CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College football team looks to steer the ship back in the right direction on Saturday afternoon following their first loss in over a full calendar year, entertaining Valparaiso at Bailey Memorial Stadium.

Kickoff in Clinton will take place at one o'clock and will be streamed live via ESPN+. Presby currently sits at 7-1 and will aim for their seventh straight W when competing at home.

Tomorrow is Military and First Responders Appreciation Day. Miniature American flags will be distributed to the first 500 fans in attendance.

WPCC (96.5 FM, 1410 AM) will be broadcasting live at the tailgating area from 10:00 AM leading up until kickoff. Select PC coaches will be interviewed from this location, including Steve Englehart.

Inside the stadium, there will be numerous food trucks that will begin serving at 11:30 AM: Sweet Icy Delights, Beat the Heat Lemonade, The Dial Company, Mrs. V's Southern Kitchen, and Chick-Fil-A.

The race for the Pioneer Football League championship (and the automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs that comes with it) is heating up with four games left. Drake is the only team in the PFL without a conference loss, while PC, Dayton, and Butler all have just one each.


 
GAMEDAY CENTRAL

WHO: #22/25 Presbyterian (7-1, 3-1) vs. Valparaiso (1-7, 0-4)

WHERE: Bailey Memorial Stadium | Clinton, S.C.

WHEN: Saturday, November 1 | 1:00 PM

ADMISSION: BlueHoseTix.com

GAMEDAY PROTOCOL: Stadium Policies & Map

FLIP CARDS: Sponsored by Founders Federal Credit Union

CLEAR BAG POLICY: Handbag Code


 
FOLLOW THE ACTION

WATCH: ESPN+ (Gabriel Schray & Tim Webb)

LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast

X (FORMERLY TWITTER): @BlueHoseFB

GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes | Valparaiso Notes | PFL Weekly Report


 
BEST START SINCE '59

 
 • Presbyterian is off to its best eight-game record in 66 years, sporting a 7-1 resume which has not been seen by the program since 1959.

• The Blue Hose were a single win away from setting a new school record for greatest start to a season all-time, but fell short of that goal with a 35-19 defeat at Dayton last Saturday.

• Regardless of that result in Ohio, Presbyterian still controls their own destiny in a conference that has no clear front-runner with four games remaining.

• Head coach Steve Englehart's crew had won five straight road games before dropping the Dayton bout, a number that was tied with Harvard for the longest road winning streak in FCS.

• PC's 7-0 start included consecutive wins over #11 Mercer and Furman (the last two SoCon champions), a 41-0 blowout over Morehead State in the PFL opener, and a 31-25 classic at Butler.

• The Scotsmen saw their seven-game conference winning streak come to an end against Dayton, their first loss in 171 days.


 
RANKINGS UPDATE

 
 • Presbyterian remains ranked in both the AFCA Coaches Poll (#22) and the FCS Stats Perform Poll (#25), the first team from the Pioneer Football League to be included in both rankings simultaneously since 2018.

• Coach Englehart's squad had reached as high as #16 in the AFCA Poll prior to the Dayton loss. That's the highest that any PFL school had gotten since 2009.

• PC is receiving 99 points in the AFCA rankings, which is 10 better than Stephen F. Austin and nine fewer than #21 Northern Arizona.

• In the Stats Perform Poll, the Blue Hose are receiving 107 points and are ahead of 13 other schools that are collecting at least one vote.


 
OPPONENT PROFILE

 
• One of five Pioneer League institutions with a first-year head coach, Andy Waddle has been forced to navigate some rough waters in his debut year at Valparaiso.

• The Beacons own the longest active losing streak in the conference (seven games), not tasting a W since the opening weekend against Virginia-Lynchburg.

• Valpo has gone up against some of the best that the PFL has to offer, with PC being their third opponent that has one loss or fewer in conference competition.

• It was an offensive hassle when the Beacons took the field last week, hosting Morehead State and falling short 17-13. After MSU took the lead early in the 3rd, neither team scored at all over the last 28 minutes of action.

• Valparaiso has been held to less than 20 points in five consecutive attempts as Waddle looks to rebuild, unsuccessful on the road in four tries this year.

• Presbyterian has gone up against Valpo twice since joining the PFL in 2020, with this being the first matchup between the two in three years.

