2018 Mississippi College Choctaws football team

2018 Mississippi College Choctaws football
Conference	Gulf South Conference
Record	3–7 (1–6 GSC)
Head coach	John Bland (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Tommy Laurendine (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Michael Collins (3rd season)
Home stadium	Robinson–Hale Stadium (Capacity: 8,500)

2018 Gulf South Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 Valdosta State $^		8	–	0					14	–	0
No. 16 West Georgia ^		7	–	1					10	–	2
Florida Tech ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
West Alabama ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
West Florida		4	–	4					6	–	5
North Greenville		3	–	4					4	–	6
Delta State		2	–	6					2	–	8
Mississippi College		1	–	6					3	–	7
Shorter		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant Rankings from AFCA Poll

The 2018 Mississippi College Choctaws football team represented Mississippi College during the 2018 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach John Bland. The Choctaws played their home games at Robinson–Hale Stadium and were members of the Gulf South Conference (GSC).

Preseason

Gulf South Conference coaches poll

On August 2, 2018, the Gulf South Conference released their preseason coaches poll with the Choctaws predicted to finish eighth place in the conference.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	West Alabama	62 (6)
2	West Florida	59 (3)
3	West Georgia	44
4	Delta State	41
5	Valdosta State	38
6	Florida Tech	32
7	North Greenville	24
8	Mississippi College	16
9	Shorter	8

Preseason All-Gulf South Conference Team

The Choctaws had one player at one position selected to the preseason all-Gulf South Conference team.

Special Teams

Chakel Gates – RS

Schedule

Mississippi College 2018 football schedule consists of six home and five away games in the regular season. The Choctaws will host GSC foes Valdosta State, West Alabama, West Florida, West Georgia , and will travel to Delta State, Florida Tech, North Greenville, and Shorter.

The Choctaws will host two of the three non-conference games against Clark Atlanta from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Southwest Baptist Bearcats football from the Great Lakes Valley Conference, and will travel to North Alabama, which is a FCS Independent team.

Two of the eleven games will be broadcast on ESPN3, as part of the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	Clark Atlanta*	Robinson–Hale Stadium Clinton, MS		W 31–30	3,834
September 8	6:00 p.m.	Southwest Baptist*	Robinson–Hale Stadium Clinton, MS		W 34-9	3,572
September 15	6:00 p.m.	at North Greenville	Younts Stadium Tigerville, SC		Canceled[a]
September 22	7:00 p.m.	No. 10 West Florida	Robinson–Hale Stadium Clinton, MS	ESPN3	L 21-34	3,347
September 29	7:00 p.m.	No. 13 Valdosta State	Robinson–Hale Stadium Clinton, MS		L 42-63	2,654
October 6	6:00 p.m.	at Florida Tech	Florida Tech Panther Stadium Melbourne, FL		L 24-31	2,543
October 13	6:00 p.m.	at North Alabama*	Braly Municipal Stadium Florence, AL		L 17-34	9,230
October 20	12:00 p.m.	at Shorter	Barron Stadium Rome, GA	ESPN3	W 37-24	1,225
October 27	3:00 p.m.	No. 3 West Georgia	Robinson–Hale Stadium Clinton, MS		L 21-36	6,872
November 3	2:00 p.m.	West Alabama	Robinson–Hale Stadium Clinton, MS		L 3-24	4,347
November 10	2:00 p.m.	at Delta State	McCool Stadium Cleveland, MS (rivalry)		L 21-28	5,432
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source:

^{^[a]} The game between North Greenville and Mississippi College was cancelled in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Florence. The game will not be rescheduled.

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: — = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
AFCA	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Game summaries

Clark Atlanta

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	6	14	3	7	30
Choctaws	14	7	7	3	31

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0-1	August 31, 2017	L 29-32OT

Southwest Baptist

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bearcats	3	0	0	6	9
Choctaws	7	10	10	7	34

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0-1	September 9, 2017	L 9-32

West Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Argonauts	3	7	14	10	34
Choctaws	0	0	14	7	21

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0-2	October 6, 2017	L 14-28

Valdosta State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blazers	7	35	14	7	63
Choctaws	7	14	14	7	42

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8-9-1	October 14, 2017	L 3-55

at Florida Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Choctaws	0	14	7	3	24
Panthers	3	7	7	14	31

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0-4	September 23, 2017	L 0-35

at North Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Choctaws	7	7	3	0	17
Lions	21	10	0	3	34

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14-18-2	November 11, 2017	L 7-16

at Shorter

	1	2	3	4	Total
Choctaws	7	21	3	6	37
Hawks	7	0	7	10	24

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2-2	November 4, 2017	W 30-29

West Georgia

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wolves	7	10	7	12	36
Choctaws	0	14	7	0	21

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8-8	October 21, 2017	L 0-28

West Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	0	10	7	7	24
Choctaws	0	3	0	0	3

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19-23-2	September 16, 2017	L 13-42

at Delta State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Choctaws	0	14	0	7	21
Statesmen	7	7	14	0	28

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
15-21-2	September 30, 2017	L 17-30