2018 Wofford Terriers football team

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.

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
2018 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)

2018 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
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 FCS Poll

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

See also: 2018 The Citadel Bulldogs football team and The Citadel–Wofford football rivalry

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

See also: 2018 VMI Keydets football team

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

See also: 2018 Wyoming Cowboys football team

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

See also: 2018 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs football team

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

See also: 2018 Chattanooga Mocs football team

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

See also: 2018 Furman Paladins football team

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

See also: 2018 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team

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

See also: 2018 Mercer Bears football team

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

See also: 2018 Samford Bulldogs football team

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

See also: 2018 Western Carolina Catamounts football team

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

See also: 2018 Presbyterian Blue Hose football team

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

See also: 2018 Elon Phoenix football team

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

See also: 2018 Kennesaw State Owls football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

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	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

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. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735859&DB_OEM_ID=4000
4. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=21895&SPID=1781&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211735863&DB_OEM_ID=4000