CARROLLTON, Ga. - Playing at home for the first time in 2025, the 25th-ranked UWG football team gave the fans all they wanted and more, erasing an 11-point deficit after three quarters to defeat East Tennessee State, 35-31, and remain unbeaten on the season.
West Georgia (3-0, 0-0 UAC) trailed 31-20 after three quarters, but used 15 unanswered fourth quarter points to hand the visitors from ETSU (1-2, 0-0) their second straight loss.
"We've got a resilient bunch, and that's what I told the kids in the locker room. I told them we were built for this," said head coach Joel Taylor. "That's why we have all our team functions to try and become one. And in the second half, I did not see one kid blink. Noone thought we weren't going to win that football game and I thought that was really important."
UWG's first fourth quarter touchdown cut it to 31-28 with 6:40 left, and then Davin Wydner found Devion Newson on a fade in the northwest corner of the field with 15 seconds left to give the Wolves the lead, and a two-point conversion made it a four-point game and the defense and special teams did the rest to give the Wolves their first 3-0 start since 2022.
For the third straight game to start the season, UWG's offense went for over 400 yards of offense and Latrelle Murrell had 116 yards on the ground to go with 92 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns.
"Latrelle is a big-time player, that first touchdown was a huge play and we needed that," Taylor said of the sophomore from Douglasville. "But again, he's a big time player for us and we try to find ways for us to get him the ball. He's special and I'm glad he's on our football team."
The defense did their part too, limiting the ETSU offense to 289 yards total and just 107 of those came in the second half.
UWG struck first on a 30-yard field goal from Tommy Holden, but the Wolves failed to get six after taking over at the ETSU 33-yard line after a failed fake punt by the Bucs.
ETSU then scored 14 unanswered points, first driving 75 yards in 16 plays and plunging in on an eight-yard Jason Albritton rush. The Bucs then used an interception and a short field to go up 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Early in the second, the Wolves scored their first touchdown at University Stadium in 2025 as Wydner hit Murrell on a screen and Murrell did the rest, racing 62 yards to the endzone to cut it to a 14-0 game.
Just over two minutes later, ETSU extended the lead back to 11 points as Jacolby Criswell hit Karim Page for a 31-yard score and made it a 21-10 ETSU lead.
Holden added a second field goal late in the half, this time knocking in a 49-yarder to make it a 21-13 ETSU advantage. The Wolves would have one more opportunity to add points in the half, but the Bucs picked off Wydner in the endzone with 45 seconds left sending the game to the break with ETSU leading by eight.
The Wolves' defense forced back-to-back punts on the Bucs' two opening possessions. On the second punt, however, the kick found the back foot of the UWG blocker, and ETSU took advantage scoring two plays later.
Freshman TJ Lester then capped off a six-play, 75-yard drive with an eight-yard rush to get it back to a 28-20 deficit for the Wolves, but ETSU would respond with a scoring drive that ended in a 46-yard field goal and a 31-20 advantage.
That's how the fourth quarter began, with UWG down 11 and driving, but penalties would stall the drive and a 54-yard field goal attempt for the Wolves would sail wide right.
Murrell's second touchdown cut it to three and the defense needed a stop, and the Wolves got it, but an interception seemingly ended the Wolves chances with 1:45 left in the game. But the defense got one more stop and forced ETSU to punt back to the Wolves with no timeouts and just 1:03 remaining, and set up the game-winning drive.
Wydner, who finished with 263 yards on 18-of-34 passing and three touchdowns, had a big completion to T.J. Lockley on the drive, connecting with the senior for a 51-yard gain and setting up first and goal inside the 10. It was two plays later that Wydner found Newson and gave the Wolves the lead.
ETSU had just one play after the kickoff which was intercepted by Jalen Burton.
The Wolves' defense was led by David Hoage and Jay Carter who each had 10 tackles
UWG ended non-conference play 3-0 and open UAC play next week at home against EKU.
"We've got huge momentum going into conference play now. You're talking about two games where we basically dominated, and then a really good ETSU team came in here and about beat us, so our kids were resilient and able to fight adversity and you have to learn to win those types of games," Taylor added.
Eastern Kentucky will come into University Stadium for a 6 p.m. kickoff next Saturday with a 1-2 record after falling on the road at Marshall on Saturday.
"EKU beat us up pretty good last year, so we've got to do a good job preparing, and I'm glad we've got them at home," Taylor concluded, "And I want to say this. I appreciate our fans, I thought it was a really good turnout on our side, the student section was live so I appreciate them and our support, and they picked a good game to be at."
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- TJ Lester's touchdown in the third quarter was his fourth of the season through three games.
- Murell now has 100-plus yards rushing three straight games, the first Wolf to do that since Jaxton Carson in 2022.
- UWG is now 1-0 as a ranked-team in the Division I era.
