2019 Sacred Heart Pioneers football team

The 2019 Sacred Heart Pioneers football team represents Sacred Heart University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They are led by seventh-year head coach Mark Nofri and play their home games at Campus Field. They are a member of the Northeast Conference.

2019 Sacred Heart Pioneers football
Conference	Northeast Conference
2019 record	7–5 (5–3 NEC)
Head coach	Mark Nofri (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Matt Gardner (3rd season as OC, 10th overall season)
Defensive coordinator	Michael Cooke (3rd season)
Home stadium	Campus Field (Capacity: 3,500)

2019 Northeast Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 23 Central Connecticut $^		7	–	0					11	–	1
Robert Morris		6	–	1					7	–	5
Duquesne		4	–	3					6	–	5
Sacred Heart		4	–	3					7	–	5
Saint Francis		3	–	4					6	–	6
Bryant		3	–	4					4	–	8
Wagner		1	–	6					1	–	11
LIU		0	–	7					0	–	10
Merrimack *		0	–	0					6	–	5
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant * – Merrimack ineligible for NEC title and FCS postseason play due to transition to NCAA Division I, and also ineligible for NEC title due to not playing a full conference schedule Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

Main article: 2018 Sacred Heart Pioneers football team

The Pioneers finished the 2018 season 7–4, 5–1 in NEC play to be NEC co-champions with Duquesne. Due to their head-to-head loss to Duquesne, they did not receive the NEC's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs and did not receive and at-large bid.

Preseason

Preseason coaches' poll

The NEC released their preseason coaches' poll on July 24, 2019. The Pioneers were picked to finish in second place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team (1st place votes)
1	Duquesne (7)
2	Sacred Heart (1)
3	Central Connecticut
4	Wagner
5	Bryant
6	Saint Francis
7	Robert Morris
8	LIU

Preseason All-NEC team

The Pioneers had two players at two positions selected to the preseason all-NEC team.[1]

Offense Jordan Meachum – RB

Defense Chris Agyemang – DL

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	6:00 p.m.	at No. 7 Maine*	Alfond Stadium Orono, ME	FloSports	L 14–42	7,478
September 7	6:00 p.m.	Bucknell*	Campus Field Fairfield, CT	NEC Front Row	W 30–10	4,187
September 14	12:30 p.m.	at Lafayette*	Fisher Stadium Easton, PA	Stadium	W 56–40	5,119
September 21	1:00 p.m.	at LIU	Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium Brookville, NY	NEC Front Row	W 34–10	2,482
October 5	2:00 p.m.	Central Connecticut	Campus Field Fairfield, CT (Constitution State Rivalry)	ESPN3	L 3–28	5,402
October 12	1:00 p.m.	at Penn*	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	ESPN+	L 24–38	6,033
October 19	Noon	Duquesne	Campus Field Fairfield, CT	ESPN3	L 6–20	5,151
October 26	Noon	at Saint Francis	DeGol Field Loretto, PA	NEC Front Row	W 36–33^OT	1,045
November 2	1:00 p.m.	at Bryant	Beirne Stadium Smithfield, RI	NEC Front Row	W 24–17	3,778
November 9	Noon	Wagner	Campus Field Fairfield, CT	NEC Front Row	W 41–7
November 16	Noon	Lehigh*	Campus Field Fairfield, CT	NEC Front Row	W 13–6
November 23	Noon	at Robert Morris	Joe Walton Stadium Moon Township, PA	NEC Front Row	L 14–16
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

[2][3]

Game summaries

at No. 7 Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pionners	7	0	0	7	14
No. 7 Black Bears	21	21	0	0	42

See also: 2019 Maine Black Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Bucknell

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bison	0	3	7	0	10
Pioneers	0	23	0	7	30

See also: 2019 Bucknell Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–2	2018	W, 30–14

at Lafayette

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pioneers	14	7	21	14	56
Leopards	3	21	3	13	40

See also: 2019 Lafayette Leopards football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–1	2018	W, 35–6

at LIU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pioneers	6	13	8	7	34
Sharks	7	0	3	0	10

See also: 2019 LIU Sharks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	1997	L, 10–62

Central Connecticut

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Devils	7	7	14	0	28
Pioneers	0	3	0	0	3

See also: 2019 Central Connecticut Blue Devils football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–12	2018	W, 28–25

at Penn

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pioneers	0	10	7	7	24
Quakers	14	10	0	14	38

See also: 2019 Penn Quakers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2018	L, 27–31

Duquesne

	1	2	3	4	Total
Dukes	3	14	0	3	20
Pioneers	0	0	6	0	6

See also: 2019 Duquesne Dukes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–10	2018	L, 24–28

at Saint Francis

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Pioneers	3	7	6	14	6	36
Red Flash	10	10	3	7	3	33

See also: 2019 Saint Francis Red Flash football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–11	2018	W, 13–7

at Bryant

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pioneers	0	14	10	0	24
Bulldogs	0	14	0	3	17

See also: 2019 Bryant Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–5	2018	W, 49–26

Wagner

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seahawks	0	7	0	0	7
Pioneers	0	0	10	31	41

See also: 2019 Wagner Seahawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–11	2018	W, 41–14

Lehigh

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mountain Hawks	0	3	3	0	6
Pioneers	0	0	0	13	13

See also: 2019 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Robert Morris

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pioneers	7	0	7	0	14
Colonials	0	7	3	6	16

See also: 2019 Robert Morris Colonials football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–8	2018	W, 38–7

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	RV
Coaches

References

1. "Duquesne Deemed 'Team to Beat' at #NECFB Social Media Day; Preseason All-NEC Team also Unveiled". July 24, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
2. "2019 Sacred Heart Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
3. "2019 Football Schedule". Sacred Heart. Retrieved August 4, 2019.