Furman Pays Visit to Samford for SoCon Opener
The Game
Furman (2-1, 0-0 SoCon) at Samford (0-4, 0-2 SoCon)
Pete Hanna Stadium (6,700)
3:30 p.m. EST
Preview
It's extremely rare, but sometimes conference games are canceled and can't be made up. Since the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of college athletics, that has been true more often than we would often wish it to be.
The Furman-Samford game in 2024 is one such occasion in which the game was supposed to be the conference opener for both teams, however, when Hurricane Helene tore through the Upstate, S.C., leaving over 95% without power, it meant that the 2024 game between Furman and Samford--one that both teams was hoping could ignite a turnaround to their respective seasons--wouldn't be played and eventually couldn't be rescheduled.
As a result, both missed out on the opportunity to play a 12th game last season. For Samford, it meant a 4-7 season, which included a 3-4 mark in Southern Conference play. For Furman, the Paladins would find the season to be even more of a struggle, as the Paladins finished out the season with just a 3-8 overall mark, which included just a 2-5 mark in SoCon play.
The matchup last season was supposed to be one that matched each of the previous two SoCon champions, however, mother nature decided otherwise. With that said, the Paladins and Bulldogs enter Saturday's clash off to two very different starts to the 2025 campaign.
As far as the series is concerned, the Paladins and Bulldogs will be meeting for the 27th time in series history in a series that originally started back in 1961, with the Paladins coming up with a 21-14 win in Greenville on that occasion.
The Paladins hold a narrow 14-12 all-time lead in the series, with each of the past 10 games in the series having been decided by an average score of 30-28 in favor of the Bulldogs. The two teams have split the past 10 meetings, and since joining the SoCon in 2008, the Paladins hold a 9-7 narrow edge in the series.
Ironically, while its been a close battle year-in and year-out, the two are also responsible for a pair of games that resulted in two of the biggest blowout losses in their respective home venues. In 2014, Samford handed Furman a 45-0 home setback on Homecoming at Paladin Stadium.
The loss '14 homecoming loss, which was the sixth-straight for the Paladins at that time, marked the first time the Paladins had been shutout in a game since 1998 in the season opener at Clemson (35-0/199 games), and also marked the first time the Paladins had been shutout on the home turf since 1992 in a loss to Georgia Southern (21-0).The Coaches
It will be a battle between a pair of head coaches that have been at their present institution longer than any other program's current head coach in the league, with Hatcher now in his 11th season at the helm in Homewood, while Clay Hendrix is currently in his ninth season at the helm of the Furman football program.
Both head coaches have led their respective programs to league titles in recent seasons, with Samford claiming the 2022 crown by going a perfect 8-0 in league play before Furman followed the Bulldogs' run with their 15th SoCon title in program history, finishing the 2023 campaign with a 7-1 league mark to claim the outright league crown.
Neither coach probably wants to reflect on the 2024 season, as the two programs fell on hard times. Hendrix has led the Paladins to shared our outright SoCon titles in 2018 and '23, while leading the Paladins to playoff appearances in 2017, '19, '22 and '23. Hatcher is responsible for helping lead Samford to its first SoCon title in 2022, as a result of the 2013 crown later being vacated.
He has also led the Bulldogs to the playoffs on three occasions, as he led Samford to the postseason in 2016, '17 and '23. Hatcher, who is currently 61-55 as the head coach at Samford, which includes a 45-36 SoCon mark. In three seasons at Georgia Southern (2007-09), Hatcher went 12-11, which brings his all-time ledger to 57-43 coaching inside the SoCon. Hatcher's 61 wins in 11 seasons are the most for any coach in program history, and that is something to be proud of considering a lineage that also includes Bobby Bowden, Terry Bowden and Pat Sullivan.
Hatcher's 0-4 start, however, is the worst in 40 years for the program, which restarted football some 41 years ago after a nine-year hiatus from 1974-83. With the current state of college football, it's a "what have you done for me lately culture" more than ever. And though FCS programs don't have T. Boone Pickens money to buy out contracts, as Oklahoma State did this week with Mike Gundy, or Virginia Tech was able to do last week with Brent Pry, you can rest assured that Hatcher and his staff might already be coaching on borrowed time. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season transpires for sure.
