Butler junior running back Trae Heeter had a career-high 204 rushing yards to lead the Bulldogs to a 35-14 victory against Campbell in their Pioneer League opener.

Butler (2-2, 1-0) avenged last season’s 38-23 loss against the Camels (1-3, 0-1).

“Campbell got to us last year, and they beat us pretty bad,” Heeter said. “So we just talked about going out there and getting revenge on them and making it a redemption game.”

Heeter said his effort wasn’t done by him alone.

“The O-line did a great job opening holes all day, the receivers blocked well on the outside and there were running lanes everywhere,” he said.

Redshirt junior quarterback Matt Lancaster went 15 for 21 through the air for 168 yards and a touchdown. He added 61 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Butler coach Jeff Voris said the team played well for all 60 minutes and played more complementary football than it did in last week’s loss at Dartmouth.

“The offense and defense had to work better off of each other,” Voris said. “It was a great win against a really good football team.

Senior linebacker Jordan Ridley finished the game with nine tackles.

“We were definitely inspired the whole game just to come out and prove that we’re going to be a tough team to beat in this league,” Ridley said.

Butler stays home this weekend to take on PFL opponent Dayton, which the Bulldogs beat on the road last season with the help of a last-minute field goal.

“This week is as important as any because it’s the next one on the schedule,” Voris said. “And it just so happens to be Dayton, and you know they’ll be ready to play us.”

Annual meetings with Dayton have turned into a competitive rivalry since Voris began coaching Butler six years ago.

The Flyers (1-3, 0-1) lost their PFL opener against Jacksonville 21-17 last Saturday.

Much of the focus in today’s college football landscape is placed on conference expansion and profit.

Not all college football conferences, however, are about big-time spending and marketing.

Butler’s conference, the Pioneer Football League, is competitive at the Division I level and does so without players on scholarships.

The conference has been a non-scholarship league since its formation in 1992 and will remain a non-scholarship league next season when it begins receiving an automatic bid for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

League commissioner Patty Viverito said the league has more of an academic focus.

“It’s a good fit academically and athletically,” she said.

Viverito said that most athletes deciding between a scholarship program and the PFL are inclined to take the scholarship offer, but the league still attracts good athletes and remains competitive.

“I think the lack of a postseason opportunity has been our biggest hurdle, but we are overcoming that,” Viverito said.

She said the league has valued cost sensibility from the very beginning. Now, the addition of a postseason opportunity could add more incentive for athletes to commit to the league despite a lack of scholarships.

Butler head football coach Jeff Voris said the league still sees good football players, most of whom didn’t receive scholarships elsewhere.

“There’s more good players than there are scholarships,” Voris said. “Once the scholarship opportunity isn’t there, guys start looking for ‘Where can I play at the highest level?’”

The Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, Matt Lancaster, is a transfer from Illinois State.

Lancaster chose Illinois State because of the full-ride scholarship he received, despite always being a fan of Butler.

“I knew a lot about the program, and I knew it was non-scholarship, but at the time, coming out of high school it was kind of neat to have a scholarship,” Lancaster said.

Lancaster said he left Illinois State because playing under the scholarship became too much about the coach’s philosophy and felt out of place with lifestyles of other players.

“Sometimes when you get to that level, unfortunately, it becomes more of a job than something that you actually enjoy,” Lancaster said.

He said there are advantages to a scholarship, but he agrees with Voris in saying that there are plenty of good non-scholarship players.

“I think you might get more depth with scholarship programs, but I still believe that any player is capable of helping a team win,” Lancaster said.

Lancaster said he thinks the success of a team comes with cohesion.

“There’s a lot of people that are deserving of scholarships, and there’s a lot of people that aren’t,” Lancaster said. “I think it just depends on how the team works together and goes out there and performs on the field.”

Published Sept. 5, 2012

This Saturday, Butler’s football team will be taking part in its first game under lights since the early-1940s.

This is an important step for Butler from an athletic standpoint.

With the university’s jump to the Atlantic 10 Conference last summer, school officials would probably like to prove that they can host athletic events under a variety of circumstances (despite the fact the football team will not be part of the A-10).

