Presbyterian College Athletics
After a five-week spell of road games / rest, the Presbyterian College football team will reopen the doors at Bailey Memorial Stadium this Saturday for a major PFL test against St. Thomas.
Initially scheduled for a 1:00 start, the game has since been pushed up one hour due to expected inclement weather. ESPN+ will be streaming tomorrow’s confrontation as PC looks to continue their longest home winning streak in 46 years.
Fans are encouraged to wear pink as Presbyterian initiates Cancer Awareness Day.
St. Thomas was a late victim of last year’s 10-2 record for the Blue Hose, with Saturday being just the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools.
Head coach Matt Rahl’s gang will look to shrug off a loss in the PFL opener to Marist last weekend, aiming to stop the Tommies’ recent momentum which includes a 33-point rout over San Diego six days back.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHO: Presbyterian (1-3) vs. (RV) St. Thomas (4-1)
WHERE: Bailey Memorial Stadium (Clinton, S.C.)
WHEN: Saturday, October 3 | 12:00 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 | St. Thomas Notes | PFL Weekly Report
ON CLOUD NINE
- Dating all the way back to 2024, Presbyterian is riding an active home winning streak of nine games.
- That is tied for the fifth-longest current home winning streak among the 128 college football teams who compete at the FCS level. When factoring in FBS schools, that streak remains inside the top 15 (tied for 12th).
- PC's nine-game home winning streak is tied with Alabama State, Austin Peay, BYU, James Madison, New Mexico, South Florida, Toledo, Tulane, UT Rio Grande Valley, and Yale. The only other FCS programs who have a longer active streak are Rhode Island, South Carolina State, Montana State, and Stephen F. Austin.
- Should Presby defeat St. Thomas, they will win their 10th consecutive home game for the second time in program history. They also won 10 straight at home from 1963-66.
- PC's current nine-game streak is their longest since 1980. 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), nine different PFL institutions have lost on their own turf at least three times each. The only school in the league other than Presbyterian who has lost less than three times at home in that span is Butler (two).
FUELED BY BAILEY
- Saturday marks 699 days since the Blue Hose were last beaten on their home field (an overtime loss to eventual PFL champion Drake back in 2024), aiming to tie the program's lengthiest all-time home winning streak with a win over St. Thomas.
- The Blue Hose have been largely unopposed throughout this nine-game Clinton winning streak, averaging 464 total yards of offense and 42 points per game during that sequence.
- Grabbing the win by an average margin of 28 points across this streak, six of those nine victories came over a Pioneer Football League opponent.
- PC kept up their Bailey Memorial success in their most recent appearance on August 27, a grind-it-out win against UVA Wise where they achieved 576 total yards (the team's most in a season opener since 2021).
- Sophomore quarterback Landon Sharpe made his first career start on that night, completing 30-of-43 passes for 367 yards and four total touchdowns. He was awarded the PFL Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
OPPONENT PROFILE
- Perhaps no team in the Pioneer League made a louder statement than St. Thomas in the first weekend of conference play, hosting San Diego (who was ranked #1 in the preseason PFL coaches poll) and torching the Toreros for a 50-17 beatdown.
- Led by the longest-tenured head coach in the conference (Glenn Caruso in his 19th season with 168 victories), the Tommies are one of three PFL schools with one loss or fewer. They are currently receiving votes in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll.
- Rookie sensation Nick Peipert is the centerpiece for an offense that ranks fifth nationally with nearly 16 yards per completion. He has been chosen as the PFL Freshman of the Week three times in a row, which also includes a two-point triumph over a scholarship opponent (Southern Utah).
- Peipert owns the best quarterback efficiency rating in the league (168.3), a figure that ranks eighth in all of FCS. He engineers an offense that has put together 35 points per game, the second-highest of any PFL program.
- St. Thomas has allowed only two sacks in five full games, a number that is only topped by Robert Morris and Cornell nationwide. They have scored either three or seven points in 14 of their 15 trips to the red zone (93 percent).
- The Tommies are one of 14 FCS teams who have not yet lost a fumble this season in 173 rushing attempts. On the opposite side of the spectrum, their defense has caused five fumbles which ranks ninth in the country.
- Fifth-year running back Gabriel Abel is averaging nearly seven yards per touch and leads all players in the PFL with five rushing touchdowns.
- Only 11 FCS programs have recorded multiple defensive touchdowns this year. St. Thomas is part of that list, getting a pair of pick sixes by Malachi Boadi-Aboagye against North Dakota and Kyle Winchester in the blowout over San Diego.
- The Tommies were voted as the Stats Perform FCS National Team of the Week after dissecting USD at home, leading 36-7 at halftime and collecting 554 yards of total offense. It was San Diego's largest margin of defeat in a conference game since 2000.
- Peipert was a tidy 12-of-18 through the air, passing for three touchdowns and rushing for two more on 290 total yards.
- St. Thomas is the second-furthest school from Presbyterian in the Pioneer League (campuses separated by over 1,100 miles). Saturday will be the Tommies' first visit to Bailey Memorial Stadium since 2022.
- That was their second full season as a PFL member, beating the Blue Hose by a 46-17 final count. They'd end up running the table in league play with a perfect 8-0 conference record, although they were not allowed to enter the FCS Playoffs with the automatic bid because they were still waiting out the Division-III-to-Division-I transition process.
TOMMIES WERE TERMINATED
- The penultimate win of Presbyterian's record-breaking 2025 season saw the Scotsmen travel to Minnesota and blockade St. Thomas by a 23-9 final score last November.
- PC did not allow the Tommies to scrounge a single offensive touchdown while holding them to a season-low 179 total yards. St. Thomas was averaging 46 points per game in the previous five outings before losing to the Blue Hose convincingly.
- Presby pushed St. Thomas backward for 17 yards on their first six rushing attempts, gaining only 56 total yards in the final two quarters. The Tommies crossed the 50-yard line in just three of their nine drives, as PC scattered nine tackles-for-a-loss and four sacks.
