Week 1 of the 2024 college football season is finally here as the Butler Bulldogs play host to the Upper Iowa Peacocks on Saturday at the Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl. The 1 p.m. kickoff will stream live on FloSports.com.
 
Game Day
Date: Saturday, August 31
Time: 1 PM
Location: Indianapolis, Ind. / Sellick Bowl
Live Stats: ButlerSports.com (Statbroadcast)
Watch: FloSports.com
 
Bulldog Bits
- Butler is receiving votes in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll.
- Mike Uremovich is the first coach in Butler Football history (134 Years) to win at least seven games in his first two seasons at the helm.
- Butler was picked fourth in the 2024 Pioneer Football League Preseason Coaches' Poll.
- Adam Dolan, Nick Bafia, and Joey Suchy represent Butler on the 2024 Preseason All-PFL Team.
- Bafia needs six solo tackles to reach 100 in his career.
- Bafia made a career-high 12 tackles in last year's season opener at Montana.
- Butler's linebacker trio of Adam Sturtz, Jeremiah Jackson and Tyson Garrett combine for 252 career tackles and 23 tackles for loss.
- Will Mason needs seven tackles on Saturday to reach 100 in his career (22 games).
- A year ago, Butler led the PFL and ranked second in the FCS in red zone defense.
- BU also ranked seventh in the nation in scoring defense (17.5).
- Butler led the PFL and ranked sixth among all FCS teams in fewest penalties during 2023.
- BU averaged 28.9 points per game a year ago, posting the second-highest average in the PFL.
- Ethan Loss ranked ninth in the PFL in receptions (55) last year and 10th in yards (515).
- Luke Wooten needs five receptions to reach 100 in his BU career.
- Wooten has 1,021 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns over 22 games.
- QB transfer Nick Howard rushed for 1,917 yards at Dartmouth and passed for 1,158.
- WR transfer Derek Allen Jr. caught 105 passes for 2,495 yards at Wabash.
- Allen Jr. averaged 86.7 yards per game and scored 27 touchdowns in 30 games.
- TE transfer Penn Stoller caught 75 passes for 1,151 yards over three years at Wabash.
- Butler added 45 newcomers to the 2024 roster, including transfers from Ball State, Dartmouth, Elon, Georgetown, Illinois State, Mercer, Missouri Southern State, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, and Wabash.
- The FCS already has a win against the FBS this season, with Montana State topping New Mexico in Week Zero action.
- The 2024 NCAA Division I Football Championship will see the top 16 teams seeded for the first time. Previously, the committee only seeded the top eight teams.
 
PFL Schedule – Week 1
Saint Francis at Dayton 12 PM
Davidson at Georgetown 12:30 PM
Upper Iowa at Butler 1 PM
Valparaiso at Northern Iowa 5 PM
Central State at Morehead State 6 PM
Ave Maria at Stetson 6 PM
Sioux Falls at St. Thomas 7 PM
Presbyterian at Mercer 7 PM
Quincy at Drake 7:30 PM
Cal Poly at San Diego 8 PM
 
SCOUTING UPPER IOWA: The Peacocks will head to Indianapolis from Fayette, Iowa a city located roughly an hour and a half north of Cedar Rapids. A Division II program out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, Upper Iowa went 3-8 last year with a 1-6 mark against conference opponents. They scored 24 points per game, rushing for just over 100 yards per contest and throwing for nearly 250 yards. Head Coach Jason Hoskins returns four talented players to his offensive huddle in 2024. QB Darryl Overstreet Jr. is back after starting under center for the Peacocks in 2023. He threw for 1,926 yards and 14 touchdowns a year ago, ranking second in the GLVC in passing yards. His top two targets are back in the mix in WR Mante Morrow and TE Eddie Burgess. Morrow scored seven touchdowns over 11 games and led the team in both receptions (58) and yards (827). Burgess caught a team-high eight touchdowns while averaging 56 receiving yards per game. On the ground, Upper Iowa welcomes back Jayden Mitchell in the backfield. The grad student led the team with six touchdowns and 462 yards in 2023.
 
