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Citadel vs Presbyterian

Presbyterian College takes on The Citadel at Johnson Hagood Stadium Saturday night.

Through three games, The Citadel already has doubled its interception total from last season.

Interceptions by cornerbacks Cortez Allen and Keith Gamble in Saturday night's 46-21 victory over Presbyterian College gave the Bulldogs six picks already this season, double their three interceptions all of last year.

Allen's first career pick, of a bomb from PC quarterback Brandon Miley bomb late n the first half, led to a 90-yard drive, an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bart Blanchard to Andre Roberts, and a 20-14 halftime Citadel lead.

Gamble took his first career interception 89 yards for a TD for the Bulldogs' final TD in the fourth quarter, blowing open the game at 46-14.

Citadel coach Kevin Higgins has talked often about the need to create more turnovers this season, and a daily emphasis in practice seems to be paying off.

"We're flying to the ball," said Allen, a 6-2, 185-pound redshirt junior. "Even in practice, we stress it a lot, getting hands on the ball, getting turnovers, recovering fumbles. That's just been our focus and our whole goal for the start of the season."

Safety Joseph Boateng got it started with two interceptions at North Carolina, and linebackers Jonathan Glaspie and Jeremy Buncum set up TDs with picks in last week's 38-7 win at Princeton.

Allen made a leaping grab of Miley's bomb at The Citadel's 10-yard line with 2:15 left in the first half, then snuffed PC's final drive of the half with a fumble recovery forced by linebacker Jordon Gilmore.

Gamble's 89-yard TD was The Citadel's first interception return for a TD since the 2007 game against Webber International.

"It was the greatest feeling I've ever had," said Gamble, a redshirt freshman from Sumter. "I've never had chance to get in the end zone, ever. But I owe to my teammates, because we always push each other hard in practice to finish every play."

Air Bart

Citadel QB Bart Blanchard was surprised to see how the Blue Hose covered All-America receiver Andre Roberts, and took full advantage while matching a school record with six TD passes, four to Roberts and two to tight end Alex Sellars.

"We didn't expect PC to stay in that coverage the whole game, especially after we connected with Andre a couple of times," he said. "We thought they'd start doubling him, but they stayed with the same old stuff. When we played Princeton and North Carolina, they'd go 'cloud' with a corner up and the safety back. Presbyterian rarely did it, maybe once or twice, and that's when I hit Scott Harward. Andre almost had one-on-one coverage. It was zone, but only one guy was responsible for him, and Andre made him guess which way he was going."

Andre's drop

We'll let Roberts explain his drop of a sure TD on The Citadel's first play.

"Whenever you are open like that, sometimes you lose concentration," he said. "And that's what I did. I was wide open, and it was a perfect throw. I just lost my concentration and dropped that ball."

Extra points

--Citadel tight end Alex Sellars snapped his streak of catching only touchdowns when he grabbed a pass for a mere 5-yard gain in the third quarter. Sellars' first two catches were for TDs of 25 and 5 yards, giving him TDs on six straight catches dating back to last season. For his career, Sellars has caught 10 passes, six of them for touchdowns.

--Defensive tackle Terrence Reese had a rough night, with a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty that led to PC's first touchdown, and a roughing-the-kicker call.

"You won't ever see that again," Reese said of the celebration call.

--LB Jordon Gilmore led the Bulldogs with nine tackles, a sack and a forced fumble ... LB Jeremy Buncum also had a sack ... DE Dewitt Jones and Gilmore each had 1.5 tackles for loss, and Rod Harland, Buncum, Quintin Turner and Reese contributed one each ... Sam Keeler missed two extra points, making him 5 of 7 for the season ... Junior kicker Ryan Sellers saw his first action as a Bulldog, kicking off three times in the second half.

--Quote of the day belonged to PC coach Harold Nichols, who said, "It was a typical PC-Citadel game." The two teams had not met since 1991.

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