Going to School on Presbyterian
When Tulane talked its way out of playing Wake in football only a month before the 2010 schedule was released Jim Grobe was in a bind. But it could have been worse.
Because the Deacons didn’t already have an opponent from the NCAA’s championship subdivision (formerly I-AA) on the schedule, they could scour the full list of both FCS and FBS opponents for a replacement. A team doesn’t want two FCS teams on a schedule—as Duke seemed to realize about halfway through last year’s campaign—because it can, at best, count a victory over just one toward bowl eligibility.
The team Wake found, Presbyterian, is in its fourth year of transition from Division II to FCS. The Blue Hose were dreadful last season when they went 0-11 while giving up 40.1 points a game. They lost the final three of 2008, which means they’ll be riding a 14-game losing streak into BB&T Field on Thursday. And they were picked by the media to finish seventh in the seven-team Big South Conference.
Harold Nichols, the head coach, graduated from Presbyterian in 1989, was an assistant there from 1996 through 1998 and served as the offensive coordinator at Rhode Island and Bucknell before returning to PC as head coach in 2009. He has 16 starters—nine on offense and seven on defense—returning for his second season. One is Brandon Miley, a junior quarterback from Wilmington who completed 151 of 276 passes for 1,736 yards and 11 touchdowns, and was picked off 16 times. The best running back, sophomore Lance Byrd, gained 700 yards on 127 carries.
Before I turned my sights on this Thursday’s game, I knew next-to-nothing about Presbyterian or the brand of football the school plays. Now I know a bit more, including:
Presbyterian is located in Clinton, S.C.
It’s private.
The colors are Garnet and Blue.
The mascot is a Scotsman.
The school was founded in 1880.
The current enrollment is around 1,200.
The endowment of around $100 million is easily second highest in the Big South, after VMI.