground and five touchdowns on the way to 508 yards in total offense. The week before that, Furman gave up a 16-15 loss to Appalchian State.
“I salute our kids, they prepared very well (for The Citadel),” Lamb said. “As a staff, we were concerned about the first part of the game and the kids did what we expected of them. I’m very proud of the way the kids responded to what happened a week ago.”
The race for the Southern Conference title is beginning to get close. Georgia Southern currently has the lead at 4-1. Three teams are tied for second place at 3-1 – Furman, Appalachian State and Wofford. ETSU is third, with an even 2-2 record, followed by VMI (2-3).
“Our players understand the league race is pretty much open, especially when you see every team has one conference loss,” Hamilton said. “We have to come ready to play every week.”
Injuries will present a problem for the Bucs with cornerback Tony Tiller’s listed as doubtful after an altercation Saturday which resulted in him having a bottle broke over his head.
With Tiller’s status in question, the Bucs will have some trouble as they are also without Reinier, who suffered a broken leg against Elon and Marco Bryant, who has been out since their second game.

Author