The Butler football team will play a 12-game schedule in the fall with a new goal in place.

As a member of the Pioneer Football League, a non-scholarship conference, the Bulldogs have never had the chance to make the playoffs. Beginning this season, the PFL champion will be awarded an automatic bid for the first time since the league’s formation in 1993.

“It’s obviously very exciting for us,” returning starting quarterback Matt Lancaster said. “That is an early goal for our team.”

PFL programs are allowed to play a 12-game schedule at the Football Championship Series level for the first time since 2010.

Butler assistant coach Joe Cheshire said the Bulldogs, especially the seniors, have been looking forward to playing a 12-game schedule.

“It’s a positive for our players,” Cheshire said. “It gives (our seniors) another opportunity to play another game in their Butler career.”

Butler will begin its campaign on Aug. 31 at South Dakota State, a perennial powerhouse who lost in the second round of the 2012 playoffs.

The Bulldogs open their home schedule under the lights in the Butler Bowl the following Saturday against Wittenberg.

Butler will host an Ivy League team for the first time when Dartmouth visits on Sept. 21.

The Bulldogs’ four other home games are  against Stetson (Oct. 5), Campbell (Oct. 12), Drake (Oct. 19) and Hoosier Helmet rival Valparaiso (Nov. 9).

“As a freshman, I remember thinking it would be a long time before senior year,” Lancaster said. “But now it’s like, ‘Where has the time gone?’

“There’s no better way to end a career than against our rival in the Hoosier Helmet Game.”

All four non-conference opponents—South Dakota State, Wittenberg, Franklin and Dartmouth—had winning records in 2012.

“It will be good to see who we are as a team with the Wittenberg and Franklin games sandwiched between two good teams in South Dakota State and Dartmouth,” senior defensive back Sean Grady said.

“We’ll hopefully get back at Dartmouth for the beating they put on us up there last year.”

Senior defensive lineman Jeremy Stephens said the schedule will challenge Butler right from the start.

“I feel like our schedule will prepare us more than any other year has so far because we play a strong South Dakota State team in our first game,” Stephens said. “We’ll most likely be favored to win the Pioneer League, and we will get everyone’s best shot, which will also prepare us.”

Stephens said the South Dakota State game will be a good test because Butler players will know where their team ranks among the nation’s top competition.

Cheshire said the tough schedule will prepare the Bulldogs and give them a good shot at winning the automatic bid in the PFL.

“For me to say we don’t have a chance, that would be crazy,” Cheshire said. “If we can play our best and play to our potential, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll be in contention.”

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.”

The question still lingers as to why Butler University made the decision to move to the Atlantic 10 conference a year earlier than planned, regardless of whether it was for the best.
President Jim Danko announced on May 2 that Butler was moving to the A-10 from the Horizon League.
“We considered many aspects and came to the conclusion that this was the best move for the athletic program and the university as whole,” Danko said.
Just a month after the initial announcement, the decision was made to switch conferences immediately, rather than wait until the 2013-14 academic year like originally planned.
“When you decide to leave for another conference, you obviously think that’s a benefit to you, and this way we are only benefitting a year early,” athletic director Barry Collier said.
The fact remains that the decision was made quickly–a month after the initial decision to play an additional season in the Horizon League before moving.
Virginia Commonwealth, or VCU as it is more commonly referred to, was in a similar situation.
VCU announced it was moving from the Colonial Athletic Association to the A-10 just two weeks after Butler did.
The university petitioned for early entrance into the conference as result of a CAA bylaw that would prohibit any Ram’s sport from participating in conference championships.
This could potentially hinder VCU’s chances of appearing in the NCAA tournaments, which was a concern, considering its men’s basketball team has played in four of the last six NCAA tournaments, including five since 2004.
There was speculation from a source with knowledge of the situation that Butler would have faced similar penalties.
However, a contractual agreement between Butler and the Horizon League prevents details of the exit from being revealed.
After the announcement was made last May, Horizon League commissioner John LeCrone said that the league does not have a bylaw preventing a departing member from competing in conference championships like the CAA does.
President Jim Danko did hint, however, that other Horizon League presidents wanted an immediate departure.
“I don’t think the presidents wanted us to have a swan song in their arenas,” Danko said. “It was like a divorce—the quicker we get out of the house, the better.”
Bill Benner, senior associate commissioner for external affairs for the Horizon League, had no further comments regarding the move, citing the agreement between the league and Butler to keep any information confidential.
Butler had been a member of the Horizon League since 1979. The league was previously known as the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and the Midwestern City Conference prior to that.
Collier said that both parties had discussions about what would be best for everyone and that the decision was made to separate immediately.
A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said Butler contacted the A-10 with a petition for early entrance.
“We were made aware of a challenging situation that would have made it difficult (for Butler) to remain in the current conference,” McGlade said.
McGlade said she could not comment on the specifics of the situation.
“The unexpected circumstances that precipitated Butler’s request to move immediately were unfortunate, but the decision to accept Butler was an easy and unanimous one,” McGlade said.
The relationship between Butler and the Horizon League will continue, however.
There is a chance that Butler fans could still see rivalry games being played between Butler and members of the league.
“We are open to the possibility of continually scheduling those teams, but there is no formal agreement between us,” Collier said.
All Butler teams will begin competing immediately in the A-10 with the exceptions of football, which is remaining in the Pioneer Football League, and women’s golf, which will participate in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

