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Samford appears on radar for ASU
Bulldogs surprised many in SoCon with 6-5 record last year
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Published: September 26, 2009
The welcome wagon lost a wheel on the way to greeting Samford for its first season in the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs got a newcomers' snub and were picked to finish last among nine teams in the 2008 coaches' and media polls.
Oops.
Samford ended last season with a 6-5 record and tied for fourth in the SoCon at 4-4.
Coach Jerry Moore of Appalachian State suspected that forecasts might be off, and he found out first-hand when the teams met last October.
His Mountaineers escaped with a 35-24 victory, but not before the Bulldogs served notice by taking a 14-3 lead.
"We really found out how good they were," Moore said. "I think everybody had a wake-up call to the kind of football team that Samford has."
Samford and ASU will meet again today, at 3:30 p.m. in Boone (WKBC 97.3, WBLO 790), and the Mountaineers have something to prove. They're 0-2 and trying to recover, and they'll also be trying to uphold their status as SoCon favorites in the league opener for both.
"We've been in this situation before, it's not something that's ideal for sure," Moore said, referring to his team's record. "You just hope you've got enough stuff to overcome it…. So far we haven't answered, but we've played two good football teams. But that's no excuse. We still had opportunities to win those two games but couldn't pull it off for one reason or another."
Coach Pat Sullivan of the Bulldogs has suspicions of his own. He expects the Mountaineers, ranked No. 10 in the FCS polls, to be primed for a rebound after an open date and extra week of preparation.
"I'm sure they've been sitting up there for a week off getting everybody healthy and ready to play," said Sullivan, a former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Auburn. "I wouldn't say it's a real good time to be catching Appalachian State."
Samford (2-1) grabbed the attention of bowl-division opponent Central Florida in its opener before losing 28-24. The Bulldogs haven't seen that level of competition the past two weeks, with easy wins over Jacksonville and Miles.
Moore said that the Bulldogs are well coached and fundamentally sound. And he mentioned tailback Chris Evans, a 6-0, 215-pound junior who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards the past two years. Evans has 311 yards this season and runs behind a line that averages 291 pounds.
"I don't know that Chris is a 4.4 guy, but he's got great vision," Sullivan said. "That's one of the things that sets him apart. He sees the hole, he hits it, and then he's got that little quick burst that can turn a 2-yard gain into a 10- or 12-yard gain."
The Bulldogs have been solid on defense, allowing just 181 yards a game and leading the nation with 16 sacks.
The Mountaineers' offense was on track in the last game, a 40-35 loss to McNeese State. Armanti Edwards returned from a foot injury and accounted for 307 yards in total offense, and Devon Moore rushed for a career-high 155 yards.
But McNeese tagged the ASU defense for 522 yards and converted on 10 of 16 third- and fourth-down plays.
"I don't know that you ever catch App at a good time, especially the last several years," Sullivan said. "They set the bar for our conference. You look at the way they started against East Carolina, and they have a chance to win that game. And McNeese State was a heck of a ballgame."
Moore said: "I do think that we've played two pretty good football teams. You have to play well to win those games. We had chances."
tbowman@wsjournal.com 727-7323
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