2018 Furman Paladins football team

2018 Furman Paladins football
SoCon co-champion
Conference	Southern Conference
2018 record	6–4 (6–2 SoCon)
Head coach	Clay Hendrix (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	George Quarles (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Chadd Staggs (2nd season)
Home stadium	Paladin Stadium (Capacity: 16,000)
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Southern Conference football standings
v t	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

The 2018 Furman Paladins football team represented Furman University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Clay Hendrix and played their home games at Paladin Stadium. They were a member of the Southern Conference. They finished the season 6–4, 6–2 in SoCon play finish in a three way tie for the SoCon championship with Wofford and East Tennessee State. After tiebreakers, they did not receive the SoCon's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs and they did not receive an at-large bid.

Previous season[]

The Paladins finished the 2017 season 8–5, 6–2 in SoCon play to finish in a tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Elon in the first round before losing to Wofford in the second round.

Preseason[]

Preseason media poll[]

The SoCon released their preseason media poll on July 25, 2018, with the Paladins predicted to finish in second place.^[1] The same day the coaches released their preseason poll with the Paladins predicted to finish in third place.^[2]

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 Paladins placed seven players on the preseason all-SoCon teams.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	12:20 p.m.	at No. 2 (FBS) Clemson*	No. 23	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	ACCN	L 7–48	80,048
September 8	6:00 p.m.	at No. 15 Elon*	No. 25	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	L 7–45	8,058
September 15	1:00 p.m.	Colgate*		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	Cancelled[a]
September 22	7:30 p.m.	at East Tennessee State		William B. Greene Jr. Stadium Johnson City, TN	ESPN3	L 27–29	8,453
September 29	2:00 p.m.	Western Carolina		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	W 44–38	7,201
October 13	1:00 p.m.	No. 6 Wofford		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	W 34–14	7,006
October 20	2:00 p.m.	Samford		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	L 25–38	6,016
October 27	2:00 p.m.	at The Citadel		Johnson Hagood Stadium Charleston, SC (rivalry)	ESPN+	W 28–17	8,574
November 3	1:00 p.m.	Chattanooga		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	WYCW	W 16–10	4,332
November 10	1:30 p.m.	at VMI		Alumni Memorial Field Lexington, VA	ESPN+	W 49–13	3,922
November 17	3:00 p.m.	at Mercer		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA	ESPN+	W 35–30	8,811
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries[]

at Clemson[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Paladins	0	0	0	7	7
No. 2 (FBS) Tigers	10	17	14	7	48

at Elon[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Paladins	0	0	0	7	7
No. 15 Phoenix	14	14	10	7	45

at East Tennessee State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	7	6	14	0	27
Buccaneers	3	3	7	16	29

Western Carolina[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Catamounts	7	3	14	14	38
Paladins	14	17	7	6	44

Wofford[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Terriers	0	7	7	0	14
Paladins	14	7	6	7	34

Samford[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	10	0	21	7	38
Paladins	3	9	7	6	25

at The Citadel[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	7	7	0	14	28
Bulldogs	3	7	7	0	17

Chattanooga[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mocs	0	0	3	7	10
Paladins	7	6	0	3	16

at VMI[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	21	14	14	0	49
Keydets	7	0	0	6	13

at Mercer[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	7	13	9	6	35
Bears	7	3	14	6	30

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	23	25	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	RV	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	21	21	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV

References[]