INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Two weeks removed from the program's biggest victory of the Pioneer Football League (PFL) regime, the Presbyterian College football team preps for the lone school in the division they've yet to face since joining the conference in 2021: the Butler Bulldogs.
Flying to Indianapolis for a never-before-seen clash that will also serve as the '23 PFL opener, PC's Saturday showdown in the Hoosier State capital is primed for 1:00 PM with a live broadcast from Flo Sports.
Enjoying an extra week to revel in the 23-20 triumph against Wofford back on September 16, Presbyterian and second-year head coach
Steve Englehart will engage in eight consecutive weeks of pure PFL action, flip-flopping from home to away designations in each of those contests.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Presbyterian (2-1) at Butler (3-1, 1-0)
WHERE: Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl (Indianapolis, Ind.)
WHEN: Saturday, September 30 | 1:00 PM
FOLLOW THE ACTION
WATCH: Flo Sports
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast Live Stats
TWITTER: @BlueHoseFtball
GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes |
Butler Notes |
PFL Notes
First-Time-Ever PFL Feat
• PC accomplished Pioneer Football League history in a 23-20 triumph at Wofford during their last encounter, solidifying the first time ever that any school affiliated with the PFL earned a win over a SoCon opponent.
• By taking down the Terriers with a game-winning 76-yard touchdown drive that punctuated with 28 seconds on the clock, the Blue Hose achieved their first W over Wofford since 1994 and put an end to a 12-game losing skid in road meetings.
Englehart Homecoming
• Second-year head coach
Steve Englehart will be headed back to old roots on Saturday in PC's inaugural visit to Indianapolis. Graduating from nearby Indiana State in Terre Haute, Englehart was a quarterback for the Sycamores and finished his playing career as a three-time GTE
Scholar-Athlete award winner.
• Receiving a health education degree in 2000, Englehart ventured to become the youngest head coach in all of NCAA when he was hired at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (another university located in Terre Haute). He directed the Fightin' Engineers to four straight seasons with at least six wins, including a 2007 campaign that ended in a 7-3 mark (the program's highest win count over the prior 13 years).
• Englehart returned to his alma mater at Indiana State in 2010 for one season as offensive coordinator, guiding a squad that finished 14th in the nation in scoring after tallying a school-record 351 points.
Opponent Profile
• The lone school in the Pioneer Football League to boast three wins, Butler comes into Saturday's feature with a 28-18 victory over Stetson in the first weekend of conference play.
• Winners of three in a row after assuming a five-game winning streak in 2022, the Bulldogs possess a high-octane offense led by quarterback Bret Bushka (62% completion rate, 700 yards, five touchdowns), and running back Jyran Mitchell (63 carries, 492 yards, six TD's).
• Landing over 1,500 total yards in four games (34 points per contest), Butler head coach Mike Uremovich has immediately made an impression in only his second season, achieving a win percentage of 66% (10 wins beside only five L's).
Last Time Out
• It was a landmark performance by Englehart's Blue Hose in the aforementioned stunner against Wofford, setting numerous individual highs and leading for nearly the entire contest.
• Sophomore QB
Tyler Wesley engineered his most complete evening calling the shots, lofting a 66-yard touchdown to
Deverious Abercrombie on the team's first offensive snap and never slowing down from there.
• The second-year starter compiled 309 yards of total offense, 117 of them through the air to senior tight end
Worth Warner (career-highs in both those areas from both players).
• Warner was the one to snare the game-clinching TD with less than a minute remaining, ending a tension-filled series that saw the Blue Hose convert three different fourth-down scenarios with the game in the balance.
Mikko – PFL Special Teams POTW
• Converting three field goals and accounting for 11 points in the monster W over Wofford, freshman kicker
Mack Mikko was named the PFL Special Teams Player of the Week on Sept. 17.
• The first of those kicks landed from 41 yards out in the 2nd quarter, the longest make by a PC player since the 2017 season.
• One would have to go back 13 years to October 23, 2010 to find the last time that a Blue Hose kicker landed three FG's in the same outing (a 26-24 victory at Gardner-Webb).
Mastery at the Line of Scrimmage
• The Blue Hose were simply sensational at denying the run during a 31-point runaway against Virginia-Lynchburg on September 9, limiting the Dragons to -8 yards on the ground. That gargantuan number lands as a school record.
• Over the first two full weeks of NCAA Football, no team at either the FCS or FBS levels claimed fewer than -8 rushing yards conceded in a single game.
• A huge contributor to that elite pushback, the Blue Hose gathered seven sacks in the win that reversed VUL for a total of 42 yards. Thus far, it's the third-highest number of sacks in a sole game during the '23 slate, and also the third-highest in PC's Division I history.
