Samford Football Outlasts Furman in SoCon Shootout

Saturday, October 1

Greenville, SC

1 PM

Samford University

4-1 , 2-0

Furman

3-2 , 1-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Samford	0	20	14	0	34
Furman	10	7	0	10	27

Photo by: Chase Cochran|Samford Athletics

Samford Football Outlasts Furman in SoCon Shootout

10.1.22 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREENVILLE, S.C. – As the calendar turned to October, the No. 16 Samford Football team kept their winning ways going as the Bulldogs held on for a 34-27 on the road victory at Southern Conference foe Furman.

With the win, Samford improves to 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in SoCon Play. The 4-1 mark is the best start for the Bulldogs since 2016 when they started 6-1. Furman falls to 3-2 and 1-1 in the league.

"I am extremely excited, of course, to beat a team like Furman at their place is a very special feeling," Samford coach Chris Hatcher said. "I thought they are probably the best team, outside of Georgia, that we've played this year.

Senior running back Jaylan Thomas played hero for Samford on Saturday by scoring three times on five rushing attempts for 104 yards. Thomas scampered for touchdowns of 28, 14 and 44 yards.

Reigning SoCon Offensive Player of the Week, Michael Hiers completed 29 passes to eight different Bulldogs recivers for 228 yards and two scores. Hiers also rushed 13 times for 19 yards including a handful of first down conversations.

Chandler Smith paced the Samford receiving corps with 83 yards on 11 catches. Jay Stanton and JR Tran-Reno each hauled in a touchdown pass in the victory.

Nathan East played himself into the SoCon Player of the Week discussion with his best game of the season. The graduate student linebacker paced the Bulldog defense with 10 tackles, two forced fumbles, two quarterback hurries, a pass break up and a sack.

Ty Hardimon and Seth Simmer each added nine more tackles, while Drew Mims recorded a sack and recovered a fumble.

Furman jumped out to a 10-0 lead after the opening 15 minutes before Hiers found Stanton streaking down the Samford sideline for the first Samford touchdown of the day to make it 10-6 Furman after a missed extra point.

The Bulldogs took the lead for good when Thomas cut through the Paladin defense for a 28-yard touchdown to give Samford a 13-10 advantage with 7:05 left in the first half following a Furman fumble at midfield.

Thomas found paydirt again with a 14-yard sprint to push the Bulldog lead to 20-10 with 2:29 before the half.

After Furman scored a touchdown before the first half expired, Thomas once again answered the bell with his third and final score of the game. The 44-yarder made it 27-17 Bulldgos in the opening moments of the third quarter.

What proved to be the game-winning touchdown was scored by Tran-Reno from six yards out. Hiers' second passing touchdown of the day gave Samford a 34-17 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.

After making it a 34-27 game with just over two minutes left in regulation, Simmer's sack on the opening play of the Paladin drive proved to be the final nail in the coffin to seal the 34-17 victory for Samford Bulldogs.

"Defensively, we are playing really well especially down in the red zone," Hatcher said. "Offensively, we're making plays, but we are very inconsistent. Then at the end we just played good complementary ball."

Samford returns to Seibert Stadium on Oct. 8 for a showdown with the Wofford Terriers at 12 p.m. CT on ESPN+. Tickets can be purchased at SamfordTickets.com.

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