The Samford Bulldogs (2-3) will travel to Charleston, South Carolina, to battle The Citadel Bulldogs (0-8) in a classic, Southern Conference rivalry. This familiar matchup will take place in March and not September when it typically occurs, due to COVID-19.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 38-37 overtime defeat at the hands of the VMI Keydets on Saturday, March 20. The Bulldogs scored first in overtime but allowed a 2-point conversion to give the Keydets the victory.
The Bulldogs are led by head coach Chris Hatcher, who is 2-3 against The Citadel while leading the Bulldogs. The last time these two teams met was on Sept. 28, 2019, in Birmingham. Samford barely took down the Citadel in a 61-55 overtime shootout.
Despite three losses, the Bulldogs have played some quality football on both sides of the ball this season. New defensive coordinator Nick Benedetto has brought some much needed enthusiasm to the Bulldog secondary. The Bulldogs are currently outscoring their opponents 37-35 on average this season, which is a drastic improvement from their average in 2019, where they were outscored 38-32.
After starting the 2021 season as the second string quarterback, senior Liam Welch has put on a show. He averages 469 all-purpose yards per game with eight passing and three rushing touchdowns on the year. In 2019, Liam Welch threw for 189 yards against the Citadel.
One of the negatives to this spring football season is a schedule consisting of eight games. That leaves the Bulldogs with only three games left until the brief offseason. If the Bulldogs want to be crowned kings of the Southern Conference, every game is critical and must-win.
The Citadel is fresh off of a 28-21 defeat to the ETSU Buccaneers last week. Half of their games this season were played in the fall, where they played four non-conference FBS teams. Regardless of their fall schedule, the Citadel Bulldogs have not won a game since Nov. 2, 2019.
The Bulldogs will take on The Citadel Bulldogs on March 27 at noon CST in Johnson Hagood Memorial Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina. The Bulldogs will then have their bye week, followed by a home game against the Mocs of Chattanooga on April 10.
