2009 Scouting Report: Wofford (owner: BullyPulpit)

[BullyPulpit]

I guess I will begin with some background information on the College and the football program.

WOFFORD COLLEGE

Founded: 1854

Location: Spartanburg, SC

Majors: Liberal Arts College

Undergrad Enrollment: 1,350

Mascot: Terriers

Conference: Southern Conference (aka SoCon)

2008 Record: 9-2 (Regular Season), lost in 1st round of I-AA playoffs.

2009 Returning Starters: Total 12 (5 Defense, 4 Offense, 3 Specialists)

I-AA Playoffs: 2008, 2007, 2003 (they were Division II from 1988-1995, NAIA prior to 1988)

Noteworthy:

-3 losses in 2008 were to South Carolina (23-13), Appalachian State (70-24), and James Madison (38-35)

-Have had a winning record for the past 7 seasons, twice winning the SoCon (in which App. St. plays)

-In a bizarre twist, they open the season up against us, then play in week two against Charleston Southern, who then comes to Tampa to play us in week 3.

-Also play I-A Wisconsin in 2009.

-Finished 2008 ranked 8th and 11th in the I-AA polls.

-Florida Connection: 8 players on their roster from Florida (Pace, Mulberry, Monteverde, Vero Beach, Jacksonville, Port Charlotte, Bushnell, and Naples)

[BullyPulpit]

Here is a great link to the Wofford Spring Prospectus that provides 22 pages of insight on the team as it heads into 2009:

http://athletics.wofford.edu/documents/2009/4/9/2009%20Wofford%20Spring%20notes.pdf

Some of the highlights:

Offense:

They run the wishbone, which should be a pretty unique look for our players. As posted above, they only return 4 offensive starters (C, HB, WR, and LG). They lost their starting QB, but with the wishbone they really didn't throw much (130 ypg passing). Wofford averaged 340 ypg on the ground and tallied 48 rushing touchdowns in 12 games last year. They were second in I-AA in rushing and total offense. The OL only gave up 5 sacks in 12 games last season, leading all of I-AA. Their offense averaged 36.5 ppg.

Defense:

They run what they call a Multiple 50 formation. the 50 is a once popular college defense with 5 defensive linemen and 2 linebackers. Also known as the "Oklahoma Defense," it is structurally very similar to the 3-4. In the 50-defense, the team uses a nose tackle (NT), 2 defensive tackles (DTs) lined up over or slightly inside the offensive tackles(OTs), and 2 defensive ends (DEs) lineup over or outside the tight end (TE). It maximizes size along the line of scrimmage and is mostly used only in high school against teams that run the ball a lot.  They return 5 defensive starters (DL, LB, SS, and 2 CBs). Their defense allowed 24.8 ppg. The defense recorded 34 sacks totaling 213 yards lost.

Special Teams:

They return their long snapper, KO specialist, and punter. They only attempted 9 FGs in 2008, converting 7 of them, with a long of 43 yards. They will be starting a RS Fr as PK.

[Brad]

So, who knew Wofford was a Top 10 team?

According to two preseason polls:

AnyGivenSaturday.com Top 25:

1. Richmond (59), 2338

2. Appalachian State (20), 2292

3. Montana (5), 2154

4. Villanova (11), 2152

5. Northern Iowa (2), 2011

6. James Madison (1), 1746

7. Southern Illinois, 1703

8. New Hampshire, 1695

9. Weber State, 1692

10. Elon, 1398

11. Wofford, 1326

12. Cal Poly, 1159

13. William & Mary, 1105

14. Central Arkansas, 1034

15. Maine, 841

16. McNeese State, 687

17. South Carolina State, 617

18. Massachusetts, 602

19. Eastern Washington, 538

20. Delaware, 409

21. South Dakota State, 397

22. Furman, 386

23. Texas State, 323

24. Georgia Southern, 311

25. Montana State, 306

Athlon's FCS Top 25:

1. Appalachian State

2. Richmond

3. Northern Iowa

4. Villanova

5. James Madison

6. Montana

7. Weber State

8. Southern Illinois

9. New Hampshire

10. Wofford

11. William & Mary

12. South Carolina State

13. Jacksonville State

14. Elon

15. Massachusetts

16. Central Arkansas

17. Maine

18. Holy Cross

19. Cal Poly

20. Tennessee-Martin

21. Grambling State

22. Texas State

23. Harvard

24. Georgia Southern

25. Eastern Washington

[Carolina_Bull]

Wofford uses their Wishbone to exploit lack of speed or lack of discipline in its opponents.

