1818 Chouteau Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63103 (314) 444-4364 FAX (314) 444-4365 2014 Weekly Report Contact: Cody Bush Week 1: Games of Aug. 28-30 Phone: (931) 980-4940 CURRENT STANDINGS PFL OVERALL Team W-L PCT PF PA H A STR W-L PCT PF PA H A STR Butler 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W3 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L1 Campbell 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W1 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W1 Dayton 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W1 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W1 Drake 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L1 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L1 Davidson 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L9 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L11 Jacksonville 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W1 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W1 Marist 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W5 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W5 Morehead State 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L4 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L5 San Diego 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W4 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 W4 Stetson 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L2 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L2 Valparaiso 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L7 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 L7 AHEAD IN WEEK 1 - PFL CONTEST All times Eastern. FCS rankings in brackets following school’s name: [Sports Network Poll/FCS Coaches Poll] Thursday, Aug. 28 Jacksonville [—/RV] at Southeastern Louisiana [3/3], 6:30 p.m. Charlotte at Campbell, 7 p.m. Location: Hammond, La. (Strawberry Stadium) Location: Buies Creek, N.C. (Barker-Lane Stadium) Series: SELA leads, 3-0 Series: CHAR leads 1-0 Notably: Jacksonville will travel due west to meet nationally-ranked South- Last Season: Charlotte def. Campbell, 52-7 eastern Louisiana. The Dolphins were picked third in the PFL’s preseason Notably: For the second consecutive season Campbell and Charlotte will poll with 14 returning starters from last season’s campaign for head coach meet to open their respective campaigns. Campbell returns 18 starters from Kerwin Bell. Southeastern Louisiana returns 15 starters from last season’s last season’s squad that posted a 3-9 record in head coach Mike Minter’s Southland Conference champion squad that reached FCS quarterfinals. rookie campaign. Meanwhile, Charlotte returns 16 starters from its 4-6 Stetson at Warner, 7 p.m. inaugural campaign. Location: Lakeland, Fla. (Vikings Stadium) Valparaiso at Western Illinois [RV/–], 7 p.m. [ESPN3] Series: STE leads, 1-0 Location: Macomb, Ill. (Hanson Field) Last Season: Stetson def. Warner, 31-3 Series: WIU leads, 1-0 Notably: A matchup of second year programs will take place in central Notably: It is the second consecutive season Valparaiso will begin its Florida when Stetson travels the 96 miles down Interstate 4 to face Warner. campaign by facing a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Hatters return three preseason All-PFL picks to a squad that posted two Valparaiso first-year head coach Dave Cecchini will show his answer at wins in its inaugural season. Warner made a coaching change during its first quarterback after the graduation of longtime starter Eric Hoffman. Western offseason and was picked to finish fourth in the Sun Conference’s inaugural Illinois was picked to finish ninth in the MVFC with 17 starters returning from football campaign. last season’s squad. College of Faith at Davidson, 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30 Location: Davidson, N.C. (Richardson Stadium) Morehead State at Richmond [20/24], 6 p.m. Series: First Meeting Location: Richmond, Va. (Robins Stadium) Notably: Davidson begins 2014 with a home contest against second-year Series: First Meeting program College of Faith-Charlotte. The Wildcats will be under the command Notably: Morehead State begins Year Two under head coach Rob Tenyer of a new signal caller for the first time in four years but head coach Paul with a matchup against nationally-ranked Richmond. The Eagles also will Nichols will see two preseason All-PFL picks return. College of Faith returns in Year Two under the guidance of sophomore quarterback Austin Gahafer, 15 starters from its inaugural 1-7 campaign. who amassed 2,430 passing yards in his rookie campaign. Richmond returns Grand View at Drake, 7 p.m. 15 starters from a 6-6 squad in 2014 that also finished fifth in the Colonial Location: Des Moines, Iowa (Drake Stadium) Athletic Conference. Series: DRA