Murray State
Samford
Samford Handles MSU In OVC Action
10/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Murray State football team struggled to get its offense in gear as the Racers dropped a 35-6 Ohio Valley Conference road contest to Samford today at Seibert Stadium in Birmingham, Ala.
MSU (2-5, 1-2 OVC) opened the scoring on the day as senior place kicker Jesse Ohliger hammered home a 43-yard field goal with 10:20 left in the first quarter for a 3-0 Racers' lead.
Samford (4-2, 2-1 OVC) cut the MSU lead to 3-2 with 8:03 left in the first quarter as junior tailback Ulysses Odoms was tackled in the Racers' end zone by Darold Williams for a Bulldog safety.
Samford gained its first lead of the game with :11 seconds left in the first quarter as D.J. Stancil scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs an 8-3 lead. The two-point conversion attempt was no good.
The Racer deficit increased to 15-3 with 7:41 left in the first half after Samford quarterback Ray Nelson found Efrem Hill for a 26-yard touchdown pass.
MSU opened the third a quarter with a pair of scoring chances, but managed to score only three points as Ohliger knocked home a 28-yard field goal with 8:09 to play after missing on a 38-yard attempt about three minutes earlier. The miss by Ohliger ended a streak of six-straight made kicks in 2003 by the Newark, Del., native.
Holding a 15-6 lead, Samford increased its lead with 2:07 left in the third quarter as Ty Neil banged home a 32-yard field goal to push the margin to 18-6. Moments later, Cortland Finnegan added to the Bulldogs' lead with a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown with :57 seconds to go in the third quarter. Neil's point after made the score 25-6.
The Bulldogs added a Kevin Tooker 1-yard touchdown run and a 31-yard field goal by Neil in the final 5:01 of the game to close out the scoring.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Stephen Hatchell had a solid afternoon in his return to the starting lineup after throwing for 189 yards on 20-of-36 passing. Senior wide outs Andrew Nowacki (six catches for 61 yards) and Deandre Green (five for 69) led the way for the MSU receiving corps.
MSU senior quarterback Stewart Childress missed his second game of the season after suffering a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) against Indiana State on Sept. 20. Childress returned the field last week to lead the Racers' to a come-from-behind 23-17 overtime win over Jacksonville State, but is out indefinitely after re-injuring the knee at the end of last week's game.
MSU was outgained on the ground 132-80 by Samford, while the Racers' 189 yards passing edged the Bulldogs' 153 yards through the air.
Senior linebacker Bobby Sanders led the way for the MSU defense with 10 tackles, including five solo stops, while junior linebackers Rohan Godson and Patrick Schultz added eight tackles each. Godson also added a sack for a loss of 11 yards.
Up next, the Racers return to Roy Stewart Stadium to host Eastern Illinois for Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 3 p.m.
POST GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Joe Pannunzio:
"It was a tough game for us and it's a tough day to be the head coach. I'm disappointed in the way we're playing right now. I thought we came out and played pretty hard, but we're certainly not doing things right. We've got a lot of work to do between now and next week's Homecoming game with Eastern Illinois, that's for sure."
"We didn't play good enough up front on offense to keep our defense off the field. Our defense played alright today, but it's not good enough to dominate people and make up for our mistakes on offense. Everything with our offense starts up front with our blocking. We've got to keep working and get those problems sorted out."
"Samford is a pretty good team. They may or may not be the best team in our league, but they were certainly better than us today. Until we start playing the way we're capable of, it doesn't matter who we're playing or how good our opponent is."
"We can't worry about what's going on around the league or how hot or cold somebody else is because we're not doing our part as a football team. We're not scoring touchdowns and we're not making enough plays on either side of the ball and that's it. We've got to come together and figure out what it's going to take for us to start making those plays before we're going to win."
