2018 Furman Paladins football team

2018 Furman Paladins football
2018 Furman Paladins football
SoCon co-champion
Conference	Southern Conference
Record	6–4 (6–2 SoCon)
Head coach	Clay Hendrix (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	George Quarles (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Chadd Staggs (2nd season)
Captain	Harris Roberts, Jaylan Reid, Aaquil Annoor
Home stadium	Paladin Stadium
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Southern Conference football standings
v t e
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 Poll

The 2018 Furman Paladins team represented Furman University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by second-year head coach Clay Hendrix, the Paladins compiled an overall record of 6–4 with a mark of 6–2 in conference play, sharing the SoCon title with East Tennessee and Wofford. After tiebreakers, Furman did not receive the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs and the team did not receive an at-large bid. Furman home games at Paladin Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.

Preseason[edit]

Preseason media poll[edit]

The SoCon released their preseason media poll on July 25, 2018, with the Paladins predicted to finish in second place.^[1] The same day the coaches released their preseason poll with the Paladins predicted to finish in third place.^[2]

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Samford	204 (20)
2	Furman	174 (2)
3	Wofford	163 (1)
4	Mercer	133
5	Western Carolina	114
6	Chattanooga	88
7	The Citadel	83
8	East Tennessee State	53
9	VMI	23

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Samford	63 (7)
2	Wofford	53 (1)
3	Furman	52 (1)
4	Western Carolina	39
5	Chattanooga	34
6	Mercer	32
7	The Citadel	28
8	East Tennessee State	15
9	VMI	8

Preseason All-SoCon Teams[edit]

The Paladins placed seven players on the preseason all-SoCon teams.

Offense

1st team

Kealand Dirks – RB

2nd team

Reed Kroeber – OL

Jake Walker – TE

Thomas Gordon – WR

Defense

1st team

Elijah McKoy – LB

Aaquil Annoor – DB

2nd team

Jaylan Reid – DL

Schedule[edit]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	12:20 p.m.	at No. 2 (FBS) Clemson*	No. 23	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	ACCN	L 7–48	80,048
September 8	6:00 p.m.	at No. 15 Elon*	No. 25	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	L 7–45	8,058
September 15	1:00 p.m.	Colgate*		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	Cancelled^[a]
September 22	7:30 p.m.	at East Tennessee State		William B. Greene Jr. Stadium Johnson City, TN	ESPN3	L 27–29	8,453
September 29	2:00 p.m.	Western Carolina		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	W 44–38	7,201
October 13	1:00 p.m.	No. 6 Wofford		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC (rivalry)	WYCW	W 34–14	7,006
October 20	2:00 p.m.	Samford		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	L 25–38	6,016
October 27	2:00 p.m.	at The Citadel		Johnson Hagood Stadium Charleston, SC (rivalry)	ESPN+	W 28–17	8,574
November 3	1:00 p.m.	Chattanooga		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	W 16–10	4,332
November 10	1:30 p.m.	at VMI		Alumni Memorial Field Lexington, VA	ESPN+	W 49–13	3,922
November 17	3:00 p.m.	at Mercer		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA	ESPN+	W 35–30	8,811
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^ This game has been cancelled in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.

Game summaries[edit]

At Clemson[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Paladins	0	0	0	7	7
No. 2 (FBS) Tigers	10	17	14	7	48

At Elon[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Paladins	0	0	0	7	7
No. 15 Phoenix	14	14	10	7	45

At East Tennessee State[edit]

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

Western Carolina[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Catamounts	7	3	14	14	38
Paladins	14	17	7	6	44

Wofford[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Terriers	0	7	7	0	14
Paladins	14	7	6	7	34

Samford[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	10	0	21	7	38
Paladins	3	9	7	6	25

At The Citadel[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	7	7	0	14	28
Bulldogs	3	7	7	0	17

Chattanooga[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mocs	0	0	3	7	10
Paladins	7	6	0	3	16

At VMI[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	21	14	14	0	49
Keydets	7	0	0	6	13

At Mercer[edit]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	7	13	9	6	35
Bears	7	3	14	6	30

Ranking movements[edit]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	23	25	RV	RV	—	—	—	RV	—	—	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	21	21	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	RV

References[edit]

This college football 2010s season article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[3] This game has been cancelled in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.

[1] "Media picks Samford to win 2018 SoCon football title".

[2] "Football coaches select preseason all-conference teams, poll".

[1]

[2]

[a]

v t e Furman Paladins football
Venues	Manly Field (1919–1936) Sirrine Stadium (1936–1980) Paladin Stadium (1981–present)
Bowls & rivalries	The Citadel Wofford
Culture & lore	Marching Band Miracle on the Mountain
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897–1899 1900 1901 1902 1903–1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Southern Conference football champions
Pre-SEC	Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech & North Carolina (1922) Vanderbilt & Washington and Lee (1923) Alabama (1924) Alabama & Tulane (1925) Alabama (1926) Georgia Tech, Tennessee, & NC State (1927) Georgia Tech (1928) Tulane (1929) Alabama & Tulane (1930) Tulane (1931) Tennessee & Auburn & LSU (1932)
Pre-ACC	Duke (1933) Washington and Lee (1934) Duke (1935) Duke (1936) Maryland (1937) Duke (1938) Duke (1939) Clemson (1940) Duke (1941) William & Mary (1942) Duke (1943) Duke (1944) Duke (1945) North Carolina (1946) William & Mary (1947) Clemson (1948) North Carolina (1949) Washington and Lee (1950) Maryland & VMI (1951) Duke (1952)
Post-ACC	West Virginia (1953) West Virginia (1954) West Virginia (1955) West Virginia (1956) VMI (1957) West Virginia (1958) VMI (1959) VMI (1960) The Citadel (1961) VMI (1962) VPI (1963) West Virginia (1964) West Virginia (1965) East Carolina & William & Mary (1966) West Virginia (1967) Richmond (1968) Davidson & Richmond (1969) William & Mary (1970) Richmond (1971) East Carolina (1972) East Carolina (1973) VMI (1974) Richmond (1975) East Carolina (1976) Chattanooga & VMI (1977) Chattanooga & Furman (1978) Chattanooga (1979) Furman (1980) Furman (1981)
I-AA/FCS	Furman (1982) Furman (1983) Chattanooga (1984) Furman (1985) Appalachian State (1986) Appalachian State (1987) Furman & Marshall (1988) Furman (1989) Furman (1990) Appalachian State (1991) The Citadel (1992) Georgia Southern (1993) Marshall (1994) Appalachian State (1995) Marshall (1996) Georgia Southern (1997) Georgia Southern (1998) Appalachian State, Furman, & Georgia Southern (1999) Georgia Southern (2000) Furman & Georgia Southern (2001) Georgia Southern (2002) Wofford (2003) Furman & Georgia Southern (2004) Appalachian State (2005) Appalachian State (2006) Appalachian State & Wofford (2007) Appalachian State (2008) Appalachian State (2009) Appalachian State & Wofford (2010) Georgia Southern (2011) Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, & Wofford (2012) Chattanooga, Furman, & Samford (2013) Chattanooga (2014) Chattanooga & The Citadel (2015) The Citadel (2016) Wofford (2017) East Tennessee State, Furman, & Wofford (2018) Wofford (2019) VMI (2020) East Tennessee State (2021) Samford (2022) Furman (2023)
National championships in bold