2018 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team

The 2018 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team represented Abilene Christian University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Wildcats were led by second-year head coach Adam Dorrel and played their home games at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium. They played as a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 6–5, 5–4 in Southland play to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place.

2018 Abilene Christian Wildcats football
Conference	Southland Conference
2018 record	6–5 (5–4 Southland)
Head coach	Adam Dorrel (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Josh Lamberson (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Tremaine Jackson (2nd season)
Home stadium	Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium (Capacity: 12,000)

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 FCS Poll

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2017 season 2–9, 2–7 in Southland play to finish in eighth place.

Preseason

Preseason All-Conference Teams

On July 12, 2018, the Southland announced their Preseason All-Conference Teams, with the Wildcats placing one player on the second team.[1]

Defense Second Team

• Bollu Onifade – So. DB

Preseason Poll

On July 19, 2018, the Southland announced their preseason poll, with the Wildcats predicted to finish in seventh place.[2]

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	7:00 p.m.	at Baylor*	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FSN	L 27–55	45,330
September 8	6:00 p.m.	Angelo State*	Wildcat Stadium Abilene, TX	ACU Stretch ($)	W 41–24	9,287
September 15	6:00 p.m.	at Houston Baptist	Husky Stadium Houston, TX	ESPN3	W 38–13	2,038
September 22	6:00 p.m.	at Stephen F. Austin	Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX	ESPN+	L 21–24	6,281
September 29	6:00 p.m.	Incarnate Word	Wildcat Stadium Abilene, TX	ESPN+	L 34–44	9,751
October 6	6:00 p.m.	at No. 9 McNeese State	Cowboy Stadium Lake Charles, LA	Cowboy Insider	L 21–24	10,001
October 13	2:30 p.m.	No. 11 Nicholls	Wildcat Stadium Abilene, TX	ESPN3	W 28–12	10,973
October 20	7:00 p.m.	at Southeastern Louisiana	Strawberry Stadium Hammond, LA	SLC Digital	W 48–27	4,724
November 3	2:00 pm	Northwestern State	Wildcat Stadium Abilene, TX	ACU Stretch	W 49–47	6,936
November 10	2:30 pm	at Sam Houston State	Bowers Stadium Huntsville, TX	ELVN/SLC Digital	W 17–10	6,914
November 17	2:00 pm	Central Arkansas	Wildcat Stadium Abilene, TX	ESPN+	L 7–16	8,006
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Source: [3][4]

Game summaries

at Baylor

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	13	7	0	27
Bears	17	21	10	7	55

See also: 2018 Baylor Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Sources:[5][6][7]

Angelo State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	0	24	0	0	24
Wildcats	14	3	14	10	41

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–25–1	2000	ANG, 27–25

at Houston Baptist

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	7	17	7	38
Huskies	6	0	0	7	13

See also: 2018 Houston Baptist Huskies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–1	2017	ACU, 24–3

at Stephen F. Austin

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

See also: 2018 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team

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

Incarnate Word

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	14	13	10	7	44
Wildcats	14	14	0	6	34

See also: 2018 Incarnate Word Cardinals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–2	2017	ACU, 45–20

at McNeese State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	7	0	7	21
No. 9 Cowboys	7	3	7	7	24

See also: 2018 McNeese State Cowboys football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–5	2017	MSU, 13–7

Nicholls

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Colonels	6	6	0	0	12
Wildcats	7	14	0	7	28

See also: 2018 Nicholls Colonels football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2017	NICH, 29–20

at Southeastern Louisiana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	3	17	7	21	48
Lions	0	10	7	10	27

See also: 2018 Southeastern Louisiana Lions football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–3	2017	SELA, 56–21

Northwestern State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Demons	7	7	14	19	47
Wildcats	14	10	17	8	49

See also: 2018 Northwestern State Demons football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–6	2017	NWST, 26–23

at Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	0	7	3	17
Bearkats	0	3	7	0	10

See also: 2018 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–11	2017	SHSU, 44–35

Central Arkansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	6	3	7	16
Wildcats	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2018 Central Arkansas Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–4–1	2017	UCA, 34–0

References

1. http://southland.org/news/2018/7/11/southland-announces-2018-preseason-all-conference-football-teams.aspx
2. http://southland.org/news/2018/7/16/sam-houston-state-voted-to-top-spot-in-2018-football-preseason-poll.aspx
3. "2018 Football Schedule". Abilene Christian University Department of Athletics. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
4. "SOUTHLAND ANNOUNCES WEEK 10 TV SELECTIONS". Southland Conference. October 22, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
5. "ACU (0-1) -VS- Baylor (1-0)". Baylor University. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
6. "Baylor ends 8-game home losing streak in 55-27 win over ACU". ESPN. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
7. "Baylor ends 8-game home losing streak in 55-27 win over ACU". CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 2, 2018.