2017 North Alabama Lions football team

2017 North Alabama Lions football
2017 North Alabama Lions football
Conference	Gulf South Conference
Record	5–5 (5–3 GSC)
Head coach	Chris Willis (1st season);
Offensive coordinator	Steadman Campbell (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Brett Borden (1st season)
Home stadium	Braly Municipal Stadium
	Seasons ← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 North Alabama Lions football team represented the University of North Alabama during the 2017 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by first-yer head coach Chris Willis. The Lions played their home games at Braly Municipal Stadium and were members of the Gulf South Conference. They finished the season 5–5, 5–3 in GSC play to finish in a five-way tie for second place.

2017 Gulf South Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 12 West Alabama $^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 2 West Florida ^	5	–	3	11	–	4
No. 21 Delta State ^	5	–	3	9	–	4
No. 19 West Georgia ^	5	–	3	9	–	4
Valdosta State	5	–	3	5	–	4
North Alabama	5	–	3	5	–	5
Florida Tech	3	–	5	5	–	6
Mississippi College	1	–	7	1	–	9
Shorter	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant Rankings from AFCA Poll

This was their final season as a member of the GSC and NCAA Division II as they will begin a transition to NCAA Division I and the Football Championship Subdivision where they will be a member of the Big South Conference in 2019 after playing 2018 as an FCS independent.

Schedule

North Alabama announced its 2017 football schedule on April 12, 2017. The schedule consists of five home and away games in the regular season. The Lions will host GSC foes Delta State, Florida Tech, Mississippi College, and West Alabama, and will travel to Shorter, Valdosta State, West Florida, and West Georgia.^[1]

The Lions will host one of the two non-conference games against Texas A&M–Commerce from the Lone Star Conference and travel to Central Washington from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1^[a]	6:00 p.m	No. 5 Texas A&M–Commerce*	No. 6	Braly Municipal Stadium Florence, AL		L 7–8	6,892
September 16	6:00 p.m.	at Valdosta State	No. 10	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA	ESPN3	W 30–24	4,191
September 23	6:00 p.m.	West Alabama	No. 11	Braly Municipal Stadium Florence, AL (Rivalry)		L 17–38	10,327
September 30	1:00 p.m.	at West Georgia		University Stadium Carrollton, GA		L 23–37	4,273
October 7	6:00 p.m.	Florida Tech		Braly Municipal Stadium Florence, AL		W 30–7	7,002
October 14	12:00 p.m.	at Shorter		Barron Stadium Rome, GA		W 48–0	1,118
October 21	3:00 p.m.	at No. 9 Central Washington*		Tomlinson Stadium Ellensburg, WA		L 10–17	3,719
October 28	6:00 p.m.	Delta State		Braly Municipal Stadium Florence, AL		W 20–7	6,033
November 4	4:00 p.m.	at West Florida		Blue Wahoos Stadium Pensacola, FL	ESPN3	L 7–30	5,590
November 11	1:30 p.m.	Mississippi College		Braly Municipal Stadium Florence, AL		W 16–7	7,235
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^ Game was originally scheduled for August 31, but postponed due to Hurricane Harvey.

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
AFCA	6	11	10	10	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

^ "LIONS RELEASE 2017 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE" (Press release). University of North Alabama Department of Athletics. April 12, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2017.