BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After opening the 2024 campaign with back-to-back road games, the Samford football team returns home to the newly renovated Pete Hanna Stadium for an All-Alabama showdown with the Hornets of Alabama State.
 
Saturday's home opener is slated for a 6 p.m. CT kickoff on Saturday, September 14 with Blake Gardner, Damian Mitchell and Lyden Blake on the ESPN+ call.
 
For this week's complete game notes, click here. Tickets can be purchased here.
 
Last time out, the Bulldogs fell in a 45-7 contest to the Florida Gators on the road. The defense held the Gators to 14 first-half points while Damonta Witherspoon found the end zone in the third quarter for the lone Samford score.
 
Samford and Alabama State are meeting for the third time in program history but for the first time since 1991. Saturday's contest also marks the first time that the Bulldogs and Hornets are playing on Samford's campus. The 1990 game between the two squads was held at Legion Field with the 1991 game being played in Montgomery. Alabama State leads the all-time series 1-0-1.
 
Putting Up Points
Over the last nine seasons under head coach Chris Hatcher, the Samford offense has scored at least 30 points 50 times. The unit has put up at least 40 points 28 times, and at least 50 points a total of 14 times.
 
Quick Strikes
In the nine-plus seasons under head coach Chris Hatcher, Samford has made a habit of quick scoring drives. In Hatcher's time at Samford, the Bulldogs have had 192 scoring drives of two minutes or less and 90 that have lasted one minute or less.
 
Samford Against Alabama Teams
Samford has an all-time record of 96-81-20 against teams from the state of Alabama, including a mark of 0-1-1 against Saturday's opponent, Alabama State. The Hornets are the only team from Alabama on Samford's regular season schedule.
 
Samford Against Southwest Athletic Conference Teams
Samford has an all-time record of 11-5-3 against the current members of the Southwest Athletic Conference. Alcorn State and Florida A&M are Samford's most frequent foes from the SWAC with Alabama State rounding out the top three.
 
On this Date
Samford has an all-time record of 6-3 in games played on Sept. 14 with all games being played since 1968. The last time that the Bulldogs won on Sept. 14 was a 21-14 victory over No. 21 Wofford in 2019. The last defeat for Samford on Sept. 14 was a 45-17 defeat against Nicholls in 2002.
 
Mister Martin
Noah Martin, a consensus first team All-SoCon defender in 2023, led the SoCon with 109 and became the first Bulldog defender to eclipse 100 tackles since John Staton had 115 in 2019. Martin's 109 tackles were good enough to rank him 13th nationally.
 
Heading into the 2024 season, Martin was named a preseason All-American by FCS Football Central, Stats Perform and Phil Steele while landing on the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List.
 
Martin picked up right where he left off in 2023 with a game-high 11 tackles in the season opener at West Georgia and at Florida. With these performances, Martin became the first Bulldog defender in the Hatcher era to open the season with back-to-back double-digit tackle games. Dating back to last season, the Chattanooga native has 52 total tackles in his last three games played.
 
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