# 2018 West Alabama Tigers football team

The 2018 West Alabama Tigers football team represented University of West Alabama during the 2018 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Brett Gilliland. The Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium and are members of the Gulf South Conference.

## Preseason
### Gulf South Conference coaches poll

On August 2, 2018, the Gulf South Conference released their preseason coaches poll with the Tigers predicted to finish in 1st place in the conference.
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | West Alabama | 62 (6) |
| 2 | West Florida | 59 (3) |
| 3 | West Georgia | 44 |
| 4 | Delta State | 41 |
| 5 | Valdosta State | 38 |
| 6 | Florida Tech | 32 |
| 7 | North Greenville | 24 |
| 8 | Mississippi College | 16 |
| 9 | Shorter | 8 |

### Preseason All-Gulf South Conference Team

The Tigers had seven players at seven positions selected to the preseason all-Gulf South Conference team.

## Schedule

West Alabama 2018 football schedule consists of six home and five away games in the regular season. The Tigers will host GSC foes Delta State, Florida Tech, Valdosta State, and West Florida, and will travel to Mississippi College, North Greenville, Shorter, and West Georgia.
The Tigers will host two of the three non-conference games against Lenoir–Rhyne from the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) and Miles College from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and will travel to Limestone, which is an independent team.
Three of the eleven games will be broadcast on ESPN3, as part of the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 30 | 6:00 p.m. | Lenoir–Rhyne* | No. 12 | Tiger StadiumLivingston, AL | | W 36–32 | 3,248 |
| September 6 | 6:00 p.m. | Miles* | No. 11 | Tiger StadiumLivingston, AL | | W 37–21 | 4,543 |
| September 15 | 6:00 p.m. | Valdosta State | No. 8 | Tiger StadiumLivingston, AL | | L 24–58 | 3,285 |
| September 22 | 12:00 p.m. | at Limestone* | No. 23 | The ReservationGaffney, SC | | W 16–13 | 1,632 |
| September 29 | 6:00 p.m. | at North Greenville | No. 21 | Younts StadiumTigerville, SC | ESPN3 | L 16–20 | 3,695 |
| October 6 | 12:00 p.m. | at Shorter | | Barron StadiumRome, GA | | W 48–17 | 1,384 |
| October 13 | 2:00 p.m. | Delta State | | Tiger StadiumLivingston, AL | ESPN3 | W 17–14 | 3,872 |
| October 20 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 3 West Georgia | | University StadiumCarrollton, GA | | L 25–27 | 3,687 |
| October 27 | 4:00 p.m. | Florida Tech | | Tiger StadiumLivingston, AL | ESPN3 | W 29–22 | 5,106 |
| November 3 | 2:00 p.m. | at Mississippi College | | Robinson-Hale StadiumClinton, MS | | W 24–3 | 4,347 |
| November 10 | 2:00 p.m. | West Florida | | Tiger StadiumLivingston, AL | | W 45–7 | 4,303 |
| November 17 | 12:00 p.m. | at No. 25 Bowie State | | Bulldogs StadiumBowie, MD (NCAA Division II First Round) | | L 35–41 | 1,531 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||

## Rankings

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 |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Final |
| AFCA | 12 | 11 | 8 | 23 | 21 | RV | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV |

## Game summaries
### Lenoir-Rhyne

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 3 | 10 | 6 | 13 | 32 |
| Tigers | 7 | 7 | 0 | 22 | 36 |

### Miles

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Golden Bears | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Tigers | 6 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 37 |

### Valdosta State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Blazers | 21 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 58 |
| Tigers | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 24 |

### At Limestone

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 3 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 16 |
| Saints | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 |

### At North Greenville

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 16 |
| Crusaders | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |

### At Shorter

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 14 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 48 |
| Hawks | 7 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 17 |

### Delta State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Statesmen | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Tigers | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 17 |

### At West Georgia

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 7 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 25 |
| Wolves | 7 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 27 |

### Florida Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Panthers | 0 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 22 |
| Tigers | 14 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 29 |

### At Mississippi College

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 0 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| Choctaws | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |

### West Florida

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Argonauts | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Tigers | 16 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 45 |

### At Bowie State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
| Bulldogs | 0 | 17 | 10 | 14 | 41 |