SoCon Week One Results

Week one kicked off on Thursday with a couple of games, as Tennessee Tech visited Furman and Shorter played at Samford. The SoCon's top two teams came out victorious in what turned out to be a lackluster weekend of football for the SoCon.

Furman beat Tennessee Tech 45-10 Thursday night in the season opener for both teams, as Travis Blackshear returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown on the fifth play from scrimmage and Dan Scianna had a 67-yard pick-6 in the fourth quarter for the Paladins.  In Thursday's second game,  Michael Hiers threw four of his five touchdown passes in the first half as Samford rolled to a 69-14 victory over Division II, Shorter on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

Saturday was a much different day, as most SoCon schools played FBS opponents, and it was not pretty.  Western Carolina started the day at SEC foe, Arkansas dropping a 13-56 score to the Razorbacks.  Arkansas put up a pair of quick strikes in its three first-quarter touchdowns. The Razorbacks also capitalized on a pair of Catamount turnovers in the second quarter, adding a 17-yard rushing touchdown by KJ Jefferson and a one-yard rush by Raheim Sanders as time expired. 

Mercer's visit to Ole Miss resulted more damage to the SoCon reputation, as the Bears went down  7-73 to the Rebels. The 22nd-ranked Ole Miss scored points in10 of its 12 possessions on the afternoon, including a quartet of touchdown drives in the first quarter alone.

Wofford opened the season at Pittsburg with a 7-45 loss to the Panthers of the ACC. The Panthers had a 28-0 lead at halftime and were up 45-0 before the Terriers got on the scoreboard. The Citadel went on the road for the season's first game and fell 34-0 to former SoCon member, Georgia Southern. 

Chattanooga also went on the road, but the Mocs faced FCS foe, North Alabama, but the end result was the same, as the Mocs fell 41-27.  Noah Walters threw four touchdown passes, and Jalyn Daniels ran for two of North Alabama's three fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Lions.  ETSU also when on the road to FBS transitioning Jacksonville State.  Following a field goal by ETSU's Ewan Johnson early in the first quarter, the Gamecocks rattled off 49 unanswered points, for a 49-3 JSU win.

The lone bright spot for the conference came from an unexpected place, as the Keydets picked up an FCS win against Davidson. VMI's Collin Ironside hit VJ Johnson with a last-minute touchdown pass as VMI rallied to for a 12-7 win Saturday, giving Danny Rocco a dramatic victory in his debut as coach of the Keydets. The game-winning drive came after the Keydets went three-and-out on their first three possessions of the second half.