GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Samford football team used a strong second half to earn a 38-25 Southern Conference road win at Furman Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium. The win was the third-straight victory for Samford, and the Bulldogs improve to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in SoCon play. Furman falls to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.
Devlin Hodges led the Samford offense, completing 40-of-52 passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns.
Kelvin McKnight had seven catches for 106 yards, while
Jai'Rus Creamer caught eight passes for 103 yards and one touchdown.
Chris Shelling also caught a touchdown pass for the Bulldogs.
Ahmad Gooden led the defense, finishing with nine tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. He also made the play of the game for Samford when he returned a Furman fumble 58 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
William Bryant,
Aaron Harris and
Tre'Shun Floyd had eight tackles each. For Furman, Darren Grainger completed 4-of-10 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. The Paladin defense was led by Elijah McKoy with 11 tackles and an interception. Jordan Willis had 10 tackles for Furman. Samford put the first points on the scoreboard on the opening drive of the game when
Mitchell Fineran kicked a 46-yard field goal to give Samford a 3-0 lead with 12:45 left in the first quarter. Furman's Grayson Atkins tied the score at 3-3 with a 27-yard field goal with 8:14 left in the period. Samford's
DeMarcus Ware later scored on a one-yard run to give the Bulldogs a 10-3 lead with 4:49 left in the first quarter. Furman's Atkins provided all of the scoring in the second quarter. He made kicks from 50, 51 and 53 yards, with the 53-yarder coming on the final play of the quarter, to give Furman a 12-10 advantage heading into the locker room at halftime. Furman's Grainger hit Thomas Gordon for a 77-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter, giving the Paladins a 19-10 lead with 10:35 left in the quarter. Gooden then turned the game around in Samford's favor when he picked up a fumble and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 19-17 with 8:57 to go in the third quarter. Samford took the lead for good when Hodges hit Shelling for a nine-yard touchdown to make the score 24-19 with 5:48 to go in the third quarter. Hodges later scored on a seven-yard run to push the lead to 31-19 with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter. Hodges hit Creamer for a 30-yard score with 13:17 left in the game, pushing the lead to 38-19. Furman's JeMar Lincoln hit Avery Armstrong for a five-yard touchdown with 18 seconds to go, and the PAT was no good, making the final score 38-25. Samford will take the next week off from competition. The Bulldogs will host Wofford on Saturday, Nov. 3 for Samford's homecoming game. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from Seibert Stadium.
POST-GAME NOTES
Devlin Hodges' 402 passing yards made him the Southern Conference's all-time leader in career passing yards. He now has 13,377 Passing yards in his career, breaking the old record of 13,264, set by Scott Riddle of Elon from 2007-10.
Hodges also became the SoCon's and FCS's all-time leader in career completions. He now has 1,198 completions in his career, breaking the old SoCon record of 1,168 set by Riddle, and the old FCS record of 1,184, set by Jeremy Moses of Stephen F. Austin from 2007-10.
Hodges had his 27 career 300-plus yard passing game and his 10 400-plus yard passing game, extending SoCon records in both categories.
Hodges also set the SoCon record of passing yards over a three-game period. He has passed for 1,437 yards in the last three games, breaking the old record of 1,300 set by Samford's
Andy Summerlin in 2013.
Kelvin McKnight became Samford's all-time leader in career receptions. He now has 283 receptions in his Samford career, breaking the previous record of 279 set by
Karel Hamilton from 2013-16. McKnight's 106 receiving yards mark his seventh game of over 100 yards receiving.
Jai'Rus Creamer's 103 receiving yards gave him his second 100-yard receiving game of his career.
Ahmad Gooden scored his second career touchdown on his 58-yard fumble return in the third quarter, turning the game around for Samford.
Samford scored on its opening drive for the sixth time in the team's eight games so far this season.
