2018 Tennessee State Tigers football

Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	4–5 (3–4 OVC)
Head coach	Rod Reed (9th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jeff Parker (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Garry Fisher (2nd season)
Home stadium	Nissan Stadium Hale Stadium
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 10 Jacksonville State $^	7	–	1	8	–	3
No. 15 Southeast Missouri State ^	6	–	2	8	–	3
Eastern Kentucky	5	–	2	7	–	4
Murray State	5	–	3	5	–	6
Tennessee State	3	–	4	4	–	5
Eastern Illinois	3	–	5	3	–	8
Austin Peay	3	–	5	5	–	6
UT Martin	2	–	6	2	–	9
Tennessee Tech	1	–	7	1	–	10

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

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.^[1] On July 23, the OVC released their coaches poll with the Tigers predicted to finish in sixth place.^[2]

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.^[3]

Offense

Steven Newbold – WR

Defense

Vincent Sellers – DB

Dajour Nesbeth – DB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:00 p.m.	Bethune–Cookman*	Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	W 34–3	14,069
September 8	6:00 p.m.	vs. Jackson State*	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Southern Heritage Classic)	FSS	Cancelled^[a]
September 15	5:00 p.m.	at Hampton*	Armstrong Stadium Hampton, VA		Cancelled^[b]
September 22	2:00 p.m.	at Eastern Illinois	O'Brien Field Charleston, IL	ESPN+	W 41–40	7,670
September 29	3:00 p.m.	at Vanderbilt*	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	SECN	L 27–31	27,340
October 6	6:00 p.m.	at Austin Peay	Fortera Stadium Clarksville, TN (Sgt. York Trophy)	ESPN3	L 34–49	12,201
October 13	1:00 p.m.	at Murray State	Roy Stewart Stadium Murray, KY	ESPN+	L 21–45	3,318
October 20	4:30 p.m.	Tennessee Tech	Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	W 41–14	17,283
November 3	1:00 p.m.	at No. 25 Southeast Missouri State	Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO	ESPN+	L 21–38	3,481
November 10	2:00 p.m.	No. 8 Jacksonville State	Hale Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	L 14–41	6,718
November 17	2:00 p.m.	UT Martin	Hale Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	W 31–28 ^OT	3,618
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All 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

References

v t e Tennessee State Tigers football
Venues	Sulphur Dell Hale Stadium (1953–1998, 2012–2020) Nissan Stadium (1999–2019, 2021–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin: Sgt. York Trophy Jackson State: Southern Heritage Classic
Culture & lore	Tigre
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1916 1917–1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941–1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
National championship seasons in bold