2018 Valdosta State Blazers football team
| 2018 Valdosta State Blazers football | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Conference | Gulf South Conference |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. 8 |
| 2018 record | 7–0 (5–0 GSC) |
| Head coach | Kerwin Bell (3rd season) |
| Defensive coordinator | Danny Verpaele (2nd season) |
| Home stadium |
Bazemore–Hyder Stadium (Capacity: 11,249) |
| 2018 Gulf South Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 8 Valdosta State | 4 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 4 West Georgia | 3 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 10 West Florida | 3 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida Tech | 2 | – | 1 | 5 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North Greenville | 2 | – | 1 | 3 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| West Alabama | 1 | – | 2 | 4 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mississippi College | 0 | – | 3 | 2 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Delta State | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shorter | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As of October 15, 2018; Rankings from AFCA Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2018 Valdosta State Blazers football team will represent Valdosta State University during the 2018 NCAA Division II football season. They will be led by third-year head coach Kerwin Bell. The Blazers will play their home games at Bazemore–Hyder Stadium and are members of the Gulf South Conference.
Preseason
Gulf South Conference coaches poll
On August 2, 2018, the Gulf South Conference released their preseason coaches poll with the Blazers predicted to finish in 5th place in the conference.[1]
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Alabama | 62 (6) |
| 2 | West Florida | 59 (3) |
| 3 | West Georgia | 44 |
| 4 | Delta State | 41 |
| 5 | Valdosta State | 38 |
| 6 | Florida Tech | 32 |
| 7 | North Greenville | 24 |
| 8 | Mississippi College | 16 |
| 9 | Shorter | 8 |
Preseason All-Gulf South Conference Team
The Blazers had five players at five positions selected to the preseason all-Gulf South Conference team.[2]
|
Offense Kenny Benjamin – AP Jeremy King – OG Defense Raymond Palmer – DB Special Teams Jairus Jones – BT Stewart Spence – UTL |
Schedule
Valdosta State 2018 football schedule consists of five home and four away games in the regular season and one neutral site game. The Blazers will host GSC foes Delta State, North Greenville, Shorter, and West Georgia, and will travel to Florida Tech, Mississippi College, West Alabama, and West Florida.[3]
The Blazers will host one of the two non-conference games against Albany State from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and will compete in the Okefenokee Classic against Fort Valley State also from the (SIAC).
Two of the ten games will be broadcast on ESPN3, as part of the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week.[4]
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1 | 7:00 p.m. | Albany State* | W 45–14 | |||
| September 8 | 7:00 p.m. | vs. Fort Valley State* | ESPN3 | W 55–6 | ||
| September 15 | 7:00 p.m. | at No. 8 West Alabama | W 58–24 | |||
| September 22 | 7:00 p.m. | Shorter | No. 16 |
| W 52–0 | |
| September 29 | 8:00 p.m. | at Mississippi College | No. 13 |
| W 63–42 | |
| October 6 | 1:00 p.m. | Delta State | No. 10 |
| W 59–28 | |
| October 13 | 1:00 p.m. | at Florida Tech | No. 8 | W 51–31 | ||
| October 20 | 3:00 p.m. | North Greenville |
| |||
| November 3 | 5:00 p.m. | at West Florida | ESPN3 | |||
| November 10 | 7:00 p.m. | West Georgia |
| ESPN3 | ||
| ||||||
- Schedule Source:[5]
Rankings
| Week | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Final | ||||||||
| AFCA | RV | RV | RV | 16 | 13 | 10 | 8 | ||||||||||||||
References
- ↑ "West Alabama Tops GSC Football Preseason Poll". Gulf South Conference. August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
- ↑ https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/gulfsouthconference.com/documents/2018/8/2/Football_2018_Preseason_All_GSC_Table.pdf
- ↑ "Okefenofee Classic among games on VSU's 2018-19 football schedule" (Press release). Valdosta Daily Times. February 14, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
- ↑ "GSC Announces 2018 Football Game of the Week Schedule". Gulf South Conference. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
- ↑ "2018 Valdosta State Blazers Football Schedule". Valdosta State University of Athletics. Retrieved July 5, 2018.