NCAAF 2021 Week 25 VMI vs Samford

you're watching southern conference football on espn presented by alabama 8-1-1 on a beautiful saturday there is your match-up pmi the cadets against the samford bulldogs and welcome into our broadcast kurt blue along with my broadcast partner he's the captain and play for the auburn tigers cole public third member of our crew is on the field right now we'll speak with blake gardner in just a moment last week partnered we sat here and we said a contrast in styles but today it looks like at least offensively a mirror image of each other well we often get offenses that are close to one another but we don't often get offenses that are exactly like one another and it's going to be dueling air raids as you see the air raid siren bringing us in today i'm excited about seeing this matchup because we often get offenses that kind of look alike or maybe are from the same family same tree the difference is chris hatcher he is from the airaid tree he played for he coached with the godfathers of the air raid hal mummy mike leach coach scott wackenheim from vmi just decided a couple years ago hey man we need to go air raid and he just makes the switch and all of a sudden guess what it's working out two very similar offenses from the same tree the same blue plant they will have their own unique differences today and i'm excited to see them in action vmi is undefeated 3-0 and leading the way offensively is rhys well this young quarterback has everything that you need from an air raid qb he's big he's physical big strong arm he gets the football out quickly you see the numbers there obviously 73 complete is going to be big for an air raid quarterbacks and a lot of quick throws but he will challenge you down the field has the arm strength to do it and that intermediate accuracy with a couple big receivers to go up and attack the football is what makes him different they've actually added him to the run game this year some design quarterback runs he's accurate on the loop he can continue to make the football accurate down the field when he gets outside of the pocket pretty loose watch the spin move and then he'll turn it into a positive play not just keeping plays alive not just understanding how to move and stay accurate but some design quarterback runs to you density you'll see and liam wells well he's not afraid to run the football we'll get qp power with him often in every game at the samford bulldogs play he'll get it to the end zone and he actually welcomes contact but his touch his field down the field is what has impressed me the most about his game this season he understands how to attack the middle the field doesn't walk in on one individual target he has created big explosive plays especially with this young man ty king for the sanford offense this season both these quarterbacks off the great starts excited to see them duel it out today can vmi go to 4-0 samford and vmi will be back on espn in just a moment [Music] beautiful saturday afternoon in homewood let's go down to the field with blake gardner thanks guys almost perfect football weather down here on the field at seyford stadium 55 degrees on kickoff sunny skies now that's in contrast to what bmi has seen so far in the early season when we caught up with scott blockenheim head coach of the keynets earlier in the week he said plenty of spring practices have been thrown off by snow up in lexington however this week it's been sanford who's had practice adjusted because of whether over four and a half inches of rain has drenched birmingham over the past few days but sanford head coach chris hatcher told us thursday despite the wrench in the practice schedule this week he thinks his team will be ready to go guys sanford will be on offense first bmi will be kicking to tai king perfect as cole would say tackle football weather sunny clear upper 50s you got your cleats on i'm ready let's go [Applause] [Music] king is very dangerous averaging 24 yards per return but this will be a touch back and the bulldogs offensively first and ten at their own 25 and again their quarterback liam welch having an outstanding season take a look at our impact players brought to you by brom bergson cole will take over ty king's going to get some man-to-man coverage today he had a massive game a week ago he will get those shots down field again and then j stanton this offense wants to find a feature back they're still going to rotate the carries around but they want a young man that can handle the bulk of the load he could be it today in the air first but then taken down by that stout vmi defense take a look at here it's play action protection so you're gonna pull a guard out two blitzers off the left side of the offensive line that's a longer developing protection with pressure coming right into it difficult to handle keep in mind a freshman center making just his second start today this is stanton trying to get some of those yards back he's out at the 20-yard line so it'll be a third down for the bulldogs curt you think about cooper fraser the center identification of what you're seeing is going to be important this defense has no rhyme or reason a lot of the times the alignment will not make sense have to get the right people in the right places quick pass caught by tony tony above the 30. [Applause] about the 34 seems to be about a yard short samford trying to go pace legs of liam welch could be big here [Applause] stanton no it's welch himself and they snuff it out he reaches cold but he didn't get to the 35. and that's gonna be a turnover on downs that via my defense number one in the socon you see zero jordan ward gets a little bit of penetration early that allows connor riddle the socon defensive player of the month to come off the edge wrap up liam welch in the backfield and prevent first down yardage that's a big stop for vmi early they've never won in this stadium now you got a lot of momentum you go against a high-powered offense you get a three and out technically four and out and now you got the ball in your own half of the field cole in fact vmi has only beaten samford once and that was 2019. corey brighty is the running back udinsky wants to pass complete flag on the play pass was caught by leroy thomas and we'll let the flag determine if that's a plus or a minus i'll tell you one thing that's unique about this offense curve there are a lot of things with the alignment from vmi that will give you a good feel for what's coming but they have attachments to it they can change it quickly number eight of the offense 15-yard penalty first down i'm going to reference running back and hvac tight end alignment a lot today and what you would normally get but what's also attached to that is when you break tendency it could be a big play if the samford defense is trying to key on that based on what they've seen and what i've seen nicole let's also talk about the length of these vmi wide receivers it has to be a concern you got michael jackson at 6-2 jake appears at 6-4 max brigham goes 6-1 and and they are excellent 50-50 ball receivers we'll get some back shoulder throws today if coach nick finan denzel decides to give him a little bit of man-to-man on the outside those are going to come i mean it's smart so i guess i should say vmi will go to work now on the samford 49 after a 15-yard penalty fake to brighty and then over the head thomas just rush a little bit current when you get that running back who is deep and offset just a little bit not quite as wide that's where your rpo play action game comes in you get some run but it's going to be heavy rpo heavy play action when the bat gets a little bit wider out over the tackle that's when you can almost assure yourself it's a pass play a little bit tighter here low snap udinsky has it long across the field with a man open and caught for a first down a diving catch leroy thomas whoa what a crap talk about just the ability in the pocket to have the confidence that this route's gonna open up and deliver a strike down the field now thomas again inside the ten dives inside the five just an extension of the run game there for rhys udinsky in this air raid offense they'll go two back every now and then usually motion one out they'll hit some quick stuff out in the flat just running the toss sweep taking advantage of green taking advantage of space that the defense is providing righty to the right of his quarterback udinsky and as i say that obviously goes to the left fake man open in the end zone and incomplete try to hit one of those big receivers in fact that was jacob harris jacob harrison this young man is lethal down near the end zone both 14 and 11 are the guys that you want to try to avoid when you get near the red zone it's actually a nice play defensively because jacob harris does not miss on those opportunities very often i mean he's six four two eleven he plays six six two eighty he was open briefly ty herring had the coverage third down play for the cadets out in the flat friday there's some pressure pass is dumped off and then incomplete again intended for harris joshua carter on the defense nice covers from joshua carter there you get the back lined up out wide he's going to run around then indento decides to bring the blitz you see jamarcus chiefs he adds that pressure and that forces reese to denski to get it out the pressure's going to come from nickman and denso today the benefit you have is you're going to get five-man protection probably 85-90 of the time i like the mindset of pressure the quarterback don't let him get comfortable 25-yard field goal attempt for jerry trey rice and he will give vmi a three-nothing early lead keynes on the scoreboard back in just a moment bmi with a three-pointer field goal gets on the board first and they lead three-nothing we'll take a look at the series history 6-1 samford but vmi won two years back in 2019 an overtime game up in lexington cole that's the longest bus trip by the way in the southern conference it's 11 hours yeah that is a niche for guys your size 11 hours on a bus not a good equation that's where social distancing is your best friend make sure nobody's next to you on the bus rolling out yeah we're going to need an aisle for each of the old linemen well please stay away broadcast guys like myself had no chance king and it's off his hands and out of bounds at the four yard line we saw that one of the stamford returners two games ago kurt actually caught the ball on the sideline with one foot out of bounds so it ended up working out for him but i'm always under the mindset have a feel if that ball's got a chance to go out especially at that angle sort of a nine drive take advantage of the flag let it go see a little bit more of an even front here from vmi there they are three down defense but they'll change it up often welch with no running backs he's got his man that's caught that's king and look at him go can he turn on the jets nothing but green touchdown samford oh boy the king of the explosive plays ty just continues his reign on the socon is not going to stop anytime soon protection up front from the offensive line you get two inside linebacker snip lids that means you're mono wii model it's five on five up front excellent pickup liam welch is told on a daily basis at practice by chris hatcher you have more time than you think you do and it paid off delivering the touchdown pass 96 yards on the strike from welch to king cole got two great puns in by the way get that scoreboard ready and seven to three just like that samford takes the lead well nick stewart the offensive coordinator he kind of stressed it to us as well that it's one of the things that chris hatcher tries to talk to his quarterbacks all the time and hatch told us this week too when we spoke to him in our pre-game meetings i tell the quarterbacks all the time you have more time than you think you do and that really paid off there for liam well it's a lot of quarterbacks occurred when they see numbers coming like that you know you got five man protects they're going to get it out too quick and that ball is going to be a worm burner in the dirt or it's going to sail they're going to rush things liam welch got set had a nice stature in the pocket and delivered a strike he knows what ty cain can do with the football once he catches it i'm mad because not everybody not a lot of people told us about the speed of king but we keep watching him and he keeps getting separation i think they underplayed his ability well it's like i told you that first series he's going to get man-to-man or should i say and he's gonna he's a guy that can take advantage of it he's got the wheels to do it 96 yards against the number one defense in the socon touchback i'll tell you this real quick a spot where mitchell finneran becomes a gigantic weapon today is corey brady the running back for vmi he led the socony kick return average a season ago 28 yards per kick return he won't get a lot of options today and coach wagonheim told us he said man that kicker he can kick it out of the end zone we don't get a lot of guys that can do that big advantage for samford to not allow vmi the extra field position just by being able to do that veteran is the special teams socom player of the week so here comes udinsky and company handoff to brighty that's his first touch on the ground in fact just about enough for a first down brady was a guy that really stuck out to me on film when i went and studied bmi big running back downhill back very physical oftentimes in the air raid you don't get that bigger bat that that welcomes contact that can push his way through contact and they have a lot of inside runs and and he's he flourishes with a lot of what they do you see the tighter look here offset still a run look for this team picked up nine it was just short this is harris with a first down catch inside the 40. we'll take a look at some more of our impact players well we mentioned breedi for vmi obviously has to have a big day catching the football running the football he'll help in protection as well and then jacob harris is just a guy that he can win a one-on-one 50 50 ball big catch radius physical wide receiver team leader in receptions and yards this year and last year in this vmi offense and we already saw marcus cheeks on a blitz forced a couple of passes early far sideline and udinsky off his target he had a lot of rhythm last week against mercer seems to be a little out of sync here early against samford talking about the socot preseason offensive player of the year reese udinski the quarterback from outside of philadelphia a lot of times they'll motion this back and then that's a run look for him and it is a run and bride is going nowhere about three samford defenders one that was able to pick out one of the linebackers they'll rarely stay in that pistol formation you see motion back and then just trying to go off tackle their inside zone look now they can pull it they can have an rpo off that you have a free snap attachment where you can quickly get it out to a wide receiver but that's one of the run looks that you'll see how wide the back is now pass look from vmi they'll get that running back kurt lined up almost even with the offensive tackle that's how wide he'll be in past sets here watch here see how wide he is out there over side the tackle get him out in the flat quickly passing play way short of a first down great coverage by sanford i'll start with a good pick up by brady one had to come across the line of scrimmage there but you're going to get the underneath up right there it's a good tackling defense and control players going to get a lot of one-on-one situations where a receiver catches the ball in front of him and has that ability to make a move he makes a lot of those tackles today it's going to be tough sledding for the k-depths jack colbreath will punt it away to montreal washington washington will be tackled almost immediately