Upper Iowa blocked six kicks in 2023, ranking 11th in the nation among all Division II teams. They also blocked two punts.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES: Saturday's game is the first-ever meeting between Butler and Upper Iowa.
 
Upper Iowa opened the 2023 season on August 31, taking a 43-20 setback to Concordia University (St. Paul). Their last win over opening weekend came in 2017 on August 31 (Minnesota Crookston).
 
SEASON OPENERS: Butler won their 2022 season opener against St. Thomas (Fla.) in Coach Uremovich's BU debut. The victory was Butler's third to open the season over the last decade and just the second opener to be played at the Sellick Bowl since 2012.
 
Butler played at #14 Montana (2023 National Champion Runner-Up) last year and kicked-off the 2019 campaign against the National Champion North Dakota State Bison at Target Field on Aug. 31, which happens to be the last time BU opened a season in August. The 2018 season opener was also noteworthy with Butler traveling to #24 Youngstown State and handing the Penguins a 23-21 loss. BU hit a 44-yard field goal with just four seconds remaining in the game to pull off the upset.
 
BULLDOGS AT THE BUD AND JACKIE SELLICK BOWL: Butler is 9-3 when playing at home over the last two seasons with Mike Uremovich at the helm. They went 4-2 in 2023 and 5-1 in 2022.
 
The Bulldogs have seven home games on the 2024 schedule. BU hasn't played that many home games during the regular season since 2006.
 
SIDELINE SHAKEUP: Mike Uremovich made some changes to the coaching staff prior to the start of the 2024 season. Defensive line coach Adam Siwicki was promoted to defensive coordinator, Rory Mannering will serve as the program's assistant head coach while working with the linebacker position group, and former student-athlete Eddie Schott will remain on campus as the team's quarterback's coach.
 
Former Butler defensive lineman Sam Urbanski will also remain with the team as a defensive analyst in 2024.
 
TURN THE PAGE: Butler has had the PFL Offensive Player of the Year on their roster over the last two seasons, but will head into 2024 looking for someone new to lead the offense. QB Bret Bushka earned the league honor in 2022 and Jyran Mitchell won the award in 2023.
 
K/P Luka Zurak was the PFL Special Teams Player of the Year in 2022. Zurak handled all kicking and punting responsibilities for BU over the last two years.
 
KEEP CLIMBING: Butler's three PFL losses last season came to the top three teams in the league standings by a combined 13 points.
 
Butler will host St. Thomas on Senior Day this year. The 'Dawgs will be on the road against both Drake and Davidson.
 
WELCOME BACK BULLDOGS: Butler returns five players that were selected to Phil Steele's postseason All-PFL Teams. OL Adam Dolan, FB Joey Suchy and DB Nick Bafia were First Team selections in 2023. WR Ethan Loss, and  LB Jeremiah Jackson were on the fourth team.
 
Bafia, Jackson and Tyson Garrett were the top three tacklers on the BU defense in 2023. Every member of that trio came up with at least 60 tackles last year.
 
HAPPY ANIVERSARY: The Butler Bulldogs won their first Pioneer Football League Championship 30 years ago in 1994 with a 7-3 overall record that included a 4-1 mark against league foes. Head Coach Ken LaRose guided the Bulldogs to the top of the league standings with wins over Drake, Dayton, San Diego and Evansville.
 
Butler won and Indiana Collegiate Conference Championship 50 years ago in 1974 by posting an 8-2 record under the direction of Billy Sylvester. They also won an ICC Championship in 1964 with Tony Hinkle at the helm.
 
UP NEXT: Butler will travel to Murray State next weekend to play the Racers on Saturday night. Opening kick-off is slated for 7 PM ET/ 6 PM CT at Roy Stewart Stadium.
 
The game on Sept. 7 will be the first meeting between the two programs. Murray State will host the action after playing at Missouri in Week 1. They defeated Presbyterian in their 2023 season opener and will be celebrating 100 years of Racer Football in 2024.