Monday, September 30, 2013
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

PFL WEEK 6 HIGHLIGHTS

PFL’S WEEK 6 SPANS THE SPECTRUM OF ACTION | Each of the PFL’s Week 6 contests has a story line of interest. Two Week 6 games will feature a matchup of squads unbeaten in PFL play. First, Valparaiso will travel to Marist with both seeking to improve to 2-0 in PFL action. The second game is the league’s late contest with Mercer making its season’s first road trip to visit San Diego with both teams standing 1-0 in league action. On the other end of the spectrum, Davidson will travel to Dayton with both teams seeking their first PFL win of 2013. Elsewhere, Jacksonville (at Drake) and Morehead State (at Campbell) will try to win in their opponents stadiums for the first time. In addition, Stetson will make its first PFL road trip when it meets Butler at the Butler Bowl.

AHEAD IN WEEK 6
Saturday, Sept. 28
Valparaiso at Marist, Noon
Location: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (Tenney Stadium)
Series: MAR leads, 4-0    Streak: MAR, four wins
Last Season: Marist def. Valparaiso, 44-7
Notably: Valparaiso travels to Marist for a meeting of early season PFL unbeatens. The Crusaders pulled out an overtime victory against Campbell in Week 5 and now seek a win against a PFL team other than Campbell for the first time since defeating Davidson in 2008. The Red Foxes won at Dayton in Week 5 for their second straight road win but return to Tenney Stadium for the first time since losing their season-opener to Sacred Heart.

Davidson at Dayton, 1 p.m.
Location: Dayton, Ohio (Welcome Stadium)
Series: Dayton leads, 10-1    Streak: DAY, six wins
Last Season: Dayton def. Davidson, 38-3
Notably: Davidson continues its three-game road trek with a visit to Dayton, which will play its second straight home game. The Wildcats seek their season’s first victory after opening the road trip with losses at Division II Johnson C. Smith and last week at Morehead State. The Flyers saw their home record leveled at 1-1 after Marist escaped Welcome Stadium with a 31-17 victory in Week 5.

Morehead State at Campbell, 1 p.m.
Location: Buies Creek, N.C. (Barker-Lane Stadium)
Series: MOR leads, 3-2    Streak: MOR, one win
Last Season: Morehead State def. Campbell, 70-28
Notably: A battle of first-year head coaches will pit Morehead State’s Rob Tenyer against Campbell’s Mike Minter. The Eagles picked up their season’s first win in Week 5 but will travel to Barker-Lane Stadium where they have not won in two previous visits. The Camels saw their hopes for a PFL-opening win die at the one-yard line at Valparaiso in Week 5, but return home where they own their season’s only win.

Stetson at Butler, 1 p.m.
Location: Indianapolis, Ind. (Butler Bowl)
Series: First Meeting
Notably: After a successful trip to Florida in Week 5, Butler returns home to host Florida-based Stetson. The Hatters will look to bounce back after being shutout by San Diego in Week 5 and compiling only 161 offensive yards. The Bulldogs opened their PFL campaign with their first-ever win at Jacksonville thanks to running back Trae Heeter’s 222-yard performance.

Jacksonville at Drake, 2 p.m.
Location: Des Moines, Iowa (Drake Stadium)
Series: DRA leads 10-2    Streak: DRA, two wins
Last Season: Drake def. Jacksonville, 32-29
Notably: Jacksonville visits Drake in a key PFL matchup as both teams seek to avoid loss No. 2 of the 2013 campaign. Jacksonville was stunned by Butler’s second-half comeback in Week 5, despite a quarterback Steven Hughes’ 509-yard passing performance – two shy of tying the PFL single-game record.  The Bulldogs committed an uncharacteristic seven turnovers and fell on the road to upstart Mercer but they return to the friendly confines of Drake Stadium where they have not lost a game to Jacksonville in five previous meetings.

