PDF Game Notes

A pair of teams who had an extra week to prepare for their Pioneer Football League opener will square off Saturday when the University of Dayton hosts Marist. Both teams are coming off a bye week after road wins on Sept. 14. Saturday's game time at Welcome Stadium is 1:00 p.m. ET.

Dayton finished non-conference play 2-1, and has won two straight after dropping its opener at No. 24 Youngstown State. Marist is 1-2, with the win at Georgetown in the Red Foxes last game.

Dayton won five of its last six games in 2012 to finish the year 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Pioneer Football League. It was UD's 35th winning season in 36 years as a non-scholarship program.

GOOD NEWS WORTH REPEATING
The Flyers entered the season with the third-best winning percentage (.762, 109-34) in FCS football since 2000 AND the most football Academic All-Americans (22) at any level of competition in the same time frame. The top five are Harvard (.775), Montana (.769), Dayton (.762), Appalachian State (.739) and North Dakota State (.710).

STREAKING
UD has not been shut out in an NCAA-record 411 straight games, the best such active string in all of college football. The last team to shut out UD was Marshall, 9-0, on Oct. 16, 1976.

PFL POWER
The Pioneer Football League is entering its 21st season. The original (and now the only) Division I strictly need-based football league began with charter members Butler, Dayton, Drake, Evansville, San Diego and Valparaiso. The Flyers' 84-26 PFL record is the best in the history of the league. Dayton has won 11 (shared or outright) league championships, the most of any PFL team.

IN PFL OPENERS
Dayton is 16-4 in PFL openers. Last year the Flyers lost at home to Jacksonville 21-17.

SERIES STUFF
Dayton leads the series 4-0. The Flyers won at Marist 21-17 last season on Nov. 10.

SCOUTING THE RED FOXES
Marist is led by two-time captain and record-setting quarterback Chuckie Looney. Looney holds the Red Fox records for touchdown passes in a season (18 last year) and career (37). He already has eight this year, including a Marist-record tying four in the team's 42-23 win at Georgetown two weeks ago.
Looney's favorite target is wideout Armani Martin. Martin has 16 catches for 242 yards (15.1). His five TD's are tied for first in the PFL.

The Red Foxes have two other league leaders. Safety Nick Kaszei is tied for the league lead in tackles per game (12.0) and defensive end Terence Fede is tied for first in sacks per game (1.0).

The Georgetown win was Marist's first-ever road victory over a Patriot League team. The Red Foxes rolled up 505 yards in total offense at Georgetown, and sacked the Hoya quarterback seven times.

THE MAN AT THE TOP
Head coach Rick Chamberlin guided UD to 40 wins in his five seasons, going 9-3, 9-2, 10-1 and 6-5 the last two years. Dayton won a share of PFL championships in two of his first three years, and missed the third by just five points at Jacksonville in the last game of 2008.

MORE THAN HIS FAIR SHARE
Rick Chamberlin has been a part of 336 of UD's 636 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 42 as a head coach. He has also been a part of 431 of UD's 1,016 games.

LONG TIME STARTERS
Ten Flyers own start totals of 10 or greater. Cornerback Kyle Sebetic has 31 starts in his career. QB Will Bardo has 24. OT Tom Corcoran and LB Colin Monnier have 22. WR Branden Johnson has 18. DT Brannon Dunn has 16. CB Howard Savage has 14 and DE Pat Dowd has 13. S Matt Bianco and WR Ross Smith both have 10. Monnier's 22 is the longest string of consecutive starts on the team.

FIRST-TIME STARTERS
The Flyers had a glut of injuries in 2012 that resulted in 45 starts missed by players who were considered starters in the pre-season. The other side of that coin is that UD has 22 players back this season who have previous starting experience. Still, five Dayton players made their first collegiate start at Youngstown State -- center Grant Georgic, guard Jimmy Vogel, slot receiver Gabe Macis, wideout Cory Stuart and defensive end Nate Sudnic. It was Vogel, Stuart and Sudnick's first action in college.

LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN, CAPTAIN
The Flyers are being led by four co-captains in 2013 -- Brannon Dunn, Ben Estey, Colin Monnier and Kyle Sebetic.

Dunn started at defensive tackle in 2012, but was limited to six games due to an in-season appendectomy. He was in on 14 tackles and 2.5 hits in the backfield with 1.5 sacks. In 2011, he played in all 11 games with seven starts and had 38 tackles with eight sacks.

Estey started the last six games of 2012 at offensive tackle when the Flyers finished the season by winning five of their last six contests. He played in all 11 games last year after seeing action in just four career games heading into the season. He was the 2009 Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year. He missed the RMU game with an injury.