In recent weeks, reports from ESPN and CBS led many to believe that Butler may switch athletic conferences within the next few years.

Butler could make the transition from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 conference and replace departing Temple.

The Owls of Temple are currently part of the A-10 in all sports except football.

For football, Temple is an associate member of the Mid-American Conference.

Temple is joining the Big East next season for football and all other sports the following year.

According to reports, Butler may likely be the team to fill the spot left by Temple in the A-10.

Butler would bring all of its athletic teams to the A-10 except for football, which is a member of the Pioneer Football League.

The change would go into effect beginning with the 2013-2014 school year.

Other schools that ESPN and CBS consider to be candidates for filling the A-10 vacancy are Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason.

If the crossover is made, Butler would be the second-smallest university in the league.

Butler would have more students than only St. Bonaventure, which has an enrollment of approximately 2,400.

Butler’s athletic programs would compete against schools with more than 20,000 students, such as Charlotte, George Washington University and the Massachusetts.

However, most of the schools in the A-10 have between 6,000 and 15,000 students.

The Butler athletics department declined to comment on conference affiliation or changes, other than Associate Athletic Director Jim McGrath saying that “we are members of the Horizon League.”

The move would likely benefit Butler’s men’s basketball team, which competed in back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011.

This season, the A-10 placed four teams in the NCAA tournament—Xavier, St. Bonaventure, Temple and Saint Louis. The Horizon League sent only Detroit to the Big Dance.

The Bulldogs would see an increase in competition and would have a traditional conference rival in Xavier.

Senior guard Rotnei Clarke has experience playing in a collegiate athletic conference more prominent than the Horizon League.

Clarke transferred from Arkansas—a member of the Southeastern Conference—last year and sat out this season with a year of eligibility remaining.

“It’s a cool thing being able to play in a power conference,” Clarke said.

The A-10 is not nearly as big as the SEC, but the A-10 tends to draw more attention from major media outlets—specifically ESPN—than the Horizon League.

Clarke said the media exposure he experienced during his time in the SEC was a good experience.

Clarke will graduate from Butler prior to any of Butler’s teams competing in A-10 play, but he said he thinks the men’s basketball team would still measure up in the new conference if they moved.

“I feel like we would compete in the A-10 for sure. No doubt about it,” Clarke said.

Like the men’s basketball team, the other squads would see an increase in competition but not necessarily unfamiliar opponents.

Men’s basketball, women’s soccer, baseball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis all played or will already play at least one A-10 team during this academic school year.

Baseball coach Steve Farley said both Xavier and Dayton, two teams from the A-10 that Butler has faced or will face this season, were in the conference when he took his current job more than 20 years ago.

Farley  also said he would be OK with the new competition, but he is wary of the way the conference is spread out.

“Fifteen-hour bus rides to places like Massachusetts, Rhode Island and upstate New York don’t excite me that much,” Farley said.

Volleyball coach Sharon Clark said she is not familiar with the A-10 but thinks it would be a little tougher from a traveling aspect as well.