Mercer at San Diego, 4 p.m.
Location: San Diego, Calif. (Torero Stadium)
Series: First Meeting
Notably: The day’s second meeting of PFL unbeatens will see Mercer making its first trip outside its home field as it travels cross-country to face San Diego. The Bears have opened up their return to football with a 4-0 mark, but each of those wins came at University Stadium. The Toreros return home after their own cross-country trip to Stetson in Week 5 seeking a return to its winning ways at Torero Stadium after seeing a 13-game home win streak snapped in Week 4 by Harvard.

All times Eastern.
FCS rankings in brackets following school’s name: [Sports Network Poll/FCS Coaches Poll]

NEWS AND NOTES FROM AROUND THE PFL

MERCER KEEPS STREAK GOING, WINS 1ST PFL OUTING | Mercer, playing its first season of intercollegiate football in over 60 years, wrapped up its season-opening four-game homestand with a PFL victory against Drake in Week 5. It was the Bears first PFL win and they improved to 4-0, their four-game win streak stands as the fourth-longest streak in the FCS.

MERCER’S AVANT LANDS ON #SCTOP10 | On the stat sheet, Mercer’s Alex Avant had a simple 35-yard interception return for a touchdown. But a look at the play on video shows it was so much more than 35 yards. The highlight play was later picked up by ESPN on SportsCenter’s Top 10 and landed at No. 4 of the top plays in the country that night but moved to the No. 1 spot in the order Sunday morning.

DOLPHIN’S HUGHES NEARLY SETS PFL MARK | Jacksonville quarterback Steven Hughes came within three yards of setting the PFL single-game passing mark. His 509-yard performance on 25-of-61 passing fell just short of the 511-yard PFL record set last season by San Diego’s Mason Mills. Those are the only two 500-yard passing performances since 2002 in the PFL.

BUTLER’S HEETER FIRST TO RUSH FOR 200 IN ‘13 | Butler running back Trae Heeter became the first PFL runner to rush for more than 200 yards, compiling 222 yards on 34 rushes in Butler’s come-from-behind win at Jacksonville. It was Heeter’s third career 200-yard rushing performance after hitting the milestone twice last season.

CAMELS, CRUSADERS NEED OVERTIME | Campbell traveled to Valparaiso and the two teams combined for a shootout that needed an extra period to determine a winner. The offenses combined for 1,093 total yards, the Camels posting 591 yards (298 rushing, 293 passing) while the Crusaders rolled up 502 yards (407 passing). After battling to a 42-42 tie at the end of regulation, Valparaiso’s offense needed just two plays to score a touchdown. On the ensuing drive, it was the Crusaders defense that stood out, stopping Campbell on four plays inside the Valparaiso five-yard line, including two from the one-yard line. It was the PFL’s first overtime contest this season.

OFFENSE SHOWS UP IN FIRST FULL PFL WEEK | Two weeks ago the PFL pieced together an impressive offensive effort with the nine teams in action averaging 445 offensive yards per game. Week 5, the first full week of PFL action, was just as impressive as the league’s 12 teams combined for 5,324 total yards (443.7 per game). San Diego (624 yards) and Butler (610) topped the 600-yard mark with Butler posting 402 rushing yards while San Diego posted 345 rushing yards in wins at Jacksonville and Stetson, respectively. After five weeks the PFL’s teams are averaging 397.2 offensive yards per game this season, which if sustained would be the highest league average since 2002.

DAVIDSON’S CARKHUFF NEARING 10,000-YARD MARK | Davidson quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff has moved within site of his 10,000th passing yard following his school-record 464-yard performance in Week 4 at Johnson C. Smith. He enters Week 6 with 9,718 career passing yards and is ranked third among FCS’ career passing yards leaders behind Eastern Illinois’ Jimmy Garoppolo (10,159) and Montana State’s Denarius McGhee (9.768). The PFL career passing yard record is 11,230 yards set by Jacksonville’s Josh McGregor (2008-11).

NO SHUTTING OUT DAYTON | Dayton continues one of the more remarkable streaks in college football, entering Week 3 action with a NCAA record streak of 412 games without suffering a shutout. The last team to blank Dayton was Marshall by a 9-0 score on Oct. 16, 1976. San Diego owns the PFL’s second longest such streak at 147 games.