Samford drowned Central Arkansas in big plays Thursday night.
Samford had five scoring drives of five plays are less and five of its touchdown plays covered at least 35 yards in a 45-16 victory over UCA at Seibert Stadium in Birmingham, Ala.
Samford, playing its first game under Coach Chris Hatcher, gained 536 yards of offense and had scoring plays of 35, 49, 55, 54 and 66 yards. Quarterback Michael Eubank completed 21 of 37 passes for 372 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Denzel Williams scored on a 49-yard run and K'Rondis Larry scored on a 54-yard run.
Samford also scored on a 35-yard reception by Vaquan Small, a 55-yard reception by Karel Hamilton and a 66-yard reception by Kelvin McKnight.
"We just didn't play very well," UCA Coach Steve Campbell said. "We just got beat on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and I think we got beat at a lot of different positions. We just didn't play anywhere close to the way we needed to play where we'd have a chance to beat a good football team.
"We didn't have them ready. We need to play better. We need to have them ready to go, and we weren't."
The Bears (0-1) gained 462 yards of offense but struggled to finish drives. Jace Denker kicked a 26-yard field goal to make it 21-10 in the second quarter, then UCA moved inside the 10 before having to settle for another field goal, this one a 50-yarder by Matt Cummins to make it 28-13 at halftime.
Samford gained 342 yards and averaged 10.7 yards per play in the first half. UCA didn't have much more luck in the second half.
With quarterback Hayden Hildebrand -- who didn't start but was expected to take snaps -- and Dominique Thomas -- who scored UCA's only touchdown --both on the bench with unspecified injuries, the Bears struggled to chip away at the lead.
They fumbled on their first possession of the second half, then punted on their next three possessions of the third quarter. Trailing 31-13 entering the fourth quarter, Thomas fumbled inside the Samford 10 before UCA punted on its final two possessions.
Thomas gained 69 yards on 9 carries, while Jatavious Wilson caught 9 passes for 82 yards and Desmond Smith caught 11 passes for 75 yards. Taylor Reed completed 43 of 63 passes for 312 yards.
"I knew they were good on defense," Campbell said. "I wasn't thinking we were going to score 50 or 40, but I was thinking more than 16."
Sports on 09/04/2015