Monday, October 7, 2013
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

PFL WEEK 7 HIGHLIGHTS

WEST COAST HAS PFL’S FEATURE GAME IN WEEK 7 | Three teams remain unbeaten in PFL play after two weeks of league action and that number is guaranteed to shrink by one after this week’s action. The day’s big matchup will take place on the west coast when San Diego and hosts Marist in a battle of 2-0 squads. Meanwhile, Butler will have the first opportunity to post a 3-0 mark when it hosts Campbell in Indianapolis. Elsewhere, Valparaiso travels to Mercer with both teams seeking a 2-1 start to their campaign. Dayton makes its season’s longest road trip when it travels to Stetson while Drake hosts Davidson.

AHEAD IN WEEK 7
Saturday, Oct. 5
 Valparaiso at Mercer, Noon
Location: Macon, Ga. (Moye Complex)
Series:  First Meeting
Notably: Valparaiso wraps up its back-to-back road trips with a visit to Mercer. The Bears return home to the Moye Complex after suffering their season’s first loss in their first road trip at San Diego. The Crusaders opened their road trip with a shutout loss at Marist in Week 6 and still seek their season’s first road win.

Campbell at Butler, 1 p.m.
Location: Indianapolis, Ind. (Butler Bowl)
Series: BUT leads, 3-2    Streak: BUT, one win
Notably:  Campbell will seek to end an 11-game PFL losing streak when it travels to PFL unbeaten Butler. The Camels have posted 1,144 offensive yards and 78 points in their first two PFL games, but are 0-2 for the effort. The Bulldogs offense has also had two impressive weeks in PFL play, scoring 80 points and racking up 983 yards in those two outings. 

Dayton at Stetson, 1 p.m.
Location: DeLand, Fla. (Martin Stadium)
Series:  First Meeting
Notably: Dayton will make its season’s longest road trip when it travels to Stetson. The Flyers hit the road after posting a season-best 438 total yards in a Week 6 win against Davidson, including 244 rushing yards by Connor Kascor. The Hatters return home seeking to end their four-game losing streak, with its offense topping 300 total yards just once during the stretch.
Saturday, Oct. 5

  Drake at Davidson, 1 p.m.
Location: Davidson, N.C. (Richardson Stadium)
Series:  DRA leads, 5-1    Streak: DRA, three wins
Notably: Drake begins back-to-back road games with a trip to Davidson. The Bulldogs are winless on the road this season, scoring just 31 points in their two previous road outings (averaging 24.7 points in three home games). The Wildcats return home for just the second time this season (lost to Lenoir Rhyne in Week 3) with quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff needing 147 passing yards to reach the 10,000-yard mark.

Marist at San Diego, 5 p.m.
Location: San Diego, Calif. (Torero Stadium)
Series:  SAN leads, 8-0    Streak: SAN, eight wins
Notably:  The day’s final game is the lone contest featuring teams with 2-0 PFL marks as Marist travels cross country to face San Diego. The Red Foxes are 2-0 for the first time since joining the PFL and are enjoying a three-game win streak for the first time since 2009. The Toreros boast the PFL’s top offense, averaging nearly 500 yards per game, thanks largely to quarterback Mason Mills who leads the league (and ranks third among FCS signal carters) with an impressive 174.6 quarterback rating.

Off Week: Jacksonville, Morehead State

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

NEWS AND NOTES ACROSS THE PFL
WEST COAST HAS PFL’S FEATURE GAME IN WEEK 7 | Three teams remain unbeaten in PFL play after two weeks of league action and that number is guaranteed to shrink by one after this week’s action. The day’s big matchup will take place on the west coast when San Diego and hosts Marist in a battle of 2-0 squads. Meanwhile, Butler will have the first opportunity to post a 3-0 mark when it hosts Campbell in Indianapolis. Elsewhere, Valparaiso travels to Mercer with both teams seeking a 2-1 start to their campaign. Dayton makes its season’s longest road trip when it travels to Stetson while Drake hosts Davidson.

RARELY SEEN FACES ATOP THE PFL STANDINGS | PFL fans are used to seeing San Diego and Butler atop the PFL standings, the two claiming a share of the 2012 title. However, the two teams atop the standings with them are new faces. Marist has posted its first 2-0 start since joining the PFL in 2009 and its three-game win streak is its first since that season. Meanwhile, Morehead State sits in fourth place with a 2-1 mark, its best start in PFL action since 2007 when it finished third in the PFL race with a 5-2 mark.

DAYTON’S KASCOR JOINS 200-YARD CLUB | Dayton’s Connor Kascor became the second PFL rusher to record a 200-yard outing, one week after Butler’s Trae Heeter became the first to rush for 200 yards this season. Kascor joined the club with a 244-yard performance against Davidson, finishing with two touchdowns. He accomplished the feat in just 3½ quarters, as the final 7:30 was washed out by a weather delay.

ROOKIES DOMINATE PFL’S PUNTING FRATERNITY | Freshmen hold down the punting duties at half of the PFL’s programs this season and are representing themselves well through six weeks. San Diego’s Ryan Belden leads the group and the league with a 45.1 yard per punt average that ranks fifth among FCS punters. Four other PFL freshman punters rank among the league’s top 10 in punting average.

DAVIDSON’S CARKHUFF NEARING 10,000-YARD MARK | Davidson quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff has moved within sight of his 10,000th passing yard, entering this weekend’s action with 9,853 career passing yards. He is ranked second among FCS’ career passing yards leaders behind Eastern Illinois’ Jimmy Garoppolo (10,159) and ahead of Montana State’s Denarius McGhee (9.840).

CARKHUFF PRIMED TO JOIN PFL’S NEWEST, ELITE CLUB | Upon reaching the 10,000-yard mark, Carkhuff will become the fourth PFL signal caller to reach the milestone and the three current members each have reached the mark since the 2011 season. Jacksonville’s Josh McGregor (2008-11) inaugurated the club with what is still a PFL-record 11,230 yards. Last season, Drake’s Mike Piatkowski (10,200 yards) and Morehead State’s Zach Lewis (10,251 yards) joined the club. 

SEVEN PFL STUDENT-ATHLETES NAMED NFF SCHOLAR-ATHLETES | A record seven Pioneer Football League student-athletes were named among a record 170 candidates for the 2013 National Football Foundation’s National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments. Butler quarterback Matt Lancaster, Campbell running back Kurt Odom, Dayton linebacker Colin Monnier, Drake defensive lineman Brandon Coleman, Marist safety Tyler Ramsey, San Diego defensive lineman Blake Oliaro and Valparaiso defensive back Alex Grask were each named as a semifinalist for the 2013 William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best scholar-athlete in the nation.

NO SHUTTING OUT DAYTON | Dayton continues one of the more remarkable streaks in college football, entering this weekend with a NCAA record streak of 413 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.