RICHMOND, Ky. - Terry Enis rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown and Travis Turner rushed for another as No. 23 Eastern Kentucky defeated Samford 33-11 in NCAA Division I-AA football Saturday.
Samford (4-5) held its own against the nationally ranked Colonels, as Eastern Kentucky (7-2) trailed 3-0 early and led 6-3 at halftime on a pair of Adam Smith field goals. The Bulldogs continued to fight in the second half, as Robert Evans scored on a blocked field goal return to bring Samford to within one score, 19-11, with five minutes remaining in the game. EKU responded with a 3-play scoring drive that covered 76 yards and Sunsett Graham returned an interception 12 yards with :25 seconds remaining for the final Colonel score.
EKU tallied 414 total yards of offense and 17 first downs while holding Samford to 220 yards and 10 first downs. Junior receiver Aryvia Holmes caught nine passes for 111 yards, his fifth 100-yard game of the season, and Ramon Nelson completed 13 of 31 passes for 139 yards with two interceptions to lead the Bulldogs. EKU played without its top running back C.J. Hudson, who was held out of the game by EKU coaches.
The loss ended Samford's winning streak at three games Interim Head Coach Bill Gray.
"I thought we would have a chance to win if we played well, but we didn't put our best foot forward," said Gray. "In fact, today we learned that we can't make mistakes against a good ball club, and we made enough mistakes to last a lifetime. Those mistakes, particularly in the kicking game, put our defense behind the eight-ball a large part of the day.
"Offensively we didn't make the plays that we've made in the past few weeks, but I thought we played with a lot of fight, particularly late in the game." Gray continued. "We can certainly play well against the OVC. I'm anxious to see how we respond now, because this is the first time I've had to go into the locker room on the short end of the stick."
Mistakes were indeed costly for the Bulldogs, as Samford committed two turnovers and missed several big play opportunities offensively. The punting unit was also self-defeating for the Bulldogs, recording punts of four and eight yards and finishing the game with an average of 17.6 per kick.
After Samford's Chip Walters kicked a 27-yard field for a 3-0 lead, EKU's Adam Smith responded with a 36-yarder to even the game in the first quarter. Smith added a 21-yarder in the second quarter for a 6-3 EKU halftime lead.
The Colonels owned the third period, using an opportune recovery of its own fumble for a score and Turner's 4-yard run to build a 19-3 lead. Samford's Tony Tucker blocked a field goal attempt and Robert Evans returned it for a score with 5:00 minutes remaining in the fourth to cut the lead to 19-11, but EKU responded with Enis' 26-yard scoring run. Sunsett Graham returned a errant Nelson pass 12 yards with :25 left in the game for the 33-11 final score.
The Colonels held Jason Ogletree to 70 yards on 19 carries, keeping him from his third consecutive 100-yard game. Jonathan Clark led the Bulldogs with 12 stops and Derrick Wheeler added 11 in a solid Samford defensive effort. Wheeler now leads the Bulldogs with 94 tackles and Clark is fourth on the team with 74. Holmes recorded his fifth 100-yard game of the season and currently has 63 receptions for 866 yards and seven touchdowns for the season.
Samford plays at VMI at Noon (CST) next Saturday in its final game of the season.
