Samford Football Dominates The Citadel, 38-3

Saturday, October 29

Charleston, S.C.

1 PM

Samford University

7-1 , 5-0

The Citadel

2-6 , 2-4

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Samford	7	14	10	7	38
The Citadel	0	3	0	0	3

10.29.22 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

CHARLESTON, S.C. – In an overall impressive showing, the 13th-ranked Samford Football team dispatched The Citadel 38-3 on a cloudy October Saturday afternoon in the Lowcountry.

With the victory, Samford moves to 7-1 on the season for the first time since 1992 and 5-0 in Southern Conference play. The 5-0 start is the best league start in program history. With the loss, The Citadel moves to 2-6 on year and 2-4 in SoCon play.

"I'm very excited. In all three phases, I think it was our most complete game of the season," Samford coach Chris Hatcher said. "All in all, a great win. Anytime you can go on the road in this league and have a win like today, it bodes very well for your football team."

Reigning FCS National Offensive Player of the Week Michael Hiers completed 30-of-35 passes for 260 and three scores on the afternoon. Hiers threw his touchdowns to three different receivers.

Led by Kendall Watson, 11 Samford receivers caught a pass against the Citadel. Watson hauled in 10 catches for 113 and a score. The graduate student has caught double-digit passes and a touchdown in three straight games for the first time in his Bulldog career.

D.J. Rias caught 8 passes for 66 yards and a score, while Chandler Smith added eight more receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown. Deuce Flowers tallied the first catch of his young Bulldog career on Saturday.

Jay Stanton rushed for 78 yards on 15 attempts. Jaylan Thomas had Samford's lone score on the ground. Thomas ended the day with 13 carries for 57 yards and the touchdown.

In total, the Samford offense accounted for 403 total yards of offense marking the fifth time this season that the Bulldogs have surpassed 400 yards of offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, Noah Martin led the way with a season-best 12 tackles for the junior. Kourtlan Marsh forced one of the three Citadel fumbles on the day and added nine more tackles.

Joseph Mera got to The Citadel quarterbacks twice to match his season total. Seth Simmer also had a sack on the day.

The Samford defense set the tone early with a fourth-down stop deep in Bulldog territory on The Citadel's first possession of the game. Hiers found Rias eight plays later for a 13-yard touchdown to open the scoring at 7-0.

The Bulldogs went up 14-0 after Watson went untouched on a 23-yard screen play following a Citadel fumble that was picked up by Nathan East.

The Citadel's lone score of the game happened when the home-standing Bulldogs connected on a 56-yard field goal with 6:27 remaining in the first half.

Thomas went up and over the Citadel defense on a one-yard touchdown plunge to make the score 21-3 Samford heading into halftime.

On Samford's second drive of the third quarter, Hiers found Smith in a soft spot of The Citadel zone for a six-yard touchdown and a 28-3 lead.

Zach Williams, the reigning SoCon Special Teams Player of the Week, stayed hot when the senior extended the Samford advantage to 31-3 with a 22-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

The exclamation mark was added to the dominant Bulldog performance when Trey Elston scooped up a Citadel fumble and scampered 53-yards for a touchdown to make the score 38-3 with under two minutes remaining in regulation.

Elston's score was the first Samford defensive of the 2022 season and the first since Midnight Steward took a fumble back 98-yards against The Citadel in 2021.

Saturday's victory is Samford's fourth straight over The Citadel. The Bulldogs from Birmingham have outscored the Bulldogs from Charleston 128-27 since the beginning of the 2021 spring season.

The Citadel's three points on Saturday are the fewest points a SoCon team has scored on Samford since the Bulldogs held Mercer to a field goal in 2017.

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