TONIGHT: Football on the road ... and on ESPN+

MACON, Ga. – The 112^th season of Presbyterian College football will begin approximately 48 hours earlier than all the past iterations when the Blue Hose travel to Mercer tomorrow night for a 7:00 PM start. Bucking the traditional Saturday trend for one week, head coach Steve Englehart leads his squad into battle on ESPN+.

PC has not visited Mercer for a football game since the early years of World War II, competing just once since the turn of the millennium which happened in Clinton.

Thursday’s clash is the first of 12 games for the Blue Hose in 2024, the first season with the added bonus of one extra regular-season scuffle. They’ll go up against first-year head coach Mike Jacobs, who takes over a program that won a 1st-round game in the FCS Playoffs last November.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL

 WHO: Presbyterian (0-0) at Mercer (0-0)

WHERE: Five Star Stadium (Macon, Ga.)

WHEN: Thursday, August 29 – 7:00 PM

FOLLOW THE ACTION

 WATCH: ESPN+

LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast

TWITTER/X: @BlueHoseFB

GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes

ENGLEHART ERA IN YEAR 3 

• Head coach Steve Englehart charges into his third year leading the Scotsmen after engineering a three-win turnaround from 2022 to '23. He'll guide the Blue Hose to their third straight season-opener as the visiting side, earning two road victories last fall over Wofford and Dayton.
• Presbyterian was well-versed in tight finishes last season, witnessing eight of their 11 affairs decided by 10 points or fewer. Both of those aforementioned road wins fell into that category, defeating the Terriers 23-20 and the Flyers 20-17 in overtime.
• Coach E's group ended the campaign by downing Morehead State in Clinton (31-27), the 75^th victory in Englehart's career as a head coach. His 16^th season overall begins on Thursday against the Bears.

PRESEASON ALL-PFLer’s

• As the "Big Three" of PC's resurgence in 2023, wide receiver Dominic Kibby, linebacker Alex Herriott, and tight end Worth Warner were selected as preseason All-PFL honorees.
• The primary target in Presby's passing game ever since being named an FCS Freshman All-American back in '22, Kibby goes into his third collegiate season with career totals of 85 receptions, 1,572 receiving yards, 11 touchdowns, and an average of 18 yards per catch which ranks second in PC's Division I history (since 2007).
• Paying his dues to become the PFL's premier TE in his fifth season with the program, Warner's 2023 stint was his greatest yet thanks to 403 yards through the air and three snags in the end zone.
• As a junior last fall, Herriott ranked inside the nation's top 10 in both solo stops (68, fifth) and overall tackles (118, ninth). He achieved the second-highest number of tackles in a single season among any Presby defender in the D-I era, boosting his career count to a whopping 272 tackles in just 33 games.

AIR RAID ABSENCE

• Presbyterian's defense against the pass was exquisite as the Blue Hose leaned heavily on that side of the field last year, limiting opponents to an average of 145 passing yards per game. That was by far the lowest number of all 11 schools in the Pioneer Football League, and the third-best of anyone at the FCS stage.
• Quarterbacks that faced PC's secondary posted an average QB rating of just 112, ranking first in the PFL and eighth in the country.
• Defensive Coordinator Dan Owen's crew allowed 314 yards of total offense per meeting, another figure that topped the conference and ranking 17th in America.

PRESBY IN THE PEACH STATE

Since fielding their first official team in 1913, Presbyterian has gone up against 13 different schools from the state of Georgia. PC has collected a combined record of 23-33 against GA programs, including four foes who now compete at the FBS level (Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, and recently-appointed Kennesaw State).

• With Kennesaw's departure into FBS, Mercer now sits as the lone FCS school from the state of Georgia. They've faced off with the Blue Hose 15 times, although just once in the 21st century (2019).
• The Bears visited Bailey Memorial Stadium five years ago and delivered a 45-7 win against the Blue Hose thanks to four first-half touchdowns.
• It has been 83 years since PC last came to Macon for what was (at the time) a regular series between the two schools. They competed against each other in every year of the 1930's decade, with PC's last visit in the series coming all the way back in 1941.

OPPONENT PROFILE

• Mercer will open up a brand-new chapter in its history on Thursday with the introduction of new head coach Mike Jacobs, who will make his Division I debut against the Blue Hose after previous gigs at Notre Dame (Ohio) and Lenoir-Rhyne.
• Jacobs displays a career record of 74-17 over an eight-year period, having been a standout offensive lineman for notables coaches John Cooper and Jim Tressel at Ohio State from 1997-01.
• He will inherit a Mercer squad that has won 23 games in the past three seasons. Last fall, the Bears put together a 9-4 mark - their highest win count in a decade - before earning a First-Round victory in the FCS Playoffs over Gardner-Webb (17-7).
• Junior transfer D.J. Smith figures to lead the offense as an import from Jones College, throwing for nearly 1,800 yards and 16 passing TD's in the past two seasons.

2023 HIGHLIGHTS

• There were many triumphant moments for Coach Englehart and co. in 2023, beginning on September 16 when they knocked off rival Wofford in Spartanburg. The first time since the early 90's that the Blue Hose bested the Terriers, the win was sealed after Worth Warner secured an 18-yard touchdown pass on 4th down with 28 seconds remaining.
• PC hit another landmark on October 14 when they published their first PFL win, an overtime duel with Dayton in Ohio. Then-rookie Mack Mikko drilled a walk-off 34-yard field goal to give his club the W, one of 16 connections on the year for the newbie which broke Presby's D-I single-season record by nine kicks. He was the only kicker to be included in the Jerry Rice Award Watchlist - an honor given to the best freshman in the country - and was chosen by Phil Steele Magazine as a Freshman All-American.

OLD HEADS

• By far the most experienced group that Englehart has directed in his time with the Blue Hose, PC is expected to trot out 17 returning starters from 2023.
• Nine starters on the defensive end from last season will give it another go, while 11 players who were given at least All-PFL "Honorable Mention" are back in the fold. This signifies high expectations for the blue and garnet in year number four with the Pioneer Football League.

WHEN THE PRESSURE IS ON

• Coach Englehart's club performed very well in high-pressure situations last season, evidenced by a strong 4th-down conversion rate and consistency in the red zone.
• Only two teams in the PFL posted a better 4th-down percentage than Presbyterian, who moved the chains in eight of their 16 gambles (right at 50 percent). They passed the line to gain three times in the game-winning drive that toppled Wofford, with the other five conversions happening in league play.
• PC also ranked third in the PFL by gaining either a touchdown or a field goal in 86 percent of their trips to the red zone (31-for-36). That ratio was good enough to rank 27th at the FCS level.