They are going to be out of luck because we got the speed. . . . . . . but do we have the discipline?

If we display discipline on D, it'll be a long day for Wofford.  Either way we win.

[lotsofbull99]

Wofford will destroy us!

[Bull Martin]

A 5 D-Linemen front should be an interesting look for our newly constructed O-Line.

[Brad]

Wofford RB Jeremy Marshall out for the season with knee

By Todd Shanesy

todd.shanesy@shj.com

Published: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 4:12 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 4:12 p.m.

Wofford halfback Jeremy Marshall tried to run with hus teammates recently during a voluntary workout, but his injured right knee wouldn’t cooperate.

He stopped right there and unsnapped the bulky brace.

The senior starter will not play this season, head coach Mike Ayers said Tuesday at the Southern Conference preseason teleconference. Marshall suffered a torn ACL last October in a game against Appalachian State and has not recovered enough from surgery to give him a chance to see the field.

Link

[Brad]

Fellow Wofford opponent Wisconsin has a breakdown on the Terriers:

2009 Football season preview: Wofford

Wofford Terriers

2008 overall record: 9-3

Southern Conference record: 7-1 (2nd)

2008 post-season: NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, Lost to James Madison 38-35

All-time series vs. Wisconsin: First meeting

What they did in 2008:

Wofford had a successful 2008 season, finishing second in the Southern Conference. The Terriers enter the 2009 season coming off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history.

The Terriers finished the season with the nation’s second-ranked rushing offense at 339.75 yards per game and the second-ranked total offense in the nation, averaging 467.17 yards. Wofford finished the season with 10 players earning all-conference honors, including offensive tackle Derek Wooten, who was also a 2008 All-American.

There are high expectations for Wofford for the 2009 season as the team was picked to finish second in the Southern Conference behind Appalachian State. Six Terriers earned preseason All-SoCon honors, including two on the first team.

The team returns 45 letterwinners, including four offensive starters, five defensive starters and three specialists. Before the Terriers come to Madison, they will also face South Florida in the season-opener.

Player to watch on offense: Pat Illig, left guard

Pat Illig enters his junior season at Wofford and was named a preseason first-team All-Southern Conference honoree. He started all 12 games in 2008 on an offensive line that only allowed five sacks all season, which was the best in NCAA FCS. He finished third on the team with 117 knockdown blocks on the season, including a season-best 16 knockdowns against Elon. Illig has played in 25 games on the offensive line during his first two seasons.

Player to watch on defense: Mitch Clark, defensive end

Mitch Clark was the other Terrier named to the preseason first-team all-conference list. He enters his senior season after leading the team with 8.0 sacks for a loss of 60 yards in 2008, which ranked 24th in the nation. A first-team all-conference selection in 2008, Clark also had 11.5 TFLs and finished the season with 30 tackles.

Wofford head coach Mike Ayers

Mike Ayers enters his 22nd season with Wofford and is the winningest coach in school history with a record of 141-96-1. He enters his 25th season overall as a collegiate head coach after working at East Tennessee State from 1985-87. He has an overall coaching record of 152-117-2.

Ayers has been honored as the Southern Conference’s Coach of the Year in four of the last eight years, most recently in 2007. Ayers was the 2003 recipient of the Eddie Robinson Award as Division I-AA’s National Coach of the Year and also earned the 2002 Division I-AA National Coach of the Year award from the College Sporting News (I-AA.org) in addition to being the runner-up for the Robinson Award.

After leading Wofford to a 9-3 record and playoff appearance in 2008, Ayers was a finalist for the 2008 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. The team’s 7-1 mark in the Southern Conference was the second-best conference record in school history.

Link

[crabbyterrier]

hey guys, looking forward to coming down to tampa for the game on the 5th! not gonna win, but we will play you very hard. our wingbone exploits our opponent's discipline or lack there of. sometimes their excessive speed causes over-pursuit and our offense just eats it up.

[BullyPulpit]

http://www.goupstate.com/article/20090822/NEWS/908239968/1088/sports?Title=Defense-comes-up-big-for-Wofford-in-scrimmage

Highlights from the article:

Woffrd scrimmaged the other day and the defense came up with 5 interceptions and only allowed one touchdown.

In what could make for an interesting wrinkle to our game with them, they struggled with penalties at the scrimmage, with 15 total and 8 called in the first 17 snaps.

They apparently have their own uncertainty surrounding the kicking game, with 5 kickers battling for FG duties.