Saturday's SoCon Football Round-up (10-15-16)

Week number seven is now in the books, so let's take a look at Saturday's games.





Furman at East Tennessee State
The Furman Paladins scored on their first eight possessions of the game and collected 511 yards in total offense on their way to a 52-7 win over the ETSU Buccaneers Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference football action at Kermit Tipton Stadium. With the win, Furman picked up its first victory of the season and improved to 1-6 overall, 1-3 in SoCon play. Meanwhile, the Bucs dropped their fourth straight game and fell to 2-4 overall, 1-4 in league action. The Bucs’ offensive woes continued, as ETSU has now scored just three touchdowns in their last 16 quarters of football. In all, ETSU collected just 210 yards in total offense. Bucs unable to stop Furman offensive surge, 52-7


Chattanooga at The Citadel
With a 22-14 win inside Johnson Hagood Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the 8th-ranked Citadel football team defeated No. 5 Chattanooga and took over sole possession of first place in the Southern Conference. The victory was the Bulldogs' first in a top-10 matchup after losing the previous two top-10 games in program history, both in 1992. With the win, The Citadel has 15 victories since the start of the 2015 season, which is tied for the fourth-highest two-year win total in program history. Head coach Brent Thompson extended his record for the most wins to start a career by a Bulldog head coach and tied The Citadel's record for the most wins by a first-year head coach, pulling even with Harry O'Brien's six wins in 1916. The Citadel finished the game with 342 rushing yards and held Chattanooga to just 55 in the victory, the Mocs' lowest single-game rushing total since 2011. Allen finished the game with a season-high 144 yards rushing and was followed by Cam Jackson and Tyler Renew who both finished with at least 60 yards on the ground. Bulldogs Take Down No. 5 Chattanooga


VMI at Samford
The 24th-ranked Samford football team used big plays in all three phases of the game to earn a 55-21 Southern Conference win over VMI Saturday afternoon at Seibert Stadium. Quarterback Devlin Hodges set a new career high in passing yards for a second-straight game. The sophomore completed 35-of-50 passes for 435 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. The five touchdowns also tie a career high for Hodges. He also threw for five touchdowns against Mars Hill earlier this season. No. 24 Football Wins 3rd-Straight, 55-21, Over VMI


Western Carolina at Mercer
Mercer rallied from a 14-3 deficit and took advantage of five Western Carolina turnovers in a 38-24 win over the Catamounts Saturday afternoon at Five Star Stadium in Macon. The Bears (3-3, 2-2 SoCon) forced WCU into three turnovers in four possessions in the program's first win over Western Carolina (1-5, 0-4 SoCon). The major turning point of the game came when Western Carolina kickoff returner Detrez Newsome fumbled and LeMarkus Bailey recovered on the WCU 4-yard line. The Bears had just scored on a Sam Walker 19-yard reception to pull within four but the Catamount turnover set up a one play, four-yard score from Alex Lakes that gave Mercer a 17-14 advantage, a lead Mercer would never relinquish the remainder of the game.  Mercer Rallies for 38-24 Win over Western Carolina



After 7 weeks of play.... the standings  
1. The Citadel  4-0, overall: 6-0
2. Chattanooga 4-1, overall: 6-1
3. Samford  3-1, overall: 5-1
4. Wofford   2-1, overall: 4-2
5. Mercer  2-2, overall 3-3
6. VMI  1-2, overall: 3-2
7.  Furman 1-3, overall:  1-6
8.  ETSU  1-4,  overall 2-4
9. Western Carolina  0-4, 1-5


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