when down at around the 18 yard line and we'll go to a break from cyber stadium samford seventh bmi three you see leah welch and a new running back in dakota chapman your side is tony welch maybe a yard cold did he read that and saw and thought he had a lane i don't know if the reed is really what matters there i think he protected the football because he had the overhang blitz come off the slot so if there was an rpo attached to it you can pull it and throw it i don't think he had that option there so probably made the right decision there's chapman coming out of the backfield and dakota chapman tackled short of the 20. you get a lot of soft coverage on the outside from vmi receivers can take advantage of that too but you can get some easy yards out in the flat third down and 10. see now playing up a little bit tighter here backing off the pressure now expecting a pass welch hits tony over the middle and tony to about the 29 yard line at a first down young man like aj tony's gonna have a lot of advantages today he'll see some zone coverage we'll have a chance to sit down inside and he'll get that off coverage that we mentioned where he can get the ball quickly and have space to be able to make a defender miss this is just a this is a big rugged hard-nosed defensive line that vmi brings the samford offensive lines had a great year they had their hands full today jordan ward up front he's got it he doesn't play like he's 250 pounds you see zero he looks like he's 280. first time ever that a vmi football player has worn the number zero jordan now they're they're not what i would refer to as a a twitchy or loose defensive line but you try to go right at them you're not gonna have a ton of success they do not get moved off their point of attack very often third and seven a passing down for welch and samford he goes over the middle that was deflected intended for vice but somebody got a paw on it and a nice job getting up getting the hand on the football it's one thing you do you don't get pressure remove a passing lane that's connor riddle soak on defensive player of the month riddle and stone snyder inside those are two guys they've combined for seven and a half of the 12 and a half sacks on this team 16 of the 28 tackles for loss this season they make a lot happen at the linebacker position for this pmi defense bradley portulato will punt for samford fair catch 28-yard line where vmi will go back on offense i think right now if you're scott wachenheim head coach at dmi how do we get rhys udinsky comfortable we haven't seen that yet he had the one out route to his sideline he threw it about 15 yards over the receiver he had a quick out to the sanford sideline that ball looked like it sailed on him a little bit he now he's taken some sacks this year most of those have come later in his drops samford's been able to get to him right away that immediate pressure is not something he's seen a lot of this season fake to brighty short pass caught short of a first down but about seven yards and that's harris again just a he's such a big physical target they line him up all over the place they'll put him outside put him inside he'll be in both areas of the slot he can work the inside he'll work fades two yards for a first down and brighty has a first down right up the middle [Applause] now going back again kurt running backs tight back behind the quarterback a little bit that's where you get your run look but you have to be careful because that also is rpo and play action territory from the 42 first to 10 for vmi they come in 19th ranked in fcs number 54 of the offense five yard penalty first down first down that's some of the issues on the line cole and they started three different lineups in in their first three games up front they've had to move some different guys around aidan jillson just at the beginning of that there sometimes you kind of forget the snap count or you want to try to get the defensive line to jump a little bit but there should never be a false start on the center you everything moves on you snapping the football bridey stuff [Music] looks like he was tackled for a loss just untouched a little bit of a run stunt there for san francisco defender back underneath i'm actually surprised at the commitment to the run game early here for vmi short pass caught a little stiff arm but still not a whole lot of yardage for max brima john it's a nice tackle by lamar anderson get a lot of these crossers in this air raid offense for vmi right there take advantage of zone coverage you got to come up and make a play not man-to-man so right there you understand you got to come up in space lamar anderson did that makes the one-on-one tackle excellent work third down 16 for udinsky just gets it away and that ball is deflected kurt this bmi offensive line does not handle guns and pressure well watch the right side twist with the linebacker blitz coming around that's demarcus cheeks again free shot on the quarterback not sure if there was some miscommunication up front on that offensive line looked like slide protection to the left where you use the defensive lineman to pull that guard down linebacker loops around there's nobody else to help fourth and very long for the cadets cold breath short punt [Music] about the 38-yard line good field position for samford we'll take a time-out from seibert stadium the bulldogs lead the cadets 7-3 [Music] seven bmi three uh socon standings are presented by event rentals unlimited undefeated pmi trying to run their record to 4-0 this is their best start since 1981. chattanooga playing furman today [Music] chattanooga leading 10-6 first half a couple of running backs including montreal washington welch makes the read welch slides for a first down by the way safe at second here when you get montreal washington in the backfield this vmi defense knows you want to force feed him the football nice fake from liam wells a lot of quarterbacks will just go ahead and tuck this try to get north and south he completely turns the shoulders shows that he's willing to throw it out in the flat and then tucks it back down to get north and south good block from jay stanton leading the way and we mentioned it in the open curve liam welch has become a big part of the design samford rushing attack that adds an extra blocker you talk to defensive coordinators they'll say it's almost impossible to defend because you in all the defenses through time that were drawn up the quarterback was the unaccounted for man now you've got to find a way to account for him and that's what has drawn up so many what we call conflict defenders in this day and age whether it's a defensive end and a zone read whether it's a linebacker back on an rpo the offenses that are really rolling right now they're going to find a guy or two and they're going to put him in conflict and they're going to make you make a decision and when you do if you got a guy that knows what he's doing makes the right decisions you're going to make that defense pay tyron cloyd coming off the field the samford coaching staff working all off season if there is one on liam welch and trying to give him a confidence that he can be an effective runner well yeah their off season was the season now a passer and he hit stanton out of the backfield into vmi territory not quite the threat out of the backfield that dakota chapman is but certainly capable as he makes his eighth reception of the year five whiteouts for welch off the hands of montreal it was washington by ethan casselberry kind of a dangerous throw there from william wells had the slot uncovered decides to go outside the ball thrown just a little bit high third and six on the ground and it looks like a first down for stanton nice job there by jd beal left guard climbing to the linebacker watch the guard on the right side of your screen right there climbing up on number seven josh serrat there's stanton it's a big physical defensive line but this is also a big physical offensive line that samford brings to the table having more success to the left side today than we've seen the last few games back to the left side by the way i want to make this clear that previous play was a fourth and short stanton got the first down [Music] now dakota chapman comes in lines up next to his quarterback liam welch good protection and intercepted [Music] it's vmi coming up with the turnover rolling on the field as an intercept riddle with the int i'm not sure if the coverage changed on liam welch and then he tries to force it maybe rusted a little bit you saw him kind of patting the football a little bit quarterbacks tend to get a little antsy when that's happening but an excellent play there from conor riddle guys he's been a do everything defender in this defense it's actually a good run look there for the sanford offense was surprised to see them go to the air riddle kind of the inspirational leader on that defense handoff for the cadets cory brighty picks up a couple you see 47 there at h-back tight end aidan twombly for vmi outside of the tackle right now that's normally a pass look you get that toe lined up on the tackle not often will you see him stay in and block the run he'll get out in the flat do some different things now they'll move him play has changed it help me if i'm wrong you call that at the line of scrimmage after you read the defense right correct so what will happen is that hvac will either get outside the tackle he'll have one foot on the outside foot of the tackle or he'll be lined up behind the taxi right there split zone he comes across picks off the inman on the line of scrimmage brighty getting some running room and that's one thing that rhys udinsky maybe doesn't get a lot of credit for something that he does a little bit more than liam welch will you'll see him on film he'll actually change plays at the line of scrimmage they'll get them into a different protection a completely different play i feel like they had a pass play on there you move your tight end you go to a run play you get the look that you want you pick up four yards get you in a better second down situation and move your h back again low snap handoff brighty that'll set up a third down and short number one and it gives you just an idea of how versatile you can be with the same looks or similar looks so instead of going split zone there you bring them across and you go counter friday again first down nathan east on the tackle it's not a super athletic offensive line they're a little stiff but they're grinders and they're guys that really get after you they stay engaged they finish you can tell there's just a toughness to them there's an attitude to this group when you study them on film they started three different lineups they had to rotate different guys in and out of that group the best one is 65 harnett harris with a first down catch nick harnett six three 295 first team all socon when a nice job by aiden gilson the center there inside on that last play that was a tackle tackle twist inside trades it off picks up gives you quarterback time to deliver the ball udinski finding his rhythm a little bit cold and the rhythm starts with a handoff to brighty it's interesting ever since bridey has kind of gotten his touches udinsky's got a little bit more room to throw and has looked a little bit more comfortable a big play from armon boyd there defensive tackle from oak mountain just over the mountain here in homewood playing for the eagles he's a big physical force on the interior of the stanford defensive line does a lot of the dirty work doesn't get a lot of credit for some of the things that he opens up for others play fake and too high udinsky is usually accurate he's had some throws today that have sailed on his wide receivers and more pressure there watch tackle tackle twist inside you'll see 99 seth simmers gonna bust through i don't care who you are no quarterback likes throwing the ball with somebody in his face when he's gonna get hit now some are better than others but nobody enjoys it maybe brett favre that's about it third and six calling his own number udinsky has just enough now for a first down then last move he made was able to swivel his hips for a first down yeah boy brad davis downfield too if he picks up an extra block they might go a little bit further see right there he kind of runs into 79 that's a play that they've added and it's actually been very beneficial five-man protection a lot of times these defensive linemen know they're gonna get one-on-ones they're screaming up field take advantage of that two white outs to the left side and that is exactly where udinsky is looking he's got harris and harris inside the five taken down at around the three when udinsky takes another hit it's another tackle tackle twist on the inside so eye protection picks it up right tackle loses his man that's where the pressure comes from but you didn't see knew he had harris open on the crosser from the two that's brighty and brighty is in for six touchdown bmi they take the lead just inside zone play on the right side of that offensive line pretty good push but brighty's a young man that he just he finishes forward on every run he's the guy you love handing the football to in the red zone or goal line situations extra point to make it a three point game how can you forget this guy's name his name is jerry rice plays kicker he typically goes by the nickname of trey be tough to walk around campus someone says what's your name's all journeys is jerry rice someone else is going to say oh yeah my name is joe man joe montana what's your real name unfortunately kurt i i feel like there's a lot of players on both these teams that probably don't know who jerry rice is yeah i hate to admit it but it's it's been a little while nice drive there from vmi an excellent answer what we have not seen is too many of the explosive plays you saw the one down the seam on the first drive of the game only came away with three points there you saw harris kind of get loose there on the corner out taking advantage of soft coverage but the run game began to show up for vmi and bryden udinsky both getting it done with their legs now forcing the sanford defense maybe to think about how aggressive they've been in this first quarter rice will kick off ty king dangerous takes it at the six right up the middle already out to the 39 with a flag on the play hey you know you taught me don't guess last week every guest i made was completely wrong i'm not guessing on this flag that's why we have officials during the return holding number one on the receiving team 10 yards from the spot of the foul first down so as the officials will move this back we'll go down to the field and let's talk a little bit with blake gardner blake what's going on down there thanks guys sitting in here looking at the vmi offensive line you know coach scott wachenheim used to coach offensive line at virginia before he came over to bmi he came over before that last series and had a heart-to-heart with the center aiden jillson asking him to pick it up a little bit get back in the game he'll be fine nice response there for the offensive line on that series especially on the ground welch we had the rpo go on there took it out of the belly of his running back and just got to the 20. well coach walking out man the best quote i've ever heard about offensive lineman said we don't have a winnie the pooh offensive line around here anymore which is well he said that they they used to have that and that they were short fat and proud of that which i thought was fantastic now you were an offensive lineman as we get into a story we got a time out i i wonder if you fit the winnie the pooh when you were playing that being said it's the cadets by three samford on offense back with more in just a moment vmi out in front 10-7 start of the second quarter blake you're right down there ty king seems to have some sort of a leg or hamstring issue