Meanwhile, life has been a little simpler of late for Clay Hendrix at Furman, although even the Paladins have had their share of adversity in a multitude of ways since winning their first outright SoCon title in 34 years back in '23. Some of that adversity is out of Hendrix's control, and that's obvious any time you have the tragic loss of a player, as Furman did with defensive lineman standout Bryce Stanfield back in February of 2024.
Stanfield was one of the few remaining holdovers from a team that lost 35 of its 44 players from the two-deep from a year earlier, and the 2024 season was already going to be a challenging one from the outset. Hendrix, much like Hatcher, is a Peach State product, but perhaps that's where the comparisons end when it comes to approach. Hatcher, the former Valdosta State quarterback and Harlon Hill Trophy winner in 1994 is more "new school" in his approach, while Hendrix is very much still old school, however, has not completely closed his program off completely to the transfer portal like some of the other "old school" coaches have.
The changing landscape of college football has affected both coaches and programs in different ways, and that is certainly true in the approach of both head coaches. In 2022, the Bulldogs had more than 40 transfers that came into the program and helped Samford flip the script and win the program's first SoCon crown, as the Bulldogs were a perfect 8-0 in league play.
Ever since, the Bulldogs and Hatcher have stuck to that script, flipping that script every season since, bringing in huge portal classes in an effort to replace outgoing talent. That approach of hitting the portal hard for talent at all levels has remained an essential part of the Samford football identity over the past three season.
Hendrix, meanwhile, is very much a believer in being a developmental program and is not all that unlike the approach taken by Furman head coach Bob Richey in basketball in that there is a certain amount of value to be gained by maturing and developing together in unison as a program.
The difference in football, though, is that sometimes that growing old and maturing together involves much more growing pain than a collection of young, inexperienced group of 12-15 basketball players.
That's what made 2024 so challenging for the Paladin football team of so many young, inexperienced players, as they had one of the youngest teams in the 119-year history of the program, and so there was always going to be some lumps taken along the way. The 2025 season marks the 120th in program history, and the Paladins have an unprecedented 300 SoCon wins in their 88th year of membership in the SoCon.
Furman did manage to take some incremental steps forward, and though young in class this season, the Paladins are mature in snaps taken together in the program, and now those young players have developed together in meaningful moments. That's par of how Hendrix would have wanted it to be.
Currently, Hendrix has posted a 56-38 record in nine seasons as the head coach, as he continues to creep up the wins ladder in terms of gaining on some of the all-time greats, and is within 13 wins of catching Dick Sheridan, who won 69 games in eight seasons.
Sheridan would coach Furman to its first of three national title game appearances in 1985, which Hendrix played a role in helping as well, serving as a starter along the offensive line and a team captain on that '85 team that won 12 games and lost to Georgia Southern, 44-42, in the national title game itself. W.L. Laval holds the program record for wins, having won 84 games from 1915-27.
Comparing Samford and Furman
The Paladins have managed to carry the momentum they established late last season, getting a win at a ranked East Tennessee State team in what was their penultimate game of the 2024 season. For Samford, it had established momentum down the stretch as wel in '24, and like Furman, managed to play spoiler to the other Volunteer State member's FCS Playoff hopes, as the Bulldogs went on the road and stunned No.13 Chattanooga, getting a 36-13 win on the road.
Both Furman and Samford closed the 2024 season with losses, with the Bulldogs coming up just short in a 47-42 shootout against Western Carolina at Pete Hanna Stadium, while the Paladins were soundly defeated, 49-23, on the road against eventual Southern Conference champion Mercer.
There were high hopes for both teams heading into the 2025 season, especially since both Furman and Samford were two of the unique teams in the league, in that both returned their starting signal-callers from a year earlier.
Explosive dual-threat signal-caller Quincy Crittendon returned for the Bulldogs, while talented rising sophomore signal-caller Trey Hedden (76-of-104 passing, 756 yds, 4 TDs, 2 INTs) returned for the Paladins. The problem for Samford, however, is that aside from Crittendon, only six other starters returned on the entire team, with him being the only starter returning to the fold on the offense.
