2018 Towson Tigers football team

2018 Towson Tigers football
2018 Towson Tigers football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 10–31 vs. Duquesne
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Ranking
STATS	No. 20
FCS Coaches	No. 22
Record	7–5 (5–3 CAA)
Head coach	Rob Ambrose (10th season);
Offensive coordinator	Jared Ambrose (6th season)
Defensive coordinator	Lyndon Johnson (2nd season)
Home stadium	Johnny Unitas Stadium
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Towson Tigers football team represented Towson University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by tenth-year head coach Rob Ambrose and played their home games at Johnny Unitas Stadium. They are a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 7–5, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost in the first round to Duquesne.

2018 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 Maine $^	7	–	1	10	–	4
No. 9 James Madison ^	6	–	2	9	–	4
No. 16 Stony Brook ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
No. 20 Towson ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
No. 24 Delaware ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
No. 19 Elon ^	4	–	3	6	–	5
Rhode Island	4	–	4	6	–	5
William & Mary	3	–	4	4	–	6
New Hampshire	3	–	5	4	–	7
Villanova	2	–	6	5	–	6
Richmond	2	–	6	4	–	7
Albany	1	–	7	3	–	8

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason edit

CAA Poll edit

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Tigers were predicted to finish in tenth place.^[1] They did not have any players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	James Madison	241 (21)
2	New Hampshire	206 (2)
3	Delaware	182
4	Stony Brook	169
5	Elon	168 (1)
6	Villanova	164
7	Richmond	127
8	Maine	81
9	Albany	78
10	Towson	74
11	William & Mary	55
12	Rhode Island	39

Schedule edit

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	7:00 p.m.	at Morgan State*		Hughes Stadium Baltimore, MD (The Battle for Greater Baltimore)	MeTV Baltimore/SPORTSfever/ESPN3	W 36–10	9,209
September 8	12:00 p.m.	at Wake Forest*		BB&T Field Winston-Salem, NC	ACCN Extra	L 20–51	23,619
September 15	3:30 p.m.	at No. 10 Villanova		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	FCS/FSGO	W 45–35	5,719
September 29	4:00 p.m.^[2]	The Citadel*	No. 25	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	CAA.tv	W 44–27	7,323
October 6	4:00 p.m.^[2]	No. 13 Stony Brook	No. 23	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	W 52–28	4,614
October 13	4:00 p.m.^[2]	William & Mary	No. 17	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	CAA.tv	W 29–13	8,022
October 20	3:30 p.m.	at Albany	No. 13	Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium Albany, NY	UAlbany Live Events^[3]	W 56–28	7,029
October 27	3:30 p.m.	at No. 21 Delaware	No. 10	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	FCS/FSGO	L 36–40	14,593
November 3	4:00 p.m.^[2]	No. 23 Maine	No. 15	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	L 28–35	7,356
November 10	12:00 p.m.	at No. 7 Elon	No. 20	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	CAA.tv	W 41–10	5,927
November 17	2:00 p.m.^[2]	No. 7 James Madison	No. 15	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	L 17–38	7,208
November 24	2:00 p.m.^[2]	Duquesne	No. 16	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	L 10–31	2,158
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[4]

Game summaries edit

At Morgan State edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	3	14	14	5	36
Bears	7	0	3	0	10

At Wake Forest edit

Week Two: Towson Tigers at Wake Forest Demon Deacons – Game summary^[5]

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	14	6	0	0	20
Demon Deacons	14	24	3	10	51

at BB&T Field • Winston-Salem, NC

Date: September 8
Game time: 12:00 p.m. ET^[6]
Game weather: 82 °F (28 °C) • ESE 5 mph (8.0 km/h) • Overcast
Game attendance: 23,619
Referee: Jeff Heaser
TV announcers (ACCN Extra): Play-by-Play: Shawn Kenney • Color Analyst: Stan Lewter
Sources:^[7]^[8]

Game information

First Quarter

11:39 WAKE – Alex Bachman 10-yard pass from Sam Hartman (Nick Sciba kick), Demon Deacons 7–0. Drive: 13 plays, 74 yards, TOP 3:21
8:12 TOW – Sam Gallahan 24-yard pass from Tom Flacco (Aidan O'Neill kick), Tied 7–7. Drive: 8 plays, 68 yards, TOP 3:27
7:11 WAKE – Greg Dortch 7-yard pass from Sam Hartman (Nick Sciba kick), Demon Deacons 14–7. Drive: 3 plays, 62 yards, TOP 1:01
1:32 TOW – Shane Simpson 8-yard pass from Tom Flacco (Aidan O'Neill kick), Tied 14–14. Drive: 5 plays, 23 yards, TOP 1:25

