Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina football plays its fifth road game of the 2020-21 season – and its sixth-straight dating back to the 2019 season – as it travels to Birmingham, Ala., and Seibert Stadium on Saturday afternoon to face the Samford Bulldogs in Southern Conference action. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT and will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
 
Due to COVID protocols surrounding Samford's press facilities, visiting radio will not be allowed to travel to cover the game; therefore, there will be no Catamount Sports Network audio coverage.
 
Both teams enter Saturday's contest eager for their first win of the 2020-21 season. WCU is 0-4 after falling at now-10th-ranked Furman, 35-7, at Paladin Stadium in its conference opener, while Samford squandered a 14-point first-half lead in a 24-17 road loss at ETSU in its first action since 2019. The Bulldogs were picked fifth in the SoCon preseason polling.
 
Western Carolina and Samford meet for the 18th time on the football gridiron, with the Catamounts trailing, 3-14. WCU has won just once in the nine previous trips to Birmingham with the Bulldogs carrying an eight-game home series win streak into the weekend.
 
A road victory on Saturday afternoon would halt several skids for the Catamounts, including a six-game slide that dates back to the regular-season finale at nationally-ranked Alabama at the end of the 2019 season. Each of those six losses has come on the road. WCU would also score just its second road victory all-time at Samford, a drought that dates back to the first-ever series meeting back in 1969.
 
WCU's defense will be tested against the pass-happy offense of Samford's sixth-year head coach Chris Hatcher. Quarterback Chris Oladokun threw for 222 yards on 35 completions with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions in last week's road loss at ETSU. The Catamount defense has forced 12 turnovers in its first five games this season, including intercepting preseason second-team All-SoCon QB Hamp Sisson of Furman three times last Saturday in Greenville, S.C. WCU has forced and recovered six fumbles to go along with the SoCon-leading six interceptions, which are the fourth-most in the NCAA FCS currently.
 
Hatcher's offense – which WCU has faced at both Samford and Georgia Southern – has averaged over 30 points per game in his five-plus seasons, the highest average during that span in the SoCon. Former triggerman Devlin Hodges was a big reason for the offense's success in recent years. The Bulldogs lead the SoCon at 231.0 yards per game through the air early in the 2021 spring season.
 
Junior safety A.J. Rogers, 12th in the SoCon with an average of 8.0 tackles per game, leads the Catamount defense with 24 total stops. Coming off his 10th double-digit tackle performance of his career, senior LB Ty Harris is averaging 7.5 tackles per game and has one of WCU's four sacks. Linebackers Willie Hampton (24 tackles) and Trevor Childers (22 tackles), along with defensive back Ronald Kent Jr. (22 tackles), rank among the Catamount defensive leaders.
 
On the flip side, the Catamount offense looks to improve under graduate transfer QB Ryan Glover, who rushed in from 10 yards out to give WCU an early advantage at Furman in the league-opener. A transfer from Penn, Glover saw his most extensive work at quarterback since 2018 in last week's match-up with the Paladins, completing 7-of-14 passes to seven different receivers for 42 total yards. He added 15 rushing yards as WCU was held to 67 total yards on the ground by the stingy Paladin defense.
 
Special teams could play a significant factor in Saturday's game at Samford. WCU freshman kicker Paxton Robertson, who nailed a 52-yard field goal in the fall, continued to impress by earning both conference and national special teams player of the week honors after his punting performance at Furman. Samford counters with one of the nation's top kick returners in WR Montrell Washington. The preseason first-team All-SoCon and All-America selection averaged 21.9 yards per punt return last season, including a 59-yard return for a TD in Cullowhee that turned the tide in Samford's come-from-behind victory over the Catamounts.
 
WCU jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter advantage in last year's meeting with Samford before the Bulldogs traded their aerial attack for the run-heavy, ball-control offense behind back-up QB Liam Welch to score 24-unanswered points as a part of a 31-13 win to spoil Senior Day in Cullowhee. Samford mounted three double-digit play scoring drives in the second half and combined to chew-up nearly 33 minutes of the game clock on 88 offensive snaps.
 
Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT. Social media updates will be made available online using the Twitter handle, @CatamountsFB.
 
Western Carolina vs. Samford – Series History:

• Western Carolina and Samford meet for the 18th time in the all-time series history with the Catamounts trailing, 3-14 ... the Bulldogs have won the last two meetings – and three of the last four overall ... Samford claimed 11-straight in the series from 1991 through 2014;
• Western Carolina's 56-36 win in Cullowhee in 2015 marked the first victory for the Catamounts in the series since winning the first-ever meeting between the two schools, 47-13, back in 1969 in Birmingham ... WCU's 2015 victory halted a 46-year drought;
• WCU is just 2-10 against Samford since the Bulldogs joined the SoCon back in 2008.

 
SATURDAY'S BROADCAST INFORMATION:
Game 5: Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021 – 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT
Location: Birmingham, Ala. (Seibert Stadium – 6,700)
Records: Western Carolina (0-4, 0-1 SoCon) at Samford (0-1, 0-1 SoCon)
Video: ESPN+ (PxP: Curt Bloom; Analyst: Cole Cubelic; Sideline: Brett Gardner)
Radio: none (COVID protocol restrictions in Samford's press box)
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount Football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (FB.com/CatamountSports) and Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountsFB).