PC Football aims to push win streak to four at Valparaiso

VALPARAISO, Ind. – The deadliest offense in the PFL hopes to obtain their fourth consecutive conference win this weekend, as the Presbyterian College football team engages with Valparaiso on Saturday. Kickoff on ESPN+ is scheduled for 1:00 eastern standard time (noon local).

PC has compiled 140 total points over the last three games, which includes a rambunctious road victory over Stetson in their last appearance. Saturday will be just the fourth all-time meeting between these two foes.

The Scotsmen are near the top of the Pioneer League food chain with four games remaining on their schedule, sitting at 3-1 in conference competition. Presby is statistically the winningest team in the PFL since October of 2024.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL

WHO: Presbyterian (4-3, 3-1) at Valparaiso (3-4, 2-2)

WHERE: Brown Field (Valparaiso, Ind.)

WHEN: Saturday, October 24 | 1:00 PM EST

FOLLOW THE ACTION

WATCH: ESPN+

LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast

X (FORMERLY TWITTER): @BlueHoseFB

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

SHOOTOUT IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

• The Blue Hose were involved in the wildest game of the Matt Rahl era last Saturday in Florida, outgunning Stetson 47-43 to win their third consecutive Pioneer Football League game.
• A grand total of 51 points were scored in the 4^th quarter alone, resulting in six lead changes over the last eight minutes and five touchdowns in the final five minutes.
• Presbyterian zoomed 65 yards on just three snaps with under a minute on the clock, enabling them to beat the Hatters for the third year in a row. Freshman wideout Anton Smith devoured all but two yards of that series on back-to-back receptions, leaving it up to Jackson Burleson to finish the drive with a short touchdown run.
• The 90 combined points made it the highest-scoring PFL contest involving the Blue Hose since 2021 (a 65-55 doozy at Valparaiso). PC produced either a field goal or a touchdown on six of their seven drives in the second half.
• By virtue of a Drake loss to Marist, Presbyterian now owns the best record of any school in the Pioneer League over their last 16 conference games (13-3).
• Rahl's offense has manufactured excellent numbers during this three-game PFL winning streak, collecting over 1,500 total yards and 20 touchdowns.

BURLESON THE BULLDOZER

• Fifth-year running back Jackson Burleson has been a nightmare for defenders to try and bring down over the last two weeks, combining for 307 all-purpose yards and six touchdowns in wins against Davidson and Stetson.
• He was selected as the Pioneer League Offensive Player of the Week after the Stetson victory, touching the ball 28 times and recording a new personal-best 171 yards.
• In PC's last two drives against the Hatters (where they were trailing on both occasions), Burleson nabbed a game-long 45-yard catch and scored two of his three touchdowns.
• The California native recorded nine plays that either moved the chains or reached the end zone against Stetson, averaging six yards per touch along the way.
• Burleson and his backfield mate, Damion Moate, have been a terrific 1-2 punch for the Blue Hose rushing attack. They have added up for 718 yards on the ground this season (both inside the Pioneer League top ten), racking up 13 touchdowns between them.
• Sixty percent of Burleson's total yards this season have come in the last two games. He and quarterback Landon Sharpe have won PFL Offensive Player of the Week three times already, the most in a single year that Presby has acquired since joining the conference at the start of the decade.

OPPONENT PROFILE

• Perhaps the most improved team in the Pioneer Football League, Valparaiso was picked last in the preseason coaches’ poll but is on pace to outperform those projections comfortably thanks to a couple of conference wins.
• Under the direction of head coach Andy Waddle, the Beacons have already surpassed their win total from his debut season a year ago thanks to consecutive PFL victories over Morehead State (37-3) and Drake (21-13).
• That signified the first time since 2023 that Valpo acquired two straight wins in conference play, being chosen as the Stats Perform FCS National Team of the Week after the upset over Drake (who has won the last three conference titles and had their 15-game PFL road winning streak snapped).
• Valparaiso's momentum was cut off by San Diego on the west coast last Saturday, dropping a 38-13 decision and producing just 55 rushing yards.
• Fifth-year quarterback Rowan Keefe controls the Valpo offense with over 1,200 passing yards and 10 touchdowns next to just three interceptions. The San Diego loss was the only time all year that he did not record a TD through the air.
• The Beacons boast possibly the most dangerous punt returner in the country: redshirt-senior receiver Chris Gundy who was voted a Phil Steele Midseason All-American at that position.
• Gundy has compiled a ridiculous 283 yards on 12 punt returns, taking three of them all the way for a touchdown. That includes a 95-yard score during the blowout over Morehead State, which broke a 60-year old school record.
• In fact, Valpo has four punt returns for a touchdown overall (Bertrand Berry added another earlier in the year). That has already broken the all-time Pioneer League record for a single season. Jacksonville was the most recent team to return three punts for a touchdown back when they were a conference member in 2008.
• Max Samuel is the go-to guy on the de­fensive end for the Beacons, an individual who has amassed 6.5 sacks and eight quarterback pressures. His 15 tackles-for-a-loss are tied for the most of any linebacker in all of Division I (counting FBS).
• Presbyterian pounded Valpo last season on their home turf by a 43-14 count, part of a historic 10-win season. PC has not made the trip to Brown Field in five years. During their last visit in 2021, then-junior wideout Jalen Jones set numerous program records with six catches for 239 yards and five touchdowns in a chaotic loss that featured 120 combined points.

RACE FOR THE CROWN

• The pursuit of the 2026 Pioneer Football League Championship is beginning to heat up with five weeks of action left, as PC and Marist occupy the top two spots in the current conference standings.
• Eight of the 11 schools in the PFL have at least two league wins at this stage of the season, but Presby and Marist are the only ones who are a step above with three wins. The Red Foxes defeated PC in the conference opener back on September 26.
• Dayton, Butler, and St. Thomas are right on PC's heels with 2-1 PFL records. The Blue Hose stomped the Tommies three weeks ago, and they'll play the Flyers and the Bulldogs both at Bailey Memorial Stadium in the near future.
• 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).

WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST…

• No team in the Pioneer League holds a better percentage on both 3^rd and 4^th down snaps than Coach Rahl's unit, a key piece to their recent success.
• PC ranks 13th nationally with a 46% conversion rate on 3^rd down plays, while their 58% mark on 4^th down also registers as the most efficient statistic in the conference.
• Throughout the team's three-game streak, Presbyterian has moved the chains 25 times out of 47 attempts on 3^rd down (53 percent).
• More impressively, the Blue Hose have failed to convert a 4^th down gamble just once in their last seven tries. That includes a perfect 4-of-4 rate in the victory over Davidson two weeks ago.

WE NOAH GUY

• A preseason Phil Steele Magazine All-Pioneer League cornerback, senior Noah Taylor has lived up to that billing with 10 pass breakups in seven games.
• That's the most of any player in the conference and tied for the second-highest number in all of FCS. He needs just three more deflections to equal the nationwide leader in that department (North Dakota's Grant Noland).
• Taylor tormented St. Thomas to help begin Presby's three-game winning streak, batting down four passes which is tied for the most of any FCS player in a single game this season (Montana State's Takhari Carr is the only one who can match it).
• Furthermore, those four breakups equaled the single-game PC Division-I record that was first set by Rod Haygood in a 2018 matchup against Gardner-Webb.
• The Fresno native snared his first interception of the campaign during the Stetson win, setting up the Blue Hose in the red zone where they would go on to take a 14-0 lead.