SAINT LOUIS – After lifting the lid on the 2026 championship race last week, the PFL puts a full five-game slate on the table for Week 5.

Unbeaten Dayton gets its first taste of PFL play and travels to meet a surging Drake squad that notched its first win of 2026 last week. Morehead State and Stetson also open their PFL schedules at home this week; the Eagles host Valparaiso, and the Hatters host Marist.  Fresh off its PFL-opening win at home, St. Thomas heads east to face Presbyterian. The late game out west sees Davidson make the cross-country trek to meet San Diego.

The opening week of PFL play saw two of the league's preseason Top 3 teams make big statements, with St. Thomas upsetting preseason favorite San Diego in Saint Paul, while Drake powered to its first win of 2026 on the road. Butler also picked up a key road win and took the Hoosier Helmet back to Indianapolis, and Marist stayed unbeaten at home.

This Week's Schedule

SATURDAY, OCT. 3	Kickoff	Series	Streak	Last Meeting
St. Thomas at Presbyterian	12 PM	UST, 2-1	PC, W1	Presbyterian def. St. Thomas, 23-9 (11/15/2025)
Dayton at Drake	1 PM	UD, 11-8	DU, W1	Drake def. Dayton, 14-6 (11/15/2025)
Valparaiso at Morehead State	1 PM	MSU, 26-5	MSU, W3	Morehead State def. Valparaiso, 17-13 (10/25/2025)
Marist at Stetson	1 PM	MU, 10-2	MU, W6	Marist def. Stetson, 41-13 (11/8/2025)
Davidson at San Diego	4 PM	USD, 16-5	USD, W2	San Diego def. Davidson, 40-28 (10/25/2025)

PFL Notes

• St. Thomas was the Stats Perform FCS National Team of the Week following Week 4 action after downing San Diego at home. Quarterback Nick Peipert, the PFL Freshman of the Week, accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) as St. Thomas handed the Toreros their largest league defeat since 2000.
• The PFL impressed in its final full weekend of nonconference play, picking up five key FCS wins. San Diego and St. Thomas downed a pair of Big Sky Conference opponents (Cal Poly and Southern Utah, respectively), Dayton upset a United Athletic Conference foe (Eastern Kentucky), Davidson rallied to upend a Southern Conference member (VMI), and Butler picked off an FCS independent (Chicago State).
• Butler University senior quarterback Reagan Andrew, Marist University graduate student and offensive lineman Will Aaronson, and Valparaiso University redshirt quarterback Rowa Keefe represent the Pioneer Football League as two of a record 206 semifinalists for the 2026 William V. Campbell Trophy®, presented by the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Football Hall of Fame. 
• The PFL welcomes two new head coaches in 2026: Drake's Matt Walker and Presbyterian's Matt Rahl. The league has seen 9 of its 11 head coaches join the league in the past three seasons. St. Thomas head coach Glenn Caruso becomes the dean of PFL head coaches as he begins his sixth PFL season and 17th at St. Thomas. Dayton head coach Trevor Andrews starts his fourth season, making him the league's second-longest-tenured head coach. 
• San Diego is the PFL preseason favorite by a narrow margin in the league's preseason coaches' poll. The Toreros received five first-place votes and 90 points. Drake was picked second with five first-place votes and 88 points. St. Thomas earned the third-place nod with 87 points, as the only team to earn a spot in the Top 3 on all 10 possible ballots. 
• Dayton, which was picked fourth in the league's preseason coaches' poll, had the PFL's representatives on the Walter Payton and Buck Buchanan Award Preseason Watch Lists, presented by Stats Perform. All-purpose back Gavin Lochow and defensive lineman Mirko Jaksic, both returning First Team All-Pioneer Football League selections, earned the preseason recognition. 
• Lochow and Jaksic are two of just seven returning First Team All-PFL selections. The other five returning first-teamers are San Diego running back Adam Criter, St. Thomas fullback Luke Schuler, Butler offensive lineman Charles Mackley, San Diego offensive lineman Maicah Talavou, and San Diego punter Emiliano Salazar.
• Salazar, the reigning PFL Special Teams Player of the Year, was one of 14 selections to the 2026 FCS Punter of the Year Watch List and one of 15 FCS placekickers named to the 18th annual Fred Mitchell Award Watch List.