Fall sports are having a difficult time attracting people to their games and matches.

The leader in attendance of all fall sports is football, which averaged fewer than 2,600 attendees per home game last year.

Football is the only fall sport that averaged in the thousands.

Last year, volleyball averaged 382 attendees, men’s soccer had 388 fans show up and women’s soccer didn’t even average above 300.

These numbers seem even smaller compared with men’s basketball, which averaged more than 6,100 per home game.

Vice President for Student Affairs Levester Johnson said that different departments are working together to try to help the fall sports teams.

“I think we are going to be stepping things up as far as trying to get students out and attending these events,” Johnson said.

Women’s soccer coach Tari St. John said that there is room to grow when it comes to attendance.

“It can still be exciting even if you are not a soccer person,” St. John said. “We had 10 to 15 football guys here (at the match against Indiana State), and they had such an impact on the atmosphere of the game, and the kids really fed off that.”

The Butler Bowl seats approximately 5,600 people.

This means that even football did not reach half capacity on average last season.

Despite the low attendance, Johnson said there was good turnout at the women’s soccer game against Louisville on Aug. 17. Attendance was reported at 412 people.

“Once we work with students and give them this sense of knowing that these are their classmates, people sitting right next to them in class, they’re going to come out,” Johnson said.

The Butler football team sent its seniors out in style with a 17-7 conference win over Davidson Saturday. The game marked the final home game for Butler’s 23 seniors.

Each of those seniors saw action in the win, except quarterback Andrew Huck, who is nursing a shoulder injury suffered in Butler’s Homecoming loss to Marist.

Filling in for Butler’s second all-time leading passer makes for no easy feat, but coach Jeff Voris called redshirt freshman Wade Markley’s performance as quarterback “great.”

Photo by Taylor Cox

In his first collegiate start, Markley completed 15 of his 22 pass attempts, throwing for 168 yards and two touchdowns, including a third-quarter strike to sophomore tight end Matt Jenson. The 24-yard score put the Bulldogs (5-4, 3-3) on top 17-0.

“The thing with Wade  that allows everyone to relax and feel confident is the intangible things he brings to the game,” Voris said. “He spends as much time as anyone studying. He is the first guy here and the last guy to leave.”

Markley also connected with senior wide receiver Zach Watkins five times for 90 yards. Markley and the Bulldog offense finished with no turnovers on the day.

The Wildcats (2-7, 0-6) didn’t fare as well in regard to turnovers.

Led by sophomore quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff’s 304 passing yards, Davidson outgained Butler by more than 100 yards offensively. However, the Bulldogs’ defense forced four turnovers, including three interceptions.

Senior defensive linemen Grant Hunter, Jeff Poss and Ross Teare accounted for four of the Bulldogs’ five sacks.

Butler senior kicker David Lang added a 23-yard field goal in the effort and converted both extra points following Markley’s two touchdown passes.

Kicking for the final time at the Butler Bowl, Lang said what he will miss most are the relationships he has established with his teammates.

“I don’t think you can find this anywhere else,” Lang said. “These kinds of relationships are hard to make. I’ll definitely be friends with these guys for the rest of my life, and hopefully we can go places together.”

Butler will look to continue its winning ways when it visits second-place Jacksonville (6-3, 5-1) Saturday. The Bulldogs are 0-6 all-time against the Dolphins.
Jacksonville is coming off a 31-24 last-minute loss to league-leading Drake.

While Saturday night might be all right for fighting, Saturday night was also all right for winning for the Butler women’s soccer team.

The Bulldogs (6-5-0, 1-1-0) took on Wright State in the first night game ever held at the Butler Bowl and walked away with a 1-0 win over the Raiders (5-4-2, 0-1-1).

“The atmosphere is just awesome when the lights are on,” junior forward Rachael Melendez said.

Photo by Reid Bruner

Butler had an early scoring attempt when Melendez drew a penalty shot. But the Bulldogs were unable to cash in, as Wright State sophomore goalkeeper Brooke McCurdy stopped the shot.