right now a hamstring injury for ty king no official word from stanford yet on his designated status more to follow there good news on the injury front for vmi tyron cloyd with a left ankle injury is back in the contest he's going to give it a go with that heavily taped up ankle guys gotcha first down pass for samford first down first welch over the top caught and now dropped by creamer had it for a moment this is incomplete remember at the moment i mean that's a thai king type play and king right now nursing a hamstring watch left side of your screen you see the overhang defender five stone snyder coming off the edge there it's a good read by liam welch he knew that had to be a quick throw wasn't going to have a lot of time in the pocket he didn't have the numbers to pick up that pressure out of the backfield and then it will be dropped thought he was going to dakota chapman but instead that's peyton ringer out there on the slant again same play they hit on ty king earlier in the game getting that man-to-man covers that was more pressure off the edge again the overhang defenders is where vmi will get you three-man front but you'll see some of those outside linebackers and safeties creep down off the edge third down and ten safety pass and dropped by stanton three drops on that set and down for sanford so they'll have to punt it away to the 19th ranked team in fcs football bmi back to receive for the key dance number 83 chance knox quarterback numbers are so misleading welch put the ball in the hands of his receivers three straight times gelato it's off a rugby kick caught no return good tackle on special teams that is tyler russell we'll take a timeout on a saturday afternoon vmi up by three bmi out in front by three cole cubilek by broadcast partner blake gardner down on the field cole you always talk about getting some balance in your offense right now samford a little one dimensional only 17 rushing yards meanwhile 47 for vmi pressure and then udinsky just throws it away that's a nice place played by reese saving space underrated agility in the backfield he keeps plays alive does a nice job affording the rush at certain times that's you get two linebackers coming up the a gaps that are untouched that can't happen you always take the nearest threat always take the nearest defender to the football even if it's slide protection you have to understand where that defender's coming from second down end ten time and then down he didn't have a man open that's a good coverage situation by the samford bulldogs defense you see some of the agility too for udinsky to be able to get away in some of the escape ability but i'll go back to nick mindos stanford defense coordinator another tackle tackle twist he's throwing something at this offensive line seemingly every play he's not going to give you the basic pass rush it looks like pressure coming here watch these two linebackers you have three defenders lined up to the left on the line of scrimmage keeper and a first down and more wow nice rush by udinsky to give the cadets a very important first down kind of reminds us of that crawford game last week where we thought we were gonna get a bunch of options we didn't and then finally they break it out in the fourth quarter and they busted for a big run i haven't seen that speed option this year i watched all three of vmi's games i haven't seen udinsky just take it flat down on the line of scrimmage like that your vmi you know you should have it in right you ran it forever hand off that's a five six yard pickup for rashad raymond now raymond is a little bit more explosive he's got a little more juice than brady does he's a guy that had he had a big screen against furman earlier in the year busted out for a long gain he's somebody in the open field that's a little more dangerous 5 foot 10 freshman out of newark new jersey back to raymond right near the first down marker you see when he motions over kurt how tight he stays to the quarterback that's where vmi gets their run looks from can still go rpo can still go play action when the bat gets out wide over the tackle that's when you can almost remove any threat of a rushing play now pistol they'll usually motion him down one side or the other there you go like you said third down and one raymond i think he's short big play from nelson jordan there 94 off the edge he's a guy that scott wachenheim vmi head coach talked to us about when we met with him saying 94 is a problem for us he is somebody that we need to neutralize we need to contain nelson jordan we've seen him rush the pastor all year that time comes flat down the line of scrimmage meets that rushing play head on and negates first down yardage joshua long was also in on that tackle here comes a fourth down play it looks like falling for the first down number five is raymond very nice extra effort from raymond you see right there nathan east he just shoots the a gap quickly raymond cuts back nobody home on the back side of that rush play nice cut nice job finishing the run bmi able to move the chains on that fourth down play udinski out of the pocket being chased and then hammered down by the sanford defense that's sims seth simmer rather multiple stamford defenders down you get a sprint out protection you're not supposed to run into this it's not supposed to be a sack i mean first off you know you can't worry about the backside because you're running away from it throw the ball away if nobody's open you have the option to tuck it and run it there was no threat in the flat which is usually sort of your outlet when you sprint out simmer interesting story they get to udinsky again simmer who got the sack how's him again it's it's it's seth simmer again adding the pressure just winning a one-on-one with a left guard started his college career at dartmouth and in between his freshman and sophomore year he had a brain tumor [Music] udinski he hits his man but right out the 50 so clearly short of a first down you think about how scary that is for an individual to go through something like that and then to be back on the field in pads wearing a helmet competing in a live tackle football game that's impressive i don't care what level what school just the fortitude to be able to battle back from that pretty cool here's how it started cole as a defensive lineman he couldn't hear the signals from his linebacker and so they checked him for an ear infection and they found the brain tumor what a story that is washington will let it bounce this is gonna be saved from the end zone and down at about the one foot yard line the one foot line is where samford will take over but they'll do it after a timeout vmi by three when we come back if you're looking at the same shot i'm looking at you got four guys up there on the porch and the second from the end that's devlin hodges one of the most decorated quarterbacks in the history of fcs football looks like a nashville honky tonk up there oh he loves that stuff here's welch trying to go long caught that'll get some room kendall watson on the reception yeah good protection up front for welch and we mentioned it in the open kurt you're going to get the one on one so liam wells not afraid to take the shots that's welch how about that i mean you get a guy that can give you that touch down the sideline in one-on-one coverage which again has been the most impressive part of his game for me this year and then you can tuck it and run it between the tackles give you quarterback power you know grind out some extra yards they'll give it a stanton who has a good burst of speed and gets a first down sanford has something they like off the left side of this offensive line 46. your lineman on the left side guys and beal got a free play and a flag we have talked a lot about the right side with williams and or but it's the left side opening up some holes and then as cole said a flag on the play the best thing that can happen for you as an offensive lineman is to have your counterparts doing it a lot better than you're doing offensive line coach loves that side defense number 11. five-yard penalty first down nobody likes to watch somebody else go out there and maul people all the time and you're not doing them all after the five-year-old first and five now for samford they trail by three in vmi territory watson on the outside that's where welch wants to go and it's going to be just a little too long you saw that one from up here watson had that one-on-one coverage cole you talked about but go back to the throw to jerryus creamer a little bit earlier where he left that one kind of short and a little bit higher where the six foot four 230 pound receiver could make an adjustment well now you know you got 510 175. the ball placement is high outside safe pass to tony point being liam welch understands the body type that he's throwing the football too if you got a guy winning a jump ball you can leave a little bit short you get a shorter receiver a little bit faster go ahead and put it out there let him try to go get it where the defense doesn't have a chance to take it away injured player right now for vmi good protection on the inside of that sanford offensive line again aj tony going over the middle field aj tony a guy is just smart football player knows how to find space good route runner had a columbia offer coming out of jackson owen high school tim vaccak is telling me that he didn't know any other ivy league offers that have come joe's way in at least in his tenure by the way blake pointed out to me blake gardner our field reporter ty king is heavily wrapped up that's creamer who dropped one earlier and creamer gets to the 15 where he's taken down it's kind of like ty king's territory but a good feel for liam welts of what the coverage is he's getting man-to-man taking advantage on the ground for the bulldogs and after number six demarcus that's demarcus ware and i believe it's his first touch of the year we haven't heard a whole lot from where now there is a flag on the field this came in mike williams number 50 of the offense 10 yard penalty from the previous spot middle of your screen turns and turns corrections second down i mean i'm not you're not going to get me piggybacking on that one he's got his man reached so yeah you could turn him loose i guess but the defender starts falling to the ground you finish him you you lay him he'll be first down put his face in the dirt i don't have a problem with that he wanted to step on him or something yeah he finished the block squeeze his helmet welch too much for creamer that's one thing that's a little bit different every now and then you get six four two thirty from creamer and you get you know five seven 177 with tony 510 175 watson those guys get out of the round a little bit faster than six four two thirty tell you who's been quiet today offensively that's mike vice well he and montrell washington yep got him there there's montrell inside the 20 down to about the 17. it's interesting when you look at that montreal washington chart one week he touches the ball ten times the next week it's down to about two ten two ten two up and down well they'd rather have it closer to ten i can promise you that meanwhile dakota chapman back in as a running back watson wide to the right he slants in here's welch escaping the pressure tuck 15 down to about the 12 and took a semi late hit kept that play alive cold decision good decision pressure comes he's able to avoid it gets over to the sideline just play action protection 65 austin geiss kind of hinges down a little bit too tight that allows the pressure to come but you don't see a lot of quarterbacks turner runs back inside from field from the sideline liam will also do that loves the toughness 28-yard field goal attempt by mitchell finneran special teams player of the week in the socon and he has just tied this game at 10 apiece samford and vmi all tied 5 56 remaining in the half we'll take a timeout back in a moment oh glory beautiful clear sunny about upper 50s and we are tied up at 10 5 56 prior to halftime thinner in another kickback it's just easier to say that isn't it just thinner in kickback first and ten at the 25. such a weapon had a pretty interesting journey here to samford and i i finally admitted to coach hatcher this week that this kid's a weapon i don't i don't usually go out on the way to compliment kickers but it's obvious to see that mitchell is and coach hatcher told me a pretty unique scenario of how he got here coach hatcher liked to always have the sports happen at his house when his kids were growing up so they would have will football games all the time and mitchell finneran was also always the wiffle ball catcher for their wiffle ball games and always told coach hatcher i want to play college football i want to play college football kept the relationship alive kept contact with him he grows up begins to kick in high school obviously coach hatch would move away from georgia but that connection is what brought mitchell here to samford going back to those days of being the catcher for the wiffle ball games in the backyard of chris hatcher so for your future kickers and pretty darn good ones start practicing wiffle ball yeah by the way will football catcher that's not fun no that's um everything's a knuckle ball that's brighty in motion on a second down throw a little bit too long you kind of said it earlier the broadcast just have not seen the reese udinski that we have seen the majority of this season now not all on him he's had a drop or two he's had pressure in his face a lot not that time and that's a throw that we would usually see go to 14 or 11 but still that's out of the range for max brigham not able to get to it third down and long eight for a first down pressure coming back side it's picked up the throw well off target and he had [Music] thomas was there this is just not this is not the young man that i saw on film the first three games of this season just the the comfort level's not there the intermediate accuracy is one thing that has made this offense go the way that it has and rish udinsky just doesn't have that today i don't know if you can take him over get him settled in give him some different throws but you need to get that young man comfortable and confident and the blowout win last week seth morgan came in and replaced udinsky that's a short punt and samford look at that bounce samford's going to have terrific field position after a really short punt by jack culbreth i was about to say cold seth morgan came in last week in the blowout maybe you take him out i'm just guessing here again maybe you take your ski out sit him for one second no i don't take him out i don't want to i don't want to i don't want to hurt the confidence anymore than it is and i think that shows that you may have some concerns about him it's not that he doesn't have it in him it's there he's been successful the entire season just maybe go back to your route tree go back to your plan a little bit and say i'll go sideline ask him what do you want what can we give you that you feel good about right now that's what i think a good offense coordinator would do two running backs they stick with two running backs montrell washington on the carry gets to the 35 around the left side and a good call there from mid stewart sanford offense coordinator got it going away from the blitz you saw 35 ethan castleberry coming off the edge he's an alabama kid from sparkman high school up in north alabama started an outside linebacker and safety for this team safe pass dumped off to stanton that's a nice read there's a flag on the play vmi pointing towards sanford it's gonna be a first down pending the flag michael vice tight end was tangled up with stone schneider now vice is also walking back he's going to say he's heading towards the logo not near anyone else by the way holding offense number 88 10 yard penalty from the spa the foul second down he's like i'll