Tennessee Tech earns wild 59-58 2OT win over Samford

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Andrew Goldsmith scored on a 14-yard run in the second overtime and Bailey Fisher connected with David Gist for the two-point conversion as Tennessee Tech rallied from a 16-point deficit in the final 2:20 of regulation to stun Samford 59-58 on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles, coming off back-to-back 1-10 seasons, managed to overcome six touchdown passes by Samford quarterback Chris Oladokun in the first meeting between the schools in 12 years.

Tennessee Tech jumped out to a 12-0 first-quarter lead on Metrius Fleming's 66-yard run, a Haidar Zaidan 24-yard field goal and a safety. But Oladokun had scoring passes of 35 yards to K. Watson, 80 yards to Y. El-Amin and 64 yards to Chris Shelling and his 9-yard TD run made it 31 unanswered points by the Bulldogs (0-2) and a 31-12 lead with 12:27 left in the third quarter.

Oladokun's 30-yard scoring strike to Shelling made it 38-15. Two Mitchell Fineran field goals gave Samford a 44-28 lead with 2:20 left in the game. Fleming returned the ensuing kickoff 41 yards to the Golden Eagles' 44-yard line and Fisher capped a six-play drive with a 12-yard TD toss to Justin Oden. The pair connected again for the two-point conversion and Tennessee Tech trailed 44-36 with 1:18 remaining. The Golden Eagles recovered an onside kick and Fisher's 8-yard TD run and his two-point conversion run capped a seven-play drive and sent the game to overtime.

Fisher scored on a 6-yard run in the first overtime, but Oladokun tied the score and then gave Samford a 58-51 lead with back-to-back 25-yard scoring strikes to Shelling. The Golden Eagles needed just three plays to pull even. Goldsmith ran for a yard and caught a pass from Fisher for 10 yards before running in it from the 14 and setting the stage for the winning two-point try.

Fisher completed 31 of 44 passes for 415 yards and two scores, while Goldsmith carried 21 times for 97 yards. Oladokun was 19-of-24 passing for 428 yards. Shelling caught seven passes for 185 yards and four TDs.