2018 Wofford Terriers football team

2018 Wofford Terriers football
2018 Wofford Terriers football
SoCon co-champion
FCS Second Round, L 10–13 vs. Kennesaw State
Conference	Southern Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 13
FCS Coaches	No. 12
Record	9–4 (6–2 SoCon)
Head coach	Josh Conklin (1st season);
Offensive coordinator	Wade Lang (31st season)
Defensive coordinator	Sam Siefkes (1st season)
Home stadium	Gibbs Stadium; (Capacity: 13,000)
	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 Wofford Terriers football team represented Wofford College in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Josh Conklin and played their home games at Gibbs Stadium. They were a member of the Southern Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 6–2 in SoCon play to finish in a tie for the SoCon championship alongside East Tennessee State and Furman. They received the automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they defeated Elon in the first round before losing in the second round to Kennesaw State.

Previous season

The Terriers finished the 2017 season 10–3, 7–1 in SoCon play to win the SoCon championship. They received the SoCon's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Furman in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to North Dakota State.

On December 13, 2017, head coach Mike Ayers announced his retirement.^[1] He finished at Wofford with a 30-year record of 207–139–1.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Award	Player	Position	Year
Buck Buchanan Award^[2]	Miles Brown	DL	SR

Preseason media poll

The SoCon released their preseason media poll on July 25, 2018, with the Terriers predicted to finish in third place.^[3] The same day the coaches released their preseason poll with the Terriers predicted to finish in second place.^[4]

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

The Terriers placed nine players at ten positions on the preseason all-SoCon teams.

Offense

1st team

Andre Stoddard – RB

Michael Ralph – OL

2nd team

Justus Basinger – OL

Defense

1st team

Miles Brown – DL

Datavious Wilson – LB

Devin Watson – DB

2nd team

Mikel Horton – DL

Mason Alstatt – DB

Specialists

1st team

Luke Carter – K

2nd team

Luke Carter – P

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:00 p.m.	The Citadel	No. 10	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC (rivalry)	WYCW	W 28–21	8,930
September 8	6:00 p.m.	VMI	No. 8	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	WYCW	W 59–14	4,957
September 15	4:00 p.m.	at Wyoming*	No. 8	War Memorial Stadium Laramie, WY	MW Net	L 14–17	20,293
September 29	6:00 p.m.	at Gardner–Webb*	No. 7	Ernest W. Spangler Stadium Boiling Springs, NC	ESPN+	W 45–14	2,850
October 6	3:00 p.m.	at Chattanooga	No. 7	Finley Stadium Chattanooga, TN	ESPN+	W 21–10	8,010
October 13	1:00 p.m.	at Furman	No. 6	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC (rivalry)	WYCW	L 14–34	7,006
October 20	1:30 p.m.	No. 21 East Tennessee State	No. 12	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	ESPN+	W 30–17	6,745
October 27	1:30 p.m.	Mercer	No. 9	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	WYCW	W 42–21	6,374
November 3	3:00 p.m.	at Samford	No. 9	Seibert Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	L 20–35	5,821
November 10	3:30 p.m.	at Western Carolina	No. 15	E. J. Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	ESPN3	W 38–23	10,169
November 17	1:30 p.m.	Presbyterian*	No. 13	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	WYCW	W 45–21	5,674
November 24	2:00 p.m.	No. 17 Elon*	No. 13	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 19–7	2,157
December 1	2:00 p.m.	at No. 2 Kennesaw State*	No. 13	Fifth Third Bank Stadium Kennesaw, GA (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 10–13	3,515
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Source: Schedule

Game summaries

The Citadel

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	7	14	0	21
No. 10 Terriers	14	7	0	7	28

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
27–42–1	2017	WOF, 20–16

VMI

	1	2	3	4	Total
Keydets	0	7	0	7	14
No. 8 Terriers	21	21	17	0	59

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–10	2017	WOF, 45–14

at Wyoming

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Terriers	0	7	0	7	14
Cowboys	0	10	0	7	17

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Gardner–Webb

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Terriers	14	10	7	14	45
Runnin' Bulldogs	0	7	7	0	14

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
18–8	2017	WOF, 27–24

at Chattanooga

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Terriers	7	7	0	7	21
Mocs	10	0	0	0	10

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–10	2017	WOF, 24–21

at Furman

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

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
32–53–7	2017 FCS Playoffs	WOF, 28–10

East Tennessee State

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

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–13	2017	WOF, 31–24

Mercer

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	7	14	21
No. 9 Terriers	0	14	14	14	42

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–6	2017	WOF, 28–27

at Samford

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Terriers	7	10	3	0	20
Bulldogs	14	7	0	14	35

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–10	2017	SAM, 24–21

at Western Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Terriers	7	7	14	10	38
Catamounts	10	10	0	3	23

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
26–14	2017	WOF, 35–28

Presbyterian

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Hose	14	0	0	7	21
No. 13 Terriers	7	21	7	10	45

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
41–40–3	2017	WOF, 31–7

FCS Playoffs

Elon–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Phoenix	0	7	0	0	7
No. 13 Terriers	3	3	10	3	19

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
26–11	2013	WOF, 31–27

at Kennesaw State–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Terriers	0	10	0	0	10
No. 2 Owls	0	10	0	3	13

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	10	8	8	8	7	7	6	12	9	9	15	13	13	13
Coaches	11	7	7	6–T	6	6	4	12	7	8	14	14	12	12

References

^ Rice, Jim (December 13, 2017). "Mike Ayers retires after 30 years as Wofford football coach". www.greenvilleonline.com. The Greenville News.
^ "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
^ http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735859&DB_OEM_ID=4000
^ http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735863&DB_OEM_ID=4000

[1] Rice, Jim (December 13, 2017). "Mike Ayers retires after 30 years as Wofford football coach". www.greenvilleonline.com. The Greenville News.

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

[3] ttp://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735859&DB_OEM_ID=4000

[4] ttp://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735863&DB_OEM_ID=4000

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v t e Wofford Terriers football
Venues	Synder Field (1930–1995) Gibbs Stadium (1996–present)
Bowls & rivalries	1950 Cigar Bowl The Citadel Furman
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902–1913 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 1944 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

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) Virginia Tech (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