take it that's on me probably saying throw it to me let me get it back that's kind of competitor he is just he's one of the leaders of this football team does a lot to help make this offense go tony's got one-on-one coverage at the top of the screen welch going through his progressions and he finds ty king king if he can make a move he does goes outside remember the bad hammy still on his feet inside the 10. i guess the hammy's okay we were going to find out right there one way or the other a little crossing route nice patient from welch and you're gonna get a little giddy up wait wait wait watch this spin dakota chapman oh he's still on his feet and now taken down oh that's jordan ward that's down for vmi that's uh that is that's a big loss if he's not able to come back into the game a young man that he had two sacks against samford last year he has played the most snaps of any defensive lineman on this football team you talk about a young man that just gives you effort gives you plays gives you everything that he has over the past three seasons he has played 1420 snaps on the defensive line 773 of those last season got 11 tackles for lost last year he's just a he is the rock up front on this defensive line walk off the field will ward who again wears the number zero the first ever vmi cadet to wear that number on the football field it's for his leadership on and off the field and of course in the military they value the number zero i love the defensive lineman single digit by the way [Music] chapman didn't get a whole lot nice pursuit well somebody's got to pick up the slack charles dixon 55 for vmi says all right big boy jordan ward goes out i'll come in get some penetration make a play in the backfield nice push there from the red shirt freshman third down and nine now two years ago in that last full season this is where vice 19 in line it lined up at tight end right here it's creamer washington to the left they're going for montreal washington he's got it acrobatic catching a touchdown for montreal washington good protection up front how about the pass the touch on that football from liam wells nitro washington is not your prototypical jump ball guy 510 170 but you see the fight that he's got in him going up and attacking the football at its highest point reeling it in for the touchdown he might not be the best route runner he's not the best running back but he's certainly the best when the ball is in his hands finneran and the bulldogs with a touchdown lead 17 to 10 3 23 remaining in the second quarter back for tackle football after this [Music] take a look at the skill players on the samford bench number five caught his first touchdown of the year 17-10 samford cole when we do our opening we rehearse it we talk about what we want to get out during the broadcast right now at this point is it playing to what we talked about what do you think i think to an extent it is i think for samford offenses it's about what we expected to see and then the best defense in the socon as well so stanford has brought that to the table i anticipated a little bit more from the vmi offense obviously we've mentioned it a couple of times rhys udinsky's not necessarily been himself run game has been up and down a little bit they've had a couple go but then seem to sort of stalemate not be able to get it going consistently and i think that's probably the the issue with the entire vmi offense can you be consistent can you find some consistency move the change a little bit and i gotta get some shots down the field have not seen too many the first drive through that nice post route i hadn't seen a lot of opportunities since calls his own number but there it is get it going you want to get in a position here where now if you wanted to take a shot on second three you're able to do that get some run game going three wide receivers far side that's where udinsky looks and puts it right on the numbers of his wide receiver that's the thriller michael jackson it's a great read from rhys udinsky understanding he had inside leverage from the corner zone coverage so flat defender was going to be a little bit late getting out there and he makes an accurate throw those are the throws that we've seen him make all season first and 10 on the move vmi east almost got to the quarterback pass complete right around the 50s and it's jacob harris this young man just been so good he's got every high school record that you can have receptions receptions in a game yards in a season yards a game career yards career touchdowns he's just been so productive in this new scheme yadinsky looks like he wanted long ball settles for the short pass and a first down back to leroy thomas 15. now we're in the deep south with vmi of course a military school but what are the odds the quarterback and the lead wide receiver are both from pennsylvania maybe that's why they got such a good connection odinskis from right outside of philly caught that's harris boy he does look like a tight end cole doesn't he with that size his big body 72 for 1091 yards eight touchdowns last year he had 10 for 172 against samford last year he's a guy that this coaching staff probably has had some nightmares about coming into this game just because of what he did a season ago and then also what you've seen him do this entire season coming in sanford has an injured player there's the catch the reception and the move by harris ty herring just kind of kind of got rolled up there making the tackle looks like he reached to kind of grab his arm while he's on the ground carrying the leading tackler for samford's defense came in with 33 tackles on a season while we have a moment let's go downstairs and check in with blake gardner blake thanks guys not good news for vmi's defensive end jordan ward he's actually being carted to the locker room right now further x-rays and examination await the defensive lineman for the keynotes but as it stands right now a big loss for bmi huge especially as this game gets late it's a one score game right now good job and blake by the way we'll have interview with chris hatcher at halftime as herring gets up and will walk towards his sidelines nicole you and i can see right down to our right the cart which holds jordan ward their defensive leader just a massive loss production quality snaps leadership physical presence he brings it all up front to that vmi defense first under two minutes remaining 30 yards [Music] for a touchdown three wide to the left let's keep an eye on number 14 again harris hand off and heading towards the end zone just about making it corey brighty on a delayed handoff delayed draw kind of caught the sanford defense sleeping excellent run friday just north and south physical runner they did that a lot last week here's udinski by himself and let's see which way did he fall touchdown he fell to the north side which is a touchdown vmi and they are now just an extra point away from a tie but it was set up on that brilliant run by corey brighty almost looked like the design pull from the get-go udinski was going to pull that thing down take it in himself either way and that's what we talked about the consistency on offense you hit a couple of throws you hit a couple runs all of a sudden you're down in scoring position you get an explosive play from breedy and there you are jerry rice will make it 17 a piece nice drive an important drive for the keynets they come right back and score after the montreal washington touchdown reception one yard td for rhys udinsky you go back and think about a couple of the throws there rhys udinsky hits jacob harris a couple of times once over the middle he hits leroy thomas over the middle he called his own number on a rushing plate early in the drive that helped set him up for a first down conversion and then of course you get the big run from brady on the delayed draw which is a nice call first time we've seen that today do you feel like that stanford defense is attacking attack it they're getting north and south getting up field you got to wait allow them to come up sneak it back underneath and then of course udinsky calls his own number to take it in for the touchdown nice response there by the vmi offense i was watching the tape of the vmi mercer game and they used that delayed draw often and they break it out here late in the second quarter short kick by rice one of the up men trying to get to the 30 32 33 yard line and that is caleb durham homer boy big block by jacob peters on that kick return he declared a vmi return team man his brother jordan played down at auburn had a couple interceptions in the iron bowl a few years ago welch has it complete to watson who makes a nice move gets a first down and more it's elementary for watson kendall watson and that's enough crickets come on you gave me the king stuff earlier creamer big target for samford creamer will wind up in vmi territory you're going to get some of that off coverage so guy like creamer is able to use his body wall off timeout sanford this is their first time out 30 second timeout 44 seconds to go sanford of course the quick strike offense see those last two plays again please reset the clock to 46 seconds by watson how about the block though by montreal washington out there five maybe it's 170 pounds and then creamer 44 seconds at midfield for this offense with two timeouts that's it's almost like time's not even really an issue mitch stewart wants to go fast he wants to have the pace up he feels like they operate at their best when the tempo is going at a high rate so that's what their normal doing they're comfortable doing just keep it rolling when you talk to the sanford coaching staff they hate threes they love six and sevens creamer will get to the 32 and he's thrown out of bounds stone snyder has been very active stanton steps out of bounds 25 seconds still plenty of time when you look at the sanford offense they're already ready to go right now play picked up one yard second and this will be a second and nine you need about 30 to get into the end zone over the middle and it's caught [Music] that's torrence pollard we're gonna give him first down yardage obviously but i think sanford might go ahead and take some time out yep let me get back to the point i was making sanford second timeout 30 second timeout talk with coach hatcher during the week we were talking about mitchell finneran being quite a weapon and he said you know i don't like settling for field goals i'd rather just score touchdowns that's an air raid mentality so you got a couple choices here cole i would think with one more time out remaining you you head to the end zone well you can challenge the middle of the field if you feel like that's where your match-up is now you have soft coverage in the slot here so montreal washington able to get him something quick and potentially pick up easy yards you can still work the middle with that timeout ty king not on the field welch jumps it off trying to get a man in space spin move made by torrence pollard you got time i'm going to try to snap it here maybe get a play off as he's complete just burn it down take the timeout kick the field and then kick the field goal timeout samford their last timeout 30 seconds probably thought initially you were going to be able to get back to the line of scrimmage with a little spin move and then take it took a second or two to get to the ground by the time they got lined up there wasn't an opportunity you probably have a jump ball called there where you can just go ahead and throw it to the end zone if you feel like you have enough time but and actually liam welch did a pretty good job seeing that hey we're not going to have it he just sort of waited knew they were going to take the time out number 17 31-yard attempt by mitchell finneran this will close out the first half tell the russell to stop this to give samford a three-point lead into the locker room vmi says no good and so do the officials so a rare miss by finra and will stay tied up at 17. so the bulldogs thwarted by vmi at the very end there and then a a kick that was pushed to the right by the usually reliable mitchell finneran all right down to the field for blake gardner and chris hatcher thanks guys down here with sanford head coach chris hatcher coach almost 350 yards for that offense in the first half but just 17 points what'd you see from them um well i thought that you know there were some plays out there to be made you know we we had one bad interception there and then we had some drop balls and um we had some miscommunication on the offensive line when most of those yards came in those two drives very disappointing you know we had a great two minute drive working right there we had a called a shot the endzone went there did a great job of checking it down you know gonna have to settle for the field goal and um wish we could have come away with some points there defense is playing really well but we just got to be more consistent on offense i mean we're doing some good things but we're just shooting ourselves in the foot shaping up to be another tough close ball game what do you tell your team at the break i want just to keep playing i mean just keep playing i mean you know we got a top ranked team in here and they're really good they're undefeated and um you know we're we're right there with them and um and and we got a great opportunity to have to come out and correct a few mistakes and um and and get us a big win today that's that's not going to be our plan going into halftime thanks for the coach best of luck athletics tied at 17. samford and undefeated vmi we'll take a break halftime activities commence in just a moment halftime score 17 apiece bmi and samford our halftime highlights are brought to you by hinkle roofing and they're narrated by cole huberlin well liam welsh under some duress early but this offensive line and welch himself would bounce back deep crosser to thai king who did a lot of heavy lifting he can create explosive plays he would do it again later in the game that one goes for six and then bmi would answer had a little bit of run game going in their early drives that would go away and then return in the end of the half mantra washington the jump ball from liam welch one thing liam welch has done today nicely spread the football around and after a big draw play with ncpmi quarterback recently take it in himself he has not looked exactly like what we thought he would for most of this first half curt but he turned it on a little bit late and he tied this football game up you get the feeling if you didn't look at any of the numbers you didn't see the score you feel like stanford was up 14 17 points in this game so for vmi to be where they are if they can turn the corner they obviously have a pretty good chance to be competitive maybe win this football game sanford like coach hatcher told us before the half gotta finish drives gotta come away with touchdowns our first half stats are presented by alabama eight one one we're tied where it counts on the scoreboard 17 apiece despite samford dominating most of the numbers we'll be back with the start of quarter number three kirkland cole cubelick blake gardner john mcafoos and our espn crew right after this timeout [Music] our southern conference scoreboard is brought to you by ben's express from cyber stadium 17 a piece [Music] furman one better than chattanooga they're now in the fourth etsu and the citadel they're deadlocked going into the third a little bit later on this afternoon western will host mercer but the big one you see the rankings there chattanooga and burma 17 apiece as we are about to begin the third quarter [Music] well let's see if mr touchback lives up to his reputation yeah right on cue cb perfect at the four it's coming out that looks like brighty brighty to the 27 28 after a nice push blake gardner you had a chance to talk with coach walk what did he have to say well guys he told