DAVIDSON, N.C. – The 36^th all-time meeting in the rivalry between the Presbyterian College football team and the Davidson Wildcats is all set for this Saturday. Kickoff in North Carolina will occur at 1:00 tomorrow in the annual Battle for the 1919 Cup.

Sitting at 8-1 for the fourth time in school history and hoping to knock off Davidson for the first time since the abbreviated spring 2021 campaign, Presbyterian looks to stay in stride with Drake in the PFL standings as three games remain.

The Blue Hose have won five straight in the month of November, nearing their third-ever double-digit win season. A victory over the Wildcats would be the 90^th career win for head coach Steve Englehart and his 20^th at PC.

A brief two-hour trip, the Scotsmen will aim for their fifth conference win of the season (a number they have not reached in four years with the Pioneer League). Presby's last season with five conference W's was back in 2006, then as a member of Division II.


 
GAMEDAY CENTRAL

 
WHO: #23/25 Presbyterian (8-1, 4-1) at Davidson (1-8, 0-5)

WHERE: Davidson College Stadium (Davidson, N.C.)

WHEN: Saturday, November 8 | 1:00 PM


 
FOLLOW THE ACTION

 
WATCH: ESPN+

LIVE STATS: SideArm

X (FORMERLY TWITTER): @BlueHoseFB

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


 
TWO DECADES IN THE MAKING

 
 • Presbyterian is in possession of its best nine-game record since the team's Division I transition in the late 2000's. Sporting an 8-1 mark for the fourth time in school history, PC rebounded from their first loss of 2025 last week in a 43-14 cruiser against Valparaiso at home.

• Coach Englehart's unit has just one loss through nine games for the first time in 20 years, only two victories away from their third-ever double-digit win season.

• 1959, 1979, and 2005 were the only other times that the Blue Hose boasted an 8-1 record or better. Overall, PC has won 12 of its last 13 matchups and eight of its last nine PFL contests.

• The Scotsmen will look to start a new road streak after the Dayton defeat two weeks ago, as they had won their past five road bouts going into that day (at the time, tied with Harvard for the longest active road streak in FCS).

• PC's last season with 10 or more victories (2005) ended with a berth in the Division II Playoffs. By winning out and also getting a bit of help in the Pioneer Football League standings, PC would return to the postseason for the first time in the D-I era.


 
RANKINGS UPDATE

 
 • The Blue Hose continue to make history each Monday, becoming the first PFL institution since 2009 to be ranked in both the AFCA Coaches Poll and the Stats Perform FCS Poll simultaneously for six consecutive weeks.

• Having risen as high as #16 in the AFCA rankings, Presbyterian is now #23 in that particular poll. They did not move in the Stats Perform poll following the Valpo blowout, staying at #25.

• PC is receiving 115 points in the AFCA poll, only five fewer than Youngstown State who is next in line. The Blue Hose are the only one-loss team in the country that is ranked lower than 13^th.

• Meanwhile, Presby has 113 points in the Stats Perform poll, just ahead of Northern Arizona and Alabama State for the 25^th spot.

• The closest one-loss team in relation to PC is #12 Mercer, a school whose only defeat all season was against the Blue Hose in the season-opener (15-10).


 
RACE FOR THE PFL TITLE

 
• Approaching Week 11, the Blue Hose are the only team capable of stopping Drake from achieving a Pioneer Football League three-peat. The Bulldogs and PC are 1^st and 2^nd respectively in the conference standings, with four two-loss teams behind them.

• Two objectives must be met in order for Presbyterian to gain at least a share of the PFL Championship:

 
- Win the remaining three games of the regular season (at Davidson, at St. Thomas, and back home versus Marist).

- Drake must lose at least one of their three remaining games (vs St. Thomas, at Dayton, and vs Morehead State).

 
• Further complicating the situation is the fact that PC does not play Drake this year, meaning that tiebreaker scenarios may come into play if the Blue Hose and Bulldogs finish with the same conference record and thus remain tied for 1^st.

• Should Presby and Drake become co-champions, the deciding factor could be the final records of Stetson and San Diego. Stetson is the only other PFL team that Drake does not play, while San Diego is the only other PFL team that PC does not play.

• The Pioneer Football League has declared a regular-season champion every year since 1993. There have been co-champs on 10 occasions, most recently in 2021 between Davidson and San Diego.


 
OPPONENT PROFILE

 
• Creating the "Carolina Border Clash" moniker four years ago and introducing the Battle for the 1919 Cup (recognizing the first season that these two schools met), the 2025 edition of the PC-Davidson rivalry has plenty at stake.

• Remarkably, this weekend will be the first time in 84 years that a nationally-ranked opponent has competed against Davidson on the Wildcats' campus. This last happened in November of 1941 against then-#4 Duke.

• One of the more consistent PFL programs over the past decade, Davidson has entered a rebuilding phase after the departure of head coach Scott Abell to Rice last winter.

• It's been a bumpy first season for new director Saj Thakkar, as the Wildcats have yet to win a conference meeting and are enduring a five-game losing streak.

• Davidson was bested by Morehead State in their last appearance by four points, their lone victory occurring over Greensboro College back in September.

• Quickly moving locations due to Hurricane Helene, last year's matchup between PC and Davidson had a helter-skelter feel to it. The Blue Hose trimmed a 35-6 second-quarter deficit down to 10, but would eventually fall 48-37.


 
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 fifth among the 129 FCS starters with 22 touchdown passes on the year. He is responsible for 152 total points, the ninth most in America.

• His QB efficiency calculator comes out to 174.3, which ranks eighth nationally. He surpassed 2,000 passing yards this season while completing 14 straight last Saturday against Valpo.

• A native of Florida, Hurst has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 11 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.


 
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 sixth-lowest points-per-game total in America (16).

• Quarterbacks that go up against the Blue Hose defense often have a rough afternoon. Over nine games, PC's opponents have a combined QB efficiency rating of 104. That is the third lowest number in all of FCS, trailing only Harvard and Tarleton State.

• Defensive Coordinator Dan Owen's unit has compiled 11 interceptions already, the sixth-most in the nation. Opponents have successfully moved the chains on third down just 30 percent of the time against the Blue Hose, good for 7^th 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 63 tackles for a loss and 22 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).