Note: With today's results Chattanooga has won the 2014 Southern Conference championship and has earned the league's bid to the FCS Playoffs.
Chattanooga 31, Wofford 13
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The drought is over. The Chattanooga Mocs are in the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 1984 after a 31-13 win over Wofford. The Mocs clinch the Southern Conference’s automatic bid as well as the third outright league championship in school history (1979 & 1984).
Chattanooga broke open a close game at the half. The Terriers scored on the game’s third play, a 72-yard run off misdirection by Ray Smith. The Mocs took a 14-13 lead into intermission and scored 17 unanswered points in the second frame to pull away with the win. It was another balanced victory between the offense and defense.
Keon Williams ran for 91 yards on a career-high 27 carries with three touchdowns. He scored on runs of seven, 11 and seven yards to get within one of Gene Roberts’ school record of 28 rushing TDs. He wasn’t alone.
Jacob Huesman completed 12 straight passes at one point in the game before ending up with 250 yards on 26 of 33 passing with a touchdown. His 286 yards of total offense pushed him past Chris Sanders for the school record with 7,382 in just two-plus years.
Defensively, the Mocs allowed 311 yards, 231 coming on the ground. That’s 66 less than the Terriers' average entering the game. Of that 311 yards, 114 came on two plays, a 72-yard run off a reverse by Ray Smith and 42 yards down the right sideline off the option pitch by Lorenzo Long.
Senior All-American Davis Tull helped lead the disruptive Mocs front, and got a half-sack to tie him Josh Jeffries (ASU - 1999-02) for the SoCon record with 36.5 in his career. Fellow senior linebacker Muhasibi Wakeel led all tacklers with 13.
Shafaat had a memorable senior day. He caught a career-high eight passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. Hudson added seven catches for 86 yards.
Smith led all rushers with 102 yards on six carries for the Terriers. Long added 81 yards on 12 rushes with both garnering a score. Wofford managed just 80 yards in the air completing nine of 16 with an interception.
Chattanooga’s defense got great contributions from a number of student-athletes. Wakeel’s 13 stops highlighted a night that included eight tackles for loss by the Mocs. Nakevion Leslie led the team with two-and-a-half TFLs. Lucas Webb had nine tackles and nabbed his fifth interception of the season. Tull had seven tackles, two for loss including the half-sack shared with Keionta Davis.
The Citadel 42, Furman 35 (OT)
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Aaron Miller scored on a two-yard run in the first overtime period and The Citadel defense limited Furman to only one yard on its possession, giving the Bulldogs a 42-35 victory over the Paladins on Homecoming at Johnson Hagood Stadium.
The Citadel (4-6, 2-3 Southern Conference) took advantage of three Furman miscues in the fourth quarter that could have iced the game for the Paladins (2-8, 1-4) and eventually tied it at 35 when Tyler Renew went in from six yards out with 1:34 remaining in regulation.
Miller kept the ball for all but one of The Citadel's seven plays in overtime, starting the drive with a 13-yard run and then converting a fourth down to the Paladin two. After the Bulldogs went in front, PJ Blazejowski rushed for one yard and then misfired on three straight passes to seal the Bulldog victory.
Renew led The Citadel with 103 rushing yards, the second 100-yard game of his career. He was followed in a well-balanced Bulldog ground game by Miller with 91 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 20 in his career, Jake Stenson with 80 and a score and Vinny Miller with 43 yards.
The Bulldogs finished with 407 rushing yards, their third game this season with more than 400, after entering the game ranked second in the nation with an average of 333.7 per game. The Bulldogs played without slot back Cam Jackson, who broke his hand last week at Mercer and is out for the season.
Stenson and Miller also caught touchdown passes from Aaron Miller, who completed 8 of 13 passes for 142 yards. The Citadel finished with 549 yards of total offense to 457 for Furman.
Blazejowski hit on 20 of 29 passes for 307 yards and three touchdowns and also led Furman with 75 rushing yards and a score. Issac Garcia contributed 63 yards and scored once but also had perhaps the most damaging run of the game for the Paladins.
With Furman leading 35-28 and driving for another potential score, Garcia appeared to be heading into the end zone when he was stripped by Julian Baxter at The Citadel two, with the ball rolling out of the end zone for a touchback at the 9:23 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Paladins got the ball back after a Renew fumble near midfield and again were struck by misfortune. A four-yard touchdown run by Garcia was called back by a holding penalty, and Jon Croft Hollingsworth pushed a 30-yard field goal wide right to keep it just a one-score game with 3:57 left.
