Oct. 30, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, Ala - The Samford football team finished up preparations Thursday afternoon for a road contest at Tennessee Tech this Saturday in a critical Ohio Valley Conference game. The Bulldogs are 3-2 in the OVC, but trail conference leader Jacksonville State by one game. Samford will be looking for back-to-back road victories for the first time since 1999.

"Winning back-to-back road games is definitely something that we can accomplish," Head Coach Bill Gray said. "It is the next ball game and it just happens to be on the road. Tennessee Tech poses a great challenge for us. We can still accomplish a lot of the goals that we set for ourselves and the first step is to go up there and win. We didn't get a chance to win our Homecoming game, it would be nice to try and win their Homecoming."

Gray noticed improvement in all three phases of the game this week in practice.

"I think that Ray (Nelson, Samford's starting quarterback) is throwing the ball a lot better this week," Gray noted after the two hour workout. "Chris Hicks is punting the ball very well for us the past few weeks and is continually getting better. I am looking for our guys to force some turnovers on defense, which we didn't do enough of on Saturday against Tennessee State."

Samford (5-3, 3-2 OVC) and Tennessee Tech (2-5, 1-3 OVC) will kickoff at 2:00 p.m. from Cookeville, Tenn. The game can be heard locally at WVSU FM 91.1, or on the Internet at www.samfordsports.com.