It was an exciting time in the Southern Conference this week with The Citadel sewing up the conference auto bid to the FCS playoffs, Wofford staying on track for a chance at an at large playoff berth, Western Carolina gaining its first conference victory of the year, and Mercer winning to try and find a long shot playoff berth.
#5 The Citadel 37 #17 Samford 34 OT (box score)
The magic continues.
That about sums up The Citadel’s season so far. Well, maybe “defenses win championships” could be said as well.
This game had a lot riding on the outcome. The Samford Bulldogs needed to win in order to keep their Southern Conference championship hopes alive. The Citadel Bulldogs needed the win in order to gain the SOCON autobid and at least a share of the championship.
It was a loud and excited Homecoming crowd in Johnson Hagood Stadium on Saturday. It was pretty much a sellout of the available seats. A good chunk of the stadium’s visitors side is still off limits. 15,015 came out to see two great teams battle it out.
The biggest question for the Charleston Bulldog fans was whether or not the Cadets would be able to stop the prolific gains that Samford’s Devlin Hodges has managed all year. On Samford’s first drive it looked like he was in the groove. But after two first downs, The Citadel held and Samford punted away. The Citadel then went on one of its classic drives. They marched 87 yards in 16 plays and chewed up 7:46 of clock time to take the early lead, 7-0.
It didn’t take Samford long to respond. They ran one of their classic drives and scored on a 9 play, 75 yard drive that only took 2:30. Actually that was a little long for Samford. Coming into this game, they have had 25 scoring drives of under two minutes.
On The Citadel’s next drive, they went 47 yards only to give it up on downs when they didn’t make a 4th and 2 on the Samford 28. The teams then traded three and outs and Samford did something they normally don’t do. After a short pass, Hodges’ legs took one 57 yards for a score and Samford was up 14-7. Most of the day The Citadel’s defense did a good job covering Samford exceptional receivers. Occasionally they did it at the expense of covering Hodges running.
But The Citadel would answer fairly quickly themselves. They went on a 4 play 83 yard drive. It included a 24 yard pass completion to Cam Jackson followed up with a 55 yard TD scamper by none other than Tyler Renew.
After a good kickoff return, Samford drove 24 yards only to be stopped at The Citadel 34. Not wanting to pass up a scoring opportunity Samford elected to attempt a 51 yard field goal. They got it to go up 17-14 with about 5 minutes to go in the half.
After a holding penalty put The Citadel in the hole on their next drive, they were again forced to punt. Samford made another quick drive only to be stopped again at The Citadel 27. Another field goal made it 20-14 with 46 seconds to go in the first half. The Citadel still threatened and made it all the way to the Samford 39, but they ran out of time and Samford took their 6 point lead into half.
The Citadel took the second half kickoff and made good progress initially. But Dominique Allen made a bad pitch to Reggie Williams and even though Williams fell on it, their first drive was over. Allen made two bad pitches in the game, but each time the ball bounced The Citadel’s way.
The Citadel held Samford after a couple first downs on their next drive and got the ball back at their 22 yard line. 5 plays and 78 yards later The Citadel went up 21-20. Tyler Renew scored the TD with another long run, this time for 58 yards.
When The Citadel forced Samford to punt again on their next possession, it appeared that the momentum was definitely swinging toward the Cadets. Tyler Renew was the “go to” running back on the Cadet’s next drive and he ground out the yards. He had a big day and was called on 45 times to run the ball. The drive ended when he fumbled. He jumped on it though and The Citadel had to settle for a 48 yard field goal to make it 24-20 with about 13 minutes to go in the game.
Samford took their next drive the distance although pressure on Hodges was increasing. They went on a 10 play 75 yard drive to make it 27-24. They scored on an 18 yard pass from Hodges to E. Obajimi. They also benefited from a pass interference call on the drive.
The Citadel made a little headway on their next drive, but faced a 4th and 1 from their own 43 with just 7:43 to go in the game. Samford stuffed Renew’s attempt at the first down and they took over on downs. At this point, the momentum was definitely swinging back to Samford. So much so, it took only 5 pass completions for Samford to score again. Their drive took 1:11. With the score now 34-24 and only 6:09 to go, it looked bleak for the Charleston Bulldogs.