Just the fifth two-time captain in Dayton football history, Monnier is a preseason First Team All-PFL selection. He was the team's White-Allen Most Valuable Player Trophy 2012. The only member of the defense to start every game, Monnier led the team in tackles (92), solo hits (46) and tackles in the backfield (12.0). He was also tied for second in interceptions (2) and batted away another pass and had a quarterback hurry.

A three-year starter at cornerback, Sebetic led NCAA FCS football in passes defensed in 2012. He had 15 passes broken up and three interceptions in nine games, for a 2.0 per game average. He also had 52 total tackles and was second on the team with 39 solos. Sebetic was also named preseason First Team All-PFL.

"We've got a great mix" according to coach Rick Chamberlin. Colin is the veteran of the bunch, having been a captain already last year. He's an outstanding player and the emotional leader of the team. Brannon is a down and gritty kind of leader. The tougher things are, the more he likes it and he showed that by battling back from having his appendix removed to play that last part of the year."

"Ben may have shown the biggest improvement as a football player of anyone on the team, and his hard work, maturity and leadership have earned him the respect of all of his teammates and coaches. Kyle is the quiet one of the group. He lets his play and work ethic do his talking for him. But when he does speak, everyone listens."

DOWD GOES THE QUARTERBACK
One of three Flyer preseason First Team All-PFL selections, senior defensive end Pat Dowd led UD and was third in the PFL in sacks (0.85 per game). All but one of his 8.5 sacks in 2012 were in PFL action. Dowd was in on 36 hits and was also second on the team in TFL (10).

BIG-TIME BACKER
Linebacker Colin Monnier is fourth in the PFL in tackles per game (10.3). UD's MVP and leading tackler in 2012, Monnier picked up right where he left off by leading all players with 12 tackles at Youngstown State. He had eight solo hits and one TFL. He was PFL co-Defensive Player of the Week after getting 14 hits and UD's only sack in the Duquesne win.

GOTTA HAVE HEART
Senior cornerback Kyle Sebetic had 10 tackles at YSU, but none of his seven solos were as impressive as the one when he ran down Adaris Bellamy from behind to prevent an 83-yard TD. Bellamy had a15-yard lead on everyone on the Dayton defense when he broke free on a third-and-one, but Sebetic refused to concede and erased the gap. Sebetic is tied with Colin Monnier for solo tackles on the team (12).

SHUTDOWN CORNER
Even though he made just one tackle on a running play, cornerback Kyle Sebetic's performance in the second half was a key in Dayton's come-from-behind win over Duquesne. At halftime, the Dukes' Gianni Carter had six receptions for 131 yards and two touchdowns. During the break, the Flyers assigned Sebetic, last year's FCS leader in passes defensed, on Carter wherever he lined up. Sebetic blanketed him so thoroughly that Carter was held to one catch for four yards in the second half. Sebetic had a similar effort last year against Marist's Michael Rios, holding Rios to three catches for 24 yards when matched on him.

SAVAGE HITS
Senior cornerback Howard Savage returns after missing the last half of 2012 with an injury (ironically, the injury happened against Butler in his hometown of Indianapolis). He was second on the team in tackles per game (6.6) and also had two interceptions and four passes broken up. He had five hits (four unassisted) at YSU. He had six tackles and a fumble recovery in the Duquesne win. He is tied for the PFL lead in fumbles forced per game (0.67).

RYAN'S HANDS
Ryan Schwenke, who plays the hybrid linebacker/safety position called "Flyer" in the Dayton defensive system, has shown a nose for the ball in his move into the starting lineup. The soph's two interceptions are tied for first in the PFL. He also has 14 tackles in the first three games.

GO WESTON
Safety Nick Weston was the PFL Defensive Player of the Week after the Robert Morris win when he had 11 hits, and interception and a pass broken up . He is tied for with Kyle Sebetic for second on the team in tackles (18).

PRODUCTION FROM THE BENCH
Non-starters have made their presence felt on the Dayton defense. Safety Zack Elias has nine solo hits and two passes broken up for UD this year and a big forced fumble and game-clinching interception in the Duquesne win. Linebacker Mitch Sanders has two fumble recoveries, tied for first in the PFL.

TAKEAWAYS
Dayton leads the PFL in turnover margin (+4) and is tied for first in fumbles recovered (5).

