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Camel Foe – Week 4, Butler

Posted: September 21, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Camel Foe | Tags: , , , |Leave a comment »

After a 70-14 thrashing at the hands of Old Dominion, the Camels return to facing fellow non-scholarships teams as they open Pioneer Conference play by hitting the road to face Butler.

Butler University

Location: Indianapolis, Indiana (population: 829,718 as of 2010 census, the 12th largest city in the United States)

Established: 1855 as North Western Christian University. It was renamed in 1875 for founder Ovid Butler.

Enrollment: ~4,600

Nickname: Bulldogs

Mascot: Blue II is the official live mascot of Butler and is known by the tagline “Butler’s Mascot, America’s Dog”.

Affiliation: Butler is a football-only member of the Pioneer Conference. Except for women’s golf, the rest of its teams are spending their first year as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Butler left the Horizon Conference in July to join the A-10. The Atlantic 10 does not sponsor women’s golf, so the Butler team will compete elsewhere in that sport.

[Ed. Note: Conference realignment is not just for big-time football as Butler is the 4th straight opponent of Campbell who has undergone or is currently undergoing some type of division or conference shift.]

Random Fact #1: The university was the first in Indiana and the third in the United States to admit both men and women.

Random Fact #2: Architect Minoru Yamasaki, who designed the World Trade Center, designed the Irwin Library on campus.

Random Fact #3: Butler ranked 2nd in the U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2010 for Top Midwestern Master’s Universities.

Random Fact #4: Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse also serves as the home to the Indiana High School state basketball tournament as was the site of Milan High’s 1954 title, which served as the loose basis for the movie Hoosiers. Parts of the movie were also shot in the fieldhouse.

Notable Alumni:

  • former Nebrasketball head coach and current Butler AD Barry Collier
  • Baylor men’s basketball head coach Scott Drew
  • IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher
  • Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward
  • Ohio State men’s basketball head coach Thad Matta
  • Bobby Plump, the hero of the real-life Milan High basketball team
  • Jim Jones, notorious founder of the People’s Temple and organizer of the 1979 mass suicide of 909 members of his organization

Indianapolis is pretty large – let’s stick with 5 really good people from there.

  • former UCLA basketball coach and Basketball Hall of Famer John Wooden
  • former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle
  • Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson
  • actor Steve McQueen
  • former NBA player Eric Montross

[Ed Note: For some reason I am reminded of the old Sesame Street song, “One of these things is not like the others”…]

Oh yeah, the Football Team:

  • Butler heads into Pioneer Conference play with the same record as the Camels, 1-2
  • The Bulldogs  opened the season with a 23-15 loss at Western Illinois, defeated Franklin 42-13 in Week 2 and dropped a 35-7 decision to Dartmouth last week
  • The series between Butler and Campbell is tied 2-2. Butler won the first two games while the Camels have taken the last two. Last season saw a 38-23 Camel win in Buies Creek.
  • In the teams’ only previous game at Butler in 2010, Campbell won by a 27-10 score.
  • Butler outgained Dartmouth 416-358 last week despite the four-touchdown loss. They lead the PFL in total offense at 483.3 yards per game.
  • Senior LB Jordan Ridley is tied for 8th in the PFL in tackles per game and was named PFL Co-Defensive Player of the Week after last season’s game against the Camels in which he had 19 tackles.
  • RB Trae Heeter leads the PFL in rushing at 65.3 yards per game.
  • WR’s Derek O’Connor (79.0) and Brendan Shannon (68.7) rank 2nd and 3rd respectively in the conference in receiving yards per game. O’Connor had 164 yards on 9 catches last week against Dartmouth.
  • Junior QB Matt Lancaster, a transfer from Illinois State, threw for 267 yards and 1 TD last week and has thrown 92 consecutive passes without an interception.
  • Stat Leaders:
    • Passing: Lancaster – 60-100, 739 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT (also 153 yards rushing & 3 TDs)
    • Rushing: Heeter – 31 carries, 196 yards
    • Receiving: Shannon 16 receptions (206 yards) & 2 TDs; O’Connor 237 yards (15 catches)
    • Defense: Ridley 26 tackles; DE Jeremy Stephens 3 TFL & 2 sacks; Bryce Barry & Sean Grady 1 interception
  • Best Name Nominees:
    • JoJo Ciancio, Jayme Szafranski, Trae Heeter, Guy DiBalsamo, Joe Hackett (think Wings), Nestor Porres,
    • The winner – Guy DiBalsamo.

Prediction:

Both teams are 1-2 and coming off of blowout losses last week – Butler by 28 points and the Camels by twice that. Despite the lopsided score, the Camels did top 200 yards rushing for the first time this season. Junior QB Dakota Wolf, making his first start for the injured Braden Smith who will miss the rest of the season, rushed for 101 yards on 22 carries to lead the ground attack. Through the air Wolf was 8-16 passing for just 56 yards. Kurt Odom added 53 yards and 1 TD on the ground and had 3 receptions for 16 yards. Lucas Smith paced the defense with 9 tackles while Isaac Scott had a sack and a forced fumble.

The series between these two teams has been evenly matched and this game should be as well.  The rest of the conference coaches felt that way also, as Campbell was slotted 5th and Butler 7th in the preseason poll. Two things that seem to tilt this game in favor of the Bulldogs are that the game is being played in Indianapolis and Camel QB Dakota Wolf will be making just his 2nd career start. The Camels have been outscored 38-0 in the 1st quarter so far this year and are averaging just 14.7 point per game. A new QB with pedestrian throwing numbers will be hard-pressed to improve on those numbers. I see Butler snapping their 2-game losing streak to the Camels with a hard fought 27-17 victory.

 

 

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