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2023 Southern Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 7 Furman $^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 14 Chattanooga ^	6	–	2	8	–	5
No. 17 Mercer ^	6	–	2	9	–	4
No. 23 Western Carolina	5	–	3	7	–	4
Samford	4	–	4	6	–	5
VMI	4	–	4	5	–	6
East Tennessee State	2	–	6	3	–	8
Wofford	2	–	6	2	–	9
The Citadel	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2023 Samford Bulldogs football team represented Samford University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bulldogs were led by ninth-year head coach Chris Hatcher and played home games at Seibert Stadium in Homewood, Alabama.

On October 14, 2023, Samford University announced that the stadium would be renamed to Pete Hanna Stadium.^[1]^[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:00 p.m.	Shorter*	No. 9	Seibert Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	W 69–14	5,931
September 9	1:30 p.m.	at Western Carolina	No. 8	Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	ESPN+	L 7–30	12,410
September 16	6:30 p.m.	at Auburn*	No. 18	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	SECN+/ESPN+	L 13–45	88,043
September 23	2:00 p.m.	Chattanooga	No. 20	Seibert Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	L 24–47	10,870
September 30	12:00 p.m.	East Tennessee State		Seibert Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	W 42–28	2,931
October 7	12:30 p.m.	at Wofford		Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	ESPN+	W 31–10	4,514
October 14	12:00 p.m.	No. 5 Furman		Pete Hanna Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	L 21–27	5,908
October 21	12:30 p.m.	at VMI		Alumni Memorial Field Lexington, VA	ESPN+	W 27–14	4,245
October 28	2:00 p.m.	The Citadel		Pete Hanna Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	W 37–7	5,023
November 11	2:00 p.m.	at No. 23 Mercer		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA	ESPN+	L 21–28	9,772
November 18	12:00 p.m.	No. 19 UT Martin*		Pete Hanna Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	W 27–17	3,043
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Pregame line	Over/under
SAM –6.0	64.5

Game Two – Western Carolina Catamounts (0–1) vs No. 8 Samford Bulldogs (1–0)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Samford	7	0	0	0	7
Western Carolina	7	13	3	7	30

Game information

(7:03) SAM – Michael Vice 8-yard pass from Michael Hiers, Wilson Beaverstock kick (Drive: 7 plays, 97 yards, 2:00; Samford 7–0)
(3:21) WCU – AJ Colombo 21-yard pass from Cole Gonzales, Richard McCollum kick (Drive: 10 plays, 76 yards, 3:32; Tied 7–7)

(13:42) WCU – Censere Lee 6-yard pass from Cole Gonzales, Richard McCollum kick (Drive: 10 plays, 59 yards, 3:58; Western Carolina 14–7)
(1:38) WCU – Richard McCollum 23-yard field goal (Drive: 15 plays, 69 yards, 6:43; Western Carolina 17–7)
(0:00) WCU – Richard McCollum 41-yard field goal (Drive: 2 plays, 20 yards, 0:11; Western Carolina 20–7)

(4:29) WCU – Richard McCollum 18-yard field goal (Drive: 13 plays, 84 yards, 5:50; Western Carolina 23–7)

(8:02) WCU – Desmond Reid 2-yard run, Richard McCollum kick (Drive: 10 plays, 71 yards, 6:14; Western Carolina 30–7)

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
No. 8 Samford	Passing	Michael Hiers	21/34, 315 yards, TD
	Rushing	Jay Stanton	7 carries, 26 yards
	Receiving	Ty King	3 receptions, 96 yards
Western Carolina	Passing	Cole Gonzales	29/35, 262 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Desmond Reid	27 carries, 170 yards, TD
	Receiving	AJ Colombo	5 receptions, 79 yards, TD

Game Three – No. 18 Samford Bulldogs (1–1) at (FBS) Auburn Tigers (2–0)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Bulldogs	0	0	13	0	13
(FBS) Tigers	0	17	14	14	45

Date: Saturday, September 16, 2023
Game time: 6:02 p.m. CDT
Game weather: Cloudy • Temperature: 76 °F (24 °C)
Game attendance: 88,043
Referee: David Smith
TV announcers (ESPN+/SEC Network+): Clay Matvick (play-by-play), Aaron Murray (analyst)

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Samford	Passing	Michael Hiers	18/31, 141 yds, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Damonta Witherspoon	5 carries, 30 yds
	Receiving	Ty King	5 receptions, 24 yds
Auburn	Passing	Payton Thorne	24/32, 282 yds, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Payton Thorne	11 carries, 123 yds, 2 TD
	Receiving	Jay Fair	7 receptions, 93 yds

^ "Samford renames football stadium in honor of Pete Hanna". The Alabama Baptist. October 14, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
^ Mason, Will (October 17, 2023). "Samford announces renaming of stadium". The Samford Crimson. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
^ "2023 Samford Football Schedule". FBSchedules. Retrieved April 13, 2023.