2021 Valdosta State Blazers football team

The 2021 Valdosta State Blazers football team represented Valdosta State University as a member of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) during the 2021 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by third-year head coach Gary Goff. The Blazers played their home games at Bazemore–Hyder Stadium in Valdosta, Georgia.

2021 Valdosta State Blazers football
GSC co-champion
NCAA Division II Championship Game, L 17–58 vs. Ferris State
Conference	Gulf South Conference
Ranking
AFCA	No. 2
Record	12–2 (6–1 GSC)
Head coach	Gary Goff (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Phillip Ely (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Jason Semore (1st season)
Home stadium	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium
Seasons ← 2019 2022 →

2021 Gulf South Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 Valdosta State +^		6	–	1					12	–	2
No. 12 West Florida +^		6	–	1					9	–	2
No. 13 West Georgia ^		5	–	2					9	–	3
West Alabama		4	–	3					6	–	4
Delta State		3	–	4					5	–	6
Mississippi College		2	–	5					4	–	6
North Greenville		2	–	5					5	–	6
Shorter		0	–	7					3	–	8
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant Rankings from AFCA Poll

The Blazers competed for the 2021 NCAA Division II Football Championship Game against Ferris State.^[1] This was their first appearance in the championship game since the 2018 game.^[1]

Previous season

The Blazers finished the 2019 season 10–1, 8–0 in Gulf South Conference (GSC) play, to finish first in the conference standings. On August 12, 2020, Gulf South Conference postponed fall competition in 2020 for several sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] A few months later in November, the conference announced that there will be no spring conference competition in football.^[3] Teams that opt-in to compete would have to schedule on their own. The Blazers did not compete in the 2020 season and opted out of spring competition.^[4]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 4	7:00 p.m.	Savannah State*	No. 6	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA	FloSports	W 53–7	5,003	[5]
September 11	5:00 p.m.	at Virginia Union*	No. 5	Hovey Field Richmond, VA		W 51–7	5,019	[6]
September 18	7:00 p.m.	Albany State*	No. 4	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA	FloSports	W 21–3	3,376	[7]
October 2	7:00 p.m.	Shorter	No. 4	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA	FloSports	W 49–13	5,346	[8]
October 9	7:00 p.m.	Delta State	No. 4	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA	FloSports	W 55–0	3,063	[9][10]
October 16	2:00 p.m.	at No. 10 West Alabama	No. 4	Tiger Stadium Livingston, AL	FloSports	W 42–17	2,563	[11]
October 23	3:00 p.m.	at Mississippi College	No. 2	Robinson-Hale Stadium Clinton, MS	FloSports	W 41–14	1,256	[12]
October 30	7:00 p.m.	No. 3 West Georgia	No. 2	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA (rivalry)	FloSports	W 36–34	6,102
November 6	3:00 p.m.	North Greenville	No. 2	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA	FloSports	W 31–21	4,781
November 13	5:00 p.m.	at No. 3 West Florida	No. 2	Admiral Fetterman Field Pensacola, FL	FloSports	L 42–61	7,193
November 27	1:00 p.m.	No. 13 West Georgia*	No. 5	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA (NCAA Division II Second Round)		W 66–35	2,087
December 4	1:00 p.m.	No. 10 Bowie State*	No. 5	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA (NCAA Division II Quarterfinal)		W 41–17	2,444
December 11	12:00 p.m.	No. 9 Colorado Mines*	No. 5	Bazemore–Hyder Stadium Valdosta, GA (NCAA Division II Semifinal)	ESPN+	W 34–31	3,197
December 18	9:00 p.m.	vs. No. 1 Ferris State*	No. 5	McKinney ISD Stadium McKinney, TX (NCAA Division II Championship Game)	ESPNU	L 17–58	3,933
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
AFCA	6–T	5	4	4	4	4	4	2 (7)	2 (4)	2 (6)	2 (5)	5	2