2016 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team

The 2016 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season and were in the first year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). ETSU had originally joined the SoCon in 1978, with football joining in 1979, but dropped the sport after the 2003 season and left the conference entirely in 2005. ETSU returned to the SoCon as a full but non-football member in 2014, at that time announcing that the school would reinstate football with play beginning in the 2015 season. The Buccaneers played that season as an FCS independent.

2016 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football
Conference	Southern Conference
2016 record	5–6 (2–6 SoCon)
Head coach	Carl Torbush (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike O'Cain (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Billy Taylor (2nd season)
Home stadium	Kermit Tipton Stadium (Capacity: 6,600)

2016 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 10 The Citadel $^		8	–	0					10	–	2
No. 13 Chattanooga ^		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 9 Wofford ^		6	–	2					10	–	4
No. 23 Samford ^		5	–	3					7	–	5
Mercer		4	–	4					6	–	5
Furman		3	–	5					3	–	8
East Tennessee State		2	–	6					5	–	6
VMI		1	–	7					3	–	8
Western Carolina		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS FCS Poll

They were led by second-year head coach Carl Torbush and played all but one of their home games at Kermit Tipton Stadium. The other home game, the Buccaneers' first SoCon game since 2003, was held at the nearby Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17. The game was played on a temporary grass surface that will be laid down from the Tennessee–Virginia Tech game to be held one week earlier. They finished the season 5–6, 2–6 in SoCon play to finish in seventh place.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	7:00 pm	at Kennesaw State*	Fifth Third Bank Stadium Kennesaw, GA	WPCH	W 20–17 ^2OT	8,574
September 17	1:30 pm	vs. Western Carolina	Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, TN (Bucs at Bristol)	ESPN3	W 34–31	13,863
September 24	1:30 pm	at Wofford	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	ESPN3	L 0–31	7,316
October 1	12:00 pm	No. 5 Chattanooga	Kermit Tipton Stadium Johnson City, TN	SDN	L 7–37	7,411
October 8	1:30 pm	at VMI	Alumni Memorial Field Lexington, VA	ESPN3	L 7–37	5,638
October 15	12:00 pm	Furman	Kermit Tipton Stadium Johnson City, TN	SDN	L 7–52	6,052
October 20	7:30 pm	West Virginia Wesleyan*	Kermit Tipton Stadium Johnson City, TN	SDN	W 38–7	6,196
October 29	2:00 pm	at No. 5 The Citadel	Johnson Hagood Stadium Charleston, SC	ESPN3	L 10–45	12,978
November 5	3:00 pm	at Mercer	Moye Complex Macon, GA	FSN	L 13–21	10,913
November 12	1:00 pm	Cumberland*	Kermit Tipton Stadium Johnson City, TN	SDN	W 23–16	6,735
November 19	3:30 pm	No. 18 Samford	Kermit Tipton Stadium Johnson City, TN	SDN	W 15–14	5,752
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Source:

Game summaries

at Kennesaw State

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
Buccaneers	0	3	7	0	7	3	20
Owls	0	7	0	3	7	0	17

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
0–1	2015	L 16–56

vs. Western Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
Catamounts	7	14	0	10	31
Buccaneers	0	10	14	10	34

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
21–23–1	2003	L 21–28

at Wofford

	1	2	3	4	Total
Buccaneers	0	0	0	0	0
Terriers	14	0	7	10	31

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
13–11	2003	L 14–28

Chattanooga

	1	2	3	4	Total
#5 Mocs	3	14	14	6	37
Buccaneers	0	0	0	7	7

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
18–20–1	2003	W 68–7

at VMI

	1	2	3	4	Total
Buccaneers	0	0	0	7	7
Keydets	14	13	3	7	37

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
13–8	2002	W 35–21

Furman

	1	2	3	4	Total
Paladins	21	14	14	3	52
Buccaneers	0	0	0	7	7

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
7–23	2003	L 10–30

West Virginia Wesleyan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	0	7	0	0	7
Buccaneers	7	14	17	0	38

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
First meeting

at The Citadel

	1	2	3	4	Total
Buccaneers	0	7	3	0	10
#5 Bulldogs	14	17	0	14	45

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
15–9	2003	W 16–13

at Mercer

	1	2	3	4	Total
Buccaneers	0	0	13	0	13
Bears	0	7	0	14	21

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
0–1	2015	L 0–52

Cumberland

	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix	7	9	0	0	16
Buccaneers	7	16	0	0	23

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
6–1	1947	W 38–0

Samford

	1	2	3	4	Total
#18 Bulldogs	7	0	7	0	14
Buccaneers	0	3	6	6	15

Overall record	Previous meeting	Result
0–3	1991	L 6–31

References