PFL WEEK SEVEN STORY LINES

After a week off, Jacksonville returns to action with a Thursday night contest against Webber International. The Dolphins lead the series, 2-1, winning both contests played at D.B. Milne Field. San Diego puts its 27-game home streak on the line when it hosts Morehead State, a team it has not lost to in three meetings all-time. Dayton puts its 10-game home win streak in jeopardy when it hosts Drake. The two teams have split the last four meetings in their series, which Dayton leads, 20-4. Butler will look for its third straight win when it heads to Campbell. Davidson travels to Valparaiso with both teams looking to bounce back after a week six loss, Valparaiso also will seek its first-ever victory against Davidson.

CONFERENCE QUICK HITS

WEEK SIX’S SNAP RECAP: Butler stopped its nine-game PFL losing streak with a 21-15 victory against Drake, Saturday, at the Butler Bowl. Sophomore Rob Blevins picked off a pass at the Drake 39-yard line in the second quarter and returned it for a touchdowngiving Butler a 14-6 halftime lead which it would not relinquish. Blevins was the league’s Defensive Player of the Week. Drake nearly doubled up Butler in offensive yards, amassing a 412-209 advantage. Butler sophomore quarterback Matt Kobli put together 167 yards of total offense, passing for 117 and running for another 50 yards. Ostermann, his counterpart, finished with 302 yards total offense, passing for 232 and adding another 70 on the ground. Senior running back Ben Shappie rushed for a school-record five touchdowns as Dayton downed Campbell, 42-0, Saturday, at Welcome Stadium. Shappie finished the day with a career-high 126 yards – his first career 100-yard rushing day – on 17 carries and picked up PFL Offensive Player of the Week honors. Dayton outgained Campbell, 559-85, including 315 rushing yards. Morehead State grounded the Davidson running attack en route to a 26-13 victory, Saturday, at Jayne Stadium. Morehead State jumped out to a 23-7 halftime lead as senior kicker Mason Webb booted three field goals – picking up the league’s special teams honor – and sophomore quarterback Evan Sawyer completed two touchdown passes. The Eagles limited the Wildcats to 21 yards on 24 rushing attempts, as Morehead State finished the day with a 376-253 advantage in total offense. Brent Alexander led Davidson with 253 yards on 53 pass attempts. San Diego scored 28 second-half points to turn a 14-14 halftime tie into a 42-14 victory against Valparaiso, Saturday, at Torero Stadium. San Diego junior quarterback Sebastian Trujillo completed 20-of-25 passes for 295 yards and three touchdown. The Toreros doubled up the Crusaders, 578-261, in total offense. Valparaiso scored its two touchdowns on runs by Jake Reidel and Warren Arnold.

MARIST UPDATE: Marist, which joins the PFL in 2009, suffered a 21-17 loss to Bucknell, Saturday. Senior running back Obozua Ehikioya set the program’s all-time touchdown record (42 career TDs) with an 80-yard scoring dash in the first quarter – the program’s longest touchdown pass since 2000. Ehikioya carried the ball 25 times for 156 yards.

FIVE PFL PLAYERS NAMED DRADDY TROPHY SEMIFINALISTS: Five Pioneer Football League student-athletes were named among 164 semifinalists for the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame announced, October 1. Butler senior linebacker Mike Bennett, Dayton senior tight end Bart Bergfeld, Morehead State senior wide receiver/return specialist Nick Feldman, San Diego senior defensive back Patrick O’Neill and Valparaiso senior linebacker Ryan Koepke are also semifinalists for the 2008 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award. Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, semifinalists must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The NFF Awards Committee will select and announce up to 15 finalists on Oct. 29. Each finalist will be recognized as part of the 2008 National Scholar- Athlete Class, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. The Draddy winner, who will receive a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship, will be announced at the NFF’s Annual Awards Dinner on December 9 at the prestigious Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. A total distribution of more than $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded that evening.

DAYTON NEARS 600th ALL-TIME VICTORY, DRAKE NEARING WIN NO. 550: Dayton and Drake both entered the 2008 campaign nearing milestone victories. Below is a look at each program’s current all-time wins total, according to the NCAA:

DAYTON SHUTOUT STREAK STILL GOING STRONG: Dayton avoided a shutout for the 357th consecutive game, Saturday, in its 42-0 victory against Campbell. The Flyers were last shutout by Marshall, 9-0, back on Oct. 16, 1976.

TORERO HOME WIN STREAK HITS 27: San Diego’s home win streak hit 27 games with its victory against Valparaiso, Saturday. The home win streak is the longest in all of Division I. Oklahoma has the nation’s second-longest home win streak with 20 straight wins at  Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Boise State moved into second at the FBS level with a 16-game streak while Massachusetts is second at the FCS level with a 16-game home winning streak.

SAN DIEGO PICKED TO WIN PFL: The Pioneer Football League’s coaches tabbed San Diego as the preseason favorite in the PFL Preseason Coaches’ Poll, receiving two of the nine possible first-place votes. However, the coaches believe it will be a close race with the top four teams separated by just five points:

PFL WEB SITE REMODELED: during the offseason, the Pioneer Football League’s Web site underwent a major face lift, courtesy the league’s new web partner, Streamline Technologies, Inc. The league’s home address, pioneer-football.org, remains the same. But that’s about the only thing that didn’t change. The new site includes team pages for each of the league’s members and a new composite schedule section where each day’s complete schedule is available. More changes will come as the league settles into its new home on the world wide web this season.

NCAA RULE CHANGES FOR 2008: There are several rule changes for the 2008 season that will make noticeable effects on the game. Among them are the banning of “horse-collar” tackles, a simplification of chop blocking rules and the elimination of the 5-yard face mask penalty for incidental contact (it will either be a 15-yard penalty or no foul at all). The major rule change involves the play clock which will have both 40 and 25-second settings. Whenever the ball becomes dead, the play clock will reset to 40 seconds and will start immediately. This includes when a runner is down in the field of play or out of bounds, a fumble out of bounds, backward pass out of bounds and after an incomplete pass. After a team has picked up a first down the game clock will stop but the play clock will go to 40 seconds and will start counting down.

DIVISION I FCS, PLEASE: Although some people may accidentally still refer to it as I-AA football, the term that represents the level of Division I football in which the Pioneer Football League competes has been retired. Beginning with the 2006 National Championship game, the term Football Championship Subdivision (or FCS) is to be used. FCS is the only Division I football rank to host a NCAA-sponsored national championship (one of 88 championships the NCAA sponsors). The division formerly known as I-A was changed to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and those teams compete for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national championship. Teams who play at the FCS level can offer a maximum of 63 scholarships (FBS teams can offer 85) and compete in a 16-team playoff at the end of the season to determine the national champion.