Butler’s next offensive push came in the 39th minute when freshman Elise Kotsakis blew by one defender before splitting two more near the 15-yard line.

Once there, she settled into a pocket and fired the ball into the net for the game’s first and only goal.

Butler proved to be up to the task of holding a 1-0 lead, as the defense stayed strong in the second half.

Senior goalkeeper Natalie Galovska made three critical saves in the match, including one that denied Wright State in a free kick situation from just outside the box.

“All I remember is seeing our defenders get organized,” Galovska said. “I was just able to get there, and I just reacted to the best of my capabilities.”

The Bulldogs outshot the Raiders 15-11, including a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal.

With the win, the Bulldogs gained valuable momentum heading into their next match with non-conference opponent Xavier.

The match against the Musketeers (6-4-0) will be played under the lights at the Butler Bowl Thursday at 7 p.m.

Photo by Maria Porter

The Butler football team opened its season in record-breaking fashion Saturday en route to beating Albion 31-17.

Senior quarterback Andrew Huck etched his name in Butler lore, completing his first 19 passing attempts.

Dwayne Ewing (2001) and Matt Kobli (2008) shared the old record for consecutive completions with 12. Kobli also set his mark against Albion.

“The record is cool to have,” Huck said, “But I couldn’t get that done without good line protection and my guys outside making plays. It definitely wasn’t a one-man show out there.”

Huck led the Bulldogs to a 31-3 halftime lead by throwing for 212 yards and three touchdowns, including a 19-yard strike to senior receiver Zach Watkins to end the second quarter. Huck finished with 235 passing yards.

Butler’s 273 first-half yards more than doubled Albion’s 116.

The Bulldogs’ offensive onslaught was put on ice in the second half, with Albion holding Butler scoreless on 45 yards of offense.

“We didn’t show the mental toughness necessary to come out of halftime and play like it’s 0-0,” Butler head coach Jeff Voris said. “You’re going to have hiccups, but I was proud of our effort and the way we played today.”

Behind a stellar performance by junior running back Clinton Orr, Albion mounted a second-half comeback, cutting its deficit to 31-17 with about 12 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Orr, who finished second in Division III for all-purpose yards last season, rushed for 39 of his 85 yards in the second half, including a third-quarter touchdown run from the goal line.

“He [Orr] is a good football player,” Voris said. “The only way you defend a guy like that is to get 11 guys in the right spot and fit in the right place. We did that pretty consistently.”

Sophomore running back Trae Heeter helped the Bulldogs stave off Albion’s comeback attempt and seal the victory.

Butler handed off to Heeter four times on its final possession to run the clock out on the Britons’ chances.

The Bulldogs will look to continue their success Saturday as they travel to Terre Haute to play the Indiana State Sycamores at Memorial Stadium.

Butler’s defense will be put to the test against the Sycamores. Indiana State amassed 351 points and found the end zone 48 times last season, both school records.

In order to overcome the Sycamores, Huck and the Bulldogs will need to stay focused on the high goals they have set for themselves.

“Our expectations are to return to the ’09 stature, win some games and eventually win a championship,” Huck said.

Photo by Taylor Cox

The broken scoreboard wasn’t the only thing out of sync at the Butler Bowl Friday afternoon.

The Butler University men’s soccer team dug itself a 3-0 hole before falling to Bradley 4-1 in front of a large season-opening crowd.

The pre-season No. 21 Bulldogs (0-1) never were able to gain any sizable momentum after the Braves (2-0) scored just six minutes into the game on a free kick by senior forward Christian Meza.

The Braves’ second goal followed 10 minutes later, with a 35-yard strike from Bradley senior forward Brian Gaul. The goal snuck in the upper right corner of the net, and the Bulldogs seemed taken off guard by the bold strike.

“The second goal was just clutch,” senior defenseman JC Aikenhead said.

Down by a pair, the Bulldogs turned up the pressure for the remainder of the first half. But a turnover followed by a lob pass over Butler defenders forced sophomore goalkeeper Jon Dawson to come out of the box.

