2016 Olivet Comets football team

The 2016 Olivet Comets football team, sometimes known as Team 116 in reference to the 116th season the Olivet football program had fielded a team, was an American football team that represented Olivet College during the 2016 NCAA Division III football season. The Comets play in the MIAA and played their home games at the Cutler Athletic Complex in Olivet, Michigan. Olivet was led by Dan Pifer, who was in his fifth and final season with the Comets, as he would be hired by the Walsh University football team of the G-MAC to become their new head coach in December 2016. In January 2017, offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator Dan Musielewicz was hired as the new head coach for the Comets.

2016 Olivet Comets football
MIAA champion
2016 NCAA Division III First Round, L 37-12 vs. John Carroll
Conference	Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Record	9–2 (6–0 MIAA)
Head coach	Dan Pifer (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Dan Musielewicz (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Warren Maloney (4th season)
Captains	Justin Madar (Senior year) Braden Black (5th year) Thomas Gary-Homes (Senior year) Robert Cuba (Senior year)
Home stadium	Cutler Athletic Complex

2016 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Olivet $^		6	–	0					9	–	2
Hope		5	–	1					7	–	3
Alma		4	–	2					7	–	3
Trine		3	–	3					6	–	4
Adrian		2	–	4					4	–	6
Kalamazoo		1	–	5					3	–	7
Albion		0	–	6					1	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division III playoff participant

Season Synopsis

The Comets won the MIAA conference title outright for the first time since 1974 and at least a share of the conference title for the second consecutive year and the first time since 1913-1914. The title was the twelfth in school history and the nine wins in the season tied the single season record set in 2015. The Comets also made an appearance in the 2016 NCAA College Football Playoffs for the second time in school history, the other in 2007. Olivet faced John Carroll University in the First Round and lost to the Blue Streaks 37-12.

Broadcasting

For another season, broadcasting for the Comets was done by 89.1 The One WOCR FM with play-by-play done by sports director Matt Scher and color analysis by Zach Sturgill. The games could be heard on the radio and on wocrfm.com. A first for Olivet Football, home games were broadcast on the Comet Sports Network produced by Visual Premier Productions, LLC. with audio simulcasted from WOCR's broadcast. The Comet Sports Network broadcasts were streamed through YouTube.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	1:00 p.m.	at St. John Fisher*	Growney Stadium Pitsford, NY	Radio: WOCR	L 52–10	2,566
September 12	1:00 p.m.	Emhurst*	Cutler Athletic Complex Olivet, MI	Comet Sports Network Radio: WOCR	W 27–13	1,005
September 17	2:00 p.m.	at Wisconsin Lutheran*	Raabe Stadium Milwaukee, WI	Radio: WOCR	W 30–7	538
October 1	6:00 p.m.	at Hope	Ray & Sue Smith Stadium Holland, MI	Radio: WOCR	W 15–13	1,874
October 8	2:00 p.m.	Kalamazoo	Cutler Athletic Complex Olivet, MI	Comet Sports Network Radio: WOCR	W 35–6	6,175
October 17	1:00 p.m.	at Albion	Sprankle-Sprandel Stadium Albion, MI	Radio: WOCR	W 31–14	3,522
October 22	1:00 p.m.	Benedictine*	Cutler Athletic Complex Olivet, MI	Comet Sports Network Radio: WOCR	W 54–48 OT	1,085
October 29	1:00 p.m.	Alma	Cutler Athletic Complex Olivet, MI	Comet Sports Network Radio: WOCR	W 36–30	2,005
November 5	1:00 p.m.	at Adrian	Docking Stadium Adrian, MI	Radio: WOCR	W 44–37	2,775
November 12	1:00 p.m.	Trine	Cutler Athletic Complex Olivet, MI	Comet Sports NetworK Radio: WOCR	W 44–27	4,025
November 19	12:05 p.m.	at No. 6 John Carroll	Don Shula Stadium University Heights, OH (2016 NCAA Division III First Round)	Radio: WOCR	L 37–12	1,926
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time