Morgan State had its best offensive outing of the year yesterday against Division I-AA Samford, but that wasn't enough.
The Bears fumbled 9 yards away from a game-tying touchdown in the final three minutes, and Samford held on for a 40-34 win in front of 1,548 at Hughes Stadium.
"We gave this game away," said Morgan State coach Rickey Diggs. "When you get down there inside the 10-yard line like we did there near the end, you have to punch it in."
Morgan fumbled five times, losing three of them, but gained 560 total yards and scored its most points in a game this year. Quarterback Michael Moore passed for 417 yards and three touchdowns.
Samford's passing wasn't as effective -- quarterback Bart Yancy threw for only 66 yards -- but the running game thrived. The Bulldogs (3-5-1) rushed for 303 yards and controlled the ball for almost 35 minutes. Anthony Jordan ran for 116 yards on 18 carries.
Samford tailback Damian Hines scored his third touchdown with 9:37 left in the game to give the Bulldogs a 40-34 lead. Morgan State had tied the game at 34 with 12:46 left when Moore found senior receiver Bernard Barnes on a 33-yard touchdown pass and Na'im Greene ran in the two-point conversion.
Morgan was driving again with two minutes left, but Moore fumbled. Samford's 6-foot-5, 254-pound defensive tackle, Jon Vernon, recovered.
"We had an inside blitz," said Vernon, "and I reached over a Morgan player and got the ball. Morgan made mistakes all day."'
The Bears seemed to be playing catch-up all day.
Hines started things, carrying every time on a five-play drive that gave Samford a 7-0 lead.
The Bears answered with Moore's 8-yard touchdown pass to Barnes for a 7-7 tie. The Bulldogs responded with a 1-yard touchdown by Yancy before Morgan State struck again. Donte Carter's 25-yard touchdown catch tied it up again.
Morgan State had a short-lived lead, 20-14, in the second quarter on Wesley Greene's 2-yard rush. But the Bulldogs came back again with Hines, who scored from 1 yard.Morgan State has two games left, at Howard next week and at Towson State on Nov. 19.
Samford 14 7 6 13 40
Morgan State 14 6 6 8 34
NEXT FOR MORGAN
Who: Howard
When: Saturday, at Washington.
Record: 4-5
=1 Yesterday: Lost to South Carolina St., 40-14.