No. 6 Samford Cages Southeastern Louisiana With Overtime Classic To Advance In FCS Playoffs

Saturday, December 3

Birmingham, Ala.

2 PM

Samford University

11-1

Southeastern Louisiana

9-4

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Final F
S.E. Louisiana	14	0	14	14	0	42
Samford	14	7	7	14	6	48

No. 6 Samford Cages Southeastern Louisiana With Overtime Classic To Advance In FCS Playoffs

12.3.22 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the second time in as many games, Samford quarterback Quincy Crittendon scored a walk-off touchdown in overtime to give the sixth-ranked Bulldogs a 48-42 win over the Southeastern Louisiana Lions.

With the win, Samford moves to 11-1 on the season and advances to the Quarterfinals, where the Bulldogs will face the North Dakota State Bison. Southeastern Louisiana concludes the year with a 9-4 record.

"What a magical ride this season has been thus far. I'm extremely proud of our guys," Samford coach Chris Hatcher said. "Each week we just find a way to get it done and guys are ready when their number is called. We played good complementary ball. What a performance by all of our players, but you have to take your hat off to Quincy Crittendon."

Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year Michael Hiers got the starting nod on Saturday afternoon, before turning over the reins of the high-octane Samford offense to Crittendon on the first drive. The freshman proceeded to throw for 314 yards and four touchdowns on 26-of-40 passing. Crittendon also added a team-best 94 yards on the ground including the game-winning score.

In addition to Crittendon on the ground, feature back Jay Stanton rushed for 56 yards and a pair of scores on 16 attempts. Jaylan Thomas totaled 40 yards in the game and caught a touchdown pass on Saturday.

Kendall Watson led the Bulldog receiving crops with 110 yards on seven catches and a touchdown. Judd Cockett hauled in a quartet of passes for 90 yards while finding the end zone twice. Chander Smith snagged a Bulldog-leading eight receptions.

Defensively, Nathan East collected 10 tackles in the second-round game. Hakeem Johnson added nine more and was involved in a game-altering fumble in overtime. Not to be outdone, Fred Flavors picked off a Lion pass in the end zone for his first interception in a Samford Uniform.

The fireworks started early when Crittendon found Cockett for a 16-yard score to put the Bulldogs up 7-0 with 12:19 remaining in the first. SLU briefly took a 14-7 lead before scoring 21 unanswered points that included taking a 21-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Southeastern Louisiana rallied to tie the game at 28-28 with five minutes left in the third. The thunder-and-lightning pair of Stanton and Thomas built back a 42-28 lead heading into the fourth with back-to-back touchdowns.
In the fourth, Southeastern Louisiana scored a pair of touchdowns to tie the game at 42-42 with 37 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Samford won the toss to start the overtime period and elected to play defense first. The game turned when Brayden Devault-Smith punched the ball out of a Lions runner which resulted in a touchback.

On the fourth play of Samford's overtime possession, Crittendon scampered to the end zone from 10 yards for the first Bulldog playoff victory since 1991.

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