# 2018 Tennessee State Tigers football team

The 2018 Tennessee State Tigers football team represented Tennessee State University as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by ninth-year head coach Rod Reed and played their home games at Nissan Stadium and Hale Stadium. Tennessee State finished the season 4–5 overall and 3–4 in OVC play to place fifth.

## Preseason
### OVC media poll

On July 20, 2018, the media covering the OVC released their preseason poll with the Tigers predicted to finish in fourth place. On July 23, the OVC released their coaches poll with the Tigers predicted to finish in sixth place.
Media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 134 (14) |
| 2 | Austin Peay | 114 (1) |
| 3 | UT Martin | 96 |
| 4 | Tennessee State | 91 |
| 5 | Eastern Illinois | 83 |
| 6 | Eastern Kentucky | 64 |
| 7 | Murray State | 39 |
| 8 | Southeast Missouri State | 35 |
| 9 | Tennessee Tech | 19 |
Coaches poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 126 (14) |
| 2 | Austin Peay | 112 (4) |
| 3 | UT Martin | 95 |
| 4 | Eastern Illinois | 73 |
| 5 | Eastern Kentucky | 69 |
| 6 | Tennessee State | 64 |
| 7 | Southeast Missouri State | 62 |
| 8 | Murray State | 24 |
| 9 | Tennessee Tech | 23 |

### Preseason All-OVC team

The Tigers had three players selected to the preseason all-OVC team.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 1 | 6:00 p.m. | Bethune–Cookman* | Nissan StadiumNashville, TN | ESPN+ | W 34–3 | 14,069 |
| September 8 | 6:00 p.m. | vs. Jackson State* | Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, TN (Southern Heritage Classic) | FSS | Cancelled | |
| September 15 | 5:00 p.m. | at Hampton* | Armstrong StadiumHampton, VA | | Cancelled | |
| September 22 | 2:00 p.m. | at Eastern Illinois | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL | ESPN+ | W 41–40 | 7,670 |
| September 29 | 3:00 p.m. | at Vanderbilt* | Vanderbilt StadiumNashville, TN | SECN | L 27–31 | 27,340 |
| October 6 | 6:00 p.m. | at Austin Peay | Fortera StadiumClarksville, TN (Sgt. York Trophy) | ESPN3 | L 34–49 | 12,201 |
| October 13 | 1:00 p.m. | at Murray State | Roy Stewart StadiumMurray, KY | ESPN+ | L 21–45 | 3,318 |
| October 20 | 4:30 p.m. | Tennessee Tech | Nissan StadiumNashville, TN | ESPN+ | W 41–14 | 17,283 |
| November 3 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 25 Southeast Missouri State | Houck StadiumCape Girardeau, MO | ESPN+ | L 21–38 | 3,481 |
| November 10 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 8 Jacksonville State | Hale StadiumNashville, TN | ESPN+ | L 14–41 | 6,718 |
| November 17 | 2:00 p.m. | UT Martin | Hale StadiumNashville, TN | ESPN+ | W 31–28 $^{OT}$ | 3,618 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time |||||||
* ↑ The Jackson State game was cancelled due to inclement weather.
* ↑ The Hampton game was cancelled in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.

## Game summaries
### Bethune–Cookman

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Tigers | 14 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 34 |

### At Eastern Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 0 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 41 |
| Panthers | 17 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 40 |

### At Vanderbilt

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 0 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
| Commodores | 0 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 31 |

### At Austin Peay

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 7 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 34 |
| Governors | 7 | 14 | 21 | 7 | 49 |

### At Murray State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 14 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Racers | 3 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 45 |

### Tennessee Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Golden Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Tigers | 17 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 41 |

### At Southeast Missouri State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| No. 25 Redhawks | 3 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 38 |

### Jacksonville State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 8 Gamecocks | 20 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 41 |
| Tigers | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 |

### UT Martin

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| Skyhawks | 0 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 28 |
| Tigers | 0 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 31 |