Sept. 13, 2008

Ole Miss Game Photo Gallery
Box Score

OXFORD, Miss. - The Samford football team dropped a hard-fought 34-10 decision at Southeastern Conference opponent Ole Miss Saturday night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

"First of all, Ole Miss has a good football team," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said." I didn't know how we would be, but I was proud of our guys. We didn't do what we came over here to do, which was win a football game, but we are growing."

Samford's Dustin Taliaferro completed 16-of-22 passes for 124 yards. Jonathan Lowery caught four passes for 55 yards. Riley Hawkins returned four kicks for 121 yards, including a 52-yard return. Hawkins also scored his first career touchdown on a 13-yard reverse late in the first quarter.

"It felt really good to score, but I knew it wasn't all about me," Hawkins said. "All of the other guys did a good job and they all did their part. We played well today, but it just wasn't enough to win the game."

Defensively, Jeremy Richardson and Ty Levie came up with an interception each. Richardson returned his for 36 yards to set up Samford's touchdown. Richardson left the game after the play with a knee injury and did not return.

For Ole Miss, Jevan Snead completed 13-of-24 passes for 222 yards and two interceptions. Mike Wallace caught four passes for 101 yards.

Ole Miss took the lead on its first drive of the game. The Rebels' Joshua Shene kicked a 33-yard field goal with 4:15 to go in the first quarter to give Ole Miss a 3-0 lead.

Samford took the lead when Hawkins scored on a 13-yard reverse with 1:09 left in the opening quarter. John Paul Fraites added the extra point for a 7-3 Bulldog lead. The score was set up by an interception by Richardson that he returned 36 yards to the Ole Miss 13-yard line.

Ole Miss cut Samford's lead to 7-6 when Shene kicked a 38-yard field goal with 13:03 to go in the second quarter.

The Rebels took the lead when Brandon Bolden scored on a six-yard run with 3:52 to go in the second quarter. Shene's PAT made the score 13-7. Ole Miss made the score 20-7 when Cordera Eason scored on a 12-yard touchdown with 59 seconds remaining in the second quarter and Shene added the PAT.

Ole Miss added a touchdown in the third quarter and another in the fourth to push its lead to 34-7. Samford's Fraites kicked a late 35-yard field goal to make the final score 34-10.

Samford will take the next week off from competition. The Bulldogs will return to action on Sept. 27, when they open Southern Conference play at Elon.