Nov. 19, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford football team practiced for about an hour and a half in shells Wednesday afternoon at Seibert Stadium. The Bulldogs are preparing for Saturday's season finale at Chattanooga.

Samford enters the game with a record of 5-5 overall and 3-4 in Southern Conference play. A win Saturday would give Samford its first winning season since 2003.

Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said the team has had two good days of practice as it readies for its final game.

"We've had two really good days of practice," Sullivan said. "We've got a lot to play for, as does Chattanooga. We'll finish it up in shorts and helmets tomorrow and get ready to go on Saturday."

Samford and Chattanooga are meeting for the 34th time, with Chattanooga holding a 22-8-3 advantage. The teams last met on Aug. 28, 2003, with Samford winning, 31-23 in both teams' season-opener in Chattanooga.

Samford enters the week leading the Southern Conference in scoring defense (20.0 ppg.), rushing defense (106.1 ypg.) and opponent first downs (17.4 pg.).

Individually for Samford, Chris Evans leads the SoCon in rushing, averaging 115.0 yards per game. Evans is also second in the league in all-purpose yards, with an average of 127.1 all-purpose yards per contest.

The Chattanooga rushing game is led by Eroll Wynn, averaging 54.9 yards per game. UTC quarterback Jare Gault is averaging 81.6 passing yards per game for the Mocs.

Samford will practice again Thursday at 3:45 p.m. The practice will be the final full practice of the 2008 season for Samford.

Saturday's game at Chattanooga is scheduled for a 1 p.m. (CT) kickoff from UTC's Finley Stadium. The game can be heard live on the Samford Football Radio Network. The flagship station for the network is WVSU-FM 91.1. The game can also be heard worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/groups/wvsu/.