University of San Diego heads to Indianapolis this weekend to face the Butler Bulldogs at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Butler Bowl.
Sophomore running back Jonah Hodges will look to build off last week’s 31-23 win against Stetson in the school’s homecoming game, where he ran for a school-record 273 yards on 17 carries, adding two touchdowns as well.
Hodges enters Saturday’s game as the 22nd leading rusher in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) with 644 yards rushing.
Butler (3-3, 1-2 PFL) is coming off a 28-9 loss to Campbell, and also lost its starting quarterback, redshirt junior Matt Shillz in the process. Shillz suffered a hand injury during the first quarter last week, and will be unable to play this weekend against the Toreros (4-1, 2-1 Pioneer Football League). Entering last week’s game, Shillz was second in the PFL in passing yards per game (258.6).
Replacing Shillz will be sophomore Malcolm Weaver who will be making his first career start for Butler. Weaver threw for 166 yards completing 14 of 29 passes last week against Campbell.
The Toreros have question marks at the quarterback position as well. Redshirt junior Trey Wheeler was forced to start last week due to a hand injury to sophomore starter Keith Williams. Wheeler went 18-31 with 153 yards and two touchdowns in the win against Stetson. Williams, though, is expected to resume his role as the starter this weekend against the Bulldogs.
When these teams met last season, the Toreros defeated the Bulldogs 42-14, and USD also has a 14-5 advantage in the overall series against Butler.
The game can be viewed through a live feed via ButlerSports.com.
