2018 Samford Bulldogs football team
The 2018 Samford Bulldogs football team represented Samford University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Chris Hatcher and played their home games at Seibert Stadium. They were a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). They finished the season 6–5, 5–3 in SoCon play to finish in fourth place.
2018 Samford Bulldogs football | |
---|---|
Conference | Southern Conference |
2018 record | 6–5 (5–3 SoCon) |
Head coach | Chris Hatcher (4th season) |
Offensive coordinator | Russ Callaway (3rd season) |
Defensive coordinator | Bill D'Ottavio (12th season) |
Home stadium | Seibert Stadium (Capacity: 6,700) |
2018 Southern Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 13 Wofford +^ | 6 | – | 2 | 9 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 22 East Tennessee State +^ | 6 | – | 2 | 8 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Furman + | 6 | – | 2 | 6 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Samford | 5 | – | 3 | 6 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chattanooga | 4 | – | 4 | 6 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Citadel | 4 | – | 4 | 5 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mercer | 4 | – | 4 | 5 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western Carolina | 1 | – | 7 | 3 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VMI | 0 | – | 8 | 1 | – | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Previous season
The Bulldogs finished the 2017 season 8–4, 6–2 in SoCon play to finish in a tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they lost to Kennesaw State in the first round..
Preseason
Award watch lists
Award | Player | Position | Year |
---|---|---|---|
Walter Payton Award[1] | Devlin Hodges | QB | SR |
Buck Buchanan Award[2] | Ahmad Gooden | DE | SR |
Preseason media poll
The SoCon released their preseason media poll on July 25, 2018, with the Bulldogs predicted to finish as SoCon champions.[3] The same day the coaches released their preseason poll with the Bulldogs also predicted to finish as SoCon champions.[4]
Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
---|---|---|
1 | Samford | 204 (20) |
2 | Furman | 174 (2) |
3 | Wofford | 163 (1) |
4 | Mercer | 133 |
5 | Western Carolina | 114 |
6 | Chattanooga | 88 |
7 | The Citadel | 83 |
8 | East Tennessee State | 53 |
9 | VMI | 23 |
Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
---|---|---|
1 | Samford | 63 (7) |
2 | Wofford | 53 (1) |
3 | Furman | 52 (1) |
4 | Western Carolina | 39 |
5 | Chattanooga | 34 |
6 | Mercer | 32 |
7 | The Citadel | 28 |
8 | East Tennessee State | 15 |
9 | VMI | 8 |
Preseason All-SoCon Teams
The Bulldogs placed seven players on the all-SoCon teams.[5] Quarterback Devlin Hodges was selected as preseason offensive player of the year and Defensive lineman Ahmad Gooden was selected as preseason defensive player of the year.
Offense 1st team Devlin Hodges – QB Nick Nixon – OL Kelvin McKnight – WR 2nd team Chris Shelling – WR |
Defense 1st team Ahmad Gooden – DL 2nd team Christian Stark – LB Darius Harvey – DB |
Schedule
Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 30 | 6:30 p.m. | Shorter* | No. 11 | ESPN+ | W 66–9 | 5,252 | |
September 8 | 6:20 p.m. | at Florida State* | No. 9 | ACCN | L 26–36 | 72,239 | |
September 15 | 2:00 p.m. | Mercer | No. 9 |
| ESPN+ | L 24–30 | 8,717 |
September 22 | 6:00 p.m. | at Chattanooga | No. 17 | ESPN+ | L 20–27 | 10,469 | |
September 29 | 5:00 p.m. | at No. 4 Kennesaw State* | ESPN3 | L 10–24 | 4,396 | ||
October 6 | 12:30 p.m. | Western Carolina |
| ESPN3 | W 66–28 | 3,178 | |
October 13 | 2:00 p.m. | VMI |
| ESPN+ | W 73–22 | 4,163 | |
October 20 | 1:00 p.m. | at Furman | ESPN+ | W 38–25 | 6,016 | ||
November 3 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 9 Wofford |
| ESPN+ | W 35–20 | 5,821 | |
November 10 | 1:00 p.m. | at The Citadel | ESPN+ | L 27–42 | 11,145 | ||
November 17 | 12:00 p.m. | at No. 19 East Tennessee State | ESPN3 | W 38–27 | 8,749 | ||
|
- Source: Schedule
Game summaries
Shorter
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hawks | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
No. 11 Bulldogs | 17 | 28 | 7 | 14 | 66 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
First meeting |
at Florida State
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 9 Bulldogs | 16 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 26 |
Seminoles | 7 | 14 | 0 | 15 | 36 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
0–2 | 2010 | FSU, 59–6 |
Mercer
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 7 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 30 |
No. 9 Bulldogs | 7 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
13–10–1 | 2017 | SAM, 20–3 |
at Chattanooga
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 17 Bulldogs | 0 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 20 |
Mocs | 10 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 27 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
10–30–3 | 2017 | CHAT, 23–21 |
at Kennesaw State
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bulldogs | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
No. 4 Owls | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 24 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
1–1 | 2017 Playoffs | KSU, 28–17 |
Western Carolina
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Catamounts | 0 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 28 |
Bulldogs | 35 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 66 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
12–3 | 2017 | WCU, 38–34 |
VMI
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Keydets | 9 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
Bulldogs | 14 | 28 | 24 | 7 | 73 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
5–0 | 2017 | SAM, 26–7 |
at Furman
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bulldogs | 10 | 0 | 21 | 7 | 38 |
Paladins | 3 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 25 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
10–10 | 2017 | SAM, 26–20 |
Wofford
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 9 Terriers | 7 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 20 |
Bulldogs | 14 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 35 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
10–5 | 2017 | SAM, 24–21 |
at The Citadel
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SAM Bulldogs | 14 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 27 |
CIT Bulldogs | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 42 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
5–6 | 2017 | SAM, 35–14 |
at East Tennessee State
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bulldogs | 7 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 38 |
No. 19 Buccaneers | 10 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 27 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
4–1 | 2017 | SAM, 42–7 |
Ranking movements
Week | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final | |||||||
STATS FCS | 11 | 9 | 9 | 17 | RV | NR | NR | NR | RV | RV | RV | NR | RV | ||||||||
Coaches | 10 | 9 | 9 | 17 | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | RV | NR | NR |
References
- "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
- "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
- http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735859&DB_OEM_ID=4000
- http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735863&DB_OEM_ID=4000
- http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735863&DB_OEM_ID=4000