Through the first four games of the 2025 season, Samford has taken its share of lumps, and seemingly lost games in different ways. The first game against West Georgia--a 34-3 loss to the Wolves in front of the home crowd--was the only game in which the Bulldogs looked completely overmatched on both sides of the ball. The same could be said in the FBS test against Baylor, which saw the Bulldogs drop 42-7 a couple of weeks back.
In Samford's SoCon opener against The Citadel, the hometown Samford Bulldogs were soundly defeated, 40-13, however, the game didn't really manage to get well out of hand until the fourth quarter, but despite rolling up 452 yards of total offense on 94 snaps of the football, the Bulldogs were snakebitten by five turnovers in the contest.
The latest installment of Samford football came this past Saturday in Cullowhee, as the Bulldogs matched up against the Catamounts in a clash in which both teams were looking for their first respective wins of the season.
But after taking a 20-14 second quarter lead, the Catamounts would overwhelm the Bulldogs the remainder of the afternoon, outscoring them 36-15 the rest of the day, rolling up 733 yards, including 582 through the air, as the Catamounts rolled to a 50-35 win over Samford in what was the 2025 season debut for star quarterback Taron Dickens.
Dickens, who missed the first three games of the season due to academic eligibility issues, overshadowed what had been a career afternoon for Samford's Quincy Crittendon, who ended the day by having a career passing day in his own right, finishing the contest with 456 passing yards, which was also a career high. Crittendon tossed three scoring passes and threw one INT, but it wasn't nearly enough, as the Catamounts sent the Bulldogs to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in SoCon play.
The 0-4 start to the season marks the Bulldogs' worst start to a campaign since an 0-7 start to the 1985 season, which was just the second season for football after being reinstated following a nine-year hiatus. Since joining the Southern Conference as an official member in 2008, the Bulldogs have never started a season 0-3 in Southern Conference play.
The offense for the "Hatch Attack" has picked up the pace in terms of yardage average in the past few weeks, however, the 35 points scored in Saturday's contest against Western Carolina were more points than the Bulldogs had combined to score in any of the three previous games against Baylor, The Citadel and West Georgia.
Crittendon has done a better job of taking care of the football the past few games, and slowly but surely the offensive continuity is beginning to take shape. However, some might ask the question at what cost?
The month of September isn't even over yet and the Bulldogs already likely find themselves out of both the SoCon title race and FCS Playoff race, barring some kind of miracle. That's because the Bulldogs are already two down in the SoCon race and would need to win out and get some help.
As far as the drama left in the season for Samford. Well, it all depends on how hot you think head coach Chris Hatcher's seat has gotten. He took the Bulldogs to 11 wins back in 2022, but since then has gone just 10-16 overall and 7-10 in Southern Conference play. It was the most wins in a single-season since Terry Bowden led the Bulldogs to a 12-2 mark and a trip to the NCAA Division I-AA Semifinals back in 1991.
Saturday's game with Furman almost feels like the make-or-break game for Hatcher, as well as the season as a whole for the Bulldogs. A loss Saturday would see the Bulldogs slip to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in the league for the first time since joining the SoCon in 2008.
Crittendon has been good at times, but far too inconsistent. Entering Saturday's contest against the Paladins, he has connected on 104-of-151 passes for 993 yards with three touchdowns and five INTs. Crittendon leads a Samford offense that thrives on tempo and the senior gives the Bulldogs an added element, in that he is a dual threat,
It could be argued that each of the first three quarterbacks the Paladins have played this season all have had that ability, however, maybe not to the degree of the quarterback the Paladins will see Saturday.
Crittendon has managed to rush for 85 yards on 45 attempts, and Bulldogs quarterbacks have been sacked 14 times so far through the first four games. That is tied for 114th nationally, as the Bulldogs are surrendering 3.5 sacks per game. The last time the Paladins faced the Bulldogs, Furman tied a school record with nine quarterback takedowns.