Saturday’s game could help the flexibility of the football team’s scheduling in the future as well.

However, moving some football games and, before them, some men’s and women’s soccer matches to an under-the-lights setting could also pose a potential problem for the university.

Butler attempted its first athletic triple-header last September. The football team and both soccer squads had contests in the Butler Bowl on the same day.

The triple-header was likely a new and, at times, exhausting expeience for some members of Butler’s athletics department. Running one athletic event in a given day requires a number of different operations and activities to take place in very short amounts of time.

Doing those same activities three times over the course of eight to 10 hours would likely be draining.

Accordingly, the athletics department has not scheduled three events in the Bowl on a single day this academic year.

However, two separate weekends this month will see a great amount of athletic activity in short periods of time.

The first of these is this weekend, and that schedule reads as follows:

Friday, Sept. 7
Volleyball—Butler Classic, starts 11 a.m.
Men’s soccer—Butler vs. Northern Kentucky, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 8
Football—Butler vs. Franklin, 6 p.m.
Volleyball—Butler Classic, starts 6 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 9
Men’s soccer—Butler vs. Central Arkansas, 1 p.m.

With no rest for the weary, Butler also has the following schedule assembled for Saturday, Sept. 29:

Football—Butler vs. Dayton, 1 p.m.
Women’s soccer—Butler vs. Saint Louis, 7 p.m.
Volleyball—Butler vs. Duquesne, 7 p.m.

It is great that Butler is finding opportunities for fans to take in multiple sporting events in a given day, but I see two major issues with this sort of scheduling.

The first lies in overextending and straining the athletics department staff.

I cannot speak for those within the department. I cannot say those individuals were exhausted at the conclusion of the triple-header last year, that they were unable to rise from their respective beds the next morning.

One might think that taking care of the operations and behind-the-scenes work for three athletic events in a single day—especially with one being the school’s first athletic contest under lighting since World War II—might be a bit stressful, though.

So this year, the staff gets to run that gauntlet twice in four weeks.

It may prove to be even more difficult this time around. Some teams have contests scheduled over each other.

Starting the finale of volleyball’s Butler Classic and the first night football game in more than 70 years at the same time cannot possibly benefit an athletics department staff that will have dealt with earlier volleyball and men’s soccer action less than 24 hours prior.

Slotting the women’s soccer and volleyball teams into the same starting time just hours after the conclusion of a football game is potentially problematic as well.

And then there are the fans that, on the surface, benefit from receiving the opportunity to view multiple sporting events in a given day.

There is clearly an issue with attendance at Butler’s fall athletic events. Figures are not high, and the stands of the Bowl and Hinkle Fieldhouse are nowhere near full during such events.

That is why it is difficult for me to understand how scheduling events on top of each other will fix this. Fans cannot be in two places at the same time.

Also, if a day is filled with events, the casual observer will probably only attend the first on the list. It is simply overwhelming to attend three athletic contests in one day.

Overwhelming is the key word in this discussion. If stacked scheduling is some sort of initiation into the A-10, the Butler community will have to live with being overwhelmed.

Otherwise, the school should realize that it might be taking on more than it can handle.

The Butler football team fell short of a comeback in its season opener against Western Illinois.

The Bulldogs trailed 23-0 late in the third quarter before the offense showed its first signs of life in the season.

Junior running back Trae Heeter scored on a 5-yard run with four minutes remaining in the quarter to make the score 23-7. The Bulldogs snuck an onside kick past the Leathernecks (1-0) but were unable to capitalize.
Redshirt junior Sean Grady intercepted a pass that set up the team’s next scoring drive.

Grady said it was a big spark for the Bulldogs (0-1).

“We hadn’t been able to get a turnover all game, and as a defense we really look to put the offense in a good situation by turnovers,” Grady said.

On the ensuing drive, former quarterback Tom Judge made a circus catch for the Bulldogs (0-1) to get the drive moving.

On the next play, redshirt junior quarterback Matt Lancaster connected on another long screen to Heeter before running the ball into the end zone on the final play of the drive.

