Chattanooga 45, Furman 19
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Jacob Huesman passed for 257 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 103 yards and a pair of scores to lead Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) ninth-ranked Chattanooga to a 45-19 Southern Conference victory over Furman in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium.
Chattanooga (9-3, 7-0 SoCon), which wrapped up the SoCon championship two weeks ago with a victory over Wofford, claimed its sixth straight win and will head into FCS playoff action as the league’s automatic qualifier.
After opening the season with two victories, Furman (3-9, 2-5 SoCon) fell for the ninth time in its last 10 games and for the third straight time to the Mocs.
Huesman’s touchdown passes covered 17 and 8 yards, and the junior signal caller added scoring runs of one and 10 yards, finishing the contest with 360 yards in total offense.
Keon Williams ran for 97 yards and two scores for UTC, which piled up 499 yards in balanced offense. The Mocs ran for 242 yards and passed for 257.
Furman finished with 325 total yards led by quarterback P.J. Blazejowski. who passed for 127 yards and ran for 67 yards and a score.
Huesman gave Chattanooga a lead on the game’s first possession when he bulled his way into the end zone on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1-yard line to cap an 11-play, 59-yard drive.
After Furman tied it 7-7 on a Blazejowski one-yard run, Chattanooga’s defense stopped Furman on a fourth-and-one play at the UTC 39, and the Mocs followed with a six-play, 60-yard scoring drive that Huesman converted into a 14-7 lead with a 10-yard scoring run.
A Henrique Ribeiro 39-yard field goal stretched the advantage to 17-7, and Chattanooga made it 24-7 just before intermission by covering nine plays in 71 yards in just under two minutes. Huseman’s 17-yard strike to tight end Faysal Shafaat completed the drive.
The Mocs took total control in the third quarter on a Williams 32-yard scoring burst up the middle for a 31-7 lead.
The two teams traded touchdowns the rest of the way with Furman senior running back Hank McCloud scoring on runs of four and two yards in his final game.
McCloud finished his career ranked 10th on Furman’s rushing ledger with 2,395 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns.
Muhasibi Wakeel led all tacklers with 10 stops.
The Citadel 45, VMI 25
LEXINGTON, Va. - The Citadel rode a combined 38 points in the second and third quarters and 100-yard rushing days from Isiaha Smith and Jake Stenson to a 45-25 win over VMI to retain possession of the Silver Shako for another year.
The Bulldogs (5-7, 3-4 SoCon) captured the Military Classic of the South for the eighth straight time dating back to the 2003 season and improved to 24-10-1 over the Keydets (2-10, 1-6) since the Silver Shako was introduced in 1976.
Smith rushed for 134 yards and Stenson added 120 with both scoring a touchdown. Tyler Renew, Aaron Miller and Reggie Williams also found the end zone and joined Vinny Miller to combine for 143 yards as the Bulldogs churned out 397 rushing yards on the day.
The performances of Smith and Stenson gave the Bulldogs five games this season and eight over the past two years with at least two runners with 100 yards in the same game. The Citadel came up three yards shy of its fourth 400-yard rushing game of the year.
Aaron Miller also connected on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Alex Glover to ignite a 21-point second quarter that gave the Bulldogs a 24-13 lead at halftime. The touchdown was the first of Glover's career while Miller, in his final game at The Citadel, finished with 10 scoring aerials.
Miller finished the year with 1,080 yards, tied for the 10th-highest season total in school history and third among quarterbacks. He was also attempting to become the first Bulldog to rush for and throw for 1,000 yards in the same season but came up 68 passing yards shy, completing 3 of 7 attempts for 91 yards.
As a team, The Citadel rushed for 4,166 yards and averaged 347.2 per game, with the latter figure ranking second in the Bulldog record book. In addition to Miller's final total, which included 13 touchdowns, Renew ran for 761 yards, Stenson totaled 597 and Smith compiled 591 and combined for 14 scoring runs.
VMI quarterback Al Cobb clinched the SoCon passing title, completing 27 of 43 passes for 396 yards and two touchdowns. Cobb threw for 2,971 and 20 scores in his redshirt freshman season for the Keydets. Aaron Sanders and Deon Watts both caught seven passes against the Bulldogs, with Sanders accounting for 165 yards and a score.
Watts paced VMI on the ground with 52 yards and scored twice.
Justin Oxendine and Mitchell Jeter came up with sacks of Cobb, and Diggs had a team-high nine tackles. Oxendine's sack gave him a team-best 7.5 on the year (1.5 more than Jeter), and he wrapped up his career with 13 quarterback takedowns, tied for seventh in school history.