Other than Crittendon, Bulldogs quarterbacks have done a nice job of spreading the football around this season, as the top four receivers have 160 or more yards receiving through the first four games this season.
Jaden Gibson (29 rec, 267 yds, 9.21 YPR), Preston Bird (24 rec, 183 yds, 7.63 YPR), Calvin Jones (13 rec, 168 yds, 3 TDs, 12.92 YPR), and Torrey Ward (13 rec, 160 yds, 1 TD, 12.3 YPR) have all been capable targets in the Samford passing attack this season. Through the first four games this season, 14 different players caught a pass for Samford so far this season. While it was a career day throwing the ball for Crittendon in the win at Western Carolina this past Saturday, it was also a career day for Jaden Gibson catching the football, as he hauled in
Leading the ground attack through the early portion of the season has been Tennessee State transfer CJ Evans (42 rush att, 163 yds, 2 TDs, 3.9 YPC), while the offensive line is still looking to mesh, as a cohesive unit. The unit is young with four freshmen and sophomores comprising four of the five starters along the offensive line, with the veteran-most player along the offensive front for the Bulldogs being junior center Noah Watts.
The Bulldogs rank decently nationally in terms of total offense, entering Saturday's contest averaging 373.5 YPG, which ranks Samford 48th nationally in total offense, However, the Bulldogs rank 109th in scoring offense, averaging 14.5 PPG. Some of those stats, however, are skewed having played against Baylor.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bulldogs were much improved a year ago, as head coach Chris Hatcher had arguably his best defensive unit since taking over as the Bulldogs' head coach a decade ago. The Bulldogs brought back five starters on defense this season, but have struggled through the early portions of the season and currently come in ranked 116th nationally in total defense (485.5 YPG), with some of that once again being skewed by the Baylor game.
The Bulldogs have talented players at all three levels of the defensive unit, and it starts up front with a pair of talented defensive ends, in Conroy Cunningham II (16 tackles, 2.0 TFL) and Corey Warren (3 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 1 QBH).
When it comes to linebacker, there aren't many better in the SoCon or in the entire FCS than Jaden Mosley (40 tackles, 1.5 TFL). The preseason all-conference selection is already off to an outstanding start in 2025, leading not only the team in total tackles, but also the entire league, having made 40 tackles. Mosley was often overshadowed last season because Noah Martin became such a force in the middle of that Bulldogs defense a year ago.
On the back end of the defense, the Bulldogs have some outstanding talent acquired from the transfer portal, with the likes of Nahil Perkins (4 tackles, 1 QBH) from Fordham, Jalik Yancey (9 tackles, 1 PBU) from Northeast Mississippi CC and Malik Thornton (12 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PBU) from NCAA Division III University of the Cumberlands all playing key roles at cornerback this season for the Bulldogs.
Furman of course enters off an off-week and comes in with an offense still looking to find ways to open up the ground game. In wins over William & Mary (W, 23-21), the Paladins have least begun to do that a little, but still have a ways to go to improve upon the 73.5 YPG they are averaging on the ground through the first four games of the season.
The Paladins have one of their most versatile wide receiving units in recent memory, with freshman Evan James (25 rec, 291 yds, 2 TDs, 11.6 YPR) leading the way, while Ja'Keith Hamilton (13 rec, 160 yds, 1 TD, 12.3 YPR), Kerry King (13 rec, 99 yds, 7.6 YPR) and Devin Hester Jr. (7 rec, 93 yds, 13.3 YPR) make it very hard for to just narrow their focus to James alone.
Add to that capable pass-catching options at tight end, in Joshua Burrell (10 rec, 51 yds, 5.1 YPR) and Jackson Pryor (3 rec, 42 yds, 1 TD, 14.0 YPR), and there is even more reason to believe that this Furman group of receivers might be its most talented collectively since the early 2000s, when the Paladins had reliable options like Brian Bratton, Isaac West, Patrick Sprague, Justin Stepp and tight end Willis Sudderth.
James finished off Furman's last game at Campbell by hauling in the game-winning 30-yard scoring pass from Hedden and has caught a TD pass in each of his three games as a wide receiver at the collegiate level. In the win over the Camels two weeks ago, James hauled in 10 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown.
