2018 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team

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2018 Southland Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 14 Nicholls +^		7	–	2					9	–	4
Incarnate Word +^		6	–	2					6	–	5
Lamar ^		6	–	3					7	–	5
Abilene Christian		5	–	4					6	–	5
Central Arkansas		5	–	4					6	–	5
McNeese State		5	–	4					6	–	5
Sam Houston State		5	–	4					6	–	5
Northwestern State		4	–	5					5	–	6
Southeastern Louisiana		4	–	5					4	–	7
Stephen F. Austin		2	–	7					2	–	8
Houston Baptist		0	–	9					1	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS poll

The 2018 Stephen F. Austin football team represents Stephen F. Austin State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Lumberjacks are led by interim head coach Jeff Byrd and play their home games at Homer Bryce Stadium. They play as a member of the Southland Conference.

On June 18th, head coach Clint Conque was suspended indefinitely pending an investigation into alleged violations of university policy. On August 6th, Conque announced his resignation from SFA.

Previous season

The Lumberjacks finished the 2017 season 4–7, 4–5 in Southland play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

Preseason

Preseason All-Conference Teams

On July 12, 2018, the Southland announced their Preseason All-Conference Teams, with the Lumberjacks having five players selected at six positions.

Defense First Team

• Alize Ward – Jr. DB

Offense Second Team

• Tamrick Pace – Jr. WR
• Alize Ward – Jr. all purpose player
• Caleb Lewallen – Sr. P

Defense Second Team

• Ryan Woods – Sr. LB
• Trenton Gordon – So. DB

Preseason Poll

On July 19, 2018, the Southland announced their preseason poll, with the Lumberjacks predicted to finish in sixth place.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Sam Houston State	187 (10)
2	Nicholls State	173 (6)
3	Central Arkansas	170 (5)
4	McNeese State	159 (1)
5	Southeastern Louisiana	119
6	Stephen F. Austin	90
7	Abilene Christian	89
8	Northwestern State	86
9	Incarnate Word	53
10	Lamar	52
11	Houston Baptist	32

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:30 p.m.	at No. 18 (FBS) Mississippi State*	Davis Wade Stadium Starkville, MS	ESPNU	L 6-63	54,289
September 8	6:00 p.m.	Tarleton State *	Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX		Cancelled
September 15	6:00 p.m.	at Incarnate Word	Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium San Antonio, TX		L 7-31	3,311
September 22	6:00 p.m.	Abilene Christian	Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX	ESPN+	W 24-21	6,281
September 29	6:00 p.m.	at No. 10 McNeese State	Cowboy Stadium Lake Charles, LA	McNeeseSports.com/Watch	L 10-17	8,933
October 6	1:00 p.m.	vs. No. 17 Sam Houston State	NRG Stadium Houston, TX (Battle of the Piney Woods)		L 21-54	26,548
October 13	3:00 p.m.	No. 18 Central Arkansas	Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX	ESPN3
October 20	6:00 p.m.	at Houston Baptist	Husky Stadium Houston, TX
October 27	3:00 p.m.	Lamar	Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX	ESPN3
November 10	3:00 p.m.	at Nicholls State	John L. Guidry Stadium Thibodaux, LA
November 15	6:00 p.m.	Northwestern State	Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX (Battle for Chief Caddo)	ESPN3
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Source:

Game summaries

at Mississippi State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	3	3	0	6
No. 18 (FBS) Bulldogs	21	14	14	14	63

See also: 2018 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Sources:

at Incarnate Word

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	0	0	0	7
Cardinals	10	21	0	0	31

See also: 2018 Incarnate Word Cardinals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	2017	SFA, 37–31

Abilene Christian

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	7	7	7	21
Lumberjacks	3	7	7	7	24

See also: 2018 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–10	2017	SFA, 20–10

at McNeese State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	0	0	0	10	10
No. 10 Cowboys	14	0	3	0	17

See also: 2018 McNeese State Cowboys football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
15–20–2	2017	MSU, 35–0

vs Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Bearkats	21	23	10	0	54
Lumberjacks	14	0	0	7	21

See also: 2018 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team and Battle of the Piney Woods

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
35–55–2	2017	SHSU, 27–16

Central Arkansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Bears					0
Lumberjacks					0

See also: 2018 Central Arkansas Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–9	2017	UCA, 24–20

at Houston Baptist

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks					0
Huskies					0

See also: 2018 Houston Baptist Huskies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–1	2017	SFA, 27–10

Lamar

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals					0
Lumberjacks					0

See also: 2018 Lamar Cardinals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–18–2	2017	SFA, 34–7

at Nicholls State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks					0
Colonels					0

See also: 2018 Nicholls State Colonels football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
25–8	2017	NSU, 34–13

Northwestern State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Demons					0
Lumberjacks					0

See also: 2018 Northwestern State Demons football team and Chief Caddo

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
26–44–3	2017	NWST, 38–21

Rankings

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	RV	—	—	—	—
Coaches	—	—	—	—	—