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Southern Conference 2018 Football 702 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303 • 864-591-5100• Fax: 864-591-3448 #SoConFB Phil Perry, Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations (FB contact) facebook.com/SouthernConference • twitter.com/SoConSports • instagram.com/SouthernConference 2018 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL STANDINGS NOTES • All nine league teams are in action Saturday. Chat- CONFERENCE OVERALL tanooga visits ETSU in a battle of fi rst-place squads, and in nonconference play, Samford visits No. 4 Ken- C/SI STANDINGS W-L PCT H A ST W-L PCT H A ST nesaw State and The Citadel heads to No. 25 Towson. 24/20 Chattanooga 2-0 1.000 1-0 1-0 W2 4-0 1.000 2-0 2-0 W4 • The Mocs downed No. 17 Samford 27-20 on Saturday, --/RV ETSU 2-0 1.000 1-0 1-0 W2 3-1 .750 2-0 1-1 W2 improving to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in SoCon play 6/7 Woff ord 2-0 1.000 2-0 0-0 W2 2-1 .667 2-0 0-1 L1 and earning their fi rst national rankings of the young season. Chattanooga entered the AFCA FCS Coaches’ RV/RV Western Carolina 1-0 1.000 1-0 0-0 W1 3-0 1.000 2-0 1-0 W3 Top 25 at No. 24 and the STATS FCS Top 25 at No. 20. --/RV Mercer 1-1 .500 0-1 1-0 L1 2-2 .500 1-1 1-1 L1 Samford, which peaked at No. 9 in both polls, dropped The Citadel 1-2 .333 0-1 1-1 W1 1-2 .333 0-1 1-1 W1 out of both after suff ering its third straight defeat. Furman 0-1 .000 0-0 0-1 L1 0-3 .000 0-0 0-3 L3 • Idle Woff ord remained sixth in the AFCA poll and moved up one spot to seventh in the STATS FCS Top RV/RV Samford 0-2 .000 0-1 0-1 L2 1-3 .250 1-1 0-2 L3 25. Samford and Western Carolina are receiving votes VMI 0-3 .000 0-1 0-2 L3 0-4 .000 0-1 0-3 L4 in both polls, while ETSU and Mercer are receiving C - AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25; SI - STATS FCS Top 25 votes in the STATS poll. • All four games in week four were one-score aff airs. The Citadel downed Mercer 38-31 on a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 57 seconds left, while UPCOMING SCHEDULE (* SOCON GAME; ALL TIMES EASTERN) Western Carolina survived VMI 52-50 when the Keydets were unable to convert a tying 2-point conversion with Sept. 29 (Saturday) 22 seconds left. ETSU scored 23 unanswered points to *Mercer at VMI Mercer leads 3-1 ESPN3 1:30 p.m. stun Furman 29-27, tying the game on a touchdown *Western Carolina at Furman Furman leads 31-12-2 ESPN+/CW62 2 p.m. with 2:23 left and getting a Dylan Weigel safety just 13 The Citadel at Towson First meeting CAA.TV 4 p.m. seconds of game time later to complete the comeback. Samford at Kennesaw State Series tied 1-1 ESPN3 6 p.m. Samford drove 64 yards to the UTC 15 on its fi nal drive but ran out of time in its attempt to tie things up. Woff ord at Gardner-Webb Woff ord leads 18-8 ESPN+ 6 p.m. *Chattanooga at ETSU Chattanooga leads 22-18-1 ESPN+ 7:30 p.m. • The SoCon’s off ensive prowess was on full display on Saturday. Three backs ran for more than 100 yards, with The Citadel’s Grant Drakeford (139), Western SOCON PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Carolina’s Tyrie Adams (117) and ETSU’s Quay Holmes (102) all surpassing the century mark. Three quarter- backs surpassed 300 yards passing, including Mercer’s OFFENSIVE DEFENSIVE SPECIAL TEAMS Robert Riddle (school-record 347), Samford’s Devlin Reece Udinski, So., QB Marshall Cooper, Jr., LB Rod Johnson, Jr., RB/KR Hodges (366) and VMI’s Reece Udinski (school-record VMI Chattanooga The Citadel 491). Four wide receivers reached at least 100 yards, including VMI’s Javeon Lara (143), Mercer’s Marquise Irvin (132), Samford’s Kelvin McKnight (128) and Chat- Udinski set three program records Cooper had eight tackles, a forced Johnson returned a kickoff 94 tanooga’s Bryce Nunnelly (108). in the Keydets’ 52-50 loss at West- fumble and an interception as the yards for the game-winning ern Carolina on Saturday, posting Mocs earned a 27-20 win over No. touchdown in the Bulldogs’ 38-31 • ETSU’s Holmes was named the STATS FCS National new school standards in comple- 17 Samford on Saturday. Six of his win at Mercer on Saturday. After Freshman of the Week for his eff orts against Furman, as tions (43), attempts (72) and pass- tackles were solo stops, while his the Bears had tied the contest he ran for two touchdowns and added 14 yards receiving ing yards (491). His nearly 500 forced fumble came on a Chatta- at 31 with 1:11 to play, Johnson and 45 yards on kickoff returns. He has notched a pair yards through the air were good nooga goal-line stand in the fi rst immediately reclaimed momen- of 100-yard rushing games in just four career contests. for seventh in a game in SoCon half and resulted in a takeaway. tum and the lead for The Citadel, • Nunnelly (163.5 yards per game) and McKnight history and are tops in the FCS Cooper’s fi rst career interception notching the school’s fi rst kick- (141.5) have both recorded at least 100 receiving this season, while he added four came as Samford was trailing off return for a touchdown since yards in all four of their contests this year and rank touchdown passes on the day. by two scores but driving deep 2002. It was tied for the third- second and sixth in the FCS in yards per game. Udinski led VMI on two scoring in Chattanooga territory in the longest in school history. Johnson drives of more than 60 yards after fourth quarter, and his 41-yard re- had two more returns for a total • Western Carolina’s Adams also threw for 229 yards the Catamounts – who entered turn fl ipped the fi eld for the Mocs. of 116 yards on the day, while the against VMI, giving him 346 yards of total off ense on the contest receiving votes in Cooper also added a pass breakup running back also ran for 19 yards the day. It marked the second straight game that he both major national polls – took a in the game. and a score for a total of 135 all- had run and thrown for more than 100 yards each. 15-point lead with 6:19 left in the purpose yards on the day. • Furman’s Grayson Atkins and Woff ord’s Luke Carter game. have the seventh-best and ninth-best consecutive PAT conversion streaks in league history, respectively. SOCON STATS NCAA STATS SOCON MEDIA GUIDE Atkins has converted all 60 of his career attempts so far, while Carter his connected on all 56 of his. • ETSU kicker JJ Jerman hit a pair of fi rst-half fi eld goals against Furman on Saturday to become the Bucs’ career leader with 39 makes in his career. • Western Carolina defensive lineman Solomon Clark recorded 4.0 sacks for 40 yards in the win over VMI on Saturday, matching the Catamounts’ single-game sacks record. Clark’s total was the highest in the SoCon since Furman’s Mitch McGrath had 4.0 on Oct. 29, 2011. SoCon Football Weekly Release Sept. 24, 2018 Page 1 PRESEASON ALL-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE DID YOU KNOW? Off ensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year There have been eight 400-yard passing Devlin Hodges, R-Sr., QB, Samford Ahmad Gooden, R-Sr., DL, Samford games in the FCS this season, and the Southern Conference has the top two. First Team Off ense Second Team Off ense QB Devlin Hodges, R-Sr., Samford QB Tyrie Adams, R-Jr., Western Carolina VMI’s Reece Udinski threw for 491 yards RB Kealand Dirks, R-Sr., Furman RB Tee Mitchell, Sr., Mercer at Western Carolina on Sept. 22 and RB Andre Stoddard, Sr., Woff ord RB Tyrell Price, Jr., Chattanooga Samford’s Devlin Hodges threw for 475 at OL Tyler Davis, Sr., The Citadel OL Drew McEntyre, Jr., The Citadel FBS Florida State on Sept. 8. OL Austin Sanders, R-Jr., Mercer OL Matt Pyke, R-Sr., ETSU OL Nick Nixon, Jr., Samford OL Reed Kroeber, R-So., Furman No other FCS league has multiple OL Zach Weeks, R-Sr., Western Carolina OL Malcolm White, R-Jr., Chattanooga 400-yard passers so far this season. OL Michael Ralph, Jr., Woff ord OL Brad Davis, So., VMI TE Sam Walker, R-Sr., Mercer OL Nathan Dalton, R-Sr., Western Carolina WR Marquise Irvin, Sr., Mercer OL Andrew Miles, R-Sr., Western Carolina WR Kelvin McKnight, Sr., Samford OL Justus Basinger, Jr., Woff ord TE Jake Walker, So., Furman First Team Defense WR Thomas Gordon, Jr., Furman SOCON PLAYERS OF THE WEEK DL Nasir Player, R-Jr., ETSU WR Chris Shelling, Jr., Samford DL Ahmad Gooden, R-Sr., Samford WR Bingo Morton, R-Sr., Chattanooga Off ensive DL Isaiah Mack, R-Sr., Chattanooga Sept. 3 ...................Bryce Nunnelly, So., WR, UTC DL Miles Brown, Sr., Woff ord Second Team Defense Sept.