his team at the break listen it's an honor and it's fun to play in close game so embrace that pressure embrace this opportunity you're playing another meaningful game here against samford defensively he told us guys look they've got really talented skill guys we're gonna have to match up with them as best we can offensively we just have to be more consistent have to be able to stream together drives and keep this stanford defense on the field they feel like if they can be more consistent on the offensive side of the football they've got a great chance here in the second half guys brighty in the backfield along with udinsky it'll be a handoff to corey brighty i'm going to give him two yards and then there's a nice surge maybe a little bit more you saw the samford defenders trying to yank that ball free may give aidan jillson a little extra credit too center 54 kind of get a little extra push there late but brian's a guy that just he finishes forward forward lean legs churning that should have been a two yard gain it wound up five here's brighty out of the backfield makes a good move and he now gets a first down he's complete that's it that's asking that's asking a lot josh joshua yeah 91. you kind of rush in who's out there in space you get against one of the better backs in this conference tough to make that one-on-one play especially when you're in pursuit usually motion out of this okay in motion was brighty short pass caught and that'll be into sanford territory leroy thomas on the reception yeah chris edmunds down actually two players down vmi player down it looks like that's leroy thomas caught the ball but chris edmunds came on a blitz and shane strand 72 i believe it was that delivered a shot see evans on the right side he jumps and then strand just kind of nicely timed punch but i think he landed on the hip there edmunds did and then of course leroy thomas caught after the catch working on the right ankle nehemiah will be missing jordan ward the rest of the way the right defensive end now for samford when you look at chris edmonds two-time defending socon player of the week four total interceptions he has been a legitimate playmaker on the back end of the stanford defense spend more time at nickel today coach benedetto was telling us that that's where he'll be a better fit against this scheme and we actually hadn't seen him a whole lot which sometimes it's the defensive back if you're especially if you're playing man-to-man that's a good thing but he's someone that this team needs no doubt about that and we saw ty herring get nicked up a little bit in the first half so you don't want too many members of this second year to be able to go down against the team that's going to put the ball in the air as much as vmi is meanwhile not looking very good leroy thomas needs some help to get off the field not much weight going on that ankle at all that is the injuries have been tough here for vmi jordan ward if he went to the locker room early we'll see when this team comes back on defense if he's able to go now leroy thomas 17 for 118 on the season he got 54 for 5.94 last year he was a point guard in high school and also a thousand yard rusher on his high school football team ball is on a 50-yard line quick pass to harris after cutting inside plenty of room for the first down jenkins really nice read from reese that's an rpo he's got the read he can pull it and spit it out that's a pre-snap read he sees the coverage that he likes he'll just pull that ball and kick it out guys little stretch play pulling the backside guard the vmi likes to run i neglected to mention that harris is actually a freshman michael jackson with the catch coach wackenheim was telling us during the week that outside of virginia for a non-resident they've got to pay three times as much as a in-state virginia resident to go to and to attend vmi it's not for everybody caught that's harris the guy we're talking about now you hear that routine that coach wackenheim sort of ran through for us up at 6 30. you're making your bed obviously you're going to run through drills you're going to go to class he said he does he doesn't get the team until around 4 30 every day which is the latest he's ever gotten his football team out to practice they have to be done by 6 30 because you got to get to dinner and then of course lights out around 11. not a lot of free time for for these student athletes there's the pitch first down by brighty and that ball was almost intercepted as well that was dangerous like keem johnson comes up from his cornerback spot watch 48 right there almost gets the hands on it it's a great read from johnson settle speed option again we saw it earlier in the game able to pick up some good yards but once again brady make one miss lean forward pick up the first down first and ten judinski to the air intercepted by samford here comes the return to the 35 trip marcus cheeks he usually plays in the middle but leaking out that time cole well all these linebackers spend some time in different places you see cheeks 39 middle of your screen going straight back in coverage this is an excellent job of attacking the football at the high point he looks like a receiver look at him palming the ball running there ball skills i kind of asked coach hatcher last after last week where did 39 come from it was held out a little bit earlier in the season but he is an impact player on this stanford defense only a sophomore there is vice first time we hear from him cheeks is a young man that coach hatcher knew he was stepping out a little bit if he said if he finishes here and handles his business the way that he needs to and continues to improve he'll he'll leave sanford as one of the best to ever do it stanton in motion welch said get out of here welsh better get rid of it soon vice closest there there was a lot of pressure coming that's one where i think chris hatcher and mitch stewart probably saying you don't have as much time as you think you do we talked earlier in the broadcast now that's sort of their talking point that you have more time than you think you do hoping for the reverse mentality there want your quarterback to get it out third and five for samford after the interception caught and now a first down and more montreal washington in the open can he get to the end zone he can [Music] touchdown explosive capability this is not a difficult throw high percentage throw this little hitch route and josh sorak comes flying up misses the tackle and you're not going to catch him number 16. there's not a guy in the socon you get mantra washington three four yard head start it's going to track him down it's just not there finneran to add the p-a-t it's the beauty of this offense curt we saw last week ty king over the top over the top over the top now you get some high-percentage throws that can also go for explosive plays bulldogs on a big strike to montreal washington stanford out in front by seven on a 60-yard touchdown samford goes out in front the second 60-plus touchdown reception of the day for a samford bulldog but blake gardner our field reporter poncho washington went right into the tunnel and right into the tent after that what happened yeah guys washington getting checked out of the tent right now nothing official yet on his status but look at this sam for defense when they come back out of the field playing without both starting safeties at the moment bad news for ty herring he is out the rest of the contest with an apparent left arm injury meanwhile chris edmonds continues to receive medical attention he's on the bike right now trying to work out a left leg injury his return to this contest is questionable let me put your other spot just before we go back here as uh vmi will take over obviously if they're 25. uh update on ty king i think i've seen him once back on the offense yeah guys king says he's good to go but obviously sam for trying to limit his reps as he continues to work with a heavily wrapped right hamstring injury he's another one of those guys that continues to receive attention between series trying to keep that hamstring as loose as he possibly can and finally should we assume jordan ward is out of the game for the rest of the way the right end for vmi's defense this is brighty getting nowhere a lot of people got the initial hit and at the end of the day it was joshua long marcus cheeks arriving quickly again zone play to the left and then you see cheat scrape right over the top can't finish it but does enough to allow his teammates to bring that pursuit get the tackle for loss jodinski and vmi try to make something happen that's caught short pass cheeks bringing a little pressure there again just another throw where rhys udinsky has the man in his face and had a clean pocket very often still able to complete that ball you're gonna see some backup players in the secondary for samford two safeties are out at the moment this is the third and 12. so behind the chains for the cadets man open near side that's the thriller michael jackson and he will be taken down short on the first down you know if if we were up in lexington cole every time he made a catch i'd do that little you know just not me personally but i think the the pa system should do that you think is that or a moonwalk on your video board i mean you got to play with that name sure you've done plenty of playing with it today montrell washington out of the tent here's another well that kick will get a little bit more on it didn't look real good but it's gonna wind up with some good bounce to it and sanford will be on offense up by seven but before we have any more michael jackson jokes we need to take a timeout from cyber samford up by seven college football on espn is presented by alabama power blue cross blue shield of alabama [Music] and truitt insurance truant insurance and bonding welcomes the opportunity to work with you on any of your personal insurance needs for more information visit truittinsurance.com bulldogs on offense liam welch near 400 yards in the air two touchdowns of at least 60 yards and i find that ironic his good friend and he shared the quarterback room for three years with devlin hodges who is here watching from the porch at the sullivan cooney field house sort of that too tight inside again where creamer paying on the ground in line next to the offensive tackle they'll rotate now as jr train reno checks into the lineup he'll be in the slot up top no gain on the play going long one-on-one coverage that's vice out there or no tranrino rather complete he was intended for trying to get the corner had the one-on-one trainer had a big play out of the backfield last week his versatility something these coaches really like you know i mentioned a week ago aaron morehead as receivers coach at vanderbilt now with the eagles said they were actually going to try him out in the backfield at vandy before he transferred so a third down play caught and that should be enough for a first down there's big mike vice signals for the first down hey we didn't talk enough about buddy anderson the legendary coach at vh who has retired and you've got probably 100 stories about buddy anderson yeah leading the way there michael vice again played for buddy anderson and your buddy was guys i mean he's he's playing when i was in homewood and or coaching at vestavia when i was at homewood and the guy that it didn't matter if you were one of the rivals you respected him he knew what he was about i had multiple conversations with him over the years just a guy that i mean i played for bob newton there's not a head coach i would have rather played for than him but buddy anderson always a guy that you understood why his players love playing for him and just had a ton of success there at vestavia over time and finally finally decided to shut it down and hand it over michael vice had some some great things to say about buddy just that didn't didn't appreciate back then how great it was to play for him like he does now this is a first down run by stanton i love the way vice put that during the zoom conference he said look i went up to coach anderson and said i did not appreciate one playing for you until i started missing you and i think again the reputation for buddy anderson is also to make men not just great football players and it's well deserved buddy anderson deserves all the accolades that he gets that's montreal washington in the backfield and that's vice who we're talking about right on target i know that was a heck of a recruit for coach hatcher he was talking about he was real real happy to wind up vice had other offers a lot of them from out of state and would require a lot of travel over the top goes welch could get some p.i no intended for tony looked a little early you see welch bouncing up and down looked early colin that's one that liam welch has not missed very often and he hangs it out there where tony's got a chance to go get it and it's i'm not sure if he's if the contact's not there if he's actually going to be able to catch that football but that's the speedster that you want to give the shot down the field to second down to the air that's in traffic caught near the end zone and just short that's kendall watson watson having his best game as a samford bulldog boy watson's got some juice they're going to try to hurry up and get this football in as quickly as they can handoff i don't see a signal yet mr marcus ware doesn't look like he's going to be able to cross the goal line but boy kendall watson in traffic you know kind of had to catch that ball in between a few defenders and gets it down near the goal line welch likes to keep it here too cole you know that we've seen that he gives it back to demarcus ware no signal except from samford but the guy's in the black and white shirts the line of scrimmage there is a flag on the play uh-oh flag offsides on vmi cole you said you weren't going to guess no it's more of a rhetorical there's a question mark somewhere in that statement yeah yeah it's gonna be a big package coming in here that'll and including olodokin well we saw this formation with seven offensive linemen a few times last week there there are plays attached to it other than just the quarterback lead off the right side don't know if this is where mitch stewart feels like he needs to break one of those out look at the numbers blocking for ole dokin chris oludokan backup quarterback wearing number two scored twice there was movement again and that play is dead so i could guess but i'm not going to because you've already called me out but if i would lean coal i'd have to lean towards vmi on the infraction [Music] we got 54 and 62 of samford luke byrne and john number 65 of the offense five yard penalty second out that's why i don't guess yeah austin guys over there left tackle just got a little bit of a head start and sometimes when that happens that quickly it's difficult to tell exactly how it went down and if that offensive lineman's going to move that most time going to get you for that one and this changes your play calling obviously it did the jumbo package is out now dakota chapman is in tai king may be on a fade far side left welch now there's a helmet off as well let's get welch to about the three another flag third straight flag with a helmet off yeah it's tyron cloyd with the helmet off saw him leave the game with an injury earlier good to see him back in he started at safety he started it outside linebacker very versatile player on this defense good penetration there from warren dabney also 56 on that defensive line dabney's kind of d-linemen i like he was first-team all-state offensive line in high school second team all-state defensive line he's playing d-line for vmi from cumberland virginia we all anticipate this flag personal foul face mask number 30 of the offense cause number nine's helmet to come off therefore he can stay in the game it'll be a 15-yard penalty from the