2019 Florida Tech Panthers football
ConferenceGulf South Conference
Record5–6 (3–5 GSC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJayson Martin (7th season)
Defensive coordinatorAaron Archie/Brian Vaughn (1st season)
Home stadiumFlorida Tech Panther Stadium
Seasons
← 2018
2019 Gulf South Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 5 Valdosta State $^   8 – 0     10 – 1  
No. 1 West Florida ^   7 – 1     13 – 2  
Delta State   5 – 3     6 – 4  
West Georgia   4 – 4     6 – 5  
Mississippi College   4 – 4     5 – 5  
West Alabama   3 – 5     6 – 5  
Florida Tech   3 – 5     5 – 6  
North Greenville   2 – 6     3 – 7  
Shorter   0 – 8     1 – 10  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
Rankings from AFCA Poll

The 2019 Florida Tech Panthers football team represented the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) during the 2019 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Steve Englehart. The Panthers played their home games at Florida Tech Panther Stadium, approximately one mile from the Florida Tech campus, and were members of the Gulf South Conference. In May 2020, Florida Tech shut down its football program due to budget cuts that followed the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

Preseason

Gulf South Conference coaches poll

On August 1, 2019, the Gulf South Conference released their preseason coaches poll with the Panthers predicted to finish in 5th place in the conference.[2]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Valdosta State 64 (8)
2 West Georgia 55
3 West Alabama 49
4 West Florida 44 (1)
5 Florida Tech 37
6 Delta State 28
7 North Greenville 24
8 Mississippi College 15
9 Shorter 8

Preseason All-Gulf South Conference Team

The Panthers had four players at four positions selected to the preseason all-Gulf South Conference team.[3]

Schedule

Florida Tech 2019 football schedule consists of five home and six away games in the regular season. The Panthers will host GSC foes Shorter, West Alabama, West Florida, and West Georgia, and will travel to Delta State, Mississippi College, North Greenville, and Valdosta State.[4]

The Panthers will host one of the three non-conference games against Fort Valley State from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and will travel to Newberry from the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) and Savannah State also from the SIAC.

Two of the eleven games will be broadcast on ESPN3 and ESPN+, as part of the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week.[5]

The Week One game at Savannah State, originally scheduled for September 7, was moved back a day due to Hurricane Dorian.[6]

The Week Seven game at Valdosta State, originally scheduled for a 3 P.M. kickoff on October 19, was moved back to a 7 P.M. start due to the forecast approach of Tropical Storm Nestor earlier in the day.[7]

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 82:00 p.m.at Savannah State*
W 23-223,028
September 141:00 p.m.at Newberry*
W 30-282,944
September 217:00 p.m.at Delta State
ESPN3L 28-306,665
September 287:00 p.m.West Georgia
W 44-102,450
October 57:00 p.m.Fort Valley State*
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL
L 29-332,400
October 128:00 p.m.at Mississippi College
L 14-342,507
October 197:00 p.m.at No. 1 Valdosta State
L 28-554,631
October 261:00 p.m.No. 20 West Floridadagger
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL (Coastal Classic)
ESPN+L 14-382,215
November 22:00 p.m.West Alabama
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL
L 10-13878
November 91:30 p.m.at North Greenville
W 17-14 2OT3,744
November 162:00 p.m.Shorter
  • Florida Tech Panther Stadium
  • Melbourne, FL
W 42-31,450
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time
Schedule Source:[4]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre1234567891011Final
AFCARVRVRV—RV————————

Game summaries

At Savannah State

1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 7 0 3 13 23
Tigers 0 6 0 16 22

At Newberry

1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 10 13 7 0 30
Wolves 0 14 0 14 28

At Delta State

1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 7 7 7 7 28
Statesmen 10 6 11 3 30

West Georgia

1 2 3 4 Total
Wolves 7 3 0 0 10
Panthers 13 14 17 0 44

Fort Valley State

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 13 6 14 33
Panthers 10 10 6 3 29

At Mississippi College

1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 0 7 7 0 14
Choctaws 7 7 14 6 34

At Valdosta State

1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 14 7 0 7 28
Blazers 14 27 0 14 55

West Florida

1 2 3 4 Total
Argonauts 7 10 14 7 38
Panthers 0 7 7 0 14

West Alabama

1 2 3 4 Total
Tigers 0 3 0 10 13
Panthers 10 0 0 0 10

At North Greenville

1 2 3 4OT2OT Total
Panthers 7 7 0 003 17
Crusaders 0 0 7 700 14

Shorter

1 2 3 4 Total
Hawks 0 3 0 0 3
Panthers 14 21 0 7 42

Awards and milestones

Gulf South Conference honors

Five players from Florida Tech were honored as All-GSC selections by the league's coaches.[8]

Gulf South Conference All-Conference First Team

Categories