Looking at Game 5, Samford University

Who: Samford Bulldogs

When: Saturday, September 29th, at 2:00 pm (Central)

Where: Seibert Stadium - Birmingham, AL

Series history: Western Carolina trails in the series 1-9, having lost the last 9 stright games. The Catamounts lost last season by a final score of 21-25 in Cullowhee to the Bulldogs.

Their conference: Southern Conference

Their coach: Pat Sullivan - Sullivan is entering his 7th season at Samford and has a career record of 56-76-1 (12 seasons).

Last year’s record: 7-4 (5-3 SoCon)

How they got there: Pat Sullivan's Bulldogs ended the 2012 season with a 7-4 overall record and were 5-3 in conference, ending the season tied for 4th place. The Bulldogs rolled off 4 straight wins to start the season, before losing to the GSU Eagles in Statesboro in week five. The Bulldogs rebounded in week six, beating the Citadel at home, then lost their next two conference games to ASU and Chattanooga, then picked up conference wins over Wofford and Elon.

 Offense:  Multiple

 Defense:  Multiple

 Offensive starters Returning/Lost:  8  /  3

 Defensive starters Returning/lost:  5 /  6

2012 Stats:
Rushing Yardage: 1564 - Avg. per game: 142.3 yards
Passing Yardage: 2303  - Avg. per game: 209.4 yards
Total Yardage Per Game: 351.6

Biggest losses:
Defense- The Bulldogs lost 6 starters off their defensive unit, including most of their defensive line and must replace all three of their starters at linebacker

Strengths: Samford returns eight starters on offense and five starters on defense from 2012. In addition Samford also returns their main punter, redshirt junior Greg Peranich, also returning for the Bulldogs are running back Fabian Truss, wide receiver Kelsey Pope, wide receiver Chris Cephus.   Bulldog quarterback Andy Summerlin and defensive lineman Jeremy Towns were both granted sixth years of eligibility by the NCAA.

Samford's Jaquiski Tartt, Fabian Truss and Kelsey Pope were all named to the Sports Network's preseason All-America teams.  Samford safety Jaquiski Tartt has been named to the preseason watch list for the top defensive back in FCS football.

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