Football 11.22.23

The Chris Hatcher Show: Nov. 22, 2023

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Each week during the 2023 season, we will release The Chris Hatcher Show. The show hosted this season by Tyler Brain and featuring head football coach Chris Hatcher, will look back at the previous week's football game and look forward to the upcoming contest.

To polish off the 2023 campaign, the Samford Bulldogs upended the No. 19 UT Martin Skyhawks 27-17 on Saturday at Pete Hanna Stadium. The victory moved the Bulldogs to 6-5 on the season and marked the sixth winning season in the Chris Hatcher era.

"It was a tremendous win by our team. It was a great way to send the seniors off with a victory over the 13th-ranked team in the country. A team that has given me a lot of trouble over the years at Murray State and here a couple of years ago. I thought it was probably our most complete game in all three phases that we have had this season. We missed a lot of opportunities in the first half to make it a much wider margin of victory. It goes to show the type of players and the type of players we have on staff and our support personnel. Coming off the Mercer game, devastating defeat on the road. You're playing for a winning record. You have no shot at the postseason after the Mercer game. For our guys to come out and play like they did on Saturday, it just really shows how strong our culture has grown over the last couple of years. I'm proud of the guys for fighting through and again, it was a great win. I am extremely excited about it as you can see."

The UT Martin game was the last time several seniors suited up as Bulldogs. Hatcher believes the win was not only huge for the seniors, but also massive for the program as a whole moving into the off-season.

"It is huge. It builds momentum for us going on the recruiting trail. It gives us a winning record, we won 17 games over the past two seasons. That hasn't been done around Samford in a long time. Going back to the game, I thought our defense played tremendously in the red zone. I think we forced five turnovers. Offensively, we ran the ball against one of the top-ranked defenses in the country. Jay Stanton finished off his career with almost 200 yards rushing. Just a lot of guys made plays in the game. Then you look at C.J. Douglas, a true freshman from Leeds, who played sparingly this season and was a really good special teams player. He gets called to action and I think he had 10 tackles on the day. It was just guys having fun playing and I hope when prospects and fans watch us they can say 'Man, those guys enjoy playing the game'. All of those guys will be missed. They all contributed in one way or another. There were some you saw more on Saturdays and some the common eye would never see because of what they did behind the scenes. They are all good men, I am excited for what the future brings for the seniors. I really believe having been here at Samford and through the process that they all have the tools to be successful and I am looking forward to seeing where life takes them."

The 2023 season was filled with ups and downs for the Samford football team, but there is one phrase that Coach Hatcher would use to sum up the experience with this squad.

"A never-quit attitude. We had some very tough defeats and a less group of guys could have cashed it in earlier in the season and we never did that and it was very indicative of how we played Saturday. We would flush that game out of our system and on Monday our guys would show up ready to play. You have to give the players credit and also I told our assistant coaches how thankful I was for them for the job that they did getting our guys ready to play. Never quit and as you go through life, you face a lot of adversity. Football helps prepare you for that as we did a great job of handling that this week."

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For the latest news and information on Samford football, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com.
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Players Mentioned

#20 Jay Stanton: RB; 6' 0"; Senior

#29 C.J. Douglas: S; 5' 10"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#20 Jay Stanton
: 6' 0"; Senior
: RB

#29 C.J. Douglas
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: S

Samford University Athletics

Players Mentioned

#20 Jay Stanton

#29 C.J. Douglas

Players Mentioned

#20 Jay Stanton

#29 C.J. Douglas