PC Football releases 2024 schedule with 12 matches

CLINTON, SC For the fourth time in Presbyterian College football history and the third since 2000, the Blue Hose will play a regular season format of twelve games, instead of the traditional eleven. From Thursday, August 29, head coach Steve Englehart's third season on PC will include six home and road games each.

Continuing its association with the Pioneer Football League, Presbyterian will look to extend a three-win improvement from '22 to '23, with a standard eight-game league stretch beginning September 28.

“We are very excited about our 2024 schedule as we continue to build this program,” Englehart noted upon releasing the schedule, heading into his third season at Clinton and 14^e as a head coach in general. “Playing 12 games will be something new for this team, and we're also excited to be able to play half of those games at Bailey Memorial Stadium.”

“As we have the past two years, we will start the season with a big challenge as we travel to Georgia to play Mercer on Thursday night. Another great opportunity for our program will come in our first conference game when we host Davidson.”

“The PFL is a great conference filled with talented players and coaches, and we look forward to the challenge ahead. We are eager to take another step up and work to improve with each passing season.”

Presbyterian earned its first two league victories last fall over Dayton (in overtime) and Morehead State in the season-ending game. Before that, the Blue Hose defeated in-state rival Wofford with some late-game heroics, cementing the first time in history that a PFL university defeated a member of the Southern Conference.

OPENING DAY + SEPTEMBER

– Team number 112 in PC history pulls the curtain on their fall roster by traveling to Mercer on August 29. The Bears posted a 6-2 SoCon record last season while earning the league's at-large bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs.

– In the postseason, Mercer defeated Big South champion Gardner-Webb (another of Presby's upcoming opponents) 17-7 before losing in the next round to number one overall seed South Dakota State on the road.

– The season opener in Macon will be the 16^e all-time meeting between the two programs, although the first since PC joined the Pioneer Football League.

– Coach Englehart's team will stick to Saturdays from then on and remain on the road in Week 2 to take on Palmetto State opponent Erskine on September 7. The Blue Hose have dominated the Flying Fleet more often than not, winning 29 of their 32 games against them and each of their last 10 in the series.

– The remainder of September will feature three consecutive home games for the Scots, the first time since 2019 they will have that luxury. Virginia-Lynchburg begins that streak on Sept. 14, a group that has been defeated by Englehart each of the past two years (including a 48-17 pummeling last fall).

– Gardner-Webb will then enter Bailey Memorial on September 21 for the non-conference finals, repeating a former annual matchup when both schools shared the same competition. They have met 43 times, with the Runnin' Bulldogs posting a 7-5 mark from the '23 campaign.

– PC will put a bow on their three-match home series in the PFL opener when old rival Davidson comes knocking. Beginning September 28, spectators in Clinton will witness the next chapter in the “Carolina Border Clash,” the 1919 Cup battle that spans a full century.

OCTOBER

– Now midway through a 10-game stretch without BYE, Presbyterian will venture across the country for their first PFL road outing against San Diego on Oct. 5. Marking only the third time that PC will compete in the state of California, they will look for their first victory in a short history with the Toreros.

– PC will continue its second and final stretch of back-to-back road features by heading to Morehead State on October 12, another baby series currently tied at two games apiece after the Blue Hose last finished the aforementioned 31- 27 thriller picked up November.

– Coach E's gang returns to Bailey Memorial for the fourth time on the 19th^e for only the third meeting ever against reigning Pioneer League champion Drake. The Bulldogs led the way last season by going 8-0 in conference territory, though the closest any of those meetings came was against PC, a 16-14 result in Des Moines during the penultimate week of the calendar.

– Drake will make his first appearance in Clinton that afternoon, a fact they will share with Butler who will make the trip later in game number 12.

-Presbyterian closes out the month of October by traveling south to Stetson on the 26th^eto indicate the 15^e all-time affair against the Hatters and seventh from DeLand's site.

NOVEMBER

– The Blue Hose won Dayton by a go-ahead goal in the middle last fall and will host the Flyers for their penultimate home appearance on the second day of November. That takes them to the BYE with 10 games already, which mirrors 2022 in that regard.

– After the hard-earned rest, PC heads to Poughkeepsie on November 16 to take on Marist, hoping to gain the upper hand over the Red Foxes for the first time in a new, young series.

– Presby started the PFL schedule against Butler in Indianapolis last year and will do the exact opposite this time around by finishing the season against that same Bulldog opponent. Five days before Thanksgiving, PC's Senior Day will coincide with their second-ever game against a team that picked up seven Ws a year ago.

THREE PLUS DECADES OF THE PFL

– The 2024 season marks the 32^NL year for the Pioneer Football League, the nation's only privately held NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The winner of the PFL regular season title earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs.

2024 PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Date	Opponent	Series history
August 29	at Mercer	16th meeting; Mercer leads 10-5
September 7	at Erskin	33rd meeting; PC cables 29-2-1
September 14	Virginia Lynchburg	3rd meeting; PC leads 2-0
21st of September	Gardner-Webb	44th meeting; Gardner-Webb leads 23-20
September 28	Davidson*	35th meeting; Davidson leads 18-14-2
5th of October	in San Diego*	5th meeting; San Diego leads 4-0
12 October	in Morehead State*	5th meeting; Series tied at 2-2
19 October	Drake*	3rd meeting; Series tied at 1-1
26th of October	at Stetson*	15th meeting; PC cables 9-3-2
November 2nd	Dayton*	4th meeting; Dayton leads 2-1
November 16	at Marist*	4th meeting; Marists lead 3-0
November 23	Butler*	2nd meeting; Butler leads 1-0