2017 Elon Phoenix football team

The 2017 Elon Phoenix football team represented Elon University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Curt Cignetti and played their home games at Rhodes Stadium. They were members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They finished the 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.

2017 Elon Phoenix football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 27–28 vs. Furman
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Ranking
STATS	No. 20
FCS Coaches	No. 21
2017 record	8–4 (6–2 CAA)
Head coach	Curt Cignetti (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Drew Folmar (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Tony Trisciani (1st season)
Home stadium	Rhodes Stadium (Capacity: 11,250)

2017 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^		8	–	0					14	–	1
No. 11 Stony Brook ^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 20 Elon ^		6	–	2					8	–	4
No. 12 New Hampshire ^		5	–	3					9	–	5
Delaware		5	–	3					7	–	4
Richmond		4	–	4					6	–	5
Towson		3	–	5					5	–	6
Villanova		3	–	5					5	–	6
Maine		3	–	5					4	–	6
Albany		2	–	6					4	–	7
Rhode Island		2	–	6					3	–	8
William & Mary		0	–	8					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason poll

First place votes in parentheses

Place	School
1	James Madison (21)
2	Richmond (3)
3	Villanova
4	New Hampshire
5	Delaware
6	Albany
7	William & Mary
8	Stony Brook
9	Maine
10	Towson
11	Elon
12	Rhode Island

[1]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:00 p.m.	at Toledo*		Glass Bowl Toledo, OH	ESPN3	L 13–47	22,104
September 9	1:00 p.m.	at Furman*		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	ESPN3	W 34–31	6,342
September 16	6:00 p.m.	No. 16 Charleston Southern*		Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	CSL[2]	W 19–17	5,248
September 23	6:00 p.m.	at No. 8 Richmond		E. Claiborne Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	CSN+	W 36–33	8,217
September 30	2:00 p.m.	No. 19 Albany	No. 23	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	CSL[2]	W 6–0	5,024
October 7	2:00 p.m.	William & Mary	No. 18	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	PAA	W 25–17	10,137
October 21	Noon	at Rhode Island	No. 14	Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	CSL	W 35–34	7,221
October 28	3:30 p.m.	at No. 13 Villanova	No. 10	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	NNAA	W 19–14	5,451
November 4	2:00 p.m.	Towson	No. 7	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	PAA	W 33–30 ^2OT	10,113
November 11	2:00 p.m.	at No. 18 New Hampshire	No. 7	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	FCS FSGO	L 6–16	7,294
November 18	Noon	No. 1 James Madison	No. 11	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	PAA	L 3–31	8,662
November 25	2:00 p.m.	No. 22 Furman*	No. 15	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	L 27–28	2,934
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

[3]

Game summaries

at Toledo

	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix	0	7	0	6	13
Rockets	13	6	21	7	47

See also: 2017 Toledo Rockets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Furman

	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix	21	0	3	10	34
Paladins	0	10	21	0	31

See also: 2017 Furman Paladins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–11[4]	2013	W, 28–25

Charleston Southern

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Buccaneers	0	7	0	10	17
Phoenix	6	7	6	0	19

See also: 2017 Charleston Southern Buccaneers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0[4]	2002	W, 21–13

at Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix	6	13	7	10	36
No. 8 Spiders	7	7	12	7	33

See also: 2017 Richmond Spiders football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–7[4]	2016	L, 7–35

Albany

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Great Danes	0	0	0	0	0
No. 23 Phoenix	0	3	0	3	6

See also: 2017 Albany Great Danes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1[4]	2016	L, 3–27

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tribe	0	3	14	0	17
No. 18 Phoenix	6	17	0	2	25

See also: 2017 William & Mary Tribe football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2[4]	2016	W, 27–10

at Rhode Island

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Phoenix	14	7	7	7	35
Rams	7	20	7	0	34

See also: 2017 Rhode Island Rams football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1[4]	2016	L, 14–44

at Villanova

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Phoenix	0	7	3	9	19
No. 13 Wildcats	7	0	7	0	14

See also: 2017 Villanova Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1[4]	2016	L, 7–42

Towson

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
Tigers	10	0	0	17	3	0	30
No. 7 Phoenix	7	7	10	3	3	3	33

See also: 2017 Towson Tigers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–5[4]	2016	L, 6–23

at New Hampshire

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Phoenix	0	0	0	6	6
No. 18 Wildcats	0	7	9	0	16

See also: 2017 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–3[4]	2016	L, 10–13

James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Dukes	3	14	7	7	31
No. 11 Phoenix	0	0	0	3	3

See also: 2017 James Madison Dukes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–5[4]	2016	L, 14–63

FCS Playoffs

Furman–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Paladins	0	14	7	7	28
No. 15 Phoenix	7	0	14	6	27

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–11[4]	9/9/17	W, 34–31

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	NR	NR	NR	RV	23	18	16	14	10	7	7	11	15	20
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	23	20	15	11	10	9	15	17	21

References

1. "JMU picked to capture 2017 CAA Football title". Retrieved July 25, 2017.
2. Washburn, Rob (August 18, 2017). "CAA PARTNERS WITH CBS SPORTS DIGITAL". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
3. "2017 Schedule". Elon University Department of Athletics. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
4. "All–Time Football Results by Opponent". Elon University Department of Athletics. Retrieved August 5, 2017.