CARROLLTON, Ga. - The top-ranked team in FCS football spoiled the University of West Georgia's Homecoming as the Wolves fell to Tarleton State by a 49-6 score on Saturday at University Stadium.
Trailing by one late in the half, West Georgia (1-7, 0-3 UAC) gave up two scores in the final three minutes before the half and Tarleton State (8-0, 3-0 UAC) seized the momentum to outscore the Wolves 28-0 in the second half.
For the opening 25 minutes of the game, West Georgia hung with the top-ranked team in the nation before big plays and turnovers plagued the Wolves. By the final whistle, the nation's top offense had put up 483 yards and taken advantage of three West Georgia turnovers.
Also hurting the Wolves on Saturday was an injury to starting quarterback Colton FitzGerald who threw for 130 yards before being sidelined midway through the second quarter.
West Georgia finished the game with 307 yards of offense and had a season-high 32 rushes.
Tarleton State struck first after forcing a three-and-out and then marching 81 yards in five plays, scoring an explosive, 65-yard touchdown pass from Kaden Anderson to tanner Schmidt to go up, 7-0.
On West Georgia's ensuing possession, the Wolves added points in the form of a 43-yard field goal by Logan Lopez.
Two drives later, UWG had a touchdown negated by a penalty, but Lopez added points on the board with a 26-yard field goal to make it 7-6, Tarleton State with 13 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The Texans didn't find the endzone again until the 2:48 mark of the second quarter as Anderson found Mike Hodge to cap off a 10-play scoring drive to stretch their advantage to 14-6. Tarleton State got the ball back once more and capitalized, scoring on a two-yard plunge by James Paige to send the teams to the break with the Texans up 21-6.
UWG forced a punt on Tarleton State's first drive of the second quarter, but the Texans pinned them back and then strip-sacked Collin Hurst and took over at the UWG 12-yard line. Anderson used his legs this time, scrambling in from nine out to make it a 28-6, TSU lead with 9:03 left in the third.
After another UWG fumble, Tarleton punched it in again with Anderson finding Danny Joiner for a 40-yard strike to go up 35-6.
Anderson threw another touchdown pass to Miequle Brock at the 11:21 mark and Bryce Green accounted for the final margin with his 13-yard rush with 1:51 left.
Freshman Christian Monfort led the Wolves' rushing attack with 46 yards on a career-high 15 carries. Collin Hurst came on in relief at quarterback, going 16-of-24 for 94 yards.
The Wolves are on the road next week in UAC action, traveling to Abilene Christian for a 4 p.m. kickoff at Wildcat Stadium.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Lopez's two first quarter field goals extended his streak of consecutively made field goals to start his career to seven.
- DK Daniel led the receivers with 78 yards on six catches. In his last four games, Daniel has emerged as one of the top threats out wide for the Wolves. He's had 23 catches for 307 yards.
- Linebacker Chidu Bekee led the Wolves with nine tackles in the loss. The Plainfield, Illinois native has 31 tackles over three UAC games.
