ETSU outscored 21-7 in second half; Irby finishes with three rushing touchdowns

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Sept. 30, 2023) – The Buccaneers held serve with Samford for a half. 

Unfortunately, ETSU cooled off in the second and the Blue & Gold dropped their Southern Conference opener to the Bulldogs, 42-28, on Saturday afternoon inside Seibert Stadium in Birmingham, Ala. 

After forcing three first-half turnovers and being tied at 21 at halftime, ETSU was outscored 21-7 in the second half as Samford secured its first league win of the season. The Bucs totaled 181 yards and three scores in the first half, but were held to 161 yards and seven points in the final 30 minutes. Overall, the Bucs were outgained by the Bulldogs by 205 yards, 547 to 342. Samford passed for 399 yards and rushed for 148, while ETSU passed for 118 and had a season-high 224 on the ground. The Bulldogs ran 36 more plays than the Bucs, 92-56 and totaled 19 more first downs, 34 to 15. 

Bryson Irby (Douglasville, Ga.) set career highs in rushing yards (126) and touchdowns (3), while Sheldon Arnold II (Loganville, Ga.) registered two interceptions and had one fumble recovery. Samford quarterback and reigning SoCon Player of the Year Michael Hiers was 42-of-50 for 399 yards with one passing touchdown (two rushing) and two interceptions. 

The Bucs suffered their second straight setback and dipped to 1-3, 0-1, while Samford – the reigning conference champions – snapped a three-game skid and improved to 2-3, 1-2. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

First Quarter

Samford 7, ETSU 0: Samford took advantage of a Buccaneer turnover to score on its first possession and grabbed the early 7-0 lead. Following an interception by Tyler Riddell (Tampa, Fla.), the Bulldogs went 63 yards on four plays and scored on a Jay Stanton 28-yard run. 

Second Quarter

ETSU 7 Samford 7: Sheldon Arnold II recorded his second takeaway – this time an interception – which set up the Buccaneers in perfect field position. With ETSU having 1st-and-10 from the Samford 28-yard line, the Bucs used six plays to find pay dirt thanks to a two-yard scoring run by Bryson Irby to even up the score at the 11:29 mark of the second quarter. 

Samford 14, ETSU 7: With momentum shifting toward the Blue & Gold sideline, Samford quickly grabbed it back as they answered on a 6-play, 67-yard scoring drive, capped by another touchdown run from Stanton to put the Bulldogs back ahead. The key play on the drive was a 15-yard facemask penalty by Chris Hope (Madison, Ala.) on a third down play where the Bulldogs were stopped short of the line to gain. Following the automatic first down, Stanton ripped off a 31-yard run up the middle taking it to the ETSU four-yard line. 

ETSU 14, Samford 14: Sheldon Arnold was at it again as he picked of Hiers for the second time of the half, which led to another Irby touchdown run to pull the Bucs even at 14 with 2:15 remaining in the half. Following a 32-yard interception return by Arnold, the Bucs had the ball at the Bulldog 38-yard line. ETSU went 38 yards in five plays and Irby had his second score of the afternoon. 

Samford 21, ETSU 14: Like they did the first time, Samford answered with a fast-scoring drive following ETSU's touchdown. Hiers hit Ty King for a 59-yard pass to put Samford back ahead by seven. The drive only took 34 seconds off the clock and ETSU got the ball back with 1:41 left before intermission. 

ETSU 21, Samford 21: The Bucs' final possession of the first half worked to perfection as Riddell found Xavier Gaillardetz (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada) open in the corner of the end zone for a 15-yard score to tie the game at 21. Riddell used his legs to pick up 13 yards on a 3rd-and-10 play from ETSU's own 40-yard line. Two plays later, Zach Borisch (Kennewick, Wash.) pulled off 24-yard run to the Bulldog 15-yard line, setting up the passing touchdown to Gaillardetz with 33 seconds left in the opening half. 

Third Quarter

Samford 28, ETSU 21: Samford got the ball to start the third quarter and marched 74 yard down field and scored on a seven-yard quarterback keeper by Hiers to regain the lead. 

Samford 35, ETSU 21: After the Bucs turned the ball over on downs, the Bulldogs made it two-for-two in second-half scoring drives as they went 70 yards on 10 plays and Mychael Hamilton scored from one yard out to go up by 14 with 5:54 left in the third quarter. 

Fourth Quarter

Samford 42, ETSU 21: The Bulldogs doubled up the Bucs as Hiers scored on his second rushing touchdown run of the afternoon as he found the end zone from a yard out to cap a 10-play, 91-yard scoring drive, putting Samford up by 21 with 9:49 left in the contest. Samford converted on three third downs on that scoring drive. 

Samford 42, ETSU 28: ETSU finally got on the board in the second half when Irby blasted off for a 70-yard run on the first play of scrimmage following the Samford touchdown. That marked Irby's third rushing touchdown of the afternoon, putting him over 100 yards rushing for the first time of his career. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• ETSU played its 33rd SoCon opener on Saturday and moved to 16-17 following the loss at Samford
• The Bucs are now 3-8 all-time against the Bulldogs and have dropped four of their five games against Samford in Birmingham
• ETSU scored its first touchdown on the road and first second-half road touchdown when Bryson Irby recorded his 70-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter
• Bryson Irby registered his first collegiate 100-yard rushing game as he totaled 126 yards on 16 carries (7.9 average) and three touchdowns … Irby became the first Buccaneer to have a run of 70 yards or more since Quay Holmes had a 74-yard run against Mercer on Nov. 16, 2019 … Irby is also the first Buccaneer with three rushing touchdowns since Jacob Saylors had three at Wofford last Oct. 29
• Tyler Riddell, who returned after missing the last two games, moved into sixth all-time on the Buccaneer passing leaders list as he moved his career total to 5,417 yards … Riddell threw for 118 yards on Saturday as he passed Randy Meredith (1988-91)
• Zach Borisch averaged 8.3 yards per carry as he had 50 yards on six rushing attempts
• Tommy Winton III (Knoxville, Tenn.) totaled 139 all-purpose yards … Winton III had a 34 yard reception, two carries for six yards and also had four kickoff returns for 99 yards, including a long of 31
• Samford was 7-of-15 on third down, compared to ETSU going 3-of-10 on its third down chances … The Bulldogs converted on one of their two fourth down chances and the Bucs were 0-of-2
• Samford won the time of possession by nearly eight minutes, 33:54 to 26:06
• Defensively, Chris Hope and Teddy Wilson (Edenton, N.C.) led the Bucs with eight tackles, while Arnold notched seven hits, two interceptions and one fumble recovery
• Defensive linemen Isaiah McGaha (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Brenden LeBlanc (Marrero, La.) accounted for the two Buccaneer sacks
• As a team, ETSU totaled 79 tackles with 73 of them being solo hits, while forcing four takeaways (two interceptions and two fumble recoveries) … Zach West (Boone, N.C.) had the other fumble recovery with 4:52 remaining in the fourth quarter
• The four takeaways matched the most since ETSU had four in last year's win at VMI back on Oct. 8, 2022 … In that game, the Bucs had three interceptions and one fumble recovery
• Punter Nate Brackett (Rockwood, Tenn.) had another stellar game as he averaged just under 50 yards per punt (49.3) … Bracket had six punts for 296 yards, including two sailing over 50 yards and two land inside the 20-yard line 

NEXT GAME UP

ETSU heads home for the first time in a month when the Bucs host Mercer on Homecoming next Saturday, Oct. 7. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. in Greene Stadium. 

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