Football 9.14.23

The Chris Hatcher Show: Sept. 14, 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 open Southern Conference play, Samford fell at Western Carolina by a score of 30-7 in a game that was halted in the second quarter by a lightning delay that lasted over five hours.

"It was definitely a weird day. I thought our guys traveled extremely well. They were very businesslike in our travels. We knew it was going to be a tough game. If you look back to last season, Western Carolina really got on a roll there and had most of their team back. They had a packed-out stadium, which I've always said is one of the better environments in our league. We go out there in the beginning of the ballgame, they run it all the way down and we have a great goal-line stand. Six, seven plays later we are up 7-0. Then it's a tied ballgame. We missed a few opportunities to score and then with about 11 minutes to go in the second quarter, we are down 14-7 and the lightning delay comes in. Roughly five hours later, we resumed play. I have never been in something that long of a delay before," Hatcher said. "I do want to shoutout to our strength staff and our training staff who did a phenomenal job of keeping our players hydrated and giving them food to keep them in the best spirit and the best shape they possibly can be. But both teams had to sit through the delay. I am not an advocate of waiting that long. We were in a cramped-up locker room. You got to be ready because 'Hey, in 30 minutes we're going out and then another 30 minutes we are going out". I thought our guys handled it well. We came out after the delay, I thought we had a little bit of pop to us. We had a chance. We got a big stop and had a chance to go down and score. We have a lot to work on, but give credit where credit is due. Western Carolina took it to us in every phase of the game."

Michael Hiers had another 300-yard game through the air finding nine different receivers including Ty King, who paced the Bulldog receiving corps with 96 yards. King missed the final six games of the 2022 season due to injury before returning in 2023 to lead all Samford pass catchers through the first two games.

"He has tremendous speed. When he gets the ball out in open field, he is very difficult to tackle. It was nice to see him have a big game," Hatcher said "He started his career here with some big games and then was hampered by injury. So, it is good to have a healthy Ty King back and we are going to need him down the stretch because he has great one-on-one capabilities if teams want to play us in man coverage."

After being Samford's leading tackler a season ago, linebacker Noah Martin is once again finding the ball carrier in 2023. The senior has collected a team-best 21 tackles in two games for the Bulldogs this season including a 13-tackle performance at Western Carolina in the SoCon opener.

"First off, he is a tremendous leader and very well-respected on the team. He practices hard every day. He backs up his talk in the locker room and the position that he plays is very conducive to making plays," Hatcher said. "He is an extremely intelligent player; he has a nose for the ball. After that ballgame, we missed a lot of tackles. That is probably the most tackles that we have missed In quite some time, but to have him be pretty steady in the middle really helps our defense."

Samford steps back out of SoCon on Saturday as the Bulldogs head down Highway 280 for a showdown with the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Bulldogs and the Tigers are meeting for the 30th time in program history. Auburn has won 28 of the 29 previous meetings with the only other result being a tie in 1927.

"I talked to the team on Monday about our travel plans and you get an opportunity to play on the biggest stage there is in college football, national TV, and then you get to put your talents against the best in the country. Not only the players but the coaches as well," Hatcher said. "Again, I say it every week. It goes back to us being the best that we can be. Say that when we play teams that are at a low level and when we play teams at a higher level. It is a tremendous challenge. It will be the best team that we faced all season long and again this week is about us getting better at our fundamentals, if we don't do that it doesn't matter who we play, we won't have a chance. We're going to go down there and give It our best shot and see what happens."

The lone non-conference road game of the season Is slated for a 6 p.m. CT kick and can be viewed on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.

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For the latest news and information on Samford football, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com. Fans can also follow the Bulldogs on social media at /SamfordFootball (Facebook), @SamfordFootball (Instagram) and @SamfordFootball (Twitter).

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Players Mentioned

#12 Ty King: WR; 6' 0"; Senior

#32 Noah Martin: LB; 6' 1"; Junior

#10 Michael Hiers: QB; 6' 1"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#12 Ty King
: 6' 0"; Senior
: WR

#32 Noah Martin
: 6' 1"; Junior
: LB

#10 Michael Hiers
: 6' 1"; Junior
: QB

Samford University Athletics

Players Mentioned

#12 Ty King

#32 Noah Martin

#10 Michael Hiers

Players Mentioned

#12 Ty King

#32 Noah Martin

#10 Michael Hiers