Oct. 8, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford football team practiced for two hours on the practice field on campus Wednesday afternoon in continuing preparation for the team's Ohio Valley Conference matchup with Murray State Saturday afternoon.

"We just continued to make sure our game plan for Murray is what we want," head coach Bill Gray said. "We're just getting everybody lined up and making sure the assignments are what they need to be.

"It's going to take a better effort than we gave last week in all three phases to win," Gray said. "I'll be disappointed if we don't play better in all three areas, but we just have to make sure we know what we are doing. It's as much of a mental game on Saturday as it is anything else. If we're lined up right, if we're hitting our gaps on defense and going to the right man on offense, then we've got a chance to be successful."

The team will practice again Thursday afternoon at 3:45 p.m., and will have a final walk-through on Friday.

"We just need to come out here Thursday and make sure that we continue to get better, which is what we try to do every day," Gray said. "Hopefully it will be enough on Saturday afternoon."

Samford and Murray State will kickoff at 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Seibert Stadium. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1.