Monday, September 1, 2014
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

AHEAD IN WEEK 2

Saturday, Sept. 6

Georgetown at Dayton, 1 p.m.
Location: Dayton, Ohio (Welcome Stadium)
Series: First Meeting
Notably: Dayton opens its 2014 slate when Georgetown visits in the first meeting between the two teams. The Flyers were picked to finish second in the PFL this season while Georgetown was tabbed to finish sixth in the Patriot League.

Pikeville at Morehead State, 6 p.m.
Location: Morehead, Ky. (Jayne Stadium)
Series: UP leads 1-0
Last Season: Pikeville def. Morehead State, 13-10
Notably: Morehead State returns to Jayne Stadium to open its home slate against Pikeville. The two teams opened 2013 against each other, Pikeville kicking a 23-yard field goal with less than three minutes remaining to surprise Morehead State.

Campbell at Appalachian State, 6 p.m.
Location: Boone, N.C.  (Brewer Stadium)
Series: First Meeting
Notably: Campbell faces a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent for the second straight year, meeting rookie FBS squad Appalachian State. The Camels traveled to Old Dominion last season, dropping a 42-14 decision.

Bucknell at Marist, 6 p.m.
Location: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (Tenney Stadium)
Series: BU leads 8-1    Streak: BU, three wins
Last Season: Bucknell def. Marist, 27-14
Notably: Marist and Bucknell meet for the 10th consecutive season. Marist’s lone win in the series was a 14-3 decision in 2010 at Tenney Stadium. Last season, the Bison scored on four of its first five drives and never looked back.

Catawba at Davidson, 7 p.m.
Location: Davidson, N.C. (Richardson Stadium)
Series: DAV leads, 16-5    Streak: CC, three wins
Notably: Davidson and Catawba, separated by 30 miles, will face each other for the 22nd time, but it will be the first meeting since 1987. Davidson snapped a 12-game losing streak with last week’s shutout win against College of Faith, its first shuout since 2008.

Truman State at Drake, 7 p.m.
Location: Des Moines, Iowa (Drake Stadium)
Series: Tied 2-2    Streak: TSU, two wins
Notably: Drake and Truman State meet for the fifth time, but it is the first meeting between the teams in 12 seasons. Drake got the nod for fifth place in the PFL preseason poll while Truman State was picked to finish second in the Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Florida Tech at Stetson, 7 p.m.
Location: DeLand, Fla. (Spec Martin Stadium)
Series: FIT leads, 1-0
Last Season: Florida Tech def. Stetson, 20-13
Notably: Stetson opens the home portion of its 2014 slate when it hosts Florida Tech. The Hatters will seek to level the series after Florida Tech won last season’s meeting with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

Butler at Wittenberg, 7 p.m.
Location: Springfield, Ohio (Edwards-Maurer Field)
Series: WU leads, 7-4    Streak: BUT, one win
Last Season: Butler def. Wittenberg, 49-24
Notably: Butler also opens its 2014 schedule when it travels to Wittenberg. It will be the second straight year the two teams have met, Butler winning a 49-24 decision last season.

St. Joseph’s (Ind.) at Valparaiso, 8 p.m.
Location: Valparaiso, Ind. (Brown Stadium)
Series: SJC leads 35-28-2    Streak: SJC, seven wins
Last Season: St. Joseph’s defeated Valparaiso, 34-31
Notably: Valparaiso hosts St. Joseph’s in its home opener, seeking a home-opening win for the first time since 2008. St. Joseph’s has won seven straight, but the last two games in the series have been decided by three points or less.

Western New Mexico at San Diego [–/RV], 9 p.m.
Location: San Diego, Calif. (Torero Stadium)
Series: SAN leads 3-0
Last Season: San Diego def. Western New Mexico, 38-35
Notably: San Diego will be the final PFL squad to begin its 2014 campaign when it hosts Western New Mexico for the fourth consecutive year. The last two meetings have been won by San Diego in the closing moments.

Off Week: Jacksonville

NEWS AND NOTES FROM AROUND THE PFL

MARIST’S FEDE MAKES DOLPHINS ROSTER | Marist alumnus Terrence Fede, the 2013 PFL Defensive Player of the Year, was named to the Miami Dolphins’ active 53-man roster. Fede, a 7th round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, is listed on the Dolphins depth chard at right defensive end entering the NFL season’s opening week.

NEW SIGNAL CALLERS ABOUND | New quarterbacks will be at the helm of six of the PFL’s 11 programs in 2014. Butler, Campbell, Davidson, Marist, San Diego and Valparaiso will each be under new leadership on the field. Dayton and Drake each return a senior under center with Will Bardo and Andy Rice, respectively. Morehead State (Austin Gahafer) and Stetson (Ryan Tentler) each used a freshman quarterback in 2013 that returns for their sophomore campaigns in 2014. Jacksonville junior Kade Bell rounds out the list of returning quarterbacks.

WELCOME NEW HEAD COACHES | Two new faces will join the PFL’s head coaching fraternity in 2014 with Rick Fox taking over duties at Drake while Dave Cecchini grabs the reins at Valparaiso. Fox was as an assistant coach for six seasons under former head coach Chris Creighton, who took the head coaching position at Eastern Michigan. Cecchini became Valparaiso’s 17th head coach after four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Lehigh.

PFL TIEBREAKER MODIFIED | The PFL automatic qualifier tiebreaker was modified during the league’s August president’s council meeting. In 2014, the league will no longer use computer rankings to determine its automatic qualifier. Instead, the league will use a “Strength of Victory” and “Strength of Schedule” – both based on conference games only – to help determine its representative in the FCS Championship. The complete PFL tiebreaker is available online at pioneer-football.org/tiebreaker.

PFL ADDS SIXTH MAJOR AWARD | In addition to the change in the league’s tiebreaker procedure, the league’s presidents voted to add a Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award to its postseason accolades. The Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be selected as part of the league’s Academic All-PFL squad voting in November.

THREE PFL ATHLETES NOMINATED FOR 2014 ALLSTATE AFCA GOOD WORKS TEAM | Three PFL student-athletes – Davidson’s Dan Casey, Drake’s John Hugunin and Marist’s James Holodnak – were among a 182 nominees for the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®, which recognizes the selfless contributions to volunteerism and community service made by college football student-athletes across the nation. Two 11-member teams will be selected, one composed players competing in the NCAA® Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the other is a combined team representing the NCAA® Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Divisions II, III, and the NAIA.

NO ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS IN SAN DIEGO REVIEW | The PFL concluded its review of a matter involving the San Diego Football program. The league has ruled no additional sanctions will be imposed on the San Diego football team beyond its voluntary removal from the 2013 conference championship.

PFL’S 22ND CAMPAIGN | The 2014 season marks the 22nd year for the Pioneer Football League – the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The league boasts 11 members in 2014 with the departure of Mercer after its first season.