BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – No. 23 Samford (3-2, 1-1 SoCon) built a 21-0 lead in the opening six minutes and fought off No. 8 Citadel in the second half for a 35-14 win on Saturday afternoon at Seibert Stadium.

Samford quarterback Devlin Hodges completed two touchdown passes of over 60 yards in the opening half to spark the Bulldog offense early. The Citadel had its opportunities in the second half to cut into the Samford lead, but was held on downs twice inside the Samford 10-yard line.

Hodges Completed 21-of-26 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns, including two in the opening three minutes and another 63-yarder to TaDarryl Marshall in the second quarter as the Bulldogs built a 35-0 lead. The Citadel scored twice, including on the opening drive of the second half, but two empty trips inside the Samford 10-yard line kept The Citadel from threatening late.

"It was too big of a hole for us to dig out of," Citadel head coach Brent Thompson said afterward. "We just did things that aren't typical for us. We didn't tackle very well. We gave up big plays, and we didn't come out ready to play football. They are very athletic and a very good football team, but we should've been ready to play."

Sophomore quarterback Jordan Black sparked the Bulldogs to two touchdown drives, punching it in from 1-yard out in the middle of the second quarter following a Kailik Williams' interception. Williams snagged a Hodges overthrow and raced up the left sideline, bumped out as he dove for the pylon to spark The Citadel, cutting the lead to 35-7.

The Citadel opened the second half with an impressive drive to cut into the lead. Brandon Rainey's 8-yard touchdown run capped a Jordan Black led drive that looked a little more like the Bulldog offense that entered the game as the nation's No. 1 rushing offense. The 12-play, 78-yard drive took over six minutes off the clock and cut the lead to 35-14 mid-third quarter.

An offsides penalty, and coming up six inches short on a fourth down attempt, kept things from getting very interesting the final half of the fourth, as the Bulldogs came up empty twice inside the Samford 10.

"We had the ball in the red zone and we just couldn't score," Thompson said of the Bulldogs' rally. "I thought we responded better in the second half, but still when we had opportunities to put points on the board, we didn't. We put ourselves in bad situations and had to go for touchdowns instead of field goals."

Black finished 5-of-11 passing for 136 yards, a career high. He also rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown. Brandon Rainey ran for 59 yards on 18 carries.
Williams led The Citadel defense with 11 tackles, an interception, and a tackle for loss.

Kelvin McKnight finished with six receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a flea flicker on the Bulldogs' second snap to quickly shorten the field for Samford.
Samford had nine tackles for loss as a defense, led by 12 tackles from Ahmad Gooden who had two TFLs.

The Citadel returns home for the first time in five weeks on Saturday as Mercer visits Johnson Hagood Stadium for The Citadel's SoCon home opener. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. for Parents' Day.

-CitadelSports-