GREENVILLE, S.C. — Thursday night was the earliest season opener in the 121-year history of Furman football. But after the first half performance by the Paladins offensively, head coach Clay Hendrix might have wished his team had another week of practice before taking the field against nearby Anderson University.
Early season games often aren’t pretty and the first half was anything but aesthetically pleasing with the game scoreless midway through the second quarter. However, Furman picked it up with a pair of late second quarter touchdowns en route to a 20-3 win over Anderson in the 2026 season opener for both teams.
Despite outgaining the visiting Trojans 451 to 160 in total offense, the first half was 30 minutes of miscues and missed opportunities for the Paladins. Furman head coach Clay Hendrix knows his team has to get better moving forward, but he came away pleased to get a win despite the mistakes.
“Certainly, there’s a lot we have to get better at,” Hendrix said. “Offensively, it will be interesting to watch the tape. We started slow. We also did a poor job of throwing and catching in the first half and had a bunch of good opportunities that we wasted.
“It’s a good place to start as we go forward. I think if we had just played better offensively, if we had taken advantage of more of our opportunities, we would have put more pressure on them but we didn’t. We kept letting them have a little hope because we left points out there. When you get the chance to score points, you have to score points.”
The start of the game wasn’t pretty by either squad. In the first quarter, both teams combined for 94 total yards of offense, 1-for-7 on third down conversions, one missed field goal, a turnover and four punts. New Furman quarterback Jake Garcia was 0-for-3 passing thanks to a pair of drops by the Paladins receivers.
The second quarter didn’t start much better for Furman when Garcia had another pass dropped. But with 7:10 left in the first half, Furman finally found the scoreboard with a 40-yard Nathan Chapman field goal. After a three-and-out on the next drive by the Trojans, Furman used a Garcia 48-yard completion to Daniel Haughton to set up Ben Croasdale’s four-yard TD run on the very next play.
Sophomore CJ Nettles (99 yards rushing), Croasdale (67 yards) and the Furman ground attack led the way with 268 yards.
“I think this (running back) group we have this year is very, very special,” Croasdale said. “We all just compliment each other very well. Any of us can go for over a hundred in any game and it’s just a really talented group.”
The scoring onslaught continued late in the half. Anderson answered the Furman touchdown by putting together its best drive of the night (9 plays, 64 yards), capped by a Ross Burnett 28-yard field goal with 1:16 left in the half.
The Paladins wasted no time, marching 73 yards on nine plays to set up Croasdale’s one-yard TD run on the final play of the opening half, giving Furman a 17-3 lead at the break.
“It was a little frustrating, the points we left out there,” Hendrix said. “I thought we had three really good drives to start the second half, two in the third quarter and we only had three points. I think the pieces are there. I think our group is made of the right stuff and they keep working and getting better.”
One of those key pieces was the play of Garcia. The Michigan transfer accounted for 234 yards of total offense, including 51 yards on the ground. Garcia’s ability to scramble and keep plays alive with his legs was a big boost for Paladins, often lowering his head and shoulder while looking for extra yardage.
Garcia’s threat to make plays with his legs is going to be a bonus in Furman’s back pocket this season, as 2025 starter Trey Hedden was about as mobile as the Statue of Liberty.
“I think Jake, the biggest thing he did was the toughness he showed and his ability to go make plays with his feet,” Hendrix said. “I know he’d like to make a couple more throws and he’s certainly capable as you saw some of the throws he made. He hadn’t played football in two years. I saw that first run he had and he probably hadn’t been tackled in two years because we didn’t tackle our guys at all.”
While the early dropped passes didn’t help the sputtering Furman offense, Garcia’s talented arm strength was on display at times, while shaking off the rust after barely seeing the field at Michigan last season and getting hurt during the 2024 campaign playing for East Carolina.
“If you counted our walk throughs, I think we had 25 practices in August and that’s all he’s been with us,” Hendrix said of Garcia’s limited time with the program. “I thought he was better and better as the game went on. He’s a talented guy and the guys have a lot of confidence in him.”
While the Furman offense had its struggles, the Paladins defense led the way as expected, limiting the Trojans to a paltry six yards rushing and to 2 of 12 of third down conversions. The unit set the tone from the start, forcing an AU fumble on the Trojans’ very first play of the game.
Wingate sophomore transfer Eli Lipscomb, who led Furman with six total tackles (three for a loss), said he knew the Trojans would come in and battle after facing Anderson last season.
“I had already played against Anderson, so I kinda knew they were a physical team,” Lipscomb said. “Most people overlook the Division II teams and I told the team all week that they’re just like us. Collectively as a group, we were just itching to hit and we finally got the chance to.”
The atmosphere at Paladin Stadium was also one of the best in recent memory. Traveling just 35 miles down the road from campus, Anderson filled more than half of the visitors section and brought the energy of their third-year program to Furman.
Former Furman head coach and current Anderson head man Bobby Lamb posted on X after the game: “Wow! What a crowd! Can’t say enough about our Trojan fans…Their support is unmatched!”
Team Statistics
| Game Stats | AU | FUR |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 160 | 451 |
| Pass Yards | 154 | 183 |
| Rushing Yards | 6 | 268 |
| Penalty Yards | 2-18 | 6-65 |
| 1st Downs | 11 | 21 |
| 3rd Downs | 2-13 | 3-13 |
| 4th Downs | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| TOP | 28:51 | 31:09 |
| Scoring Play | Visiting Team Score | Home Team Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd Quarter | |||
 07:10 – FUR – Chapman,Nathan 40 yd field goal 6 plays, 52 yards, TOP 02:23 | 0 | 3 | |
| 03:02 – FUR – Croasdale,Ben 4 yd run (Chapman,Nathan kick), 4 plays, 63 yards, TOP 01:46 | 0 | 10 | |
 01:16 – AU – Burnette,Ross 28 yd field goal 9 plays, 64 yards, TOP 01:46 | 3 | 10 | |
| 00:00 – FUR – Croasdale,Ben 1 yd run (Chapman,Nathan kick), 9 plays, 73 yards, TOP 01:10 | 3 | 17 | |