• The Beacons came to Clinton in Englehart's first campaign and walked away with a 41-21 victory back in 2022. PC was outscored 27-0 in the second half on that day, although Valpo is a mere 10-27 since that afternoon at Bailey Stadium.


 
ELEVEN IN A ROW

 
• At the time of PC's loss to Dayton, their 11-game winning streak was the same length as both national champions in Division I: Ohio State and North Dakota State.

• Far and away the longest winning streak in program history, the Blue Hose managed to go over an entire calendar year with only W's. This includes the last four games of 2024 and the first seven of this ongoing campaign.

• The Blue Hose averaged 39 points per game over the course of that 11-game streak, giving up just 15 per game on the other end.

• Presby won in five different states as they quickly rose up the FCS ladder, one of only eight teams in the country who were undefeated going into Week 9.

• PC became the last unbeaten Division I college in the entire state of South Carolina, lasting longer than three FBS teams in the Palmetto and five others at the FCS level.


 
PARTY LIKE IT'S '99

 
• A win against Valparaiso would denote Presbyterian's seventh consecutive victory at Bailey Memorial Stadium. PC has not won seven straight in Clinton this century, last accomplishing that feat in 1999.

• The last time that the Blue Hose went a full season without losing at home was their first year as a Division I program: 2007 (three games).

• Only Valpo and Marist stand in the way of PC's first undefeated home record with at least six games since 1998.


• PC's previous six home victories (listed in order of most recent):

- Def. Stetson, 42-7 (Oct. 18, 2025)

- Def. Morehead State, 41-0 (Sep. 27, 2025)

- Def. Bluefield, 76-3 (Sep. 20, 2025)

- Def. Erskine, 42-14 (Sep. 13, 2025)

- Def. #23 Butler, 30-27 (Nov. 23, 2024)

- Def. Dayton, 28-7 (Nov. 2, 2024)


 
FURIOUS DEFENSE


• A huge factor in PC's fantastic start has been the play of their experienced and deep defensive class. They are allowing the seventh-lowest points-per-game total in America (16).

• Quarterbacks that go up against the Blue Hose defense often have a rough afternoon. Over eight games, PC's opponents have a combined QB efficiency rating of 98.8. That is the second-lowest number in all of FCS, trailing only Tarleton State.

• Defensive Coordinator Dan Owen's unit has compiled 11 interceptions already, the fourth-most in the nation. Opponents have successfully moved the chains just 30 percent of the time against the Blue Hose, good for 6th in FCS.

• It took Presbyterian's opponents six whole games to muster up a single point in the 4th quarter. Furthermore, no one scored a 4th-quarter touchdown versus PC until their seventh appearance (which was already a 35-0 differential against Stetson when it happened).

• PC has tallied 51 tackles for a loss and 17 sacks, led by senior linebacker Boyce Bankhead's 65 stops.

• All-conference honoree Caleb Francis has picked off four passes in 2025, thus becoming Presby's D-I-era leader (nine INT's for his career).


 
IN HURST WE TRUST

 
• The reigning PFL Offensive Freshman of the Year and a Jerry Rice Award finalist, second-year quarterback Collin Hurst has delivered exceptional statistics to aid PC's newsworthy season.

• Hurst ranks sixth among the 129 FCS starters with 20 touchdown passes on the year. He is responsible for 134 total points, the eighth most in America.

• His QB efficiency calculator comes out to 175.2, which ranks ninth nationally. He comes into the Valpo matchup needing just 42 passing yards to reach 2,000 for the season.

• A native of Florida, Hurst has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 10 straight outings. He tossed a career-high five TD's in an overtime barnburner at Furman earlier this year.

• Hurst has minimized mistakes during his time under center, ending the 2024 season without an interception in 135 consecutive passes.

• Collin had another long streak of zero turnovers earlier this year, throwing 98 passes in a row without committing an INT.


 
DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

 
• Presbyterian has featured a two-headed monster in the backfield to help them score 38 points per game, leaning on the talents of RB's Zach Switzer and Justin Montgomery.

• Those two have synced up for 1,113 rushing yards plus an additional 247 in the passing attack.

• Switzer and Montgomery have combined for 17 touchdowns at this stage of the season, with the former ranking 12th in the nation for all-purpose yards (1,012).

• Those two both surpassed the century mark in the PFL opener against Morehead State, while Montgomery became the first PC player since 2017 to score three rushing touchdowns in a single game versus Stetson.