The Citadel has faced being down late in games many times this year, and it showed. They remained poised and went to work. Quickly faced with a 3rd and 7 on their 31 yard line, the next play for The Citadel would change the entire game. Cam Jackson took one around the outside on the left and he bobbed, weaved, back tracked, and spun his way for a 63 yard run to the Samford 6. The Citadel scored a couple plays later to make it 34-31, but the entire team was fired up as a result. The drive took just 1:45 off the clock.
With only 4:24 to go, The Citadel’s defense would need to stop Hodges. It did. The Citadel’s defense registered two tackles for loss and Hodges threw an incompletion on 3rd down. After Samford punted, the Citadel got the ball back at their 42 with 2:54 to go. They made a methodical drive of 12 plays to get to the Samford 17 with 3 seconds remaining. A quick field goal by Cody Clark tied it up and the game went to OT.
At this point the stadium was going wild. The Citadel went on offense first and Samford’s defense was not going to make it easy. The Citadel only got to the 20 and was forced to kick a field goal, which they made. Samford then started their OT possession. Hodges connected on a short pass and then threw an incompletion. At this point the crowd made their presence felt and Samford suffered a false start penalty. After another incompletion Samford attempted a field goal on a 4th and 12 from the 27. The 44 yard kick was clean, had the distance, and then plowed smack into the right upright and bounced back. Game over.
For The Citadel fans, this victory is just more proof that their Bulldogs must have a destiny this year. Now at 9-0, this is hands down the greatest season in The Citadel’s history. This victory, over a top 25 team, was one the best ever as well.
Tyler Renew had a big day. It was almost a record breaker. He carried the ball 45 times for 285 yards and three TDs. The Citadel’s record is 286 yards rushing in a game. Even so, I am sure he is satisfied with the victory and the best day of his career. Cam Jackson also finished with 100 yards on the ground and 58 receiving. Overall, The Citadel ran for 463 yards and passed for 79.
Samford’s Devlin Hodges also had a big day. He went 35/46 for 280 with 2 TDs and no interceptions. Now that is well below his 364 yard average coming into this game, but he did have a good day running gaining 94 yards. Those yards came on both scrambles and designed runs. The Citadel held the other Samford runners to -1 yards rushing. The Citadel’s defense did sack him 3 times though. Hodges hit Kelvin McKnight 9 times for 118 yards and Kerel Hamilton 13 times for 85 yards and E Obajimi 8 times for 54 yards.
Samford had 4 players record double digit tackles led by Ahmad Gooden with 15. The Citadel’s Tevin Floyd led the cadets with 12 tackles including 2 for losses. Kailik Williams had 10 tackles.
It was a pretty clean game with just 4 penalties for Samford and 3 for The Citadel. There were no turnovers in the game, which is just what you would expect from two top 25 teams. The Citadel did put it on the ground three times, but recovered all three. One of the key stats has to be the time of possession. The Citadel again dominated it with a 38:17 possession time compared to Samford’s 21:43. Hodges can’t score if he is sitting on the bench.
With the win, The Citadel clinches at least a share of the Southern Conference title even with a loss at VMI next week. They will obviously win it outright with a victory next week. They did clinch the automatic bid for the FCS playoff by virtue of their head to head victory over Chattanooga earlier in the season.
Samford is still in good shape for the playoffs. Now with three losses, if they win out to be 8-3, their losses will be to top ten FCS teams Chattanooga and The Citadel and FBS Miss St. They also have a good win over a now top ten Central Arkansas.
Next week The Citadel travels to Lexington, Virginia to meet the Keydets of VMI in the 72nd edition of the Military Classic of the South. Samford returns home to face the Mercer Bears.
Wofford 34 Furman 27 (box score)
The Wofford Terriers needed to win bad in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. On the road against a revitalized Furman Paladin squad was a tall order. Wofford had not won at Furman in a while.
After trading three and outs, Furman struck first. They went on a 6 play, 62 yard drive and scored on a 1 yard run by Antonio Wilcox. Paladin QB Reese Hannon was in form and went 2/3 through the air including 17 and 45 yard tosses on this drive. Furman missed the XP to go up 6-0.
The Terrier’s wheels almost came off on Wofford’s next possession. On their first play they fumbled and the Paladins recovered. But Wofford’s defense stood up and stuffed them on three plays and Furman was forced to kick a field goal, which the Terriers blocked.
Furman then answered on defense and forced a three and out on the Terriers. Furman drove well on their next possession and looked to be threatening when the Wofford defense answered with a forced fumble and recovered at their 30.
It didn’t take Wofford long to score. After two short gains, Brandon Goodson, the Wofford QB, torn off a 64 yard TD run to make it 7-6 Wofford. After holding the Paladins to a three and out, Wofford began to drive again. The Paladins finally held them at the Furman 37 and Wofford decided to try a 54 yard field goal. They made it to go up 10-6.
After the stubborn Terrier defense held Furman to another three and out, Wofford drove well, but on a 2nd and 4 in Furman territory, the Paladins forced another fumble and returned it to midfield.
This is just what Furman needed and they scored after a 10 play, 49 yard drive. The TD came on a 10 yard pass from Hannon to Duncan Fletcher. With Furman now leading 13-10 with 1:25 to go in the half, Wofford answered quickly and scored in four plays. The drive was highlighted by a 48 rush by Will Gay. The TD was a 14 yard pass from Goodson to Chandler Gouger. It was Goodson’s first passing TD of the year.
With little time left in the half, Furman fumbled on their next possession at their own 40. With only three seconds remaining in the half, most teams would probably just try a long toss into the end zone. Not Wofford. They thought they had a shot with their field goal kicker. After a bunch of timeouts David Marvin attempted the 57 yarder…and he made it to put Wofford up 20-13 going in to the half. A kicker like that is pretty handy.
After forcing Wofford to punt on their first possession of the third quarter, Furman finally got going. Hannon went 7/8 passing including a 14 yard TD pass on their first drive of the second half. The 10 play drive went 93 yards and tied the game up at 20.
After a holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff return put the Terriers on their own 14 to start their next drive, it got even worse for Wofford. After a three and out, the punt snap went awry and Furman recovered on the Wofford 5. The Paladins scored on one running play to go up 27-20 with about 4 minutes to go in the third quarter.
Wofford obviously needed to answer before Furman put them in a deeper hole. Their drive did not start well. On their first series they found themselves with a 4th and 3 on their own 32. They went for it. Goodson got it, and more, with a 9 yard run. With a new set of downs, it did not get any easier and they faced another 4th and 3 at their own 48. This time Goodson passed it for 19 yards. It only took one more play for Wofford to score as Goodson ran it in untouched on a 33 yard sprint to tie it up at 27.
Furman answered with a 65 yard drive to get to the Wofford 9 yard line in 10 plays. However, on a first and goal Hannon tossed an interception which Wofford returned to their 35 yard line.
After trading three and outs, Wofford began a drive with 4:39 to go in the game. They made good progress and the drive was highlighted by a 33 yard pass by Goodson to Will Gay to the Furman 7. Lorenzo Long punched it in the next play and Wofford took the lead, 34-27, with only 49 seconds remaining.
Furman attempted to put something together, but they only made it to midfield when they fumbled with no time remaining.
The yards gained by the two teams were surprisingly even. 372 yards for Wofford and 370 yards for Furman. Wofford totaled 305 on the ground led by Brandon Goodson with 121. He also got 66 passing yards. Furman’s Hannon passed for 305 yards going 27/40 with 2 TDs and 1 interception. Furman also ran for 65.
The difference in TOP was just 4 seconds in favor of Furman. Turnovers obviously had an impact in the game with each team giving up three fumbles. Furman’s 4th quarter interception in the end zone also sealed their fate.
With the win, Wofford’s playoff hopes remain alive with a 6-3 record. They face Chattanooga next week in a critical game for them. Furman, now 2-7, hosts Western Carolina next week.
Western Carolina 32 VMI 29 (box score)
If you were Western Carolina still hunting for your first conference victory of the year, this game began the best way possible. On the opening kickoff they forced a fumble and got a quick scoop and score for 6.
It didn’t get any better for VMI. Once they finally got the ball after the next kickoff, Austin Coulling, starting QB in place of an injured AL Cobb, threw an interception on his first pass. VMI had already entered Catamount territory on three runs for 37 yards when he threw it.
WCU began to drive after the interception with some success, but were stopped at the VMI 44 and had to punt. After the teams traded three punts, VMI made a drive to the WCU 20 yard line but were forced to try a field goal. WCU blocked it. The shakeup following WCU letting go of their defensive coordinator a week ago must have lit a fire under the Catamount defense.