end of the run second down see chapman left side of your screen just a lead block uh then he goes back and holds on yeah and does not let go by the way three or four good rips i would imagine if we rolled out some tape of cold cubic playing center at auburn we'd see a couple of those uh never never spin like an auburn uniform no no no never penalized in an auburn uniform i cannot believe that i will not buy that check the tape get kirk sampson on the phone bowden on the phone one of those stanford going backwards by the way welch off the hands of vice another drop his pass is incomplete had a few of those for stanford today obviously you you brought it up a little bit earlier kurt some of the numbers for liam well it's not going to necessarily tell the story because he's put it down right in the hands a couple receivers multiple times third down remember samford was at oh about the six inch line welch safety route to ty king king taken down at the 12. [Music] and a man is down for vmi looks like that's aldrich mulry another very versatile player for this vmi defense he's started at linebacker corner and safety last year another one of those guys that i'm sure the stanford players knew very well coming into this game he had 11 tackles against the bulldogs last season now mallory was one and then there's another vmi player riddle and absolutely and a guy that vmi cannot go without they got the helmet off of riddle conor riddle's been so productive in this defense 28 tackles three and a half sacks eight tackles for lost he's got he works in coverage he blitzes off the edge he's physical against the run he just he is a big part of the engine for this vmi defense one of the leaders on this football team his face showed a lot of duress by the way cole it's going to be a fourth and 12. yeah finra is on the field that answers my own question i was wondering the way that coach hatcher and mitch stewart call this thing if they might even gamble because they were so close to a touchdown look at riddle jogging off he's that's no surprise that young man all about heart is in to attempt the 29 yards skipped a semester so he can play one final year of football 29 yarder for finneran to give samford [Music] a 27 to 17 leads timeout coming out of the field bulldogs by 10. blake gardner i mentioned and teased the kind of riddle story do me a favor and expand on that for me you got it guys riddle good news for the bmi perspective brittle's getting his lower back work on but it looks like he's going to be able to continue in this contest but what a story riddles the reigning southern conference defensive player of the month a former walk-on for this vmi program was awarded a full scholarship and was on pace to graduate last december but with no graduate programs available at bmi riddle would have been ineligible to play in the spring had he graduated in december let's get a look at this vmi kickoff return so riddle instead of graduating in december and being unable to play this spring decided to drop out of vmi last fall so he could take classes in the spring finish his degree and finish up his vmi football career certainly a big time leader for this vmi defense he's on the bike right now trying to get that lower back worked out and hopefully trying to get back into this contest but for the love of the game right i mean my first question was can you is there not some electives you could take but then i think we're talking about vmi so no probably there's not coach wachenheim told us during the week you have nine semesters once you step foot on that campus man in motion that's the backup running back udinsky short pass nice play nathan east from his linebacker they're gonna play more sam today because of the looks that they're getting a couple linebackers a couple db's going to move around there's nathan east 22 middle of your screen sees the round cross his face and then gets right in front of it excellent job second and ten udinsky sees the read and then he's taken down nelson jordan whose name you've mentioned often it's actually a really nice play from nelson jordan i i thought rhys udinsky was going to be able to slide around that block he's tangled up with marshall gill there left tackle but he works back inside comes across the face of the offensive tackle and able to make that play now he'll get the tee off here off the edge yadinski will go to the air has time and off the hands with a penalty flag down it was intended for michael jackson for number 11 jackson there is a flag coverage by player and no i'm not guessing it was a pretty big third down call cole there was there was obviously some contact pass interference number two of the defense that'll be a spot foul automatic first down so the drive continues for the cadets who are down by 10. don't know if we saw it early enough to see actually where past interference came from all right what do you got there the running back just moved closer he changes the play when his head goes over the helmet like that so he'll roll out and then caught yes so a nice job there rhys udinsky basically it's just almost running the triple option change the play you can hand it off you can keep it or you can spit it out in the slot second and five after the reception by chance knox fake to brighty yudinski going long and too long again nicole yeah chance knox not able to free release there nice job by keem johnson at the line of scrimmage because the route opens up late i just think the timing is off third down and five now a play that worked in that first half was that delayed draw to corey brighty [Music] just a handoff and bridey was stopped and now kept going with the feet and gets the first down he's tough he just really is he is a tough tough tackle 21 joshua first down inside zone oh he's just running through a d-line i mean i couldn't tell exactly who it was in the middle but he's just goes head up with him with that catch by harris extending and using as you said earlier that catch radius he's a big target they use him in so many different ways versatile not afraid to work the middle of the field not afraid of contact catches the ball very well in traffic running backs tights are run game still in play here fake to brighty back to knox cole let me get back to jacob harris he's only a freshman could he eventually get bigger stronger and possibly become an hvac or a tight end or do you like him where he is right now i i like the big fiscal receiver and i think any time you take a receiver and then try to move them in you're kind of asking for trouble because they didn't come up blocking they're not comfortable with that part of their game good point this is another third down in five [Music] jackson near side three wide receivers on the far side [Music] here comes the pressure and the sac and that's cheeks again nick benendetto's got a lot of success with a gap pressure day cheeks times it up perfectly that's troy palamalu like and you saw corey brady is staying in on protection but he's redirected the opposite way they're going for it on 4th now a little pooch and there's a flag on the play yeah based on the vibration from the coach's box next to us i would assume that that's uh not on vmi but will it be enough to give the character on the play illegal substitution first down samford so the bulldogs will take over yeah you did he's punted a few times this year usually he'll back up about seven eight yards behind center and just take a regular snap and punt it that time maybe trying to draw some sort of a penalty and then get it keep mentioning devlin duck hodges who's here the former sanford great and now currently with the la rams he did that often that was part of the game plan that pooch kicked that's high king back in the game up top tony nearside king far side empty backfield for welch two touchdown passes of over 60 yards [Music] that'll get montrell washington the reception out to the 15. yeah nice job leveling off the route there so you're going to go underneath you take one up top a completed pass aladdin elm roy kind of coming off the edge there he's filling in for conor riddle good job getting the hands up and batting that football down well rpo from liam welch you got some man coverage here at the bottom if you we saw sanford last week took a shot down the field aj tony is who you're talking about near side on your screen goes far side montreal washington and he picked something up and that's enough for a first down a little methodical there just getting some breathing space 17. well now you've got a two score lead minute 20 left in the third quarter that's stanton leaking out of the backfield instead a dangerous pass caught by pollard that shows his confidence by liam welch doesn't it absolutely josh sarad coming in trying to make the play knee injury sidelined him after five games a season ago a very aggressive safety saw again screaming down but nice throwing catch under a minute remaining pressure and then out of bounds stanton the closest guy there jaylen hayning he's filling in for jordan ward that's a reoccurring theme here for vmi i've had a couple of players especially meaningful players go down in this game 97 nice pass rush they're able to get to the pocket forcing liam welts to move and then skying that over his receiver third in one screen washington should have enough is complete and number five i'm trying washington looks like he's gonna be a little bit short nice play from tyron cloyd once again a guy that's played outside linebackers playing free safety forced a fumble against sanford here last year versatile player in that secondary big defensive stop for the cadets number seven josh it's josh sarat will feel the punt from bradley porculato sarat at his 41. so the kids should get good field position and that will be the final play of the third quarter nice punt in surat inside the 30. we'll take a timeout we head to the fourth quarter samford by 10. [Music] sanford over vmi by 10 how did we get here let's take a look at this by vba our game tracker well liam welch has been fantastic 452 yards and three touches we got a quarter football to go i really do think the difference has been explosive place and it hasn't just been liam welch say pushing the ball down the field he's had some help from his receivers at times but vmi hadn't been able to create those they've sort of clogged away a little bit and found some points but the explosive plays difference in this game in my opinion past defense by sanford has really been good including that tackle by nathan east you saw the numbers on udinsky just over 200 yards yards and drops easy three to choose from near side instead far side for jackson first down all those stats all those numbers in jackson ten point ball game of the quarter football to go and you and you got possession so agree i know where you're going with that you could dominate on the stats but the only thing that really counts is that scoreboard where right now it says 27-17 there's that delayed handoff that works so well against mercer and on to number one i think bride he lost a yard tackle bulldogs cole what's that supposed to or i should say intended to do well you're intending to draw the defenders upfield take advantage of that and then you slide right by him problem there was the middle of that defense armon lloyd taking up multiple gaps second down and ten men coming over the middle that's jackson and he has driven down at the 50. that's will hudson not first down yardage but what a blitz pickup from corey he slides across the line of scrimmage and completely peels off a linebacker which allowed rhys udinsky to sit in that pocket and deliver a pass to give you a much more manageable third down third down and four midfield the pitch to corey brighty and brighty has a first down and and we haven't seen this play too much but it feels like every time they've gone to this little speed option that udinsky and brighty have been able to figure it out there it is just flat line down the line of scrimmage puts joshua long in a tough spot udinski faces pressure and is taken down but you see there he still turns that into two yards that's a lot of quarterbacks going down there felt that pressure laid kind of able to escape a defender down around his ankles get nice second and eight instead of second twelve second and seven three wide receivers to the far side handoff to brighty freddy picks up good yards on that carry he just has a good feel for where space is going to open up shoulder pads always out over the feet [Music] help me if i'm wrong he runs low to the ground doesn't he put his shoulders and helmet down it's a lot of forward momentum there he goes again and dives forward for the first down you see the wherewithal there to understand somebody's got him around the ankles knows where the sticks are instead of trying to do something weird he just dives ahead picks up first down yardage that's just football instinct 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter bmi driving for some points plenty of time and now pocket collapsed once again simmer was involved he's having his best game as a bulldog back up nose guard to tay berry there's no flag but yet yudinski's kind of stayed in this case defensively for samford on the play number nine obviously he's getting taken down tough to tell from here if he got outside the pocket didn't feel like it the ball did go past the line of scrimmage helps him out this will be a second down play for the cadets trips up top they like to work the flat here with that combination righty inside the 30. corey he just rumbles just rumbles [Music] got to think he's probably two down territory don't have to have everything if there's something underneath you want to try to work look at the space in the slot up top third and six looking for harris now he's got room to run and gets by east godinski i'm going to let the officials take this one the spot looks a little short it does look short but udinsky brings up four down fourth and one limping i'm not sure exactly what got him but he did not look 100 you're right now this is a great decision just tuck it and go don't waste any time get ahead make a move nice move there on noah martin udinsky's not gonna go probably telling him from the sideline go ahead and get down let's take the injury time out now you're not going to be able to have him on the fourth down that'll be the one tough part of this so you mentioned that earlier seth morgan played a little bit last week do you have a wildcat that you can go to four is out on the field so he looks like he'll get the snap you got a fourth and one you bring your backup quarterback in very critical possession by the way absolutely you know you're you're under 11 minutes remaining down by two scores you think about what the confidence in jerry rise here for 22 yards out 37-38 yard field goal attempt almost to the hash but if i'm scott wackenheim i know i got number one on my team and corey bridey's the guy that's probably going to get this football maybe even like you said in a wildcat and i haven't seen him run that this this year i i don't know if that's something that they've worked something that they have i have not seen wildcat from vmi a direct snap but i know number one's getting this football the redshirt freshman from pittsburgh seth morgan passing by the way he's perfect this year six for six handoff bridey tackled him for a loss i see cheeks coming out of a pile hvac's tight that's his split zone and you're exactly right jamarcus cheeks attacks it i'm gonna go back to something that we said late last week we've said it this week we said it earlier this season nick benendento the defensive coordinator for sanford he does not lose aggressiveness he stays aggressive the entire game hardly ever do you see his group just sit back give teams yardage give teams plays he is constantly in attack mode and i love it speaking of attack welch in traffic