GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Samford football team dropped a 45-7 contest to the Florida Gators on Saturday night in front of 89,295 fans at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
 
With the defeat, Samford will bring an 0-2 record to Pete Hanna Stadium for the home opener against Alabama State on Saturday, Sept. 14. Florida improves to 1-1 on the season.
 
In a game where Samford was held to 205 yards of total offense, Quincy Crittendon completed 22-of-31 passes for 144 yards. Crittendon's longest pass of the night came in the second quarter when he linked up with Brendan Jenkins for 51 yards.
 
Running back Damonta Witherspoon paced Samford on the ground with nine rushes for 26 yards and the lone Bulldog touchdown. Micah Kelly added 17 more yards on six carries.
Jenkins concluded the night with 51 yards on four receptions to lead all Samford receivers. D.J. Rias also had four catches for 44 yards. To round out the top receiving trio for the Bulldogs, Iaan Cousin hauled in three passes that went for 21 yards.
 
On the defensive side of the ball, Noah Martin collected his four-straight double-digit tackle performance dating back to 2023 with 11 stops. Martin also tallied half a tackle for loss and forced a fumble. To go along with Martin, Dontae Pollard also collected half a tackle for loss in the contest.
 
After the Samford defense forced the Gators to turn the ball over on downs to end the first drive of the game, Florida opened the scoring on a one-yard touchdown plunge with 2:53 left in the opening stanza.
 
Florida tacked on another touchdown with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half to take a 14-0 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, the Gators took 67 seconds in the second half to secure a 21-0 lead with a 35-yard scoring pass from DJ Langway to Tank Hawkins.
 
On the ensuing drive, Samford ended the shutout when Witherspoon found the end zone from a yard out to make it a 21-7 ballgame. The Witherspoon touchdown capped off a 12-play 75-yard scoring drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock.
 
Before the end of the third, Florida added another score to push the Gator lead to 28-7 heading to the final 15 minutes of play.
 
In the final 15 minutes of play, the Gators stretched the score out to a 45-7 final that included an 85-yard touchdown pass from Langway and a nine-yard touchdown scamper by Florida's backup quarterback Aidan Warner.
 
Also in the final frame, Florida native Nik Scalzo and Connor Masters each saw playing time under center for the Bulldog offense.
 
For the first time in 2024, the Samford Bulldogs will play in the friendly confines of Pete Hanna Stadium on Sept. 14. Kick-off for the home opener against Alabama State is slated for 6 p.m. and tickets can be found here.
 
FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS:
For the latest news and information on Samford football, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com. Fans can also follow the Bulldogs on social media at /SamfordFootball (Facebook), @SamfordFootball (Instagram) and @SamfordFootball (Twitter).