The Presbyterian College football team heads to the Lowcountry this weekend to take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in a 1:30 p.m., contest in Charleston, S.C. PC earned its first Division I victory over the Bucs last season, 45-14. Since 2007 CSU owns a 4-1 mark, but overall, the Blue Hose are 13-6 since the first meeting, a 16-17 loss in 1993.
Charleston Southern is 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the Big South after defeating VMI, 32-14, last weekend. Leading The Bucs on the ground is Malcolm Dixon who is averaging 32.7 yards a game off 60 carries. Dixon leads CSU behind center as well, having gone 30-for-73 with six TDs in six games at QB. Catching the majority of the passes is Chase Jones, who has 12 catches for 198 yards and two TDs.
PC, 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the league, is coming off a 56-7 loss this past Saturday to Liberty. Leading the Blue Hose on the ground through seven games is Lance Byrd who is averaging 60.7 yards in 93 carries. Anderico Bailey paces the team in the air, having caught 28 passes for 258 yards for an average of 9.2 yards a catch. Tamyn Garrick is 68-for-135 with six interceptions. He has thrown for 775 yards with two TDs. Kaleb Griffin is 51-of-81 with two INTs and three TDs. Michael Ruff owns the All-Purpose yardage with 583 total yards, an 83.3 average per game. Donelle Williams leads the Blue Hose on the defensive side of the ball with 67 total tackles (31-36). He is followed by Cedric Byrd with 41 (30-11) in six games. Bryson Brindle leads in sacks with 4.5.
The game will be televised live on ESPN3 as part of the Big South Game of the Week.
Extra Points
Highlighting the Liberty game was the solid performance by Kaleb Griffin, who made his first start at quarterback ... He went 28-for-38 for 194 yards, all career highs ... He threw his third touchdown in as many games with a 32-yard pass to Michael Ruff ... It was a career-long reception for Ruff as well ... Patrick Morgano also hit a career-long 69-yard punt against the Flames ... It was good enough to put among the honorable mentions of the College Football Performance Awards Performers of the Week ...
The Blue Hose fell to VMI in Lynchburg, Va. two weeks ago by a 17-7 score ... PC was held to 45 yards of total offense in the first half, but rallied in the fourth quarter with a 23-yard touchdown catch by Jeremiah McKie ... PC ran out of time, however, as VMI came away with the win ...
Several long plays led to the win at Davidson Sept. 29 ... Mark Williams had a career-long 76-yard interception return that ended a promising Wildcat drive in the fourth, while L.J. Perry posted a 66-yard interception TD run in the first for PC's first score ... Michael Ruff caught a 45-yard pass that set up Demarcus Rouse's three-yard TD run in the third quarter that put PC ahead of Davidson, 14-13 ... Shawn Armstrong recorded a career-long 45 yard catch in the second quarter as well ...
PC's defense totaled 142 interception yards at Davidson, as L.J. Perry returned an INT 66 yards for a touchdown and Mark Williams added a 76-yard INT return later in the game ... According to the Big South It is the fourth-most interception return yards for a league team, while the 71.0 return average is the best for a Conference member in a game with at least two interceptions ... Williams' return is the fifth-longest in Big South history, while Perry's is tied for the 11th-longest ...
Bryson Brindle was named The Crons Brand Freshman of the Week after Sept. 29's game ... Of his career-high four solo tackles, three were sacks for a total of 29 yards ... He Had all three in the second half His second sack doomed a promising drive for Davidson ... The Wildcats advanced to the PC 14-yard line and a sack by Brindle put them at the 22-yard line with a fourth and nine ... the Wildcats forced a pass on fourth down and threw an interception ... His last sack of the game came during Davidson's last drive leading to a fourth and 24 for the Wildcats three plays later ...
Several other players were honored for their efforts against Davidson ... Bryson Brindle and L.J. Perry were honorable mentions in the College Football Performance Awards Performers of the Week, while Brindle was named a FCS Defensive Player of the Week by the Beyond Sports College Network (BSN) ...
Highlighting the PC effort again Furman was Arthur Williams who finished with over 100 receiving yards for the first time in his career ... He had 119 yards and had a career-long 43-yard reception that helped PC set up its third score ... His 38-yard catch led the Blue Hose in their second TD of the game ...
PC collected 270 passing yards against Furman, a season-high and most since recording 291 against Charleston Southern last season ... Few and far between, the time before that was the season-opening game against Wake Forest in 2010 where the Blue Hose came away with 292 ...
A couple of highlights against Vanderbilt included Joey Gilkey who caught a 29-yard reception in the second quarter, a career-long for the tight end ... Jordan Hallums also made his first career catch with a 21-yard reception in the first half, PC's second-longest pass of the day ... Chad Sanders also hit a career mark, with a 14-yard rush in the first quarter ...
