2018 Elon Phoenix football team

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Ranking
STATS	No. 5
FCS Coaches	No. 6

2018 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 Maine $^	7	–	1	10	–	4
No. 9 James Madison ^	6	–	2	9	–	4
No. 16 Stony Brook ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
No. 20 Towson ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
No. 24 Delaware ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
No. 19 Elon ^	4	–	3	6	–	5
Rhode Island	4	–	4	6	–	5
William & Mary	3	–	4	4	–	6
New Hampshire	3	–	5	4	–	7
Villanova	2	–	6	5	–	6
Richmond	2	–	6	4	–	7
Albany	1	–	7	3	–	8

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

The 2018 Elon Phoenix football team represents Elon University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They are led by second-year head coach Curt Cignetti and play their home games at Rhodes Stadium. They are members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

Previous season

The Phoenix finished the 2017 season 8–4, 6–2 in CAA play to finish in third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they were lost to Furman in the first round.

Preseason

CAA Poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Phoenix were predicted to finish in fifth place.^[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	James Madison	241 (21)
2	New Hampshire	206 (2)
3	Delaware	182
4	Stony Brook	169
5	Elon	168 (1)
6	Villanova	164
7	Richmond	127
8	Maine	81
9	Albany	78
10	Towson	74
11	William & Mary	55
12	Rhode Island	39

Preseason All-CAA Team

The Phoenix had two players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.

Offense

CJ Toogood – OL

Defense

Warren Messer – LB

Award watch lists

Award	Player	Position	Year
Buck Buchanan Award^[2]	Warren Messer	LB	SR

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:00 p.m.	at South Florida*	No. 12	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL	ESPN3	L 14–34	31,217
September 8	6:00 p.m.	No. 25 Furman*	No. 15	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	W 45–7	8,058
~~September 15~~	~~6:00 p.m.~~	at ~~William & Mary~~	No. 14	~~Zable Stadium~~ ~~Williamsburg, VA~~		Canceled^[a]
September 22	6:00 p.m.	at Charleston Southern*	No. 12	Buccaneer Field North Charleston, SC	ESPN+	W 31–22	2,465
September 29	1:30 p.m.	New Hampshire	No. 11	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	PAA	W 30–9	10,856
October 6	1:30 p.m.	at No. 2 James Madison	No. 10	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN/SNY	W 27–24	25,484
October 13	3:30 p.m.	at Delaware	No. 5	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	NBCS PHIL
October 20	1:30 p.m.	Richmond		Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	FCS/FSGO
November 3	1:30 p.m.	Rhode Island		Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	PAA
November 10	12:00 p.m.	Towson		Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	PAA
November 17	12:00 p.m.	at Maine		Alfond Stadium Orono, ME	FCS
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^ The William & Mary game was postponed due to Hurricane Florence; it was intended to be rescheduled, but was canceled on September 19, 2018.^[3]

Source:^[4]

Game summaries

at South Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Phoenix	0	0	7	7	14
Bulls	7	17	7	3	34

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2007	L, 13–28

Furman

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

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–12	2017 FCS Playoffs	L, 27–28

at Charleston Southern

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Phoenix	3	7	21	0	31
Buccaneers	13	6	3	0	22

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–0	2017	W, 19–17

New Hampshire

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	3	6	0	0	9
No. 11 Phoenix	7	17	3	3	30

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–4	2017	L, 6–16

at James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Phoenix	0	7	3	17	27
No. 2 Dukes	3	6	3	12	24

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–4	2017	L, 3–31

at Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Phoenix					0
Fightin' Blue Hens					0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	2015	L, 10–14

Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spiders					0
Phoenix					0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–7	2017	W, 36–33

Rhode Island

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams					0
Phoenix					0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	2017	W, 35–34

Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers					0
Phoenix					0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–5	2017	W, 33–30^2OT

at Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix					0
Black Bears					0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	2015	W, 27–22

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	12	15	14	12	11	10	5
Coaches	13	15	14	12	9	9	6

References

^ Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
^ "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
^ "Elon/William & Mary Football Game Will Not Be Rescheduled". Elon University Department of Athletics. September 19, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
^ "2018 Football Schedule". Elon University Department of Athletics. Retrieved May 5, 2018.

[4] The William & Mary game was postponed due to Hurricane Florence; it was intended to be rescheduled, but was canceled on September 19, 2018.^[3]

[1] Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.

[2] "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.

[3] "Elon/William & Mary Football Game Will Not Be Rescheduled". Elon University Department of Athletics. September 19, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.

[5] "2018 Football Schedule". Elon University Department of Athletics. Retrieved May 5, 2018.

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