Samford University linebacker Noah Martin and his teammates dreaded Bulldog Dominance.
The offseason drill started by strength and conditioning coach Zach Mathers was intended to develop a level of toughness the football program hadn't shown in quite some time, specifically on defense as the Bulldogs had become known for thriving on offense. A 60-yard shuttle run with quick starts and stops, shuffles backward and sprints forward, Bulldog Dominance was difficult by design.
"We'd already be an hour, hour and 15 minutes into the workout, and you were already tired, and then on top of that we had to do six or seven of those and you were racing people at your position," said Martin, a Baylor school graduate in his third season at the Southern Conference school in Birmingham, Alabama.
"Then he (Mathers) would watch, and if you missed a line or didn't touch the line, you had to start over. Plus he knew everyone's speed, so if he could tell you were slacking, you would have to restart the drill over."
But there's no doubt an offseason of Bulldog Dominance has led to a season of Bulldog dominance for sixth-seeded Samford (11-1), which swept through the Southern Conference with an 8-0 mark and a top-10 national ranking. The program's first league championship since sharing the 2013 title with Furman and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga secured an automatic bid in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, and being one of eight seeded teams led to a bye in the first round and a home game in the second.
Samford beat Southeastern Louisiana 48-42 in overtime last Saturday, and next up for the Bulldogs is a quarterfinal at No. 3 North Dakota State (10-2), which is trying to repeat as national champion and has won nine of the past 11 FCS titles. Kickoff in Fargo is set for 7 p.m. Eastern.
Samford's only loss this season was to a Football Bowl Subdivision program — Georgia, which is now 13-0 and the No. 1 seed for the College Football Playoff as it tries to repeat as national champion. Since the 33-0 loss on Sept. 10 in Athens, Samford has won 10 in a row, including a double-overtime victory against Mercer in the regular-season finale to clinch the SoCon title outright.
There's no doubt the difference between this season and years past came on defense. The program's success on the other side of the ball had already been established, but Martin has helped spearhead a unit that has allowed averages of 25.3 points per game and 5.5 yards per play, both numbers that rank in or around the middle of the SoCon. The Bulldogs have also forced 21 turnovers while the offense has given it away just 11 times, with the plus-10 turnover margin ranking first in the league and in the top 10 in the FCS.
Just a season ago, the Bulldogs allowed nearly 40 points and more than 500 yards per game.
Then Samford hired Chris Boone as defensive coordinator. It's the second stint with the Bulldogs for Boone, who coached defensive linemen in 2014, when the overall defense ranked among the top 25 nationally.
"We had a meeting at the end of the year, and we (the defense) all knew we needed to be tougher, needed to be more physical," Martin said. "Coach Boone was at that meeting and that was something that stuck out to him, so he emphasized that from day one. There were going to be guys in that room, that day, that weren't going to be there because we had guys coming in, so it instilled a mentality that we had to fight for every rep, every position to become a much tougher team.
"That pushed us and made sure we were tougher and helped us develop that hard-nosed mentality coming into the season."
Martin, a 6-foot-1, 224-pounder who became a full-time starter last year, leads the team in tackles this season with 86, which includes 6.5 for loss, and he also has an interception.
He also got to enjoy — albeit from a distance — seeing his high school alma mater win its first football state championship since 1973, with Baylor defeating Montgomery Bell Academy 38-34 last week in the TSSAA Division II-AAA BlueCross Bowl at Finley Stadium. It gave him just a moment to hold that over the head of teammate and McCallie graduate Kendall Watson, a fifth-year receiver who has enjoyed his own great season for the Bulldogs with 961 yards on 80 catches, including 10 touchdowns.
Also on the roster is sophomore receiver Deuce Flowers from Cleveland.
"This year has been awesome," Martin said. "We kind of get lost in the moment sometimes, but we're in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs when we were predicted sixth in our conference and not making the playoffs, not even probably having a winning record. Now my dad (Dwight) and our coaches are reminding us to remember where we're at.
"This is an amazing opportunity, and we don't know what the next couple of years will look like, but to go from last year to this year, it's been a huge turnaround. I'm obviously very proud of that with our team, but it's been cool to know that this is a historic team. We're part of the defense that turned things around, but at the same time, I don't think our defense has played our best ball, so there's still a next step I know we can take and I'm hoping we take that this week.
"That's what's exciting: We haven't arrived, we still have work to do, and that's a good feeling because you know you can always get better."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.