After WCU began their drive after the blocked field goal, Tyrie Adams, the WCU QB, threw a quick interception deep in his own territory. After another good defensive stop by the Cats, VMI got a mulligan on their blocked field goal. This time they make it and WCU now led 7-3.
After a three and out by WCU, VMI suffered another interception thrown by Coulling. It was deep ball, but WCU returned it 65 yards to the VMI 11. Three quick rushes by WCU put them up 14-3 with 9:27 to go in the half.
VMI answered though when they went on an 8 play, 67 yard drive and scored on a 8 yard run by Tyain Smith to make it 14-9 WCU. VMI had the XP blocked.
With only 5:31 to go in the half, the Cats then executed a near perfect drive. They drove 78 yards on 14, mostly rushing, plays in 5:28 to score again. They faced only 2 third downs on the drive. Western took their 21-9 lead into the half.
The second half started much better for the Keydets. After WCU began to drive, VMI forced a fumble after a long WCU pass into VMI territory and returned it to Western 37 yard line. VMI scored quickly in 5 plays to cut Westerns lead to 21-15. VMI inexplicitly had their XP blocked again. WCU’s special teams were on fire.
On their ensuing possession, WCU drove fairly well, but were stopped at the VMI 34 and the Cats had to try and make a 50 yard field goal. They got it to make it 24-15.
After the teams traded 4 punts to take them into the fourth quarter, VMI had a good punt return to the WCU 47, Coulling must have settled down a bit because he tossed one for a 46 yards completion. VMI punched it in on the next play to make it 24-21. This time, VMI elected to go for two instead an XP. And they made it on a Coulling to Ryan Swingle pass to cut the difference to 1 at 24-23.
VMI held The Catamounts on their next possession after a couple first downs and got the ball back at their own 8 yard line. VMI drove the length of the field in 13 plays with Coulling going 5/6 through the air. Daz Palmer also ran quite a bit including a 2 yard TD run. This score put VMI up 29-24 and VMI obviously elected to go for two again. They didn’t make it this time.
With 4:56 to go in the game, Western Carolina needed to make a long drive. They were quickly faced with a 4 and 1 at their own 30. They went for it and got stuffed by the Keydets. Now with victory in their grasp, the Keydets needed to only score a TD to ice it or a field goal to make it tough on Western. They drove to the WCU 16 and faced a 4th and 7. They elected to go for a field goal to make it an 8 point game. Need I say it? The kicked was blocked by Western for a touchback with 2:22 to go.
Needing to go 80 yards, Tyrie Adams quickly threw a completion for 7 yards, then an incompletion, then a three yard completion. WCU had a first down, but with no timeouts remaining he needed to throw a long ball. He made another 10 yard toss. Then he connected on a 53 yarder for the score. The drive took 1:34. Now down 32-29, with only 48 seconds to go, VMI looked for a miracle of their own. Coulling got them to the WCU 32 aided by a Western personal foul. Unfortunately for the Keydets, he tossed his third interception of the day and WCU got their conference victory.
Overall the Keydets totaled 453 yards of offense. In his first career start Coulling went 18/25 for 261 yards with 1 TD and the three interceptions. Daz Palmer led VMI on the ground with 136 yards. They had 192 overall on the ground. The biggest stat was obviously the 4 blocked kicks, 2 XPs and 2 field goals. VMI had it sewn up had these been made.
Western Carolina’s Adams went 21/31 for 207 yards with one TD and 1 interception. Detrez Newsome had 111 on the ground. The Catamounts had 146 total rushing yards. Again, the victory has to belong to the Catamounts special teams. The opening kickoff forced fumble and scoop and score, plus the blocked kicks resulted in a huge point swing in their favor.
With the win, Western Carolina moves to 1-6 in the SOCON and 2-7 overall. They travel to Greenville next week to meet Furman. VMI hosts The Citadel in the Military Classic of the South with the victor claiming the coveted Silver Shako.
Mercer 21 ETSU 13 (box score)
It should have been an easy victory for the Mercer Bears on their Homecoming. Mercer has had their share of close games in their three year tenure in the SOCON. Coming into this game Mercer had played 13 SOCON games that were decided by 1 score or less in three years. They went 4-9 in those games. For games decided by more than one score they are 1-5 during that same time. What does all this mean? One, they are at least competitive. Two, the range in quality of the teams that they have kept it close with is pretty wide. They play good teams close and bad teams close. In other words they certainly play to their competition. They played The Citadel close for three years in a row. They beat UTC last year. They also needed OT to beat VMI this year and beat Tenn Tech and Austin Peay close even though they dominated those games. They are somewhat of an enigma at times.