On the 2-point conversion attempt, Butler ran a reverse pass from Judge to make it a one-possession game, 23-15.

“The defense helped the offense, and the offense capitalized,” coach Jeff Voris said.

By getting the 2-point conversion, Voris said they felt completing the comeback was doable.

With two minutes remaining the Bulldogs were able to use their timeouts to get the ball back on their own 1-yard line.

Butler used four complete passes and three first downs to get the ball to the Western Illinois 7-yard line. The game clock was malfunctioning during the drive, and the officials kept the time on the field.

“You never know what’s going to happen with the clock,and the officials,” Lancaster said. “It’s just a matter of going out there and competing and worrying about ourselves.”

Lancaster completed a pass to Heeter, who attempted to get out of bounds but was brought down at the 4-yard line. The game clock ran out, and the Bulldogs’ 95-yard drive came up short.

“It was a little adversity thrown at us, and we needed to respond to it a little bit differently to get it done,” Voris said.

The Bulldogs will be playing under the lights for the first time since 1941 on Saturday.

Voris said he knows the atmosphere will be special, but his team is preparing the same way as it always does.

“We understand it’s a big game,” Voris said. “It’s a game that people are going to want to attend just because of the uniqueness of the lights.”

The Butler football team trailed Western Illinois 23-0 late in the third quarter before the offense showed its first sign of life in the season opener.

Trae Heeter scored on a 5-yard run with 4:00 remaining in the quarter to make the score 23-7. The Bulldogs tried to get  an onside kick past the Leathernecks (1-0) but were unable to capitalize.

Defensive back Sean Grady made an important interception that would set up the team’s next score.

On the ensuing drive former quarterback Tom Judge made a circus catch for the Bulldogs (0-1) to get the drive moving. On the next play, red-shirt junior quarterback Matt Lancaster connected on another long screen to Heeter before running the ball into the end zone himself on the next play.

On the 2-point-conversion  Butler ran a reverse pass from Judge and cut the deficit to 23-15 with just over 7:00 remaining.

The Bulldogs were able to use their timeouts to get the ball back with 2:00 remaining  on their own 1-yard line.

Butler used four complete passes and three first downs to get the ball to the Western Illinois 7-yard line.

The game clock was malfunctioning during the drive and time was being kept by the officials on the field.

Lancaster completed a pass to Heeter who attempted to get out of bounds but was brought down at the 4-yard line. The game clock ran out and the Bulldogs 95-yard drive came up just short.

Butler’s next game will be Saturday, Sept. 8 at 6:00 at the Butler Bowl. The home-opener is against Franklin College.

Spring has arrived on campus, but that does not mean the school’s fall athletic teams are resting easy.

The Butler men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball teams are currently participating in spring seasons even though their regular seasons are still months away.

The men’s and women’s soccer teams are both in the middle of month-long exhibition seasons that run from late March to the end of April.

The men’s squad took on Oakland last Saturday and has four games remaining this spring. The women’s team has already faced three teams and will take on Indiana on April 21.

Men’s soccer coach Paul Snape said playing games against other schools in the offseason gives players a chance to face off against different competitors.

“The problem is when you play against each other, you can get stale,” Snape said, “so playing other teams is a great opportunity to stay fresh.”

Junior forward Katie Griswold, a member of the women’s soccer team, said spring games help the team plan strategy for the fall season.

“[Spring games] let our coaches see what we need to work on, what will best suit the team and which formations will fit our team best,” Griswold said.

The volleyball team has matches scheduled on each of the first three Saturdays in April.

Junior outside hitter Rachel Barber said that the younger members of the team take advantage of the spring season.

“(The spring season) benefits the younger players the most,” Barber said. “It’s about getting comfortable with each other and allowing the coaches to develop players.”

The football team may not have games scheduled for the offseason, but coach Jeff Voris has 14 practices planned between March 23 and April 20.

The practices will culminate in the annual Blue-White Spring Game on April 21.

Sophomore running back Trae Heeter said that the squad focuses on re-implementing the team’s formations.

It also gives younger players time to impress the coaching staff.