Gaul was able to chip it over Dawson to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.

Just six minutes later, however, junior forward Austin Oldham provided the Bulldogs and those in attendance with a glimmer of hope.

Oldham juggled the ball past two defenders, settled it on open space and fired a strike past the outstretched arms of Bradley’s sophomore goalkeeper Brian Billings and into the back of the net.

The goal pulled the Bulldogs within two before the half.

“Austin’s goal was a touch of magic,” Butler head coach Paul Snape said.

While Bradley countered the Bulldogs’ pressure with great goalkeeping, freshman defenseman Alexei Davies-Campbell delivered a fourth goal for the Braves in the 57th minute, putting the game out of reach for good.

While the 21-8 advantage in shots was one positive that the team could take away from the game, fouls and poor defending hurt the Bulldogs.

“Our biggest problems were lack of discipline on defense, too many fouls and not taking away their options,” Snape said.

Next the Bulldogs will face Snape’s former school, No. 9 Michigan.

“We just need to work on keeping the ball out of our net, defending and really bringing the intensity,” Aikenhead said.

Butler will face off against the Wolverines Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich., as part of the Michigan Invitational. The Bulldogs also will take on Oakland Sunday in the same invitational.

Graphic by Erin Drennan

Butler Bowl and Hinkle Fieldhouse renovations: $2.3 million.

The Howard Schrott Center for Performing and Visual Arts: $13 million.

Cost of one semester at Butler, living in Residential College with a meal plan: $21,500.

It would take 107 semesters for one student  to pay off the changes to the Bowl and Hinkle. As for the Howie? 605 semesters.

College is a huge investment and the construction on campus is not free. Bulldogs should know what they are paying for, and they easily can find out for themselves.

Butler University is a private college, so the paper trail is not as transparent as it is at public schools. It’s easy to assume that the information is impossible to get, but it’s not. It took about 15 minutes online to obtain the above data.

For many students, Butler’s idyllic campus was a winning factor in their application process. It is the kind of place where undergrads play Frisbee, carry books and chug Starbucks coffee every day.

I fell in love with this place the moment I saw it.  This piece is not a condemnation of the projects on campus. Instead, it is a call for students to educate themselves on the university’s expansion.

We need to know how much information is available.  Then, we need to push for more.

After all, there are legitimate concerns about the way Butler spends money. The Health and Recreation Center pool opened just five years ago and already repairs are underway. Part of the pool originally was made of plaster. Pool-goers chipped the flooring by walking on it.

That does not sound like it should have been a surprise.

It is not unreasonable to ask for more forward-thinking investments. Perhaps a more open approach involving more student cooperation with administrators could solve a few of these problems before they cost the university twice.

So, yes, Butler probably should do a better job of publishing information about the budget. But before complaining, students should do some research for themselves.

Or just ask. Information is easy to come by.

A variety of other groups are in charge of making decisions about which projects get started, said Gerald Carlson, interim vice president of operations.

“It’s Operations’ job to finish projects on time and under budget,” he said.

One of these groups is the Capital Work Group, which helps to fund and approve projects from Operations as well as the Student Government Association, the provost  and others, said Carlson.

The committee doesn’t have enough funds to green-light every project. Carlson advocated repairs for the roof of Jordan Hall, but the group could not afford it this year. SGA, on the other hand, lobbied for and received expanded key-card access.

It appears as if there are several groups on campus that all have their own budgets, that can all promote projects. The provost’s office has its own resources. The Butler Leadership Team can change the master plan or fund their own projects.

Part of being informed is doing independent research. Butler’s Strategic Plan outlines expansions that the university is likely to need in the future. And students already have a way to get their voices heard—attend SGA meetings.

Butler University held its inaugural “Tailgating Challenge” at last Saturday’s home football game versus Campbell.

“Our hope is that we can make football games a great student bonding experience by setting a special spot aside for students to enjoy a day full of activities that lead up to the football game in the afternoon,” Peter Xander, external operations intern for Butler University athletics, said.

