Samford Shows Potential In Dominant First Half Against Mercer

Photo courtesy of Samford Athletics

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 25, 2024

The blueprint for what Chris Hatcher thinks his Samford football team is capable of came in the first 20 minutes of the team’s sixth game of the season.

In those 20 minutes, which came against a Mercer team that was ranked No. 7 in the country, the Bulldogs scored 42 points with touchdowns on six of nine drives. Samford outgained the Bears, 341-83, forced a pair of turnovers, allowed just one drive of more than 19 yards and limited the Bears to negative yardage on three possessions. It was as stunning as it was thorough for a Samford team that was 2-3 heading into the game and was coming off a disappointing loss at East Tennessee.

“I thought that the first half, I told the players, that's what I envision us being capable of when things are going right for us,” said Hatcher, whose team is on the road against The Citadel (3-5 overall) this weekend.

Now the task is for the Bulldogs to copy that type of effort. Hatcher said it will take work.

“All in all, a good win,” Hatcher said. “We still got a lot of things to clean up, still got to improve. But we're very excited and hopefully we're kind of figuring out a little bit more of what type of team we are in all three phases of the game.”

The good thing, at least for Hatcher and the coaching staff, is that getting the players’ attention this week was much easier than after a loss.

“I think we coach them the same every week,” Hatcher said. “It's easier to point out mistakes after a win, because (after a loss) it does seem a little like you're pointing fingers. Some guys after you're defeated, they feel like you're blaming them individually for the game and some of the players aren't mature enough to understand you're just trying to make corrections and critiques, so that that situation doesn't arise anymore. So, as far as the level of coaching intensity, of calling out players in certain situations that need to do better, that's the same week in and week out. But again, it's a lot more fun and it's a lot easier making those corrections after a victory.”

One of the best things about the impressive 55-35 win over Mercer was not only that Samford forced five turnovers but they turned all but one of them into points. The week before, during the 31-28 loss, Samford won the turnover battle, 4-0, but had three punts and a missed field goal after forcing the miscues.

In the win over Mercer, Samford turned two of the turnovers into immediate points with a 55-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Gavin Morris and a 26-yard interception return for a score by Noah Martin. Two of the turnovers were followed by Quincy Crittendon touchdown passes to DJ Rias and E. Jai Mason. The only time that Samford didn’t score after came in between the touchdowns by Morris and Martin. Defensive end Xavier Nurse had a pair of forced fumbles in the game.

Now it’s on to trying to win on the road for the first time this season.

“You know, it just starts all over,” Hatcher said. “It's just a brand new week. So whatever you did the week before, really has no bearing on the next week, whether it was good or bad. And that's how we approach it, just a bunch of one-game seasons. I tell the team every Wednesday this will be the biggest game we play all year because it's the only one we play this week. If you want to be a championship team at the end of the year, you look back (and say) ‘Well, that was a big one. That was a big one. That was a big one. That was a big one.’  Again, you just got to flip the script and go back to the fundamentals, put your plan in practice so that you earn the right to expect to win on Saturdays.”