caught tony number three good throw good protection that's a dart has some time and that ball might have been deflected it's starting started to drop which by the way mitch stewart and chris hatcher they don't lose their aggressiveness either i mean hats is kind of made fun of himself going what he calls milk mode a little bit too early or was it was it not too early the last couple of games staying foot on the gas here in the furman game they accused themselves of milk mode stanton if you want them or you can go that way back to tony who's hot hurrying up back to the line of scrimmage not going to slow it down [Music] from the offensive line and liam wells he's been accurate all day welch got two receivers and he's caught on the deflection by tony tony at the 20 inside the 10. what a break for the bulldogs wow there you see the cross are coming and then aj tony just kind of hangs around said well what if okay i'll take it the pacing again by the sanford offense handoff to stanton and number 20 stanton no relation to yankee outfielder d.h giancarlo first time i used that one this year by the way tackle on the play by number 31 and wiggling yeah riddle is back in he made that tackle stanton no and welch on the keeper mccarry a good fake to stanton you just have to wonder here now it's going to be under nine minutes to play at least try to grind a few plays out whether you're gonna get it in the end zone or settle for another field goal you got a chance to choose some clock here comes montreal washington back in this set right here was very good against vmi last year this two-back set in the gun let's see right to washington he's open will he catch it yes is he in bounds no welch's pass pack of a throw nice grab just a step too far defensively cold he gotta yes because finneran's coming out but you know we just know chris hatcher he hates threes as i mentioned you wanna you can extend it past ten and that's obviously two touchdowns still not gonna matter but you can take it past a touchdown in a field goal which helps that that forces your opponent to need extra yards 22-yard attempt by finneran and finneran is good this time sanford with a 13-point lead we'll take a timeout bulldogs with 8 34 remaining looking for their second consecutive win over a ranked opponent well the bulldog got an injury 34 remaining fourth quarter samford up by 13. blake gardner looks like priest sudinski is going to give it a go next time around yeah guys it's a left knee for the bmi quarterback resu dinski he's been trying to throw on the sideline it's definitely taking a lot more effort he's definitely not going to be 100 but he is going to try to give it a go big news for the key deaths who are already without starting wide receiver leroy thomas a right angle injury will keep him out the rest of the contest guys good stuff the bulldog for samford the mascot he might need a little time in the tent this is brighty tripped up over the 20. cole you noticed that the bulldog looked like he needed some treatment he had somebody working on him down there the mascot getting a little attention by the way liam welch there's an injured bulldog lamar anderson it is welch over 500 yards passing it's good it's a good day it's a pretty good day yeah you guys ran the ball when you were playing and captaining the offense at auburn did you have a 500 yard passing day for a quarterback memory uh not 500 been lead went for over 400 in athens set the school record for passing yards in the game it does not stand anymore but at that time did well over 400. and i'm sure it felt like it was 800 because again primarily built on running well actually no because we we actually shut it i mean we we smashed georgia so bad that day that we shut it down in the second half so could have kept going all right bulldogs on line two georgia bulldogs online two for you cole listen you'll take it on i know you laura anderson you've gone in athens the top ten georgia team rolled in there and smoked i mean i can't facts are facts i was speaking about uh your coach earlier terry bowden who recruited you and then brought you to auburn you realize that coach hatcher chris hatcher under his tutelage sanford has scored more points than any other head coach in sanford hit street including numbers two and three which would be terry and bobby bowden this offense has been incredible udinsky with a bad knee finds michael jackson jackson down at the 28. jackson you know if you're samford defense i would imagine cold you'll agree with me nick benedetto will give up that six seven yarder right now he will but remember we said he's going to stay aggressive he's not going to sit back for too long as you see linebacker blitz there first down nice catch pass is complete and i'm on board with that i i just you always wonder you see the three-man rush the safety's sitting deep corners playing off laden games and you just allow that quarterback to sit there and wade and wade survey i'm a much bigger fan of attacking and taking your chances somewhere else first and ten and that one's just floated out of bounds good decision [Applause] pollard of samford on the sidelines with the reception jumping up and down he thinks that counts for his stats twist on the outside again justin hayes getting a little push inside you're seeing some different stanford defensive lineman getting grabs laid in this game i was about to say call that had to hurt the knee too twisting and turning like that fires a bullet over the middle caught by harris nice throw good catch jacob harris into samford territory with the clock ticking 7 to go there's another twist in the middle of the d-line but this was the first thing we saw from vmi attacking the middle of the field down the field mixing in some corey brighty runs trying to hit harris on the pass outside off his hands now you're getting some cover too so there's going to be space between that corner and that safety and you've got the receivers to be able to go get it that's a route that they've had a lot of success with this year teams trying to play two deep safeties on them caught short of a first down had it again right there i thought it's going back to michael jackson up top right he decided to pull it back down and just take the quick throw ties to me with his second catch of the year [Music] third down play might be two down territory here's the option pitch and brighty you really like him he gets that first down pretty good play by joshua long to string it out but why not go to that play i don't think stanford shut it down all day now you've only gotten it four or five times but when we saw it early i had not really seen it from vmi and they've made good work of that if that was a true addition to this game plan keats at the 32 of samford dumps it off and then caught by the back up running back rashad raymond number five rashad raymond picks up about four 22 nathan east defensively for samford see i i think you can still second and seven from you don't have to go warp speed just yet make sure you're confident with what you're in if you need to get to something else go ahead and do that look into the far side he's got harris you can never go wrong when you're working to that guy harrison jackson looked like they ran the same route just a couple of feet from each other first and ten sanford right now bending not breaking defensively they've got the lead by 13 10 from the 16. it's times like this where coach ben and ditto will surprise you all of a sudden you'll get some pressure and hopefully force something to happen raymond in the backfield one-on-one nobody covering touchdown the m.i and it's the thriller michael jackson touchdown now i wonder if he has a moonwalk to his celebration you got the pressure you just didn't make anything happen cole how did he get so wide open see safety and corner crash off that side somebody's got to stay covered that's just miscommunication extra point by rice so we got ourselves a game with 5 25 remaining out in front of bmi we'll be back the key ditch hanging around remember they're undefeated at 3-0 19th ranked and now they're down by six touchdown pass from rhys udinsky to michael jackson for 16 yards montreal washington cole by the way is back not tai king king again nursing a hamstring and that's washington who decides after a hesitation to try to take it out to the 15 makes a nice move out to the 27 yard line to give samford pretty good field position cole he should have been down about 15 yards prior to that yeah gutsy i mean he takes his momentum into the end zone but i'm sure his ankles are okay or not mick stewart offensive coordinator and his bulldogs stay on the ground that didn't get a whole lot maybe one five minutes remaining three time outs for vmi you're down six two schools of thought here you wanna run your regular offense you wanna go fast if you do that you must have points you wanna lean on your defense run some clout i think you're okay there rice can't find it and that was also a dangerous pass it was ethan castleberry there's a pressure up the middle pretty good stop castle bear was just in good position there to make a play he started five games at outside linebacker and ford safety last year they got a lot of those hybrid defenders on this defense third down and nine welch under pressure and he just coughs it up to get it away they'll call it incomplete jalen haney had welch and the defense by the keynet stands up they're gonna get the ball back on the hands of udinsky he got inside of jd beal and then cooper fraser the center comes over trying to help him and he didn't realize that liam welts is actually flowing that way she kind of shoves him right into liam welch and no goals met by the sanford offense on that possession chance knox fair catch and that will set the scene at the 42-yard line of vmi the keynet's down by six they're in possession with 4 31 remaining back in a moment [Applause] the key dancer down by six but they're on offense 4 31 remaining and remember the socon preseason offensive player of the year is their quarterback oh he goes down the leg collapsed on him cole that knee just buckled it did not look good you don't you don't see a guy non-contact just kind of collapse like that very often it's scary you wonder how much that damage was done earlier in the game when he went down trying to tough his way through it oh i hate to see that i've been there i've had multiple knee surgeries and when you get the ligament damage cartilage damage that that thing just it gives out on you there's nothing you can do so now for vmi the task gets tougher they'll bring in their backup quarterback and you see everybody from vmi they know how important udinsky is to this team it'll be seth morgan the rest of the way six of six on the season for seth morgan redshirt freshman out of pittsburgh it's not all let's not forget that play also lost seven yards that's a second down and 17. and you mentioned it seth morgan has not missed the pass six for six two for two versus mercer last week holds on to it he's going down rashad raymond just sort of mis-times the block not sure if he has his eyes another direction cheeks gets in the backfield in a hurry third down and 20. look for harris number 14. just a little too far for chance knox a fourth down cole that play was closer to going all the way then it wasn't it was a nice inside spin move from nelson jordan left defensive end he spins inside marshall gill the left tackle and he was able to get into the face of seth morgan and hope i probably forced that ball to be off by a foot or two which negated an explosive play bmi forced to punt it away to washington called for a fair catch at the 31. do you manage that because that's the questionable part of that call there it's not punting you have three timeouts 340. plenty of time you're kicking it to number five you survived that part of it though three minutes three minutes 40 seconds remaining bulldogs lead the key deaths when we come back my partner is called on the field blake gardner kurt bloom up here in the booth johnny max got the espn crew the give to dakota chapman and if you look at the sticks he actually lost the yard that milk mode you talked about cold instruments by a host of kids well now you're three and a half minutes left as vmi going to take one of their timeouts i mean you think about the way it went last year the last drive curve you've been you've been better off just taking the knee three times you're talking to stanford right correct it force them to use some clock yeah you you want to stay aggressive we know they have that possibility we know we've seen it before but now especially knowing that seth morgan most likely going to be the quarterback for vmi i try to get as much of this clock off and lead on my defense again chapman in at running back with washington in motion jet sweep and a reverse that's pollard and now heads up field heads north [Music] nice sort of redirect there watson rather by kendall watson he sort of gets outside and makes one little move inside that i think frees himself up kind of right there and that allows him an extra probably seven eight yards on that carry third down in five brings the third down is that too tight in set again here where you're taking creamer lining up next to left tackle [Music] sanford needs five there's a flag welch is going to come up short but the flag will take precedence you just kind of had to think it was going to be quarterback power false start on the offense so now you put yourself in third and long back to the original line of scrimmage should be about a third and ten and last possession and this possession samford unable to run out the clock you got a play call cool if if it's me it's i mean i'm i'm running something similar to what i just ran welch i i'm not going to be high risk i'm just going to let my quarterback run it either force pmi to use another timeout or i'm going to get more clock off all right and i got to ask you this is the fact that vmi is using a backup quarterback factoring into your decision yes emphatically okay and in this case this is probably a conservative call welch off the hands and intercepted by vmi josh sarrit comes up with a big int excuse me was injured after five games last year right place right time but he goes and hunts that football down brings it in for a massive interception that will save his team 20 30 yards in field position they will be in samford territory vmi will 2 41 remaining down six and with that much time in two timeouts kurt this doesn't have to be all on seth morgan you have time to work corey bridey you got time to work some quarterback runs you don't have to be warped speed to potentially come away with the points and race you density on the field yes it is udinski number two he's got a knee brace on he's gonna try it [Music] and sanford almost comes up with an interception in traffic now you see pressure up the middle again so marcus cheeks and wow nathan east had it in his hands and a lot of traffic there thankfully for vmi that ball able to be batted down but east had a great shot at an interception 45 yards for a touchdown 10 for a first down caught it'll be a third down that's chance knox but obviously two down territory four down territory henry you want to talk tough competitor gritty crit is something this program is built on ten toes down is what they go by rhys udinski just taken shot after shot standing in that pocket dangerous wide receiver is 14 harris out of bounds at the 33. that also saves the clock both linebackers blitzen right up the egg out there you see pretty good pickup from vmi you didn't you knew right where you wanted to go i mean you caught a curt it's not tough though i mean 14's out there good chance he's getting the football i'm looking for him again here's uginsky actually goes long knocks too far no flag this is incomplete let's make this point perfectly clear udinsky is