“In the spring, we re-install either our offensive schemes or our defensive schemes,” Heeter said. “It’s basically a time for the guys that have been here to continue to work on their skills and for the freshmen and sophomores to go out there and show the coaches what they can do.”

Butler athletic team members with spring seasons are familiar with hitting the road for long trips to warmer locales.

The number of miles racked up by some squads may be surprising though.

Graph by Rachel Anderson

Seven of Butler’s athletic teams have made or will make at least two trips more than 600 miles from Butler during the 2011-12 school year.

Men’s and women’s golf coach Bill Mattingly said the Midwestern climate of Indianapolis makes scheduling far-off events necessary.

“In the spring, we go down south, and we try to do more [long trips] because of the better weather,” Mattingly said.

Both golf teams will head to Jacksonville, Fla., over spring break, where the Bulldogs will face non-conference opponents.

Mattingly said this helps the teams prepare for Horizon League play.

“We like to play against different teams in other conferences to help us get ready for our conference,” Mattingly said. “Playing better teams on tougher courses can get us ready for that.”

The Butler softball team is also accustomed to starting off the first month of the season in the South or on the West Coast.

The team is making a trip to Fresno, Calif., for this weekend’s 2012 Bayer CropScience Classic.

The Bulldogs will then travel from Fresno State to Pacific University in Oregon for two contests on March 14.

Senior outfielder Lauren McNulty said that while the trips may sometimes involve driving long distances, it is worth it to be able to leave the cold weather behind.

“I think I speak for all of my teammates when I say that we would take a 10-hour bus ride every weekend to play in nice weather,” McNulty said.

While the Butler football team plays its games in the fall, it is a member of the far-reaching Pioneer Football League.

While the longest trip made from Butler to another Horizon League member’s location is 349 miles for Youngstown State, annual cross-country flights are required in the PFL.

Teams from North Carolina, California, Florida and New York are currently part of the league.

Senior quarterback Andrew Huck said that while the trips offer some players a chance to see a new part of the country, they have to focus on the competition ahead.

“We had a lot of players who hadn’t been to California or on a plane before,” Huck said. “We have to keep in mind that we’re going on a business trip rather than a spring break vacation.”

Huck said the time change between Indiana and California can be difficult to cope with.

“We’ve had games start at 7 or 8 [p.m.] their time, which is 11 here, and we only have one day to overcome jet lag,” Huck said.

McNulty said that flying to games does not affect her play.

“I’ve never experienced jet lag or exhaustion after flying to a tournament,” McNulty said. “The most tiring trip is usually the trip home because we are physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted after a weekend of games.”

According to Huck, the long road trips that teams embark on are useful for improving the chemistry and camaraderie of a team’s members.

“I would say it brings you closer,” Huck said. “You’re removed from campus, and you’re really bonding with each other.”

While some interesting stories came out of the sports world this past year, none were as tumultuous as the sex abuse scandal that rocked Penn State University in Happy Valley, Pa.

The reason it was voted the biggest sports story of 2011, according to Yahoo!, was not only because of its scandalous nature but also because of the unblemished legacy that the school had built.

This legacy was largely credited to the late Joe Paterno, who was the head football coach at Penn State for 46 years. Paterno passed away last week due to complications with lung cancer.

So what does this have to do with Butler?

The basketball program here is similar to the football program at Penn State in many ways.

Paterno inherited a program that was good—but not great—just like Brad Stevens inherited a program in the same condition.

Each coach has also stressed the importance of academics.

Paterno dubbed his academic enthusiasm the “Grand Experiment,” as it blended the monikers student and athlete into the true meaning of the word “student-athlete.”

He believed it was possible to fuse the two words and ideas together, an unheralded thought at the time he started coaching.

First and foremost, Paterno was a mentor to his players—not only in football but also in life. By putting student-athletes first, he was able to achieve success on and off the gridiron.

As of 2007, Penn State football players had a 74 percent graduation rate, which was 19 percent above the national average at the time.

By the same token, Brad Stevens demands academic success as well.

Stevens’ teams posted perfect academic progress rates—a statistic determined by academic eligibility and retention of a team’s athletes—in two of his first three years as head coach at Butler.

