2018 Florida Tech Panthers football team

The 2018 Florida Tech Panthers football team represents Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) during the 2018 NCAA Division II football season. They are led by sixth-year head coach Steve Englehart. The Panthers played their home games at Florida Tech Panther Stadium, approximately one mile from the Florida Tech campus, and are members of the Gulf South Conference.

2018 Florida Tech Panthers football
ConferenceGulf South Conference
2018 record8–4 (5–3 GSC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJayson Martin (6th season)
Defensive coordinatorRick Minter (2nd season)
Home stadiumFlorida Tech Panther Stadium
(Capacity: 4,989)
2018 Gulf South Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 1 Valdosta State $^  8 –0     14 –0  
No. 16 West Georgia ^  7 –1     10 –2  
Florida Tech ^  5 –3     8 –4  
West Alabama ^  5 –3     8 –4  
West Florida  4 –4     6 –5  
North Greenville  3 –4     4 –6  
Delta State  2 –6     2 –8  
Mississippi College  1 –6     3 –7  
Shorter  0 –8     0 –11  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
Rankings from AFCA Poll

The 2018 season saw FIT finish with a record of 8-4, earning their second trip to the NCAA Division II Football Championship where they were eliminated in the first round at Lenoir-Rhyne.[1] The Panthers finished with a record of 5-3 in GSC play, including their first ever win over in-state rival West Florida with a 30-28 victory in Pensacola that saw them record the largest comeback in program history after trailing by 18 points in the first half.[2]

Preseason

Gulf South Conference coaches poll

On August 2, 2018, the Gulf South Conference released their preseason coaches poll with the Panthers predicted to finish in 6th place in the conference.[3]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1West Alabama62 (6)
2West Florida59 (3)
3West Georgia44
4Delta State41
5Valdosta State38
6Florida Tech32
7North Greenville24
8Mississippi College16
9Shorter8

Preseason All-Gulf South Conference Team

The Panthers had four players at four positions selected to the preseason all-Gulf South Conference team.[4]

Schedule

Florida Tech 2018 football schedule consists of five home and six away games in the regular season. The Panthers will host GSC foes Delta State, Mississippi College, North Greenville, and Valdosta State, and will travel to Shorter, West Alabama, West Florida, and West Georgia.[5]

The Panthers will host one of the three non-conference games against Newberry from the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) and will travel to Benedict from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Wingate also from the SAC.[6]

Two of the eleven games will be broadcast on ESPN3, as part of the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week.[7]

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 16:00 p.m.at Benedict*
W 33-141,528
September 81:00 p.m.Newberry*
W 17-102,500
September 157:00 p.m.Delta State
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL
ESPN3W 30-123,567
September 222:00 p.m.at No. 8 West Georgia
L 21-302,524
September 293:00 p.m.at Wingate*
ESPN3W 26-232,171
October 67:00 p.m.Mississippi College
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL
W 31-242,543
October 131:00 p.m.No. 8 Valdosta State
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL
L 21-513,679
October 205:00 p.m.at No. 17 West Florida
W 30-285,191
October 275:00 p.m.at West Alabama
ESPN3L 22-295,106
November 32:00 p.m.North Greenville
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL
W 37-72,800
November 101:00 p.m.at Shorter
W 55-71,575
November 172:00 p.m.at No. 17 Lenoir-Rhyne
L 21-432,436
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time
Schedule Source:[8]

Rankings
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 Final 
AFCA RV RV RV RV RV RV RV NR RV NR NR RV RV

Game summaries

at Benedict
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 16 3 7 7 33
Tigers 7 0 0 7 14

Newberry
1 2 3 4 Total
Wolves 0 3 7 0 10
Panthers 0 7 10 0 17

Delta State
1 2 3 4 Total
Statesmen 0 6 6 0 12
Panthers 21 9 0 0 30

at West Georgia
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 7 7 7 0 21
Wolves 7 0 10 13 30

at Wingate
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 0 7 7 12 26
Bulldogs 0 10 7 6 23

Mississippi College
1 2 3 4 Total
Choctaws 0 14 7 3 24
Panthers 3 7 7 14 31

Valdosta State
1 2 3 4 Total
Blazers 14 10 0 27 51
Panthers 0 0 7 14 21

at West Florida
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 3 7 10 10 30
Argonauts 14 7 0 7 28

at West Alabama
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 0 10 9 3 22
Tigers 14 0 7 8 29

North Greenville
1 2 3 4 Total
Crusaders 0 0 7 0 7
Panthers 20 10 7 0 37

at Shorter
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 10 28 10 7 55
Hawks 0 0 0 7 7

at Lenoir-Rhyne
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 7 0 14 0 21
Bears 17 10 13 3 43

Awards and milestones

Gulf South Conference honors

Four players from Florida Tech were honored as All-GSC selections by the league's coaches. Linebacker J.T. Hassell was named the GSC Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the second Panther to receive the honor.[9]

  • Gulf South Conference Defensive Player of the Year: J.T. Hassell

Gulf South Conference All-Conference First Team
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