HOMEWOOD, Ala. - Playing on the road to open the 2025 season, the UWG football team used a stifling defensive effort, a balanced offensive attack, and a special teams spark to begin the campaign with a dominant, 34-3 victory over the Samford Bulldogs.
West Georgia (1-0) held Samford (0-1) to just three points and 271 yards of offense while creating big turnovers on their way to a 13th consecutive season-opening win.
"I'm super proud of the team, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We created four turnovers and a touchdown, and they played lights out," said head coach Joel Taylor following the Thursday night victory. "Any time you go against Chris Hatcher and his offense it's tough. I think we created some wrinkles that gave them problems, and we held them to three points."
The Wolves offense hung 411 yards of offense and rushed 34 times and passed 35 times in a balanced effort. UWG's special teams touchdown came on the opening kick of the second quarter, and made it a three-score margin at the time.
UWG's defensive effort marked the first time since 2011 that Samford was kept out of the endzone against an FCS opponent.
UWG accounted for all the scoring in the opening quarter, notching the first points of the game on a 23-yard Tommy Holden field goal. The score was set up by a muffed punt deep in the Bulldogs territory, and the UWG offense opened their second drive of the season on the Samford nine.
It did not take long for the Wolves to strike again. Still in the first quarter, the UWG offensive line gave Davin Wydner enough of a push to get the quarterback over the goal line, putting UWG up 10-0.
Neither team would score in the second quarter as the West Georgia offense turned it over two times, and the Wolves defense held Samford to just 35 yards of second quarter offense.
Junior DeAndre Buchannon showed why he was once an All-American kick returner, taking his first kickoff as a UWG Wolf to the house for a 92-yard touchdown to open the second half, putting UWG up 17-0 on the hosts.
"We knew he had that in him and he didn't get a chance on punt returns, they did a good job on coverage and hang time," Taylor said of Buchannon's touchdown. "But that was huge for us. Going into the half I thought we lost that piece. We talk about playing well in the middle eight, so for us to come out and score right there was tremendous. We put a body on a body and DeAndre found his way through there and that's how dynamic he is."
The score stayed 17-0 through the remainder of the third quarter, but early in the final frame, Latrelle Murrell broke off a long run before being tackled inside the five, setting up TJ Lester for his first career touchdown rush as the freshman went over the top to stretch the advantage to 24-0.
Midway through the fourth, Holden booted through his second field goal of the day, connecting on a 49-yarder.
Samford erased the shutout with a 36-yard field goal of their own, that coming from Ty Ippolito and cutting the UWG lead to 27-3 with just 4:15 remaining in the game.
Joining the UWG offense and special teams on the scoring fun, the Wolves defense extended the lead to 34-3 after David Hoage's strip sack popped up into the arms of Geoffrey Speight, resulting in the big man to race 50 yards to paydirt for the game's final score.
Jay Carter led the Wolves defense with 11 tackles while Chance Bryant added nine tackles. Hoage ended the game with four tackles including a sack and a pair of forced fumbles.
The offense was led by a 129-yard effort from running back Latrelle Murrell who carried it 11 times including the big 67-yarder that set up Lester's plunge. Lester finished with 30 yards on 11 carries.
Wydner, who had the early rushing touchdown completed 18 passes for 209 yards, connecting with Owen Dupree seven times and Jordan Dees six times.
"Offensively I think we left some things on the table, but we're going to go watch this film, get better and at the end of the day we have a great challenge ahead of us next week," concluded Taylor. "But we're going to enjoy tonight and then flush it tomorrow and then get on to Nicholls."
The Wolves have a long week to prepare following the Thursday open, but are set to travel to Nicholls for a week two matchup on Saturday, September 6 in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
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