Beacons

Valparaiso now competes in the Pioneer Football League, part of NCAA Division I FCS. The football side traces back to 1919, forty years before the wider university existed in its current form. That name came off in February 2020, with the change unveiled the following August; the university wanted distance from the term's darker associations and settled on Beacons instead, a nod to its own motto about light.

The record since has been uneven. A one-win stretch ran from 2010 through 2013, and the team went winless in both 1988 and 1989. Against that, 2003 stands out: Valparaiso took the Pioneer League's North Division and then beat Morehead State 54–42 for the conference title. Days later the two sides met again in the first round of the FCS playoffs, and Morehead State won by the exact same score, 54–42.

Butler is the team most associated with the rivalry, the two having played for the Hoosier Helmet since 1927.

Among those who came through the program, Fuzzy Thurston is the name that carries furthest: an offensive lineman who went on to Green Bay, where he won five NFL championships and two Super Bowls.