clearly limping oh there's no doubt i'm not i'm going to be bold i'm not gonna be surprised if this guy's under a surgeon's knife by next week um that that could be torn stretched or well you can you can brace it up i played in my entire junior year with no acl you can go with a brace and and that'll give you you know structurally it'll help you out but this is this is gutsy no doubt quite a performance looking to his sidelines on second down look for 14 but they go the opposite way short pass and then driven out of bounds after the reception the other thing that sticks out kurt is when you look at udinsky between drives between plays there's almost no weight on that left leg he all kind of leans to the right but he's waiting for the play call to be sent in i think he's standing on adrenaline 130 remaining they're going to sprint don't get it [Music] wow well you got to be kid this kid can barely stand up out there and you're calling sprint options right down the sideline you're running him into a defender and he does it and he could he picks up yarnage this is for the game [Music] it'll be a fourth down and three 14 harris in the slot at the bottom of your screen going that way caught out of bounds first down john what is getting tight 117 remaining and inside the red zone for the wounded quarterback nice patience there from udinsky had to wait for that route to develop [Music] paris again dangerous there's an wide open that's harris he will walk in for the touchdown jacob harris udinsky could barely stand up and he throws a touchdown to tie the game up with a p-a-t pending my man marshall gill needs to be picking him up and carrying him off the field right now a little bit of contact and defender goes down wade white fell down on the play more pressure from samford double a gap blitz both linebackers came he knew we were going to have a one-on-one db falls easy touchdown oh he hit the upright and it's tied up jerry rice wow and now a heartbreaker for vmi he pulled it boom or should we say doink well 71 seconds for well sanford's got three timeouts yeah i'm not really much of an issue here kickoff will be big now does thai king give it a go just had the hamstring issue you're gonna have montreal washington you know fire's gonna go deep he can still give you great field position you want to get this thing out of the end zone you do not want five to get the ball in his hands and get this thing anywhere towards midfield and have just under a minute with three timeouts left and keep in mind the name that you need to know is the old wiffle ball backyard catcher mitchell finneran this career long is 50. [Music] dangerous return man montreal washington good kick that's hunched back that's big had to have that hold the touch back that could have legitimately saved you 20 30 yards of field position so it's a very big kick and now liam welch knocking on the door of an all-time samford bulldog passing day is going to have one minute 11 seconds three timeouts to try to get his team in scoring position no ty king on the field for the bulldogs here on first down kirk too wide left too wide right stanton the running back it'll be a pass play looking for tony down the sideline tony that is great coverage from algeria second down pretty good pick up there by that offensive line heavy pressure and mulry's just right there in phase step for step clock is at 105. welch steps into it and hits tony nice diving catch first down at the 40. it's been big for samford today you saw three deep safeties bail late they go to cloud coverage what else knew he had something under quick hitter and caught tony coming across the field he'll be well actually close to a first down a little scary early there michael rice and aj tony actually ran into one another tony able to find some space still create after the catch 35 seconds and counting [Music] welch comes near side has washington nice job tying up montreal washington 23 seconds left to go let's stop the clock safer going to go ahead and take a timeout here talk it over just past midfield 23 seconds and i'll take you back to pregame when you were discussing where mitchell finneran was in warm-ups yeah he was hitting them from 50 or longer is that a question is that a trivia question no i'm asking where you believe that samford needs to get the football 33 at least the 33. here comes pressure they got him right up the middle tyron cloyd again this young man's been all over the place started games at safety linebacker he's coming right up the gut just miscommunication up front i've talked to i talked to cooper fraser the center for samford's brother parks he's with the indianapolis colts and just talked about how they competed growing up how cool it's been to watch his brother get to start the last two weeks he's here at the game today we'll take a timeout as we will go into overtime bmi and samford 30 apiece we're about to start the first overtime here's blake gardner with a look at some overtime rules thanks guys about to have coin toss here for the overtime period the first of what we hope might be a couple of overtimes winner of the toss gets to pick offense defense or a side of the field to defend typically that choice is defense you want to see what the other offense does first loser of the coin toss gets to pick which side of cyber stadium we play on to start the first overtime north side or south side from then we play regular football one possession each and each overtime period teams have to start going for two starting in the third overtime period and if we get to a fifth overtime period there is no more football we play extra or two-point conversion off from the three-yard line the rest of the way for the fifth on point toss about to begin down below it looks like samford is going to get the football first you see that uh our guy jordan warren out there no shoe on he had the ankle injury earlier in the game if you're wondering if he's one of the leaders on this football team so i'll go out there barefoot figure it out that's awesome i mean inspirational gonna have to send that into svp and your voice stanford steve how many different examples of toughness have we gotten from this numerous including udinsky udinsky rather not i still can't believe the play call the touchdown and then prior to that speed option the speed option i got one i've got one knee remaining let's call it a dangerous play well you asked off air and i'm going to say on air momentum vmi i don't think there's any question this stanford football team thought they had this game in hand three four different times just here in the second half and now you gotta go fight scratch and claw for more sanford on offense first incomplete intended for vice aj smith is the man that took ownership of this football team he changed the culture that's what head coach scott wackenheim told us [Music] fake handoff welch read that at the line of scrimmage coach told us number four was the guy that he wanted the team to come up with a slogan and aj smith before the safety he chose ten toes down that's that's what they wanted to sort of be their their fighting call for the rest of the year and there's a lot of fight in this team's call no doubt about that third down and six vice with a first down catch and boy did he get squared up and laid down by aj smith we just talked about yeah he took ten toes off the ground to make this tackle that's a heck of a catch by michael vice wow took a big shot not only from the defender but the ground as well welch got a man open caught touchdown montrell washington to give samford six points [Music] kind of reminded me of the vmi score a little bit yeah i don't know if it was made possible by necessarily a defender falling down but sort of that scissors concept that stanford can change so many different ways the corner out comes open they knew they had the mismatch there's not many defenders that can run with montero washington 570 yards a samford record for liam welch finneran the important p-a-t and now it'll be pmi and indy their warrior udinsky they've got to score a touchdown they got four downs to score a touchdown well you're gonna have to earn it i don't think there's any doubt about that excellent play call there from mitch stewart and liam welch you meant it at career day all-time great day here for the sanford bulldogs and now his defense gonna need to stop against maybe one of the gutsiest performances that i can remember seeing at any level of football and he's not done he's not done when was the last time you saw a guy on a non-contact injury just collapse with a lower extremity injury and then he comes back in the game and he's running speed option answer i haven't brighty gets rid of that first contact and then as you've been mentioning it should have been a one-yard gain he makes about five instead look at udinsky by the way practicing to see how much pressure he can put on that left knee not much it doesn't appear to be much he's just he's just gutting this thing out brighty he'll be short it'll be a third down number one and i'll call it about three in one chain remember at the beginning of the show kurt we talked about how udinsky had been added to some of the run calls he was a big part of the running game that's almost subtracted from your game plan now you can still go rpo obviously that can still be dangerous look left comes back right caught brighty and this is going to be close boy good read by udinsky nice he's a good yard and a half two yards short geez demarcus cheeks in on the tackle he's gonna have to check out for this fourth down play protection was good you're right udinski just kind of had to wait late there he finds friday out of the backfield nice one-handed grab not enough for first down yardage but fourth and two for the game two yards to extend the drive anything less sanford wins it in overtime to the air near the end zone and caught that's a touchdown what a grab again by harris you locate 14 before the snap and you just think all right it's got to go his direction that's about as good of a 50 50 ball as you're gonna get are you going for two going for the win here we go maybe says you know what he's going to call a timeout that's a smart thing to do oh my goodness we have we're right now we're right in the middle of the game of the week i'm not going to say that i hate it though i mean you're at 102 plays right now yeah you're at 102 plays if you're vmi i have no problem right here with scott wackenheim saying you know what guys we just need to we need to finish this right here if we get it we earned it we won it we'll go home it'll be the first win for vmi in this stadium in the history of the program if not you know what we fought our tails off props to sanford you played your rear ends off we had a heck of a football game we'll take that but 102 plays in i'm there's not a player on that sideline that second guess is the decision to go for two here i guarantee it take the clock back the calendar back two weeks ago samford was on the road they were playing furman if they had scored they were going for two instead it was the fumble by stanton so it's the same concept he's got an alien quarterback he does not want to put the ball back in the hands of welch this is for the win 14 up top fade on uh and sanford will call a timeout you like a fade call on harris i don't hate it but you also have a bunch formation at the bottom with michael jackson right there in the front of it and keep in mind i mean corey bright is still there yes i feel pretty confident getting the ball in number one's hands here yes delayed draw is it too close too far out tell me well if you're gonna go with that bunch set right next to your right tackle delay draw i think is probably out at that point now you want to spread this defense out that's why i think you could maybe try to sneak corey brighty in between your offensive line and try to get one in right a lot of that would depend on how sanford wants to play i'll be very interested to see the call here from nick ben and detto does he stay aggressive does he maybe some sort of a zone blitz you show it you drop out of it caused some confusion i know this i'm getting two bodies near number 14. jacob harris is not going to be singled up on anybody i will not let that happen variety 109 on the ground one touchdown all right so a little bit of a different formation here now you got a stack formation right next to your right tackle with jacob harrison front for the win here we go udinsky got it touchdown extra point and vmi gets the win michael so the cadets will remain undefeated they come back from adversity linemen are doing cartwheels what a throw that was by udinsky by the way gutsy thank you for attending today's game you had michael jackson up top and it was going to be a play that took some time to develop the offensive line gives him that time jackson finds some space in the back of the end zone please remain is it keem johnson in coverage a nice and here's blake gardner with scott walken higher thanks guys coach you're down almost three scores late in the fourth quarter your quarterback is hobbled risky comes back gives you two scoring drives plus the touchdown in overtime in the two-point conversion what can you say about that gun see performance from your quarterback well bmi we never say die and our core values for our team are great brotherhood and purpose and you saw a gritty performance from rishi dinski and you saw a guy that loves his brothers enough to keep competing didn't have to he's got scholarship to maryland but he went out there and fought with his brothers and we found a way to make one more play all the credit in the world the samford bulldogs coach hatcher is a heck of a coach we got a heck of a football team it was a great battle coach your team is four or no now for the first time since 1981 it's been 40 years for this program since they've reached that mark what does that say about what this program has been able to accomplish so far this year including this performance today uh i think you know our players are awesome um they believed they fought they stayed with me when um you know things weren't going good thankful to dr dyles and general p for giving me another shot after the 011 year but most of all i'm just thankful to god and i'm thankful these players for believing and believing in our staff and loving each other coach congratulations on a hard fought win congratulations on being four in a row best of luck the rest of the way thank you sir guys great interview and i think coach was getting a little emotional there one eleven a couple of years ago they could have made a switch they said no that's our guy cole as he should uh and he told us during the week he didn't expect to keep the job he would not have he would have understood if the administration decided to make a change they didn't and i think you have to give coach wackenheim a lot of credit for adapting for morphing for changing so many coaches are so stubborn they won't get out of their own way he was able to do that installs the air raid he goes find some players who can run it and if you don't believe that these individual players believe in that coach and that coaching staff he didn't watch this football game it that is as gutsy of the performance as i have ever seen from quarterback rhys udinsky today we had the socon game of the week i don't care where else you were watching what else you were watching this was it so for cole cubelek and blake garner down on the field this is kurt bloom saying so long from cyborg stadium with a final score in overtime bmi 38 samford 37 all games airing on the espn networks are streaming live and archived on the espn app this has been a presentation of espn you

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 2,169

Keywords: VMI, Samford

Id: 7JB4NOf2OUk

Length: 169min 27sec (10167 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021