Second Quarter

14:19 WAKE – Sam Hartman 14-yard run (Nick Sciba kick), Demon Deacons 21–14. Drive: 7 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:13
11:37 WAKE – Nick Sciba 35-yard field goal, Demon Deacons 24–14. Drive: 10 plays, 54 yards, TOP 2:35
9:49 WAKE – Greg Dortch 70-yard punt return (Nick Sciba kick), Demon Deacons 31–14. Drive: 4 plays, 4 yards, TOP 1:48
2:02 WAKE – Greg Dortch 60-yard punt return (Nick Sciba kick), Demon Deacons 38–14. Drive: 3 plays, 7 yards,TOP 1:23
0:42 TOW – Shane Leatherbury 18-yard pass from Tom Flacco (two-point pass conv. failed), Demon Deacons 38–20. Drive: 9 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:20

Third Quarter

3:53 WAKE – Nick Sciba 27-yard field goal, Demon Deacons 41–20. Drive: 9 plays, 48 yards, TOP 2:22

Fourth Quarter

14:03 WAKE – Cade Carney 1-yard run (Nick Sciba kick), Demon Deacons 48–20. Drive: 11 plays, 91 yards, TOP 3:07
9:04 WAKE – Nick Sciba 27-yard field goal, Demon Deacons 51–20. Drive: 7 plays, 68 yards, TOP 3:39

Top Passers

TOW – Tom Flacco, 35/51, 345 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception
WAKE – Sam Hartman, 17/27, 242 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception

Top Rushers

TOW – Shane Simpson, 8 carries, 18 yards
WAKE – Cade Carney, 19 carries, 130 yards, 1 touchdown

Top Receiving

TOW – Shane Leatherbury, 8 receptions, 88 yards, 1 touchdown
WAKE – Greg Dortch, 7 receptions, 94 yards, 1 touchdown

Leading Tacklers

TOW – Diondre Wallace, 16 tackles
WAKE – Nate Mays, 8 tackles

Player of the Week

Greg Dortch (ACC Specialist of the Week)^[8]

At Villanova edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	21	14	7	3	45
No. 10 Wildcats	14	7	7	7	35

The Citadel edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	3	7	14	3	27
No. 25 Tigers	7	17	17	3	44

Stony Brook edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Seawolves	0	14	7	7	28
No. 23 Tigers	21	14	10	7	52

William & Mary edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tribe	0	13	0	0	13
No. 17 Tigers	7	3	7	12	29

At Albany edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Tigers	10	28	11	7	56
Great Danes	7	14	0	7	28

At Delaware edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Tigers	5	13	10	8	36
No. 21 Fightin' Blue Hens	0	6	21	13	40

Maine edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Black Bears	7	14	7	7	35
No. 15 Tigers	0	7	14	7	28

At Elon edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Tigers	7	7	10	17	41
No. 7 Phoenix	0	3	7	0	10

James Madison edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Dukes	7	17	7	7	38
No. 15 Tigers	7	3	0	7	17

FCS Playoffs edit

Duquesne–First Round edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Dukes	0	3	14	14	31
No. 16 Tigers	7	3	0	0	10

Ranking movements edit

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	—	—	—	RV	25	23	17	13	10	15	20	15	16	20
Coaches	—	—	—	RV	RV	24	18	14	10	15	20	16	19	22

References edit

^ Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Home Football Game Times Announced". Towson Athletics. May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
^ "Upcoming Live Events". The Official Athletics Site of the University of Albany. Archived from the original on October 14, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
^ "2018 Football Schedule". Towson University Athletics. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
^ "Dortch scores 3 TDs in Wake Forest's 51–20 victory". ESPN. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
^ "ACC Announces Early Season Game Times and Networks for Football". The Official Site of Demon Deacon Athletics. May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
^ "Towson (1–0) vs. Wake Forest (1–0)" (PDF). The Official Site of Wake Forest Demon Deacons Athletics. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Dortch Named ACC Specialist of the Week". The Official Site of Wake Forest Demon Deacons Athletics. September 10, 2018. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2018.

[1] Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.

[homegametimes-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Home Football Game Times Announced". Towson Athletics. May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.

[3] "Upcoming Live Events". The Official Athletics Site of the University of Albany. Archived from the original on October 14, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.

[4] "2018 Football Schedule". Towson University Athletics. Retrieved April 24, 2022.

[recap2-5] "Dortch scores 3 TDs in Wake Forest's 51–20 victory". ESPN. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.

[gametimes1-6] "ACC Announces Early Season Game Times and Networks for Football". The Official Site of Demon Deacon Athletics. May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.

[gamenotes2-7] "Towson (1–0) vs. Wake Forest (1–0)" (PDF). The Official Site of Wake Forest Demon Deacons Athletics. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.

[playeroftheweek2-8] "Dortch Named ACC Specialist of the Week". The Official Site of Wake Forest Demon Deacons Athletics. September 10, 2018. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2018.

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