2018 Samford Bulldogs football team

The 2018 Samford Bulldogs football team represented Samford University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Chris Hatcher and played their home games at Seibert Stadium. They were a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). They finished the season 6–5, 5–3 in SoCon play to finish in fourth place.

2018 Samford Bulldogs football
ConferenceSouthern Conference
2018 record6–5 (5–3 SoCon)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorRuss Callaway (3rd season)
Defensive coordinatorBill D'Ottavio (12th season)
Home stadiumSeibert Stadium
(Capacity: 6,700)
2018 Southern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 13 Wofford +^  6 –2     9 –4  
No. 22 East Tennessee State +^  6 –2     8 –4  
Furman +  6 –2     6 –4  
Samford  5 –3     6 –5  
Chattanooga  4 –4     6 –5  
The Citadel  4 –4     5 –6  
Mercer  4 –4     5 –6  
Western Carolina  1 –7     3 –8  
VMI  0 –8     1 –10  
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS FCS Poll

Previous season

The Bulldogs finished the 2017 season 8–4, 6–2 in SoCon play to finish in a tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they lost to Kennesaw State in the first round..

Preseason

Award watch lists
Award Player Position Year
Walter Payton Award[1] Devlin Hodges QB SR
Buck Buchanan Award[2] Ahmad Gooden DE SR

Preseason media poll

The SoCon released their preseason media poll on July 25, 2018, with the Bulldogs predicted to finish as SoCon champions.[3] The same day the coaches released their preseason poll with the Bulldogs also predicted to finish as SoCon champions.[4]

Media poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1Samford204 (20)
2Furman174 (2)
3Wofford163 (1)
4Mercer133
5Western Carolina114
6Chattanooga88
7The Citadel83
8East Tennessee State53
9VMI23
Coaches poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1Samford63 (7)
2Wofford53 (1)
3Furman52 (1)
4Western Carolina39
5Chattanooga34
6Mercer32
7The Citadel28
8East Tennessee State15
9VMI8

Preseason All-SoCon Teams

The Bulldogs placed seven players on the all-SoCon teams.[5] Quarterback Devlin Hodges was selected as preseason offensive player of the year and Defensive lineman Ahmad Gooden was selected as preseason defensive player of the year.

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 306:30 p.m.Shorter*No. 11
ESPN+W 66–95,252
September 86:20 p.m.at Florida State*No. 9
ACCNL 26–3672,239
September 152:00 p.m.MercerNo. 9
  • Seibert Stadium
  • Homewood, AL
ESPN+L 24–308,717
September 226:00 p.m.at ChattanoogaNo. 17
ESPN+L 20–2710,469
September 295:00 p.m.at No. 4 Kennesaw State*
ESPN3L 10–244,396
October 612:30 p.m.Western Carolina
  • Seibert Stadium
  • Homewood, AL
ESPN3W 66–283,178
October 132:00 p.m.VMI
  • Seibert Stadium
  • Homewood, AL
ESPN+W 73–224,163
October 201:00 p.m.at Furman
ESPN+W 38–256,016
November 32:00 p.m.No. 9 Wofford
  • Seibert Stadium
  • Homewood, AL
ESPN+W 35–205,821
November 101:00 p.m.at The Citadel
ESPN+L 27–4211,145
November 1712:00 p.m.at No. 19 East Tennessee State
ESPN3W 38–278,749
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Game summaries

Shorter
1 2 3 4 Total
Hawks 0 0 2 7 9
No. 11 Bulldogs 17 28 7 14 66
See also: 2018 Shorter Hawks football team

at Florida State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 9 Bulldogs 16 7 0 3 26
Seminoles 7 14 0 15 36
See also: 2018 Florida State Seminoles football team

Mercer
1 2 3 4 Total
Bears 7 10 0 13 30
No. 9 Bulldogs 7 0 7 10 24
See also: 2018 Mercer Bears football team

at Chattanooga
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 17 Bulldogs 0 10 3 7 20
Mocs 10 7 7 3 27
See also: 2018 Chattanooga Mocs football team

at Kennesaw State
1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 3 0 0 7 10
No. 4 Owls 7 7 7 3 24
See also: 2018 Kennesaw State Owls football team

Western Carolina
1 2 3 4 Total
Catamounts 0 21 0 7 28
Bulldogs 35 7 14 10 66
See also: 2018 Western Carolina Catamounts football team

VMI
1 2 3 4 Total
Keydets 9 13 0 0 22
Bulldogs 14 28 24 7 73
See also: 2018 VMI Keydets football team

at Furman
1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 10 0 21 7 38
Paladins 3 9 7 6 25
See also: 2018 Furman Paladins football team

Wofford
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 9 Terriers 7 10 3 0 20
Bulldogs 14 7 0 14 35
See also: 2018 Wofford Terriers football team

at The Citadel
1 2 3 4 Total
SAM Bulldogs 14 10 3 0 27
CIT Bulldogs 0 7 14 21 42
See also: 2018 The Citadel Bulldogs football team

at East Tennessee State
1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 7 10 7 14 38
No. 19 Buccaneers 10 14 3 0 27
See also: 2018 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS 11 9 9 17 RV NR NR NR RV RV RV NR RV  
Coaches 10 9 9 17 RV NR NR NR NR NR RV NR NR

References
  1. "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  2. "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  3. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735859&DB_OEM_ID=4000
  4. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735863&DB_OEM_ID=4000
  5. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735863&DB_OEM_ID=4000
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