Aside from playing in front of the home crowd in their next game against McNeese State, there will be one major difference.
Quarterback Armanti Edwards, who suffered a foot injury doing yard work in the fall, will be on the field.
“The doctors and our trainers released him to play (on Monday), and he felt that himself,” said ASU coach Jerry Moore over the phone Tuesday. “Three or four days ago he didn’t feel like he could run on it. It’s amazing how that skin (heals) itself like that, but he’ll play Saturday.”
There has been a lot of confusion about whether or not Edwards would play at all this season, but although he did not start practicing again until the week before the season opener, his foot appears to be in playing condition. It’s the rest of his body that concerns Moore.
“People say, ‘Well if he can play (now) he could have played Saturday.’ But Thursday he didn’t feel like he could play, and he certainly hasn’t played that much,” Moore said. “He had a good practice (Monday), and he’s got three good days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We’re more concerned with his conditioning right now than his foot.”
Depending on what kind of shape Edwards is in, Moore says sophomore quarterback Travaris Cadet could see some time on the field as well. Cadet went 7-for-9 for 55 yards and rushed for another 51 in the season opener while splitting time with fellow sophomore QB DeAndre Presley.
The Cowboys (1-0) enter the contest coming off a 27-24 win over Henderson State.
SoCon opener
The Southern Conference season will officially get underway Saturday when the Furman Paladins (1-0) travel to Chattanooga (1-0) for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
Furman beat Presbyterian 45-21 Saturday, while the Mocs broke a 10-game losing streak with a 30-13 victory over Glenville State.
It was a breath fresh air for first-year UTC coach Russ Heusman, but he knows his team has a long way to go.
“We had a 10-game losing streak going here, and it was great to get a win,” he said. “They haven’t had a chance to celebrate in the locker room in a while now, and I thought that was great for our guys. I don’t know if we played great. I don’t think that we did. Offensively we played as well as we had to with the vertical passing game, but we didn’t run the ball very good. Obviously we are going to have to play a ton, ton, ton better if we are going to have a chance to win this week against a good Furman team.”
Furman coach Bobby Lamb has a long history with Heusman.
“Russ Heusman and I go way back,” Lamb said. “He was the old film coach at William and Mary and I was the film coach at Furman back when it was 16mm, so we’ll have a lot to talk about out there at midfield Saturday.
“Back when I played (at Furman) in the early 80’s, Chattanooga was very, very good. As a matter of fact, they won the conference in ’84. They had some great defenses playing at old Chamberlain Field. It looks like Russ has some energy going there. He kind of brought back some traditions they had at Chattanooga, and he and his staff will do great job. They’ve got the right man in place.”
Oh so close
The Samford Bulldogs (0-1) made a splash in the SoCon their first season in 2008 with a big win over Georgia Southern and close losses to Appalachian State,Furman and Elon.
They almost got a win Saturday against FBS opponent Central Florida in a 28-24 loss in which they led by three in the fourth quarter.
“They were a bunch of disappointed guys,” said Samford coach Pat Sullivan. “They thought they were going to win the football game. They worked hard all summer and kind of pointed to it, but we pointed out after the game that it’s just one of 11.
“I thought all those guys played with a consistency and an effort that really surprised me.”
A long way from home
With a team full of sophomores and freshmen, the Georgia Southern Eagles (1-0) have a lot of kids on the team who haven’t ever been on an airplane.
That may be a problem on Saturday’s trip to South Dakota State (0-0).
“We have a lot of guys that haven’t flown before. It’ll be about a three-hour flight for us, and like I told them, after practice tonight I could get them a bus ticket,” joked Hatcher. “They can leave about midnight tonight and they’d probably get there about the same time we did Friday afternoon. I’d have the busses swing by the station and pick them up. But we’re going to travel well. We take a lot of pride in playing well on the road, and the past couple years we’ve been very good playing at someone else’s place.”
Hopefully for Hatcher, it will be the last trip up there.
“We’ve played them at home I know twice, and this will be our second return trip up there, and then hopefully we’ll get out of that series,” he said.
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.
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