BOO! Butler

The 2026 edition of Homecoming for the Presbyterian College football team has an extra layer of spice, falling on Halloween as the Blue Hose welcome a stout Butler opponent to town on Saturday.

Kickoff at Bailey Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m. as PC looks to extend their program-record 11-game home winning streak. Homecoming is sponsored by Self Regional Healthcare.

ESPN+ will be covering the action as teams around the Pioneer Football League try to scratch and claw their way up the standings. Since becoming conference opponents earlier this decade, Presbyterian and Butler have played three times with each outcome settled by 10 points or less.

The Scotsmen have not been defeated on their home turf in well over 700 days, as tomorrow’s matchup puts two teams that have combined for six PFL wins against each other.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL

WHO: Presbyterian (4-4, 3-2) vs. Butler (6-2, 3-1)

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

WHEN: Saturday, October 31 | 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 | Butler Notes | PFL Weekly Report

BEST IN SHOW

• Despite a 24-7 setback at Valparaiso last weekend, Presbyterian remains the most consistent team in the Pioneer Football League over the past 24 months statistically.
• Since October of 2024, the Blue Hose have maintained a 13-4 record against conference opponents. That's one game better than San Diego and three-time defending PFL champion Drake for the best mark in the league over that time span.
• Year one for head coach Matt Rahl has included a three-game Pioneer League winning streak over St. Thomas, Davidson, and Stetson, stacking up 140 total points in those contests.
• Currently, PC ranks inside the nationwide top 30 for total first downs (183), rushing yards per game (179), and total yards per game (415). All of those numbers rank inside the PFL top three.
• With three games still left on the docket, Presbyterian has already achieved three Offensive Player of the Week awards from the PFL (the program's most in a sole season since joining the conference at the start of the decade).
• Landon Sharpe owns two of those honors after wins against UVA Wise and St. Thomas, while Jackson Burleson earned the most recent thanks to a career-best 171 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns during a wild victory at Stetson.

ELEVEN IS HEAVEN

• Dating all the way back to 2024, Presbyterian is riding an active home winning streak of 11 games.
• That is tied for the third-longest current home winning streak among the 128 college football teams who compete at the FCS level. When factoring in FBS schools, that streak is tied for sixth.
• PC's 11-game home winning streak is tied with BYU and New Mexico. The only other FCS programs who have a longer active streak are Montana State and Stephen F. Austin.
• Presbyterian's triumph over Davidson in the Carolina Border Clash rivalry set a new all-time program record with their 11^th straight win at Bailey Memorial Stadium. The only other time that PC won 10 straight at home was a four-year period from 1963-66.
• PC's current 11-game streak is their longest since 1980, which topped out at eight games. Over the years, the Blue Hose have accomplished eight separate streaks of at least eight straight home wins. Three of those streaks occurred in the 1970's.
• Since October 19, 2024 (the last time that PC was defeated at home), every single PFL institution has lost on their own turf at least three times apiece.
• Each of PC's victories in the 11-game home winning streak (listed in order of most recent):

- Oct. 10, 2026 - Def. Davidson, 38-21

- Oct. 3, 2026 - Def. St. Thomas, 55-21

- Aug. 27, 2026 - Def. UVA Wise, 47-37

- Nov. 22, 2025 - Def. Marist, 29-25

- Nov. 1, 2025 - Def. Valparaiso, 43-14

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

- Sep. 27, 2025 - Def. Morehead St., 41-0

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

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

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

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

SPOOKY SZN STATS

• Saturday marks the first appearance for Blue Hose football on Halloween day since 2015 (a four-point setback against Gardner-Webb at home).
• Presbyterian has played 15 games on October 31^st all-time, sporting an 8-6-1 mark in those contests. Their first-ever Halloween game took place over a century ago: a 6-6 tie at Clemson in 1914.
• PC's last Halloween victory took place against Wingate in 1998, a 45-17 result that helped the Scotsmen finish the season 7-1 in their last eight games.
• The Blue Hose have posted a 5-2 combined record over the last two years in the month of October. That includes a 31-25 seesaw at Butler last season, helping PC begin the campaign 7-0 and rise as high as #16 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.

