No QB magic as Dogs fumble homecoming

In The Citadel's locker room last weekend, Bulldogs football coach Kevin Higgins vowed, "We're going to war this week."

If this was war, Citadel fans must wonder what surrender looks like.

The weakest Wofford team in at least eight years rolled into Johnson Hagood Stadium on Saturday and hammered the Bulldogs, 43-17, before a homecoming crowd of 15,155 and a regional TV audience.

The Terriers, headed for their first losing season since 2001, got touchdowns from five different players and improved to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the Southern Conference. The Citadel dropped to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the SoCon, and must win on the road at Chattanooga and Georgia Southern to secure a winning season.

"It's not a very good feeling," said senior lineman Dan DeHaven, pondering the last home game and an 0-4 record against Wofford for Citadel seniors.

The quarterback magic that had carried The Citadel to wins over Furman and Wofford was sadly missing on Saturday.

Starting QB Bart Blanchard, playing for the first time in three weeks and hobbled by a sprained big toe, was sacked three times and fumbled twice, leading to nine Wofford points. He and running back Van Dyke Jones also missed on a simple handoff, resulting in another fumble and another Wofford TD.

With the game out of hand at 36-10 in the third quarter, Higgins turned to freshman walk-on Tommy Edwards, hero of last week's win over Samford. He promptly threw an interception that led to the Terriers' final TD.

And late in the game, Higgins finally went to backup QB Miguel Starks, star of the win over Furman. Starks managed to hit 5 of 7 passes for 61 yards and a 9-yard TD to Cam Turner against Wofford's defensive backups, but it was too little, too late.

Blanchard finished 15 of 23 for 91 yards and a 6-yard TD to tight end Alex Sellars, as The Citadel totaled just 274 yards to 450 for Wofford.

"I've got to find a way to get it done," Blanchard said afterward, a walking boot on his left foot. "If coach is going to have the confidence to start me, I've got to get it done."

Higgins said that the experience of redshirt junior Blanchard gave him the edge over redshirt freshman Starks in getting the start, and was the main reason he stayed with Blanchard until the score was 36-10.

"We were still in the game in the first half," Higgins said. "And it turned out to be correct that the other guys couldn't do that much more to warrant getting them in. Miguel was banged up, and Tommy doesn't have much experience at all."

Starks, coming off an ankle injury against Samford, said he was at about "80 or 85 percent" against Wofford.

"I think coach made the right decision in letting Bart go out," Starks said. "Bart has the most experience, and that's the decision that we went with. We have to stick with that."

Down 17-3 in the second quarter, Blanchard got the Bulldogs to within 17-10 with his TD pass to Sellars, and The Citadel forced a punt and took over at its own 6 with 1:01 left.

But Blanchard, locked in on Andre Roberts, never saw Wofford linebacker Gary Blount blitzing from his front side. Tackle Lincoln Kling recovered the resulting fumble, but the safety gave Wofford a 19-10 lead and forced a free kick. Wofford's Mike Rucker took that back 37 yards, and Christian Reed's 32-yard field goal gave the Terriers five points in 51 seconds and a 22-10 halftime lead.

"I should have picked that up," Blanchard said. "From the snap, I knew I was going to Andre, and I didn't really see him coming. I should have been able to get away from that."

Said Wofford coach Mike Ayers, "Things happened early on in the game that were good, that gave us a spark. Once we had the spark, the fire was lit and we kept rolling."

Wofford, led by 96 rushing yards from backup QB Stev Davitte, took the second-half kickoff and went 69 yards for a 29-10 on a 13-yard pass from Mitch Allen to Brenton Bersin. After a Wofford fumble, the crowning blow came when Blanchard and Jones botched a handoff, Terriers linebacker Jonathan Sharpe recovering at his 36. That set up Davitte's 25-yard TD scamper for a 36-10 lead.

Three Citadel turnovers led to 19 Wofford points.

"Very disappointing," Higgins said. "We did not do a good job of throwing, blocking, catching, tackling. All the phases of the game, we did not get it done."