2019 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team

The 2019 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team represented Bethune–Cookman University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Terry Sims and played their home games at Daytona Stadium. They were a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They finished the season 7–4, 5–3 in MEAC play to finish in fourth place.

2019 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football
Conference	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
2019 record	7–4 (5–3 MEAC)
Head coach	Terry Sims (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Allen Suber (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Charles Jones (10th season)
Home stadium	Daytona Stadium (Capacity: 9,601)

2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 24 Florida A&M *		7	–	1					9	–	2
No. 20 North Carolina A&T +		6	–	2					9	–	3
South Carolina State +		6	–	2					8	–	3
Bethune–Cookman		5	–	3					7	–	4
Norfolk State		4	–	4					5	–	7
North Carolina Central		3	–	5					4	–	8
Howard		2	–	6					2	–	10
Morgan State		2	–	6					3	–	9
Delaware State		1	–	7					2	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions * Florida A&M ineligible for conference title due to NCAA sanctions Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

Main article: 2018 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team

The Wildcats finished the 2018 season 7–5, 5–2 in MEAC play to finish in a tie for second place.

Preseason

MEAC poll

In the MEAC preseason poll released on July 26, 2019, the Wildcats were predicted to finish in second place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Carolina A&T	304 (12)
2	Bethune–Cookman	237 (1)
3	Florida A&M	204 (2)
4	Howard	166
5	North Carolina Central	161 (1)
6	South Carolina State	152
7	Norfolk State	119 (1)
8	Morgan State	87 (1)
9	Delaware State	46

Preseason All–MEAC teams

The Wildcats had eleven players selected to the preseason all-MEAC teams.[2]

First Team Offense L'Dre Barnes – C Second Team Offense Cedric Jackson – OL Third Team Offense Akevious Williams – QB Nicholas Roos – OL Jamal Savage – OL

First Team Defense Marques Ford – DL Marquis Hendrix – LB Trevor Merritt – DB Tydarius Peters – DB Jimmie Robinson – RS Third Team Defense Gerome Howard – DL

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	3:00 p.m.	vs. Jackson State*	Georgia State Stadium Atlanta, GA (MEAC/SWAC Challenge)	ESPN2	W 36–15	23,333
September 7	4:00 p.m.	No. 23 Southeastern Louisiana* [lower-alpha 1]	Daytona Stadium Daytona Beach, FL		Cancelled
September 14	4:00 p.m.	at Miami (FL)*	Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, FL	ACCN	L 0–63	52,036
September 21	7:00 p.m.	at Mississippi Valley State*	Rice–Totten Stadium Itta Bena, MS	Youtube	W 22–6	6,487
September 28	1:00 p.m.	at Howard	William H. Greene Stadium Washington, D.C.	ESPN3	W 37–29	5,700
October 5	4:00 p.m.	Morgan State	Daytona Stadium Daytona Beach, FL	ESPN3	W 31–20	5,642
October 10	6:00 p.m.	at North Carolina Central	O'Kelly–Riddick Stadium Durham, NC	ESPNU	W 27–13	5,261
October 19	4:00 p.m.	Norfolk State	Daytona Stadium Daytona Beach, FL	ESPN3	W 35–22	2,135
October 26	4:00 p.m.	South Carolina State	Daytona Stadium Daytona Beach, FL	ESPN3	L 19–27	12,204
November 9	2:00 p.m.	at Delaware State	Alumni Stadium Dover, DE	ESPN3	L 13–16	879
November 16	1:00 p.m.	at No. 25 North Carolina A&T	BB&T Stadium Greensboro, NC	ESPN3	L 17–47	10,355
November 23	3:30 p.m.	vs. No. 12 Florida A&M	Camping World Stadium Orlando, FL (Florida Classic)	ESPNews	W 31–27	55,730
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

[3][4]

1. The game against Southeastern Louisiana was cancelled due to the expected impact of Hurricane Dorian on the Daytona Beach, Florida area.

Game summaries

vs. Jackson State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	0	22	14	36
Tigers	3	0	12	0	15

See also: 2019 Jackson State Tigers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–4	1989	L, 7–27

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP COOK JSU 1 12:35 6 60 2:25 JSU 25-yard field goal by Adrian Salazar 0 3 3 10:10 6 60 3:12 JSU Jordan Johnson 8-yard touchdown run, Adrian Salazar kick blocked 0 9 3 7:18 COOK Interception returned 50 yards for touchdown by Trevor Merritt, Xavier McDonald kick good 7 9 3 5:34 3 60 1:44 JSU Warren Newman 34-yard touchdown reception from Jalon Jones, Adrian Salazar kick missed 7 12 3 4:09 5 57 1:25 COOK Akevious Williams 20-yard touchdown run, Xavier McDonald kick good 14 15 3 2:33 3 9 0:59 COOK Taron Mallard 1-yard touchdown reception from Akevious Williams, 2-point pass good 22 15 4 11:16 5 47 1:34 COOK LaDerrien Wilson 5-yard touchdown run, Xavier McDonald kick good 29 15 4 9:01 COOK Fumble recovery returned 96 yards for touchdown by Sam Marc, Xavier McDonald kick good 36 15 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 36 15

at Miami (FL)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0
Hurricanes	7	21	14	21	63

See also: 2019 Miami Hurricanes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–4	2017	L, 13–41

at Mississippi Valley State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	2	13	0	7	22
Delta Devils	6	0	0	0	6

See also: 2019 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–1	2018	W, 41–27

at Howard

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	21	3	0	13	37
Bison	7	0	7	15	29

See also: 2019 Howard Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
18–15–1	2018	L, 35–41

Morgan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	6	0	14	20
Wildcats	3	7	14	7	31

See also: 2019 Morgan State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
24–7	2018	W, 30–28

at North Carolina Central

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	7	7	13	27
Eagles	0	3	0	10	13

See also: 2019 North Carolina Central Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–2	2018	W, 28–25

Norfolk State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	7	7	0	8	22
Wildcats	0	19	6	10	35

See also: 2019 Norfolk State Spartans football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
18–8	2016	W, 21–14

South Carolina State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	7	20	0	0	27
Wildcats	0	13	6	0	19

See also: 2019 South Carolina State Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
24–33–1	2018	W, 28–26

at Delaware State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	6	0	7	13
Hornets	9	7	0	0	16

See also: 2019 Delaware State Hornets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
20–19	2016	W, 41–10

at North Carolina A&T

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	10	0	7	17
No. 25 Aggies	14	6	6	21	47

See also: 2019 North Carolina A&T Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
22–17	2018	L, 10–35

vs. Florida A&M

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Rattlers	7	6	7	7	27
Wildcats	7	14	0	10	31

See also: 2019 Florida A&M Rattlers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
23–49–1	2018	W, 33–19

References

1. "MEAC Announces 2019 Football Predicted Order of Finish". meacsports.com. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
2. "MEAC Announces 2019 Preseason Football All-MEAC Awards". meacsports.com. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
3. "2019 Football Schedule". Bethune-Cookman University Athletics. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
4. "2019 Bethune-Cookman Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 24, 2019.