Samford University Athletics

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The 23^rd-ranked Samford football returns home to host 11^th-ranked The Citadel Saturday at 2 p.m. at Seibert Stadium. Samford head coach Chris Hatcher met with the media earlier today to discuss the matchup, as well as last week's game at Western Carolina. Below is a video recap of what Hatcher had to say. To purchase tickets for the game, click on the following link: PURCHASE TICKETS.


 
QUOTING SAMFORD HEAD COACH CHRIS HATCHER
OPENING STATEMENT
"We had a very disappointing outcome to a tough, hard-fought road game. If you look at the film and ask our players, we didn't execute the best we could for 60 game minutes. It's disappointing that we couldn't find a way to finish that game. That was unfortunate, but we've had a good week of practices this week. One thing you have to keep in mind, and I have to remind out team of this, we've played four really good teams to start the season. We played Kennesaw State, who has a fine program. We played West Alabama, who beat North Alabama last week pretty handily and they're the national runner up from last season in Division II. Of course we played Georgia, and then Western Carolina has a good football team. They have good players, they have a good scheme and it was a great atmosphere to play in.
 
"We've had a tough road and this week it doesn't get any easier. We have a top-ranked team coming to our place, a team that has won our conference two years in a row, and a team that we took to overtime last year and lost a heart-breaker at their place. So, we've got to rebound, we've got to execute better, we've got to get better consistency on offense in order to take advantage of our defense getting a lot of early three-and-outs. If we can do that, we have a chance, but the task will be tall this week as we play a really good Citadel football team."
 
ON WHAT KIND OF ATMOSPHERE HE EXPECTS FOR SATURDAY'S GAME WITH THE #11 TEAM COMING IN AND IT BEING FAMILY WEEKEND
"I hope it's a good one. We've played in some good environments on the road the past two weeks, and the home field advantage is more important than most people may think. I hope a lot of people will come out, they'll be cheering loud. At the end of the day, I hope our guys play hard, play the best they can play and if they do that, maybe we'll have one more point than The Citadel this go around."
 
ON CHRIS SHELLING'S GAME LAST WEEK AND IF THAT SOLIDIFIED HIM AS ONE OF THE GO-TO RECEIVERS
"We already knew he was the guy. He's a tremendous player, he's had some really big catches early in the year. This just happened to be a game where he had a bigger night than he normally does. So, that is our one-two with K.J. (Kelvin McKnight) and Shelling, and we need some other guys to step up and that's what we're hunting for. But, we already knew he was a good player, but he had a really big game the other night."
 
ON IF CHRIS PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER FOR 60 MINUTES SOLIDIFIED HIS SPOT AS A TOP RECEIVER
"We know we have to get him the ball in order to be successful. In the first couple of games, we weren't in sync and with the type of defense we were playing, we just weren't able to get him the ball much, but we've always known those were our go-to guys. We're trying to find two more that will step up so we can be a little more balanced in out attack."
 
ON IF THERE IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT HE WANTS TO SEE ON EITHER SIDE OF THE BALL TO GET OUT TO A LEAD EARLY
"This league doesn't give you the opportunity to get way out in front of anybody. Everybody in this league is pretty even in a lot of different areas. It's our job to limit the mistakes and make the plays down the stretch in all three phases. We didn't do that the other day and we're going to have to make those plays to win ballgames. If you look back at last season, we had a good run in the conference and every one of those games could have gone either way. When it comes down to the end we have to be able to make the plays at the end of the game in order to be successful."
 
ON IF SEEING AN OPTION TEAM EARLIER IN THE SEASON WILL HELP THIS WEEK
"They're never easy. They're very physical and do a great job at what they do. We knew we were going to play a lot of option-style offenses this season, so we've been working that, starting back in spring, in camp, every day at practice, we have an option period, so it isn't quite as new to our guys when we do get to an option week. Nobody runs it better than The Citadel and it is key early on in the game just to catch up to the speed of the action. The big thing when you play teams like The Citadel, you have to get them behind the chains. Two years ago, we played them here and I don't think they had one negative play the entire game. Hopefully we can do that this week. Offensively, we have to do a better job of controlling the football a little more consistently for the entire game and that will be the key to our success this week."