WATCH YOUR SIX

• The race for the 2026 Pioneer Football League Championship only got more crowded last weekend, as six teams now possess three conference wins with four weeks of action still ahead.
• It's a four-way tie for the number one spot going into Halloween: Dayton, Butler, St. Thomas, and Marist are all 3-1. Presbyterian and Valparaiso are narrowly behind at 3-2 apiece.
• All six institutions who presently have three PFL wins also have at least one loss to another of the six teams in the vicinity (except for Dayton, whose lone defeat came at the hands of Drake).
• Marist was the only team in the league without a PFL loss until they were beaten by St. Thomas in Poughkeepsie. This guarantees the third consecutive season that the conference champ will have at least one PFL loss on their record and the fifth time since 2020.
• 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.
• Presbyterian finished in a tie for 2^nd place in the PFL standings last season based on a 6-2 league mark, their best record in divisional play since 2005 when they were a member of the Division II Gulf South Conference (7-0).

OPPONENT PROFILE

• Reloading quite well after the departure of head coach Mike Uremovich to Ball State two years ago, Butler has won 12 games under the leadership of Kevin Lynch and sports a 5-1 mark in their last six efforts.
• One of Butler's two losses this year came at then-#1 Montana State, while the other was an offensive letdown versus Dayton earlier this month. The Bulldogs rebounded with a 33-21 triumph at Drake last Saturday.
• That result puts Butler in a four-way tie with Dayton, St. Thomas, and Marist for the top spot in the PFL standings. They are allowing just 21 points per game overall, the second-lowest number in the conference.
• None of the 128 teams at the FCS level have a better defense against the run than Butler, giving up only 89 yards per game on the ground. Each of their last three opponents have failed to reach the century mark in that category, including preseason PFL favorite San Diego who only mustered 13 rushing yards in a 41-10 Indianapolis beatdown.
• Butler is one of three Division I teams who have not yet lost a fumble in eight games. The only others who can say the same are the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Northern Colorado.
• Bulldog QB Gabe Passini holds the second-best pass efficiency rating in the Pioneer League (140.3). His favorite target has certainly been senior Nick Munson, who leads the conference and ranks inside the FCS top 10 with seven touchdown receptions.
• Passini and running back Desmin Jackson are both inside the PFL top five for total rushing yards, going for over 1,000 between them.
• Junior kicker Beck Janki possesses more points than any other individual in the Pioneer League (63). He has made all 30 PAT attempts next to 11 field goals.
• Each of the last two times that Butler has locked up with Presbyterian, the result was one of the best games in the PFL that year. The Bulldogs visited Bailey Memorial with a #23 ranking for the 2024 finale, losing by a 30-27 count which was PC's first win over a nationally-ranked opponent in 10 years. Then-senior Quante Jennings ended his career with a personal-best 190 yards on just 15 carries.
• Last year's edition of PC vs. Butler in Indy was another barnburner, with the Blue Hose overcoming a 4^th-quarter deficit to win by six. Future FCS All-American tight end Nathan Levicki gave Presbyterian the lead for good with a 75-yard touchdown in the final minutes.

BALL’S OUT

• A unit that has only improved with each passing week, the PC defense is tied with eight others for the FCS lead in forced fumbles (nine).
• Butler is coincidentally one of those eight teams who has also caused nine fumbles, along with Houston Christian, Richmond, South Carolina State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, top-ranked Tarleton State, and Wofford.
• PC's nine caused fumbles have gone to eight separate players: Tymaries Durant, Debo Hall, Nick McGill, Luke Armstrong, Noah Taylor, Brock Feinberg, Levi Hoss, and Martez Jones.
• During the Valpo visit, the Blue Hose were responsible for two fumbles against the quarterback. The first was inside the red zone (prompting PC for a 91-yard touchdown drive right after), while the second spoiled an 11-yard gain on 3^rd-and-long.