The Bulldogs never trailed in the game, although they did see a 21-0 lead trimmed to 24-19 at the outset of the third quarter. Aaron Miller scored from the one following a VMI fumble, and then hit Glover on a fourth down play on the first snap of the second quarter to give The Citadel a 14-0 lead.
The Keydets were stopped at midfield attempting to go for it on fourth down, and the Bulldogs quickly added to their lead. One run each by Aaron and Vinny Miller covered a total of 43 yards, and Renew capped the drive with a 23-yard touchdown. A touchdown run by Watts and scoring pass to Dane Forlines made it 21-13 before Eric Goins made it an 11-point game at halftime with a 30-yard field goal.
VMI struck quickly in the third quarter, going 73 yards on only four plays, and made it 24-19 on a 28-yard scoring hookup from Cobb to Sanders. But that was as close as the Keydets would get as The Citadel scored the next 21 points – all in a span of eight minutes in the third quarter.
Stenson ran for 24 yards to set up his own eight-yard touchdown scamper, and Joe Crochet forced a fumble that Malik Diggs recovered at the VMI 20 on the ensuing kickoff. Williams, a converted defensive back seeing action in only his second game of the year, scored from the seven to make it 38-19.
VMI reached the Bulldog 43 but turned it over on downs, and The Citadel marched 72 yards highlighted by a 31-yard gallop by Stenson and a 33-yard pass from Miller to Jorian Jordan. Smith then scored from 16 yards out to make it a comfortable working margin again.
Wofford 34, Mercer 6
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Mercer University football team closed the book on its 2014 season, falling to Wofford, 34-6, at Gibbs Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Bears wrap up their first season in the Southern Conference with a 6-6 overall record and a 1-6 mark in league play.
Mercer, who came into the game as the SoCon’s leader in scoring and total offense, could not overcome an early deficit, suffering its worst loss of the year after only a combined 31-point difference in the team’s previous five conference defeats.
The Bears were held to a season-low 151 yards of total offense, as the league’s top rushing defense controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the game. Meanwhile, Wofford’s triple-option attack posted 374 yards on the ground en route to 405 yards of total offense.
Zach Jackson led the defense, which held the Terriers to just 111 yards in the second half, with nine tackles and an interception. Kyle Williams added nine solo tackles to finish his freshman campaign, while Tripp Patterson tallied seven stops on the day. Tyler Ward notched six tackles to reach triple digits and close out the year with a career-best 104 stops this season.
John Russ finished 11-of-25 for 85 yards, while also tallying the Bears’ only score on a three-yard quarterback keeper. Tee Mitchell paced the rushing attack with 45 yards on just five carries to go along with a team-leading three receptions for 24 yards.
Mercer opened the game with three consecutive three-and-outs and Wofford took advantage of the stalled offensive attack. The Terriers held a 20-0 lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter thanks to a trio of physical drives, as they piled up 195 yards rushing on their first three possessions.
The Bears moved into Wofford territory for the first time during their fourth possession, but the drive would fall short after John Russ’ pass on fourth down fell incomplete. The Terriers responded with another scoring drive, heading into halftime with a 27-0 lead after Lorenzo Long’s 22-yard touchdown run.
Wofford added to its lead late in the third quarter, after capitalizing on a short field thanks to a Mercer turnover. Long punched in his fourth touchdown, a two-yard scamper, to cap of a 23-yard drive for a 34-0 lead.
The Bears, who forced two turnovers in the contest, took advantage of a short field as well, as Corey Lockett helped start the team’s only scoring drive with an interception at midfield. Mercer was on the scoreboard nine plays later, as Russ put the finishing touches on a 47-yard drive with his rushing touchdown from three yards out.
Mercer could not pull any closer though and saw its second season since reinstating the football program come to an end.
Alabama 48, Western Carolina 14
Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Junior quarterback Troy Mitchell set a Western Carolina school record for total yards in a single-season, finishing with 204 combined yards on Saturday afternoon to eclipse the 3,000-yard plateau as the Catamounts closed the regular season with a 48-14 road loss at No. 1 Alabama.
Mitchell, who finished the year with 3,096 total yards, delivered two first half touchdown passes to redshirt sophomore Spearman Robinson as the Catamounts from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) played the top-ranked Crimson Tide close midway through the second quarter.