As for football, scholarships are available for players in the A-10 but not in the PFL.

Reports indicate that if Butler jumped to the A-10, its football team would remain in the PFL.

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.”

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.

Even with senior quarterback Andrew Huck throwing a career-high 381 yards, the Butler football team was not able to stop the running game of Pioneer Football League foe Campbell, dropping Saturday’s game 38-23.

“In any game, you’re going to get your ups and downs, and that’s kind of how our game went,” freshman cornerback  Jimmy Schwabe said.

The Bulldogs (3-3, 1-2) started the game off on the right foot—senior kicker David Lang’s—with two consecutive field goals in the first half, giving Butler an early 6-0 advantage.

Campbell’s offense rallied during the second quarter and took the lead from the Bulldogs, driving 54 yards in seven plays.

The Fighting Camels (2-3, 1-2) reached double-digit points with a field goal, but Lang came through with his third field goal of the half to make it a one-point game going into the locker room.

“We were in control the first half,” sophomore safety Jayme Szafranski said. “Then  they made a couple of plays [in the second half], and the momentum just kept going.”

The Fighting Camels stepped up their running game in the third quarter, scoring back-to-back touchdowns and boosting their lead to 24-9.

“In the second half, they  really went back to their running attack,” Schwabe said. “That was their philosophy.”

Campbell ended the game with 247 rushing yards compared to Butler’s 79.

Photo by Maria Porter

The Bulldogs were hampered by the losses of senior running back Trae Heeter and sophomore wide receiver Brandon Grubbe, who both left with injuries.

The game went on, however, and the Bulldogs ended the third quarter with a 67-yard touchdown pass from Huck to senior wide receiver Zach Watkins.

It was déjà vu for the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter.

Butler was able to end the game on a high note with a 41-yard pass from Huck to senior wide receiver Jeff Larsen.

However, the Fighting Camels scored two more touchdowns in the quarter to seal the victory.

Huck is now the second Butler quarterback to throw for more than 6,000 career yards after hitting the 6,020 mark on Saturday.

He also completed a career-best 34 of 47 passes against Campbell.

Huck wasn’t the only Bulldog to have a career-best performance during the game.

Sophomore wide receiver Brendan Shannon had a career-high 10 catches for 87 yards, and junior linebacker Jordan Ridley, who was later named the PFL Defensive Player of the Week, recorded a career-high 19 tackles.

Senior defensive back Andy Dauch also had a career-high 10 tackles.

Butler will play next at home, competing in the “Hoosier Helmet” game against Valparaiso on Saturday at 1 pm.

Butler senior kicker David Lang has been “good as gold” this season, to steal a term often used to describe Chicago Bears kicker Robbie Gould.

Lang drilled a game-winning, 35-yard field goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game to give the Butler football team a 29-27 victory over Dayton on Saturday.

“That was a great win,” Butler head coach Jeff Voris said.

Lang nailed another 35-yard field goal earlier in the fourth quarter as well as a career-long 46-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first quarter.

The performance earned Lang the Pioneer Football League’s Special Teams Player of the Week honor, his second this season.

The Bulldogs (3-2, 1-1) needed all the points that Lang produced after blowing a 10-point advantage against the Flyers, (3-2, 1-1) the co-champion of the PFL last season.

Butler overcame Dayton’s defensive effort on its first drive of the game, moving the ball 83 yards in 11 plays.

The drive finished in the end zone with a three-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Zach Watkins from senior quarterback Andrew Huck.

Huck ended the day with 255 passing yards and three touchdown passes.

The Bulldogs had a 10-0 lead by the end of the first quarter thanks to Lang’s 46-yard field goal.

The Flyers rallied in the second quarter to score two consecutive touchdowns and gain a 14-10 lead.

Butler responded by putting together an 80-yard drive in the last three minutes of the first half. Huck capped the drive with a four-yard pass to senior wide receiver Jeff Larsen, giving the Bulldogs a 16-14 lead at halftime.

Photo by Mickey Shuey

“We came out really strong,” sophomore cornerback Kevin Cook said. “Dayton has always been one of our biggest rivals. We had the mentality ‘we can win’, and that’s what gave us tempo.”

