West Alabama travels to Samford on Saturday with an opportunity to post consecutive wins against teams competing in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision for the first time in school history.

The Tigers ended the 2011 regular season with a 30-23 victory over Georgia State and can make it two straight against FCS foes with a positive outcome against the Bulldogs. To accomplish that, head coach Will Hall said the Tigers will have to be much better than in last week’s win at Clark Atlanta.

Even though UWA gained 455 yards and scored 44 points, the Tigers were also penalized 18 times, taking points off the scoreboard or erasing opportunities for points.

The Bulldogs are 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the Southern Conference after beating Furman, 24-21, at home last week.

“Samford is really good, so we have to be more in sync and have fewer penalties,” quarterback Kyle Caldwell said. “We have to function as a team, while each doing our individual jobs and helping each other out.”

The Tigers are coming off a stellar defensive effort at Clark Atlanta, limiting the Panthers to 78 total yards while pitching a shutout. UWA recorded 17 tackles behind the line of scrimmage in the 44-0 win.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.