This game was no different. The ETSU Bucs got the ball first and drove to midfield before the Bear’s defense held them and forced a punt. John Russ, Mercer’s Sr QB, had some problems getting started and Mercer went three and out on their first possession. The Bucs made a little progress on their next drive, but were stopped on a 4th and 1 try at the Mercer 38.
After taking over on downs, Mercer drove all the way to the ETSU 23 in four plays, but Russ fumbled and it was ETSU ball again. After trading 3 three and outs, Mercer finally got it in gear.
The Bears went on an 11 play, 47 yard drive to go up 7-0 with 10:23 to go in the second quarter. Mercer scored on 10 yard pass from Russ to Robert Brown.
After trading punts again, ETSU finally made some headway following a bad punt by Mercer that went out of bounds at the Mercer 44. The Bucs drove all the way to the 1 before the Bears stopped them. ETSU tried a 19 yard field goal, but missed it.
After trading 2 more three and outs, Mercer ran a few plays, but ran out of time and went into half with a 7-0 lead.
It started to come apart for Mercer on their first drive of the second half. After driving to the ETSU 41, John Russ fumble yet again and ETSU recovered at their own 44 yard line. ETSU made a pretty good drive which included a 26 yard completion by Austin Herink on a 3rd and 4 play. They made it all the way down to the Mercer 16 before the Bears defense stopped them. ETSU made another field goal try and made it this time to cut Mercer’s lead to 7-3.
After ETSU held the Bears to another three and out, they began their drive at their own 31 yard line. Herink connected with Drake Powell on the first play for 69 yards pass and a TD to make it 10-7 half way through the third quarter.
The Buc’s defense was having a pretty good day and they held Mercer to another three and out on their next possession. After Mercer punted, the ETSU offense got their game legs as well and they drove fairly well. Herink went 6/6 passing on the drive, but Mercer’s defense finally held at their 15 yard line and forced ETSU to kick a field goal to make it 13-7 ETSU. ETSU also fumble on the drive but recovered it.
At this point Mercer knew they were letting it get away from them and answered right back. They started a drive at the end of third quarter that went 9 plays and 73 yards to score on a 33 yard pass from John Russ to Marquise Irvin to make it 14-13.
ETSU began their next drive pretty well but stalled near midfield and were forced to punt. With 11:21 to go in the game Mercer went on a back breaking drive of 14 plays and 85 yards to score again. The drive took 6:21 off the clock. With only 5 minutes to go, ETSU need a sustained scoring drive to tie it up. Mercer’s defense stuffed them and even got a sack on third down. ETSU punted it back at 3:23 and relied on their defense to get it back. They did force a three and out yet again, but Mercer still chewed up a little over a minute.
ETSU got it back with 2:16 to go and actually made good headway. They ended up at the Mercer 32 with 16 seconds remaining when Herink tossed one to the goal line while under extreme pressure. A Mercer defender hit it up in the air to make it a jump ball and luckily for Mercer, one their defenders caught it. Mercer survived another one score game.
ETSU outgained Mercer 372 to 367. Herink went a very respectable 25/37 for 267 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception. ETSU only rushed for 105 yards.
Mercer’s Sr QB John Russ went 17/29 and 172 yards with 3 TDs and no interceptions. He also had 91 rushing yards, but his two fumbles allowed ETSU to keep it close.
ETSU’s defense had a good day and had 3 players record double digit tackles with Ryan Powers leading at 12. They also sacked Russ twice.
Mercer’s leading tackler was Eric Jackson with 11. They got to the ETSU QB 3 times and recorded 4 other tackles for loss.
Besides the fumbles, one more thing that hurt Mercer was penalties, as expected. They lead the SOCON in penalties. They had 11 in this game for 92 yards.
With the win Mercer is now 5-4. While they might rate a closer look for the playoffs if they win out to be 7-4, it will be a tough road considering the rest of the field this year. They face Samford next week on the road. ETSU gets NAIA Cumberland, Tenn next week at home.
Power Rankings
1 – The Citadel
2 – Chattanooga
3 – Samford
4 – Wofford
5 – Mercer
6 – Furman
7 – WCU
8 – VMI
9 – ETSU