After a rough two game homestand in which the Furman Paladin football team was outscored 69-22 and had trouble holding on to two halftime leads, the ‘Dins look to get back into the win column on the road at Elon.

With the 38-17 homecoming loss to Georgia Southern, Furman fell to 2-6, sealing its fifth losing season in the last 35 years. This speaks to a long record of success, but the short-term results have been frustrating.

However, the Furman/Elon rivalry is younger and has far fewer significant games. For a number of years, Furman would often host Elon early in the season for a tune-up game before the SoCon slate began.

This was before the revitalization of the Elon football program, during which they would join the Southern Conference and soon begin contending significantly in league play.

Elon has won two consecutive close games over the Paladins, both with playoff implications.

In 2010, hosted by Elon, Furman blocked a punt late before a desperation heave fall short 35 yards outside of the end zone.

Fortune was not on the Paladins side that day. Blocked punts prevented Furman from scoring a touchdown that would have helped the Paladins stay in the playoff race that season.

Last year, Furman hosted Elon, needing a win to essentially lock up a play-off berth. Unfortunately, due to a powerful fourth quarter performance by Elon, Furman dropped that one at home by a final score of 41-34.

Needless to say, Furman is definitely looking for revenge as they prepare for the match-up against Elon this year. Furman and Elon both sit at 1-3 in conference.

Elon is 3-4 overall, and a Furman win Saturday would effectively end any playoff hopes the Phoenix bring into the matchup.

Interestingly, the matchup this Saturday provides the opportunity to, in the words of Psychology Professor Dr. Charles Brewer, “dispel a modicum of ignorance.”

For years, there has been a rumor flying around Furman University and the nation about Furman University that our beloved school used to employ the nickname “Christian Knights”, providing an interesting acrostic.

However, in the words of many politicians, “this simply isn’t true.”

In the 1950s and 1960s, Furman’s teams were known by three different names: baseball was known as the Hornets, football as the Purple Hurricane, and basketball as the Paladins.

The three names were put to a vote by the student body. The contemporary Furmanites, obviously a literary and historical bunch, selected “Paladins.” So was our university’s current official mascot and nickname born.

However, unlike the aforementioned rumor about Furman’s mascot and nickname history, Elon does have a “Christian” past.

It is completely true that until the year 2000, when Elon University made the transition to Division I Athletics, Elon was indeed known as the “Fighting Christians.”