For the tailgating contest, competitors were challenged to make the best chicken wings in order to be donned the “tailgating champion.”

The contest was open to all student organizations.

In drizzling rain and cold temperatures, the organizations battled in the Hinkle parking lot.

Xander said the weather put a damper on the event as some groups weren’t able to make it and others ran into problems along the way.

One group forgot their wings and another couldn’t get their grill to start, he said.

“All things considered, I thought it went OK,” Xander said.

Though seven groups had originally signed up to participate, he said they had three organizations submit wings for the judging.

Erin Jackson, a Butler softball player, was crowned “tailgating champion” with a buffalo style wing sauce on her wings.

Xander said the athletics department is hoping to put on another “Tailgating Challenge” for the final home game on Nov. 6.

He said the food item for competition is still being determined, but possibilities include chili or burgers.

The department’s hope is to create a football atmosphere similar to other Division I football programs in Indiana and Xander said it starts with tailgating.

“I think tailgating can become an event that students will really enjoy and look forward to,” he said.

Xander said he hopes the event will create a better pre-game atmosphere for players, too.

“People tend to think of homecoming as a game where people tailgate, but our hope is that we can spark an interest in tailgating for every game,” Xander said. “By doing this increases the overall experience of a Butler football game for our students and all Butler football fans.”

DIVISION III SPIRIT: Tailgating contest participants gather in the rainy weather to compete for the best chicken wings. The athletics department is trying to establish a Division I football atmosphere. (Photo by Caroline Johnson)

Football starts its quest to defend the Pioneer Football League title this weekend ,coming off a win at the home opener Sept. 18.

The Bulldogs defeated Taylor, 28-20, behind junior quarterback Andrew Huck. Huck threw for 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

A crowd of over 4,000 turned out to watch the Bulldogs in their first game at the newly renovated Butler Bowl.

Huck got off to a slow start, completing just one of his first six passes. He recovered though, connecting on 28 of his next 32 attempts.

The Taylor Trojans (1-2) struck first, leading 7-0 after the first quarter.

Butler answered quickly on its next offensive possession.

Huck commanded an 11-play, 72-yard drive. Senior Scott Gray’s touchdown run capped off the drive that included back-to-back 18-yard passes from Huck to junior wide receivers Jordan Koopman and Jeff Larsen.

On Taylor’s next possession, Butler’s defense stepped up and forced a quick three and out and Huck led the offense back onto the field.

This time it didn’t take nearly as long for Butler to strike. One play is all the Bulldogs needed.

Huck hurled a long pass towards the left sideline that senior wide receiver Eddie McHale was able to haul in.

“Both of our receivers came back and said they could beat the corners off the ball,” Huck said.

The 46-yard touchdown pass was Huck’s longest completion of the day and put Butler on top, 14-7.

Just before halftime, another Butler wide receiver, junior Zach Watkins, found his way into the scoring column.

A Watkins’ catch put the Bulldogs in the red zone, and Huck found him again—this time in the end zone—putting Butler ahead 21-7.

“Basically, [Taylor] was just leaving me one-on-one on the backside,” Watkins said.

The Bulldogs dominated the first half largely in part to Huck, who threw for 245 yards in the first two quarters.

“Andrew is outstanding,” Butler head coach Jeff Voris said. “He gets better every week.

“The thing is he’s never satisfied. He is always working and his preparation is outstanding,” Voris added. “That’s why he performs the way he does.”

The Butler defense also put out a strong performance.

The Bulldogs pressured Taylor’s quarterback all day, limiting him to just three completions in the first half.

“What their offense was set around was a lot of slide protection and three step drops,” junior defensive end Grant Hunter said. “When you see that, the best thing you can do is get your hands up and create confusion for the quarterback.

“That’s what we did. That’s what allowed everybody to get pressure on him.”

“We knew Butler was going to be a fast defense,” Taylor senior quarterback Shaun Addison said. “We saw on film that they were aggressive and we were hoping to capitalize on that through our passing game, but it just wasn’t there today.”

Taking advantage of a Butler turnover, Taylor cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 21-14.