When Paterno was first hired, people often confused Penn State for Penn, the Ivy League school in Philadelphia, because Penn State was not a household name in the world of college sports.

Before Stevens was hired, Butler was just another small mid-major capable of producing an upset.

The Nittany Lions’ football program rose to the national spotlight and became a powerhouse during Paterno’s tenure. This included two national championships and five undefeated seasons.

Stevens is now entering his fifth season as head coach at Butler. He boasts a 118-26 record and back-to-back appearances in the national championship game.

What is happening at Butler is something special. Brad Stevens is a special coach, worth every penny of the $554,941 he earned last year. Only 35, he has plenty of years left on the sidelines if he so desires.

Yet Stevens will never take credit for the success of his team. He is too humble a person for that, just like Paterno was. Stevens will graciously praise his players for the team’s success, not the other way around.

In that, he exemplifies a tradition of the school: The Butler Way.

While Stevens is a fundamental aspect of the recent success Butler has grown accustomed to, the players, the alumni and the fans are the ones contributing to the legacy upon which Stevens is rapidly building.

Hopefully Brad will take a page from Paterno’s book and stay at Butler for many years to come.

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.

Three different Butler quarterbacks hit the turf in front of a crowd of more than 4,000 at the Butler Bowl Saturday, but their combined efforts were no match for Marist senior quarterback Tommy Reilly.

Reilly’s 283 passing yards and two touchdowns led the Red Foxes (3-5, 2-3) to a 28-10 win over the Bulldogs (4-4, 2-3).

“We knew they were a good team coming in,” Butler coach Jeff Voris said. “Our guys played with great effort, but Marist played better.”

Despite the final score, it was Butler who came out with a strong start.

Just three plays into the first half, senior defensive back Jack McKenna nabbed an interception at the Red Foxes’ 26-yard line.

The Bulldogs could not come up with a touchdown off the drive, but senior kicker David Lang put Butler on the scoreboard with a 28-yard field goal.

It marked the last time Butler would score in the first half.

“We came out really hyped up, but they outplayed us, and we just didn’t respond,” sophomore cornerback Kevin Cook said.

With 5:38 left in the first quarter, Reilly connected on a 29-yard pass to junior tight end Anthony Calcagni to give Marist a 7-3 advantage.

The second half saw two more touchdowns for the Red Foxes on a 4-yard pass by Reilly and a 1-yard run by senior running back Matt Gray. The scores gave Marist a 21-3 lead going into the locker room.

The Bulldogs were hit with two key injuries at the end of the second quarter as well.

Senior linebacker Nick Caldicott was helped off the field after suffering an injury during a tackle, and senior quarterback Andrew Huck suffered a shoulder injury on the last play of the half.

Play was much closer in the second half, with Butler holding Marist to one touchdown and scoring one as well.

“We weren’t going to bend over and let this happen,” Cook said. “There was a lot of good leadership showing at halftime.”

Things began to look bleak for the Bulldogs when the Red Foxes scored another touchdown, stretching their lead to 28-3.

Butler made the game respectable by scoring the final touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter, closing the deficit to 28-10.

Butler freshman quarterback Wade Markley recorded his first collegiate touchdown pass with a 29-yard toss to senior wide receiver Jeff Larsen.

“Those guys were put in a really tough situation,” Voris said. “I thought they did well for the situation they were in.”

Markley completed five of his six pass attempts for 83 yards in relief of Huck and redshirt sophomore Tom Judge.

Reilly was the star of the game though. He completed 21 of 24 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

Marist held a 38:58–21:02 advantage in time of possession by the end of the game and outgained Butler 431-284.

Senior defensive back Andy Dauch led the team in tackles with a career-high 14 stops.

“[Dauch] is a good football player,” Voris said. “He does his job, and he’s an outstanding leader in the locker room.”

Junior linebacker Jordan Ridley tallied 12 tackles for the Bulldogs. He is currently leading the Pioneer Football League in tackles.

After an off-day this Saturday, the Bulldogs will be back in the Butler Bowl against Davidson Saturday, Nov. 5 at noon.