The third quarter saw tight defense and one touchdown for each squad. Dayton’s failed two-point conversion after its touchdown left the Bulldogs with a 23-20 lead.

The tide turned for the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter after a Butler punt was blocked and returned 42 yards, giving Dayton a 27-23 lead.

“That put us down, but we set the tempo on the next drive,” Cook said.

The Bulldogs erased part of the deficit when Lang made a 35-yard field goal, bringing the Bulldogs within one point of the Flyers with 7:52 remaining.

After the field goal, Butler’s defense held strong to give the offense another opportunity. The Bulldogs’ defense limited Dayton to 78 passing yards and 162 rushing yards while forcing three turnovers.

“[The defense] was more aggressive on the short passes, and we really wanted to press that,” Cook said.

Butler sealed the victory with Lang’s field goal with seven seconds left to go.

Cook said that beating last season’s PFL co-champs made the Butler win even sweeter.

“We don’t want to share anything with anybody,” Cook said. “If we can beat the league champs, then we can be the league champs. This win was crucial to the rest of our season.”

The Bulldogs will hit the road for their next game at Campbell Saturday.

Zach Watkins has made a habit of catching passes over the past four years. This season, the senior receiver is making a habit of breaking records.

After becoming the all-time receptions leader Sept. 17, Watkins  added another notch to his belt, surpassing Dan Bohrer as the Bulldogs’ leader in receiving yards with 2,308.

And Watkins made the record-breaking play in appropriate fashion.

Fully extended in the corner of the end zone, Watkins made a leaping touchdown grab that gave Butler a 7-6 lead over Drake.

Photo by Maria Porter

“He’s made some catches that you wonder how in the heck he made,” coach Jeff Voris said. “The one that broke the record, he’s probably laying on his back. That was just the perfect way for him to get it.”

Following the game, Watkins deflected his achievement back to his teammates.

“I see it more as a team goal than an individual goal,” Watkins said. “At the end of the day, I catch the ball, but it wouldn’t happen without 10 other guys.”

Voris, on the other hand, commented on the impressiveness of Watkins, a four-year letter winner, and his recently acquired records.

“To have those types of records, you need to be able to find the field early,” Voris said.

Watkins did just that, turning heads as an underclassman with his dazzling catches and big-play ability.

Butler receivers coach Kenan Smith knows what it takes to be a successful wideout. Smith was an all-conference receiver at Sacramento State and finished his collegiate career on the school’s  top 10 list for receptions.

“Zach has some of the strongest hands I’ve ever seen,” Smith said. “He makes catches that sometimes I’m even amazed he makes.”

Even so, Smith says that Watkins’ success is as much a product of off-the-field efforts as natural talent.

“I would come in to the office in the summer, and Zach would be sitting in the dark watching film,” Smith said. “He is always trying to get better.”

Assistant coach Nick Anderson oversaw the Bulldogs’ receiving corps from 2007 to 2010 before focusing specifically on cornerbacks this season. During that time, Anderson watched Watkins mature as both a player and a person.

“It has been really fun watching him grow from being a young guy who couldn’t remember one play to a guy who can line up at any position and know what he’s doing,” Anderson said. “The best part for me has been watching him grow as a person and young man.”

Four games into his final season as a Bulldog, Watkins has yet to reflect on his Butler career. Instead, the wideout is focusing on the short term, establishing one clear objective: win the Pioneer Football League conference title.

“Seeing the seniors hold up that trophy [in 2009] meant a lot to me,” Watkins said. “It’s something that I definitely want to do.”

Senior quarterback Andrew Huck was Butler’s offensive MVP in 2009 when the Bulldogs won a school record 11 games, were PFL co-champions and picked up the first postseason victory in school history.

That season, Watkins led the Bulldogs in receiving and scoring while garnering first-team All-PFL honors. His 78 receptions were a league best.

“[Watkins] and I have built quite a rapport over the past four years,” Huck said. “A lot of our success has to do with communicating and making adjustments in the game. It’s definitely a relationship where we both have a lot of trust.”

Bulldog fans and players alike are hoping the chemistry and trust Watkins and Huck have developed will equate to Butler victories.

When asked if the 2-2 Bulldogs still have a shot to win the conference title, Watkins was confident.

“Oh yeah,” Watkins said. “Definitely.”