2018 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team

The 2018 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season and were in the third year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). They were led by first-year head coach Randy Sanders and played their home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium.[1] They finished the season 8–4, 6–2 in SoCon play to win a share of the SoCon championship. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they lost to Jacksonville State in the first round.

2018 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football
SoCon co-champion
ConferenceSouthern Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 22
FCS CoachesNo. 21
2018 record8–4 (6–2 SoCon)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMike Rader (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorBilly Taylor (4th season)
Home stadiumWilliam B. Greene Jr. Stadium
(Capacity: 7,694)
2018 Southern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 13 Wofford +^  6 2     9 4  
No. 22 East Tennessee State +^  6 2     8 4  
Furman +  6 2     6 4  
Samford  5 3     6 5  
Chattanooga  4 4     6 5  
The Citadel  4 4     5 6  
Mercer  4 4     5 6  
Western Carolina  1 7     3 8  
VMI  0 8     1 10  
  • + Conference co-champions
  • ^ FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS FCS Poll

Previous season

The Buccaneers finished the 2017 season 4–7, 2–6 in SoCon play to finish in eighth place.

On December 8, head coach Carl Torbush announced his retirement.[2] He finished at ETSU with a three-year record of 11–22.

Preseason

Preseason media poll

The SoCon released their preseason media poll on July 25, 2018, with the Buccaneers predicted to finish in eighth place.[3] The same day the coaches released their preseason poll with the Buccaneers also predicted to finish in eighth place.[4]

Media poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1Samford204 (20)
2Furman174 (2)
3Wofford163 (1)
4Mercer133
5Western Carolina114
6Chattanooga88
7The Citadel83
8East Tennessee State53
9VMI23
Coaches poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1Samford63 (7)
2Wofford53 (1)
3Furman52 (1)
4Western Carolina39
5Chattanooga34
6Mercer32
7The Citadel28
8East Tennessee State15
9VMI8

Preseason All-SoCon Teams

The Buccaneers placed five players on the preseason all-SoCon teams.

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 17:30 p.m.Mars Hill*ESPN+W 28–78,518
September 84:00 p.m.at Tennessee*SECNL 3–5996,464
September 14[lower-alpha 1]2:30 p.m.at VMIESPN+W 27–242,764
September 227:30 p.m.Furman
  • William B. Greene Jr. Stadium
  • Johnson City, TN
ESPN3W 29–278,453
September 297:30 p.m.Chattanooga
  • William B. Greene Jr. Stadium
  • Johnson City, TN
ESPN+W 17–149,277
October 63:35 p.m.Gardner–Webb*
  • William B. Greene Jr. Stadium
  • Johnson City, TN
ESPN+W 45–08,501
October 132:00 p.m.at The CitadelNo. 23ESPN3W 26–2311,043
October 201:30 p.m.at No. 12 WoffordNo. 21
ESPN+L 17–306,745
October 273:30 p.m.Western CarolinaNo. 25
  • William B. Greene Jr. Stadium
  • Johnson City, TN
ESPN+W 45–43 3OT7,121
November 33:00 p.m.at MercerNo. 22ESPN3W 21–1810,002
November 171:00 p.m.SamfordNo. 19
  • William B. Greene Jr. Stadium
  • Johnson City, TN
ESPN3L 27–388,749
November 246:30 p.m.at No. 8 Jacksonville State*No. 22ESPN3L 27–3411,024
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time
  1. This game was originally schedule for September 15. It was moved up one day in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.

Game summaries

Mars Hill

1 2 3 4 Total
Mountain Lions 7 0 0 0 7
Buccaneers 0 7 7 14 28

at Tennessee

1 2 3 4 Total
Buccaneers 0 0 3 0 3
Volunteers 10 28 7 14 59

at VMI

1 2 3 4 Total
Buccaneers 7 6 7 7 27
Keydets 0 17 7 0 24

Furman

1 2 3 4 Total
Paladins 7 6 14 0 27
Buccaneers 3 3 7 16 29

Chattanooga

1 2 3 4 Total
Mocs 0 0 0 14 14
Buccaneers 14 3 0 0 17

Gardner–Webb

1 2 3 4 Total
Runnin' Bulldogs 0 0 0 0 0
Buccaneers 7 10 14 14 45

at The Citadel

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 23 Buccaneers 3 6 7 10 26
Bulldogs 6 3 0 14 23

at Wofford

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 21 Buccaneers 0 10 0 7 17
No. 12 Terriers 3 14 7 6 30

Western Carolina

1 2 3 4OT2OT3OT Total
Catamounts 0 13 10 7076 43
No. 25 Buccaneers 6 6 3 15078 45

at Mercer

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 22 Buccaneers 0 14 7 0 21
Bears 7 3 5 3 18

Samford

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 7 10 7 14 38
No. 19 Buccaneers 10 14 3 0 27

FCS Playoffs

at Jacksonville State–First Round

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 22 Buccaneers 10 10 0 7 27
No. 8 Gamecocks 7 3 10 14 34

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS NR NR NR NR RV RV 23 21 25 22 19 19 22 22 
Coaches NR NR NR NR NR RV 24 21 25 23 17 17 21 21

References

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