Robinson’s second TD reception pulled WCU to within three points at 17-14, but the Crimson Tide scored 31-unanswered points to pull away for a Homecoming victory in front of 101,325 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama running back Derrick Henry rushed for 92 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while adding a third score on a nine-yard, second-quarter reception for Alabama. Quarterback Blake Sims tossed a pair of scoring strikes among his 17 completions for 222 yards to pace the Crimson Tide (10-1). Receiver Chris Black led 11 different Alabama receivers with six catches for 101 yards.
Mitchell completed 23-of-39 passes for 221 yards and the two touchdowns to Robinson who hauled in five passes for 45 total yards. Redshirt junior Karnorris Benson finished with 118 yards on a career-high tying nine receptions, closing the season with back-to-back 100-yard receiving outings – the sixth of his career.
Originally from Mobile, Ala., before moving to Houston, Texas, Mitchell guided Western Carolina (7-5) down the field on the team’s opening possession, capping the nine-play, 75-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown pass to Robinson to give the Catamounts the early lead. It was the second-time this season that WCU had led an FBS school, also leading in the season-opener at South Florida.
WCU’s opening-drive touchdown was the first allowed by the Alabama defense this season.
The Catamount lead lasted for nearly five minutes before the Crimson Tide got on the board as Blake Sims completed a TD pass to Cam Sims from four-yards out to knot the game at seven apiece. Alabama would eventually take the lead for what proved to be for good with four minutes remaining in the second quarter as Gunnar Raborn connected on a 20-yard field goal to make it 10-7 Tide.
Trailing by 10, 17-7, WCU capitalized on one of the two Alabama turnovers. Senior linebacker Christon Gill punched the football loose from Henry’s grip with John McBeth pouncing on the ball giving the Catamount offense possession at the Tide 12-yard line. On the ensuing play, Mitchell found Robinson for their second scoring connection of the game, pulling the Catamounts back to within three, 17-14.
Gill and sophomore DB Trey Morgan combined for a game-high 10 stops with Morgan coming up with his team-leading sixth interception of the season, snapping Blake Sims’ streak of 158 pass attempts without an interception – the third-longest streak in Alabama school history. Fred Payne added nine stops for the WCU defense.
Western Carolina closed the 2014 season with seven victories, the most for the Purple & Gold since 2001. The Catamounts also secured a share of second place in the Southern Conference, the highest finish for WCU since 1986. Saturday’s game was the final game for eight Catamount seniors – RB Shaun Warren, LB Christon Gill, QB Garrett Brown, DB Terrance Green, DB Ace Clark, PK Richard Sigmon, LB K.P. Hicks and WR Jeff Moore.
Auburn 31, Samford 7
AUBURN, Ala. – The Samford football team dropped a 31-7 decision at 14th-ranked Auburn in the Bulldogs’ 2014 season finale Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
In the loss for Samford offensively, quarterback Michael Eubank completed 15-of-29 passes for 125 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Karel Hamilton caught five passes for 67 yards. Tony Philpot caught one pass for a seven-yard touchdown from Eubank. Denzel Williams rushed 15 times for 41 yards.
Defensively for Samford, Jamerson Blount and Trey Wesley had nine tackles each. Wesley also had a forced fumble. James Bradberry had an interception to go along with his five tackles. On special teams, Greg Peranich averaged 41.2 yards on six punts.
For Auburn, Cameron Artis-Payne rushed 24 times for 129 yards and a touchdown. Nick Marshall completed 11-of-18 passes for 171 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Quan Bray caught four passes for 56 yards.
The Auburn defense was led by Kris Frost with 13 tackles and an interception. Jonathan Mincy also had an interception, to go along with his six tackles.
The teams fought through a scoreless first quarter. In the first period, the defenses dominated as the two teams combined for just 85 yards (52 for Samford and 33 for Auburn).
Samford put the first points on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter. Eubank hit Philpot for a seven-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 advantage with 7:49 to go in the second quarter.
Auburn answered on its next possession. Bray scored on a 23-yard run with 6:50 remaining in the quarter to knot the score at 7-7. The Tigers took the lead for good when Daniel Carlson kicked a 29-yard field goal to make the score 10-7 with 2:24 left before halftime.
The Tigers added one final score before halftime. Artis-Payne scored on a seven-yard run to push Auburn’s lead to 17-7 with 39 seconds left in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Auburn’s Corey Grant scored on a 13-yard run with 8:36 left in the quarter to make the score 24-7. In the fourth quarter, Roc Thomas scored on a one-yard run with 8:44 to go in the game to make the final score 31-7.
As a team, Samford finished with 238 yards of total offense, compared to 386 total yards for Auburn. Samford had the ball for 30:03, with Auburn holding the ball for 29:57.