One notable stat from the 59-3 loss to Georgia Tech was a 91-yard fumble return by Branden Leston ... He recovered a fumble at the PC goal line and ran it back to the Georgia Tech nine-yard line ... Leston's return set a new Division I record for longest recovery, eclipsing a Chetyuane Reeder 78-yarder set in 2007 against Charleston Southern ...
The Blue Hose recovered three fumbles, the most lost fumbles for the Yellow Jackets since giving up a trio in the 2010 Independence Bowl against Air Force ...
Lance Byrd needed just 11 rushing attempts to reach 400 for his career, he surpassed that mark with 18 at Georgia Tech ... Michael Ruff reached a milestone on the team's first drive against Georgia Tech, hauling in a 19-yard reception to push him over 1,000 career receiving yards ...
The 45-10 win over Brevard marked the first time the Blue Hose have won their season-opening game since a 10-0 victory over West Georgia in 2006, its last year in NCAA Division II ... The margin of victory, 35 points, was the largest since a 62-10 win over Chowan in 2007 ...
Against Brevard the Blue Hose returned the game's opening kick-off for a touchdown, marking just the second time PC has scored off a kick return ...
Demarcus Rouse recorded three rushing TDs in the game against Brevard ... his three TDs were not only personal records, but they tied PC's Division I single-game record for most rushing TDs, as well as most total TDs ... Rouse's 18 points is tied for first as well in most points in a game ...
Cedric Byrd ran back five punts for 33 yards against the Tornados ... the five punt returns broke PC's Division I record for most in a single game ...
In a game of records, the four rushing TDs against Brevard is tied for second in PC Division I record books ... With Lance Byrd's 109 rushing yards against the Tornados he became the first PC player in Division I history to break the 2,000-career yard mark, finishing the game with 2,058 ... he is already the school's leading rusher ... With 2,715 yards he is just 375 yards from catching teammate Michael Ruff for the all-purpose yardage record ... Ruff has 3,090 ...
Michael Ruff led off the 2012 season with a bang, returning the opening kick-off 92 yards for a touchdown ... It was the longest in PC's Division I history and the first score from the opening kick for the Blue Hose ... It was the second kick-off returned for a TD by PC in PC's Division I history ... Ruff finished with over 100 all-purpose yards for the game (109), earning him College Football Performance Awards National Kickoff Returner of the Week, as well as Big South Special Teams Player of the Week ...
Record Watch
Several players are close to career milestones at PC ... With 18 at Georgia Tech, Lance Byrd reached 400 rushing attempts for his career, he has 469 currently, just 31 from 500 ... He is already first on the list ... With 19 yards at Vanderbilt Michael Ruff eclipsed 1,000 career pass reception yards ... With 1,132 he is just 78 from moving to second in that category ... He also needs five receiving TDs to become the PC Division I leader, and only 25 receptions to take that top spot ... His 13 total TDs is tied for third, just four away from the top spot ... Anderico is third in career pass receptions with 90 .. With 105 total points, kicker Aaron Mayes is just 2 points from second in career total points scored ... Ruff has 81 kick returns, which is tops ... Justin Bethel may hold the career mark for interceptions but Antarius Terrell is closing in with five of his own ... Cedric Byrd is second on the pass breakup career list, just two from Bethel's 16 ...
This Day in PC Football History
The Blue Hose have played in 11 October 20th games ... According to PC archives, the second PC football game ever was played on Oct. 20, 1913 ... PC Bailey Military and won 20-0 ... PC is 8-2-1 in games on this day, the last coming in 2007 as the team beat Coastal Carolina 41-34 ...
2007 - Coastal Carolina, W 41-34
2001 - Wingate, W 41-19
1990 - Mars Hill, W 27-24
1984 - Mars Hill, W 19-14
1979 - Mars Hill, W 34-6
1973 - Guilford, W 37-6
1962 - Tampa, L 0-10
1956 - Tampa, L 7-19
1939 - Stetson, T 12-12
1917 - Wofford, W 7-6
1913 - Bailey Military, W 20-0
On the Road
Since moving to Division I in 2007, the road has not been kind to the Blue Hose ... In six seasons PC is 4-32 away from Bailey Memorial Stadium ... Some of the opponents PC has faced on the road include California, Wake Forest, Clemson, Old Dominion and Southern Conference powers Appalachian State, Furman and Wofford ... This season PC has lost at Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt before earning the 21-13 win at Davidson ... It was PC's first win on the road since a 41-34 victory over Coastal Carolina in 2007 ...
