2016 The Citadel Bulldogs football team


The 2016 The Citadel Bulldogs football team represented The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bulldogs were led by first-year head coach Brent Thompson and played their home games at Johnson Hagood Stadium. They played as members of the Southern Conference, as they have since 1936.
With their win over Samford on November 4, the Bulldogs clinched their second consecutive, and fourth overall, SoCon championship. By virtue of their victory over VMI on November 12, 2016, The Citadel completed their first undefeated SoCon season in program history and claimed the championship outright. The win over VMI also marked the second time in program history that the Bulldogs earned double digit wins in one season, after winning 11 games in 1992.
They finished the season 10–2, 8–0 in SoCon play to win the SoCon title. They received the SoCon's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost in the second round to Wofford.

Schedule

The Bulldogs planned to host North Greenville for their traditional Parents' Day game on October 8, and will face Samford for Homecoming. Due to Hurricane Matthew, the game against North Greenville took place at NGU's Younts Stadium in Tigerville, South Carolina on Thursday, October 6.

Stadium issues

In 2016, The Citadel determined that lead paint needed remediation on the east side of Johnson Hagood Stadium. The work resulted in the entire east side being closed for the first game of the season against Furman and some sections being opened for subsequent games. The capacity was thus 10,500 for the first game and about 15,000 for later games.

Game summaries

Mercer

Overall recordLast meetingResult
8–4–12015W 21–19

Furman

Overall recordLast meetingResult
34–58–32015W 38–17

Gardner–Webb

Overall recordLast meetingResult
1–02014W 37–14

Western Carolina

Overall recordLast meetingResult
23–16–12015W 28–10

North Greenville

Chattanooga

Overall recordLast meetingResult
17–29–22015L 23–31

Wofford

Overall recordLast meetingResult
41–26–12015W 39–12

East Tennessee State

Overall recordLast meetingResult
9–152003L 13–16

Samford

Overall recordLast meetingResult
5–42015W 44–25

VMI

Overall recordLast meetingResult
39–30–22015W 35–14

North Carolina

Overall recordLast meetingResult
0–42009L 6–40

FCS Playoffs

Second Round–Wofford

Overall recordLast meetingResult
42–26–110/22/16W 24–21 OT

Ranking movements