GREENVILLE, S.C. – On a cool Saturday afternoon, the Wofford College football team was defeated 31-14 by Furman at Paladin Stadium. The Terriers had a 14-10 lead in the second quarter, but the Paladins scored the next three touchdowns for the win.
 
The Terriers are 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the Southern Conference, while Furman is 3-8 and 2-4 in league play. Wofford was led by Ray Smith with 130 rushing yards, while Lorenzo Long had two rushing touchdowns. Furman quarterback P.J. Blazejowski was 15-of-15 passing for 305 yards and two touchdowns. Jordan Snellings and Andrej Suttles each had over 100 receiving yards.
 
"The bottom line is I am not doing a good enough job with these guys," said head coach Mike Ayers. "There is no excuse. We have guys out there making plays, but we have guys out there that are consistently putting the team in jeopardy because they don't understand what to do or they are not focused enough to understand what to do. The blown coverages were frustrating and we have to execute. We gave Furman too many opportunities by putting the ball on the ground and we can't do that. We have one more week of work and I promise you we are going to have a great week of work."
 
The Terriers had the ball first and went three-and-out. Furman took over at the 20-yard line and used a 61-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Snellings for a 7-0 lead with 10:38 on the clock in the first quarter. On the next drive by Wofford, Ray Smith gained a first down, but then a sack forced the Terriers to punt and Furman took over at the 41-yard line. After gaining a pair of passing first downs, John Croft Hollingworth made a 44-yard field goal to take a 10-0 advantage over Wofford with 2:58 left in the first half.
 
Wofford then went 75 yards in 13 plays, with the drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Lorenzo Long. The score was 10-7 with 11:40 on the clock in the second quarter. On the first play of Furman's next drive, Terrance Morris forced a fumble and it was recovered by Steven Cornellier at the 22-yard line. After picking up a pair of first downs, Lorenzo Long scored from two yards to give Wofford a 14-10 lead with 8:39 left in the second quarter.
 
Furman moved the ball across midfield, but Drake Michaelson stopped Hank McCloud for a seven-yard loss on third down to force a punt. On the first play by Wofford, Ray Smith fumbled and it was recovered by Furman's Nick Miller at the 24-yard line. The Terrier defense had back-to-back sacks by Tyler Vaughn, but on third-and-28 the Paladins gained 32 yards for a first down. Furman regained the lead on a one-yard touchdown run by P.J. Blazejowski and the score was 17-14 with 27 seconds left in the half. Wofford ran two plays before the end of the half.
 
To open the second half, Furman used two big passing plays to drive down the field. Hank McCloud capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run as Furman took a 24-14 lead with 10:07 on the clock in the third quarter.  On the Terriers first drive of the third quarter, three first downs moved the ball into Paladin's territory before a fumble by Michael Weimer was recovered by Brian Ross at the 36-yard line. The Wofford defense allowed one first down before Furman punted with 3:08 left in the third quarter.
 
The Terriers had a 29-yard run by Will Gay to begin the next drive. Ray Smith added a rushing first down, but on fourth-and-seven the pass was incomplete and the Paladins took over to start the fourth quarter. Furman punted after gaining one first down and the Terriers took over at the eight-yard line. Wofford had three first downs before having to punt.
 
Furman had the ball back with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter. After picking up a first down, on third-and-eight P.J. Blazejowski found Andrej Suttles for a 59-yard touchdown as the Paladins built a 31-14 lead. The Terriers took over with 4:55 on the clock and Ray Smith ran for 34 yards and a first down. On fourth-and-ten, a pass attempt was incomplete and Furman took over on downs with under four minutes remaining. Wofford forced a punt, but were only able to run two plays before the game ended.
 
Wofford had 300 total yards, with 281 on the ground. Furman had 381 total yards, 305 of which were passing. Wofford had a 19 to 14 advantage in first downs. Wofford was 7-of-12 on third downs and 0-of-2 on fourth down. Furman was 7-of-12 on third down. Wofford had five penalties, while Furman had six. Furman had a 30:56 to 29:04 time of possession advantage.   
 
Wofford vs. Furman Post-Game Notes
 
RB Ray Smith had 130 rushing yards on 15 carries. It was his third career game with 100+ rushing yards. Wofford has had eight 100+ individual rushing performances this season.
 
QB Evan Jacks (foot), S Cole Higbie (back), S Zack Cole (ankle) and CB Bernard Williams (knee) missed the game due to injury. Daryl Vining (ankle) left the game in the first half and OL Anton Wahrby (ankle) and WR Wade Francis (ankle) left the game in the second half due to injury.
 
Wofford has played five games on turf this season and are 1-4 in those games. In addition, Wofford is 1-5 in road games on the year, the lone win at Samford.
 
The win for Furman ended an eight-game losing streak, their longest since 1969.
 
Wofford lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Terriers need a win in the season finale to record a winning record.
 
The game marked the first career starts for FB Chase Nelson, CB Jesse Williams, and CB Josh Grimes. Wofford has had 19 players make their first career start this season.
 
The Wofford defense tied for a season high with four sacks and added eight tackles for loss as they held Furman to under 100 yards rushing. Tyler Vaughn had his first career game with two sacks.
 
Game captains were Tarek Odom, Kevin Thomas, and Anton Wahrby.
 
Attendance was 6,282 at Paladin Stadium.
 
Wofford will wrap up the 2014 season on Saturday, November 22 against Mercer at Gibbs Stadium. The game will kick-off at 1:30 p.m. and be broadcast on the SoCon Digital Network.