Bulldogs Look For First Win Of Year At Western Carolina

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 19, 2025

It’s not officially the season opener for the Samford football team on Saturday. But it seems that way for the Bulldogs as they travel to Western Carolina for a Southern Conference game against the Catamounts.

“In our mind, this is a new season,” said Samford head coach Chris Hatcher at his weekly press conference. “Our opportunity to be a conference champion is still out there. Of course, this is a huge game in our quest for that. Going to Western Carolina is a very difficult place to play. They're very well coached. Kerwin Bell and I go way back. He was the head coach at Valdosta State like I was, but we've been friends a long time. He's turned that program around and made it into a top 25 caliber team year in and year out. This family weekend there, and I've unfortunately had to play up there a few times at family weekend. They have a great atmosphere. Actually, there will be times it's going to be louder Saturday than it was while we played the Baylor game. We're going to have to really lock in and focus.”

Hatcher said there are things his team can take from last Saturday’s 42-7 buy game loss at Baylor. The Bulldogs only allowed seven points after halftime, limited Baylor to 4-of-13 on third down and the 10-play, 80-yard Samford scoring drive included six runs on a day when Hatcher was pleased with the way his team ran the ball.

“There were a lot of positives to take away when you go and play a team that's got you overmatched,” said Hatcher, whose team is 0-3 overall and 0-1 in SoCon play.

One of those positives comes without a category in the box score.

“I thought that our team played very physical,” Hatcher said. “In fact, the opponent actually complimented our physicality in the trenches, which is a tremendous compliment when you're playing guys a lot bigger than you are.”

Now the Bulldogs looked to use those positives against a Western Carolina team that was picked third with one first-place vote in the SoCon preseason poll. They enter Saturday’s game with a 0-3 record after one-score losses to Gardner-Webb and Elon and a 42-10 setback at Wake Forest. However, they played all three of those games without suspended quarterback Taron Dickens. Hatcher said he expects to see Dickens on Saturday.

Dickens threw for 1,428 yards with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions in seven games as a starter last season. He was 36-of-46 for 408 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in a 47-42 regular season finale win at Samford.

“He was one of the best quarterbacks in our league last season,” Hatcher said. “We're anticipating him being back for the first time and he's a game changer. So we got to show him multiple looks and keep him under control defensively.”