# 2018 Towson Tigers football team

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.

## Preseason
### CAA Poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Tigers were predicted to finish in tenth place. 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

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 1 | 7:00 p.m. | at Morgan State* | | Hughes StadiumBaltimore, 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 FieldWinston-Salem, NC | ACCN Extra | L 20–51 | 23,619 |
| September 15 | 3:30 p.m. | at No. 10 Villanova | | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA | FCS/FSGO | W 45–35 | 5,719 |
| September 29 | 4:00 p.m. | The Citadel* | No. 25 | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, MD | CAA.tv | W 44–27 | 7,323 |
| October 6 | 4:00 p.m. | No. 13 Stony Brook | No. 23 | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, MD | CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive | W 52–28 | 4,614 |
| October 13 | 4:00 p.m. | William & Mary | No. 17 | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, 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 StadiumAlbany, NY | UAlbany Live Events | W 56–28 | 7,029 |
| October 27 | 3:30 p.m. | at No. 21 Delaware | No. 10 | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE | FCS/FSGO | L 36–40 | 14,593 |
| November 3 | 4:00 p.m. | No. 23 Maine | No. 15 | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, MD | CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive | L 28–35 | 7,356 |
| November 10 | 12:00 p.m. | at No. 7 Elon | No. 20 | Rhodes StadiumElon, NC | CAA.tv | W 41–10 | 5,927 |
| November 17 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 7 James Madison | No. 15 | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, MD | CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive | L 17–38 | 7,208 |
| November 24 | 2:00 p.m. | Duquesne | No. 16 | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, MD (NCAA Division I First Round) | ESPN3 | L 10–31 | 2,158 |
| *Non-conference gameRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||

## Game summaries
### At Morgan State

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

### At Wake Forest

| Quarter | 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
* 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:
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) :

### At Villanova

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

### The Citadel

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

### Stony Brook

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

### William & Mary

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

### At Albany

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

### At Delaware

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

### Maine

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

### At Elon

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

### James Madison

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

## FCS Playoffs
### Duquesne–First Round

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

## 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 | 25 | 23 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 16 | 20 |
| Coaches | — | — | — | RV | RV | 24 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 16 | 19 | 22 |