The Bulldogs then mounted an 80-yard drive highlighted by a 45-yard pass to Jonathan Dorogy to the Furman eight, setting up the Renew game-tying touchdown.
A wild first half ended with The Citadel scoring 15 unanswered points to tie the game at 28. The Paladins regained the lead early in the fourth quarter when Tanner Skogen took a short pass from Blazejowski, split two Bulldog defenders and raced down the Furman sideline for a 65-yard touchdown that put Furman in front 35-28 two minutes into the final quarter.
The teams traded touchdowns on each of their first two possessions. Furman struck quickly when it recovered a Brandon Eakins fumble on the opening kickoff and scored on a 24-yard pass to Jordan Snellings, who finished with game highs of eight catches and 102 yards.
Blazejowski also hit Chad Scott on a 27-yard scoring aerial, while Stenson (15 yards) and Aaron Miller (32) answered with rushing touchdowns for the Bulldogs. A 40-yard gallop by Blazejowski set up a three-yard scoring run by Garcia that had the Paladins ahead 21-13 after the first quarter.
Furman got the ball in great field position after a 13-yard punt by Will Vanvick, and the Paladins covered the distance in only four plays, with Blazejowski scoring from the 12 to make it 28-13 midway through the third quarter.
Stenson and Vinny Miller caught their touchdown passes on the next two Bulldog possessions, with Aaron Miller running in a two-point conversion on the latter score to tie the game at 28 with just 15 seconds left in the half.
Samford 34, Western Carolina 20
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford head football coach Pat Sullivan became the program’s all-time winningest coach with a 34-20 win over Western Carolina Saturday afternoon at Seibert Stadium.
Sullivan has now won 46 games in his time as Samford, breaking the record held by former head coach Terry Bowden. The Bulldogs are now 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Southern Conference play. The win secures the Bulldogs’ fourth-straight winning season, marking the longest streak for Samford since 1999. Western Carolina falls to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in SoCon play.
In the win for Samford, Denzel Williams rushed 27 times for 156 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Eubank completed 15-of-24 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, while Karel Hamilton caught seven passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively for Samford, Justin Cooper had 14 tackles, including 13 solo stops and two tackles for loss. Josh Killett and Josh Kimberlin had an interception each for the Bulldogs. Reece Everett was good on both of his field goal attempts and all four of his extra-point attempts.
For Western Carolina, Troy Mitchell completed 26-of-40 passes for 262 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Mitchell also rushed for two touchdowns. Karnorris Benson caught seven passes for 91 yards, while Darius Ramsey rushed 18 times for 95 yards.
Samford took the lead on its first offensive possession. Eubank connected with Jeremiaha Gates for a 35-yard touchdown to give Samford a 7-0 lead with 8:55 left in the first quarter. The score capped a nine-play, 84-yard drive that took three minutes and 12 seconds off of the clock.
The Bulldogs struck again on their next offensive drive. Williams scored on a seven-yard run to make the score 14-0 with 2:51 left in the first quarter. The scoring drive was eight-plays, 64-yard and lasted two minutes and 55 seconds.
Samford added to its lead again early in the second quarter. Williams scored his second touchdown of the game, this one on a 13-yard run, giving Samford a 21-0 lead with 10:10 left in the quarter. The play capped an eight-play, 71-yard drive that took two minutes and 30 seconds off of the second-quarter clock.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 28-0 when Eubank hit Hamilton for a 37-yard touchdown. The score came with 5:44 left in the second quarter and it capped an eight-play, 79-yard drive that lasted two minutes and 23 seconds.
Western Carolina put its first points on the scoreboard when Mitchell scored on a three-yard run to make the score 28-7 with 2:25 left before halftime. The WCU scoring drive was eight plays, 75 yards and lasted three minutes and 19 seconds.
With 8:31 to go in the third quarter, Reece Everett kicked a 39-yard field goal to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 31-7. WCU’s Spearman Robinson caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Mitchell with 3:34 left in the third quarter. The two-point PAT attempt was no good, making the score 31-13.
In the fourth quarter, Everett kicked a 35-yard field goal with 10:20 left to push the Samford lead to 34-13. Mitchell later scored on a one-yard run with 48 seconds left o make the final score 34-20.
As a team, Samford finished with 461 yards of total offense, with 232 coming through the air and 229 coming on the ground. Western Carolina posted 396 total yards in the game.