Forget about Southern Conference records.

Although Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards sat out the fourth quarter in a 52-27 win over Furman (4-4, 3-3 SoCon) on Saturday, he put up 461 offensive yards to put him over 9,000 passing and 4,000 rushing yards in his career, a feat never before accomplished in the history of Division-I college football.

He is now fourth all-time in total yardage, and Paladins coach Bobby lamb was more than impressed.

“He’s completing almost 73-percent of his passes, and he’s doing that on the run, he’s doing it sitting in the pocket, he’s doing it in a bunch of different ways,” Lamb said.

In his mind, the best quarterback in SoCon history was Georgia Southern’s Tracy Ham, who Lamb saw personally in the 1985 national title game. Lamb was quarterbacking the Paladins, and he watched as Ham brought the Eagles back from a 22-point, third-quarter deficit as he passed for 419 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 90 yards as he led the Eagles to the first of six titles with a 44-42 win.

Ham is now No. 2 on Lamb’s list.

“I’ve been in this league a long time,” said Lamb, “and of course I would always rank Tracy Ham as number one. After this year, Armanti Edwards will go to the top of my list.”

Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore credits much of Edwards’ success on the fact that his arm becomes more deadly as teams focus on the running aspect of his game.

“You get caught up in the running part,” Moore said, “but he threw the ball well in his first fall camp when he came in as a freshman. He’s always been able to throw.”

Next up for the No. 7 Mountaineers (6-2, 5-0) is conference surprise Chattanooga (5-3, 3-3), who travels to Boone, N.C. for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

First-year Mocs coach Russ Heusman has focused so much on Edwards and the potent ASU offense, he hasn’t even thought about what the Mountaineers bring to the table defensively.

“It won’t be a shootout, because there’s no way we can score enough to make it a shootout,” said Heusman. “We’re going to have to play lights out on defense, we’re going to have to have some luck and they’re going to have to help us out.”

And that’s just on one side of the ball.

“Obviously, if we do get in the red zone, we’re going to have to score touchdowns. I probably sound ignorant here,” Heusman laughed when asked about ASU’s defense, “but I’m pulling my hair out right now trying to talk to (UTC defensive coordinator) Adam (Fuller) and our defensive guys about trying to slow Armanti Edwards and the rest of those guys down.”

Phoenix on fire

The No. 6 Elon Phoenix (7-1, 5-0) is off to the program’s best start since 1986.

In the driver’s seat in the SoCon and traveling to Western Carolina (1-7, 1-5) Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff, the record pace doesn’t seem to matter right now.

“It’s great for the program, but I don’t know that it motivates these present kids,” said Elon coach Pete Lembo. “Many of them weren’t even born in 1986. What I do think is a win this week would continue us on a path to the championship in November. Where every program would like to be is in the hunt at this time of the year. Our guys understand that the (WCU) game is the biggest game of the year, because it’s the next game.”

A hard-earned paycheck

Furman already faced Missouri in a game that snuck onto the schedule at the last minute, falling 52-12 to the Tigers back on Sept. 19.

It won’t get easier on Saturday, when the Paladins face their second FBS team of the season a 1:30 p.m. kickoff at Auburn – a necessary evil to Lamb.

“I’m not sure what the thought process is for the FBS school,” said the Furman coach about the late-season matchup. “Certainly we’ve got to play them because of the money, but it’s pretty difficult here at the end of the season.”

It never gets easier

Samford (3-5, 1-4) has had a rough go of things so far in year two of Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs host Georgia Southern (4-4, 3-2) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (EST), and they wouldn’t have minded catching the young Eagles earlier in the season.

“When you look at them and really study them, I’ve heard the talk about them being really young and yeah, they are young,” Sullivan said. “But they’ve played an awful lot of ballgames and I think you see the team speed that they have on both sides of the ball.”

NOTES: The Citadel (4-4, 2-3) has started three different quarterbacks this season, and first time, all three are healthy. The Bulldogs host Wofford (2-6, 1-4) Saturday at 3 p.m. … With all other teams mathematically eliminated from a SoCon championship, the winner will be decided Saturday, Nov. 14 when Elon plays host to ASU regardless of Saturday’s outcomes.

Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.