A surprise 7-4 finish to 2022 and late-season pursuit of the Pioneer Football League championship was no aberration for the Butler Bulldogs. They showed as much in the 2023 season opener, visiting top 15-ranked perennial powerhouse Montana and giving the Grizzlies all they could handle in a 35-20 contest that was closer than the final score. 

Coming off its promising start to the campaign, Butler comes home to the Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl for a Week 2 matchup with Taylor. 

The Bulldogs cruised to a 45-10 rout of Taylor in Week 2 a season ago in which four different ball-carriers rushed for touchdowns. Chief among the quartet, quarterback Bret Bushka, returns after winning PFL Offensive Player of the Year. 

Bushka was sensational in 2022 with 2,377 yards passing, 20 touchdowns through the air, and another 627 yards with five touchdowns rushing. He set a high standard in his 2023 debut with 263 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns at Montana. 

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Ryan Lezon and Jryan Mitchell brought in the two scoring strikes. Look for Mitchell to get going again in Week 2, albeit with more emphasis on the ground. 

The running back Mitchell managed just 23 yards on 12 carries. Joey Suchy, who carried for a touchdown in Butler's rout of Taylor last season, carried for 12 yards on four carries at Montana, and Bushka totaled three after a 15-yard loss on a sack. 

For a balanced Butler offense that averaged a hair less than 162 rushing yards per game, Week 1's 41 yards fell well shy of expectations. 

The Taylor defense held St. Ambrose to 3.5 yards per carry in the Trojans' 37-34, season-opening win, and only surrendered 3.7 yards an attempt the following week vs. Concordia. However, Taylor gave up 350 yards through the air and dug a 37-0 hole in last week's 54-14 loss. 

On the flipside, the Trojans gave up three interceptions to Concordia. After Devaon Holman and Lucas Kozlowski  each came away with picks in Missoula, the Butler defense should see more opportunities for turnover creation in Week 2. 

Saturday's matchup with Taylor is the first of two straight at home in non-conference action for the Bulldogs ahead of the PFL slate. The coming weeks should round into form the Butler approach as it pursues a Pioneer championship and bid in the FCS Playoffs. 

In the meantime, Week 2 commemorates a special occasion with the football program spotlighting Project 44. 

Project 44 works to match patients in need of a bone marrow transplant with donors through the nationwide Be The Match registry. Project 44 — working in the memory of former Butler basketball player Andrew Smith, who died of cancer in 2016 — contributes to the ever-growing impact college sports have had in recent years building up the Be The Match registry. 

Former Villanova coach and College Football Hall of Famer Andy Talley, through the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation, has brought hundreds of football programs into the gold  finding bone marrow donors for those in needs. 

William & Mary lineman Charles Grant is among the most recent football players to donate bone marrow. 

Project 44 began with a goal of saving 44 lives. In more than seven years since Andrew's wife, Samantha, launched the Project, it has "facilitated over 40 matches resulting in 10 stem-cell, life-saving transplants." 

Butler football's spotlighting of Project 44 during its Week 2 contest aims to add more potential donors to the registry from the thousands the Project has already welcomed since its launch. 

Learn more about becoming a bone marrow donor through one of the below resources: 

Project 44

Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation 

Be The Match