It's rare that Furman has ever come into a season without a household name at running back, but that's been the case this season. Much like last year, there's no one player that dominates the headlines like Dominic Roberto or Devin Wynn have in recent years, however, what there is available is a collective, solid talented trio of backs that help form a nice ground game committee for the Paladins this season.
Sophomore Gavin Hall (43 rush att, 151 yds, 2 TDs, 3.5 YPC) and true freshman CJ Nettles (20 rush att, 55 yds, 2.8 YPC) account for the more speedy, versatile options that can stress defenses with their speed and elusiveness, while the short-yardage back in the first three games this season has been Jay'Quan Smith (17 rush att, 51 yds, 3 TDs), who is now back to 100% after a horrific leg injury that nearly costs him his career almost two years ago in an early league game against The Citadel.
Furman's offensive line has been a work in progress, and that's primarily because the Paladins have yet to have their starting contingent up front coming into the season 100% healthy through the first three weeks. That should change this Saturday, thanks to the off week.
The Paladins' strength up front is on the left side, where both left tackle Eli Brasher and left guard Luke Petit--a pair of preseason All-SoCon selections--anchor the unit. Both Cornell transfer Davis Watson, who will add depth at left tackle, and Wake Forest transfer Jaydon Collins, who is expected to do the same at right tackle, are both healthy at the same time for the first time this season.
For Collins, who came into the season as a projected starter at right tackle, he expects to see his first action in a Paladin uniform on Saturday. Collins has been recovering from an injury he suffered in fall camp. Chase Gregorek is slated to get the starting nod for the fourth-straight game at right tackle.
All told, Furman ranks 77th nationally in total offense through the first three games of the season, averaging 330.3 YPG, while ranking 35th in the country in scoring offense, averaging 29.7 PPG. In a league with a litany of elite passing attacks, the Paladins enter Saturday's contest at Samford ranking 25th in the country, putting up 252.0 YPG through the air.
Furman has also improved drastically on the defensive side of the ball, entering Saturday's contest against the Bulldogs will a talented defensive front, which is led by young guns like defensive end Joshua Stoneking (19 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 1 PBU, 1 FF) and Malaki Dobbins (3 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sack) at defensive end, while the interior features defensive tackles Caldwell Bussey (8 tackles, 1 QBH) and Demetrius Baldwin (8 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 2 QBHs), as well as nose tackle Ty Kauserud (2 tackles).
Furman's ability to platoon its defensive lineman in much the same way they were able to do in 2022 and '23 makes them unique and perhaps is why the Paladins might have the deepest reservoir of talent along the defensive line in the SoCon.
The Paladins were dealt a blow when it was announced that all-conference linebacker Ryan Earl will likely have to miss the rest of the season after having finger surgery to repair torn ligaments following a freakish injury during practice leading up to the Campbell game. Earl was slated to be Evan DiMaggio's heir apparent in the middle of that Paladin defense this season, however, that job will now fall to Luke McLaughlin (14 tackles), who led the Paladins with nine tackles in the win last time out over Campbell.
Finally, the most noticeably improved aspect of Furman's entire team is the defensive backfield, which was down a pair of starters in the last outing against the Camels, and it was tough for Furman to overcome at times. Fortunately, both starters are expected to return Saturday.
The Paladins have already picked off four passes this season, including two by transfer portal addition Taylen Blaylock (18 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 2 INTs, 1 PBU, 1 TD) and the other two by Billy Lewis (20 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 INTs, 1 PBU), as he already has five in this just his sophomore season for the 'Dins. The Paladins had only 10 as a team through 11 games last season and already have picked off four, including one returned for a score, in three games this season.
Finally, Ian Williams continues to show why he's one of the best kickers in all of college football--FBS or FCS--as the graduate student has gotten his season off to a strong start connecting on all six of his field goal attempts to start the season, and currently has a streak of 12-straight made field goals entering Saturday's contest at Samford. He is 48-of-62 on field goals in his career, which is fifth-best in school history in terms of percentage (77.4%).
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