# 2015 The Citadel Bulldogs football team

The 2015 The Citadel Bulldogs football team represented The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bulldogs were led by second-year head coach Mike Houston and played their home games at Johnson Hagood Stadium. They played as members of the Southern Conference, as they have since 1936. They finished the season 9–4, 6–1 in SoCon play to finish in a share for the SoCon title with Chattanooga. Due to their head-to-head loss to Chattanooga, they did not receive the SoCon's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs. However, they received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Coastal Carolina in the first round before losing in the second round to Charleston Southern.
On January 18, head coach Mike Houston resigned to become the head coach at James Madison. He finished at The Citadel with a two-year record of 14–11.

## Before the season
### Returning starters

Ten starters returned on offense, with only QB Aaron Miller lost to graduation.

### Outlook

The Bulldogs were picked to finish 7th in the 8 team Southern Conference. No players were named to national award watch lists or the preseason All-America teams, but OL Sam Frye and DL Mitchell Jeter were named to the preseason All-Conference first team.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 5 | 6:00 p.m. | Davidson* | | Johnson Hagood StadiumCharleston, SC | ESPN3 | W 69–0 | 8,665 |
| September 12 | 6:00 p.m. | Western Carolina | | Johnson Hagood StadiumCharleston, SC | ESPN3 | W 28–10 | 8,048 |
| September 19 | 6:00 p.m. | at Georgia Southern* | | Paulson StadiumStatesboro, GA | ESPN3 | L 13–48 | 24,872 |
| September 26 | 6:00 p.m. | Charleston Southern* | | Johnson Hagood StadiumCharleston, SC | ESPN3 | L 20–33 | 11,918 |
| October 10 | 2:00 p.m. | Wofford | | Johnson Hagood StadiumCharleston, SC (rivalry) | ESPN3 | W 39–12 | 10,428 |
| October 17 | 3:00 p.m. | at Samford | | Seibert StadiumHomewood, AL | ESPN3 | W 44–25 | 4,927 |
| October 24 | 1:30 p.m. | at Furman | | Paladin StadiumGreenville, SC (rivalry) | ESPN3 | W 38–17 | 12,124 |
| October 31 | 2:00 p.m. | Mercer | | Johnson Hagood StadiumCharleston, SC | ESPN3 | W 21–19 | 10,006 |
| November 7 | 2:00 p.m. | VMI | No. 25 | Johnson Hagood StadiumCharleston, SC (Military Classic of the South) | ESPN3 | W 35–14 | 14,925 |
| November 14 | 2:00 p.m. | at No. 8 Chattanooga | No. 21 | Finley StadiumChattanooga, TN | SDN | L 23–31 | 11,594 |
| November 21 | 12:00 p.m. | at South Carolina* | No. 25 | Williams–Brice StadiumColumbia, SC | SECN Alt. | W 23–22 | 77,241 |
| November 28 | 2:00 p.m. | at No. 10 Coastal Carolina* | No. 18 | Brooks StadiumConway, SC (NCAA Division I first round) | ESPN3 | W 41–38 | 6,751 |
| December 5 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 9 Charleston Southern* | No. 18 | Buccaneer FieldNorth Charleston, SC (NCAA Division I second round) | ESPN3 | L 6–14 | 8,451 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||

## Personnel
### Depth chart

Defense :
* S
* FS
* Malik Diggs
* Kailik Williams
| WLB | SLB |
* SS
* CB
* Dee Delaney
* Tyus Carter
| DE | DT | DT | DE |
| Mark Thomas | Jonathan King | Mitchell Jeter | Joe Crochet |
| Kevin Graham | Ken Allen | Austin Harrell | Noah Dawkins |
| Travis Johnson | ⋅ | ⋅ | Russell Hubbs |
* CB
* Shy Phillips
* Mariel Cooper
Offense :
* WR
* Alex Glover
* Rudder Brown
* SB
* Cam Jackson
* Grant Drakeford
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Isaiah Pinson | Kyle Weaver | Ryan Bednar | Sam Frye | Michael Mabry |
| Sydney Martin | Lovequan Scott | Tyler Davis | Tristan Harkleroad | Nick Jeffreys |
* SB
* Vinny Miller
* Reggie Williams
* WR
* Joriah Jordan
* Brandon Eakins
* QB
* Dominique Allen
* Shon Belton
* Cam Jackson
* FB
* Tyler Renew
* Isiaha Smith
* Evan McField
* Special teams
* PK Eric Goins
* PK Austin Jordan
* P Will Vanvick
* KR Quinlan Washington
* PR DeAndre Schoultz
* H Dane Anderson

## Game summaries
### Davidson

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • Bulldogs | 21 | 14 | 20 | 14 | 69 |

### Western Carolina

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Catamounts | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| • Bulldogs | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 28 |

### Georgia Southern

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulldogs | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| • Eagles | 10 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 48 |

### Charleston Southern

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Buccaneers | 0 | 6 | 10 | 17 | 33 |
| Bulldogs | 7 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 20 |

### Wofford

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Terriers | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| • Bulldogs | 14 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 39 |

### Samford

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bulldogs (CIT) | 7 | 28 | 6 | 3 | 44 |
| Bulldogs (SAM) | 7 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 25 |

### Furman

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bulldogs | 7 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 38 |
| Paladins | 7 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 17 |

### Mercer

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 10 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 19 |
| • Bulldogs | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 21 |

### VMI

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Keydets | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| • #25 Bulldogs | 14 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 35 |

### Chattanooga

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #21 Bulldogs | 0 | 0 | 14 | 9 | 23 |
| • #8 Mocs | 14 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 31 |

### South Carolina

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #25 Bulldogs | 14 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 23 |
| Gamecocks | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 22 |

## FCS playoffs
### First round – Coastal Carolina

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #18 Bulldogs | 14 | 0 | 14 | 13 | 41 |
| #10 Chanticleers | 7 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 38 |

### Second round – Charleston Southern

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #18 Bulldogs | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| • #9 Buccaneers | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | — | — | RV | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 21 | 25 | 18 | 13 |
| Coaches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | 22 | 20 | 24 | 18 | 15 |

## Honors and awards

Preseason All-Southern Conference
* Sam Frye (1st team)
* Mitchell Jeter (1st team)