leads, 3-1 Marist at Sacred Heart [RV/RV], 6 p.m. Last Season: Grand View def. Drake, 21-16 Location: Fairfield, Conn. (Campus Field) Notably: Des Moines neighbors meet for the fifth time with Drake seeking Series: SHU leads, 6-5 revenge from last season’s loss – Grand View’s first win in the series. Drake Last Season: Sacred Heart def. Marist, 37-21 returns 15 starters from last season’s squad, including six preseason All- Notably: For the second consecutive season Marist and Sacred Heart will PFL picks. Grand View, the NAIA’s preseason No. 1 and defending national meet to open their respective campaigns. Head coach Jim Parady will take champion, will pose a formidable challenge with 14 starters returning from the Red Foxes into their first action behind a new quarterback for the first last season’s undefeated (14-0) squad. time since 2011. Sacred Heart enters the 2014 campaign as the favorite in Off Week: Butler, Dayton, San Diego [RV/—] the Northeast Conference, with seven players receiving preseason All-NEC accolades. THE PIONEER FOOTBALL LEAGUE A DIVISION I FCS CONFERENCE 2014 PIONEER FOOTBALL LEAGUE WEEKLY REPORT NEWS AND NOTES FROM AROUND THE PFL 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 PREFERRED NOMENCLATURE with Will Bardo and Andy Rice, respectively. Morehead State (Austin Gahafer) and Stetson The league’s full name is the Pioneer Football (Ryan Tentler) each used a freshman quarterback in 2013 that returns for their sophomore League. Please use the league’s full name when possible or use PFL as an abbreviation. Please, DO campaigns in 2014. Jacksonville junior Kade Bell rounds out the list of returning quarterbacks. NOT use Pioneer League in any case. WELCOME NEW HEAD COACHES | Two new faces will join the PFL’s head coaching PIONEER-FOOTBALL.ORG fraternity in 2014 with Rick Fox taking over duties at Drake while Dave Cecchini grabs the The PFL’s website features the latest news and reins at Valparaiso. Fox was as an assistant coach for six seasons under former head coach stories around the league. Standings along with Chris Creighton, who took the head coaching position at Eastern Michigan. Cecchini became team-by-team and composite results are updated Valparaiso’s 17th head coach after four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Lehigh. following the conclusion of each day’s action. PFL ON TWITTER @PFLNews MERCER, SAN DIEGO CARRY WIN STREAKS INTO 2014 | Marist and San Diego The PFL also maintains an official twitter feed each ended their 2013 campaign with multi-game win streaks, which they will carry over into @PFLNews which will provide release and award the start of 2014. Mercer will put its five-game win streak – second longest in FCS behind North notifications and score updates throughout the Dakota State – on the line in a Week 1 matchup against Sacred Heart. San Diego will wait until season. Week 2 to put its four-game win streak on the line when it hosts Western New Mexico. WEEKLY RELEASE AND STATISTICS PFL TIEBREAKER MODIFIED | The PFL automatic qualifier tiebreaker was modified Each week the PFL produces a weekly release in during the league’s August president’s council meeting. In 2014, the league will no longer use two versions, an initial Sunday Release and a final computer rankings to determine its automatic qualifier. Instead, the league will use a “Strength Weekly Release sent each Monday: • The league’s Sunday Release contains updated of Victory” and “Strength of Schedule” – both based on conference games only – to help de- standings, the upcoming week’s schedule and termine its representative in the FCS Championship. The complete PFL tiebreaker is available notes as well as the players of the week. online at pioneer-football.org/tiebreaker. • The PFL Weekly Release is released each Mon- day and contains all the information from the PFL ADDS SIXTH MAJOR AWARD | In addition to the change in the league’s tiebreaker Sunday release along with news and notes from procedure, the league’s presidents voted to add a Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award to its post- around the league and up-to-date statistics. season accolades. The Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be selected as part of the league’s Aca- Both versions are provided by e-mail and on the demic All-PFL squad voting in November. league’s website in PDF and may be reproduced as necessary. Weekly releases also will be sent via THREE PFL ATHLETES NOMINATED FOR 2014 ALLSTATE AFCA GOOD e-mail to media outlets around the league. Please WORKS TEAM | Three PFL student-athletes – Davidson’s Dan Casey, Drake’s John Hu- contact Cody Bush at the PFL Media Relations Of- gunin and Marist’s James Holodnak – were among a 182 nominees for the 2014 Allstate AFCA fice to be added to the league’s e-mail list.