Senior Matt Kobli fumbled to put Taylor in scoring position with three minutes left to play in the third.

On Butler’s next possession, Kobli ran for a touchdown to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to two scores.

With a little over five minutes to play, Addison led a methodical 11-play touchdown drive for Taylor. The score brought the Trojans to within eight, but they were never able to get back possession.

Despite the loss, Taylor head coach Ron Korfmacher recognized the special opportunity his players had.

“I thought Taylor did a good job of bringing a big crowd and we had a really great crowd as well,” Huck said following the game.

Voris also noted the electric atmosphere.

“It’s always a great atmosphere in the bowl but with the new stadium, there was more of a buzz,” Voris said. “It’s a place where our guys have a lot of pride in playing.

“We had a great crowd that was into it. You put all those things together, and it made for a great day.”

The defending Pioneer League Champions will kick off league play Saturday when they visit the San Diego Toreros.

Last season, the Bulldogs finished with a conference mark of 7-1, capturing a championship in the process.

“Being the defending champs, we’re going to get everyone’s best shot,” Voris said. “We have to prepare like champions and act like champions if we’re going to be able to withstand the league stretch.”

The game versus San Diego will kick off at 4:00 and can be heard on bigplayproductions.com.

Less than a year ago, the Butler Bowl was a source of embarrassment for the Bulldogs.
The Bowl is now a source of pride after recent renovations to the press box and grand stands.
“We want our athletes, our alumni and friends to have pride in how we present ourselves,” Butler University President Bobby Fong said. “Given the condition of the original bowl, it wasn’t a source of pride.”
Fong said that when he came to Butler 2001, the stadium was just the remnants of what had been built in 1928.
“There was a bank of empty stands that nobody could sit on because the concrete had deteriorated to the point where it was dangerous,” he said.
Fong said the project was funded largely through the ButlerRising campaign, which was a campaign to improve Butler’s human capital through receiving monetary donations.
“We were able to collect money for the turf field as part of our campaign,” he said. “Then as part of our public phase we were able to accumulate additional money that took care of the stands and paid for what was meant to be a much more modest press box.”
The project cost $2.5 million with roughly $1.2 million coming from the campaign.
The rest of the money came out of the athletic’s fund.
The landscaping that went along with the construction was a separate project, Mike Gardner, Vice President of Operations, said.
It was funded through the university’s operating budget.
“The decision was made to use additional contributions from the athletic revenues to expand the project, and that’s what you see today,” Fong said.
He said to raise the money, the school targeted people who might have an “intersection” with the project.
“Part of what we do in fundraising is try to talk about the university and ask individual donors where their own interests lie in terms of leaving a legacy,” he said. “As in all campaigns, we try to put out projects that are important to the university and that may draw people with a personal interest.”
Craig Hardee, the construction manager for the project, said the stadium will be complete in time for the first home football game on Saturday.
Hardee said the renovations were a little rough going at first.
“For a project with this type and amount of masonry, it has been completed in rapid fashion taking into account the considerable weather delays in the beginning,” he said. “We had 49 rain days in April, May and June.
“Then we had 57 days over 90 degrees this summer.”
Hardee said that the renovations have been needed for years.
He said the end product makes for a very comprehensive design.
“It is a building befitting of its location, being both responsive and supporting of Hinkle and respecting its architectural history,” he said.
The stadium is also befitting of something else.
“It seems like we needed a stadium that would live up to the increasing competitiveness of our sports teams, and I think we’ve reached that point,” Fong said. “I know the football and soccer teams are very excited about what’s been done.
“It’s a better experience for them as student athletes.”
Hardee believes it will help in the recruiting process as well.
“For athletics, it will be a great recruiting tool as well as be a wonderful home stadium for football and soccer games,” he said.
Claire Milam, a sophomore on the Butler women’s soccer team, said that the improved stadium definitely helps to bring pride to Butler athletics.
“The stadium does make me feel proud to be a Butler athlete,” she said. “When we have other teams come to our home field, we’re excited that we have such a wonderful facility to play on.”