WHERE THERE IS A WILL (LEFT-HANDED VERSION)
Will Bardo returns for his third season at the helm of the Flyer offense. He accounted for 227 yards total offense at Youngstown State, and moved into fifth place in career total offense at UD. Then he had 250 (79 rushing with 2 TD's, 16 of 32 for 171 passing) vs. Duquesne to move into fourth. He now has 4,596 yards. Kelly Spiker is third with 5,138. Despite throwing seven straight incompletions at one point, Bardo was 13 of 26 passing for 188 yards and two TD's in the RMU win. In 11 games last year, Bardo passed for 1687 yards (152 of 306, .497, 8 TD, 9 INT) and rushed for 405 yards and three touchdowns. After beginning the year 58 of 131 (.443), Bardo completed 94 of 175 passes (.537) for 1,087 yards in his last seven games. He threw for a career-high 255 yards at Butler (25 of 47). A dual threat, he averaged over five yards a carry on designed run plays in 2012. (5.7 per carry without sacks, 3.9 with sacks factored in). He leads UD in rushing (135), yards per carry (3.6) and rushing TD's (2) in 2013.

FRESHMAN FEAT
Connor Kacsor was the first Flyer freshman football player to run for 100 yards in a game three times in a season last year as a redshirt freshman. He had 135 at Davidson, 106 in the Morehead State win and 124 vs. Valpo in back-to-back-to-back weeks. He is only the second freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game at UD. The first was quarterback Kelly Spiker, who ran for 142 yards vs. Morehead State and 157 vs. Butler in back-to-back weeks in the 2000 season. Kacsor led the PFL with a 10.6 yard-per-carry average in 2012. Kacsor missed most of his senior season in high school, and then redshirted his first year at UD in 2011.

HAND IT TO BRANDEN
Wide receiver Branden Johnson sat out the first two games, but returned in a big way with six catches for 133 yards and two touchdowns in the Robert Morris win. He was UD's top pass catcher in 2012 (28 catches for 270 yards, 9.6 avg) even though he missed the last five games of the season with an injured shoulder. Even though he missed those five games, Johnson was still the Flyers leading receiver with 28 catches. He was the second-leading Flyer receiver in 2011 (25 catches for a team-high 15.9 yards per catch average). This season, if qualified, his yards per game (133.0) would be first in the PFL, yards per catch (22.2) second and catches per game (6.0) third.

SPREAD IT AROUND
Dayton had eight different pass catchers with at least 10 receptions in 2012. Nine receivers have already caught passes this season.

THE HUNTER
Flyer senior slot receiver Gary Hunter had a career-high six receptions for 56 yards at Youngstown State. He had another five for 59 in the Duquesne win. Also against Duquesne, Hunter averaged 17.5 yards on two punt returns and 43.5 on two kickoff returns. In 2012, he averaged 22.6 yards per touch as a pass receiver (25.0 yards on 7 catches), punt returner (25.5 on 4) and kick returner (21.2 on 20). He missed the Robert Morris game with an injury.

HUNTER THE HISTORY MAKER
The Dayton career record holder in kickoff returns, Gary Hunter is believed to be only the second Flyer football player to have three special teams touchdowns in his career (available statistics are incomplete prior to 1950). Kelvin Kirk (the original Mr. Irrelevant) had three from 1974-77. Hunter had what is believed to be the first kickoff return for a TD by a freshman in the history of University of Dayton football when he had an 82-yard scamper against Valparaiso in 2010. He returned a kickoff for a TD in both of his first two seasons at Dayton and had a 77-yard punt return in the 2012 opener at Illinois State.

PLAYING THE SLOTS
Slot receivers Gary Hunter (11 receptions) and Gabe Macis (8) are the top two receivers so far in 2013. Macis is tied with Cory Stuart.

STEW
Redshirt freshman Cory Stuart is tied second on the team in receptions this season, with eight catches for 65 yards. He missed the RMU win with an injury.

MR. SMITH
Dayton senior Ross Smith has caught at least one pass in 12 straight games. He had three receptions in the opener. Smith was second on the team with 26 catches in 2012.

IT'S WHAT'S UP FRONT THAT COUNTS
Dayton returns three players with starting experience in 2013 on the offensive line. Tackles Ben Estey and Tom Corcoran are back from a year ago, and Chris Cortopassi, who has also started in the past at tackle and is now at guard, give the Flyer o-line experienced depth. The Flyers led the PFL in rushing (196.9 yards a game) in 2012, averaging 5.0 yards a carry.

BIG BAD TOM
Redshirt senior offensive tackle Tom Corcoran was named UD's offensive player of the week in the Duquesne win. The primary blocker assigned to the Dukes' Buck Buchanan Award finalist Dorian Bell. Bell, a transfer from Ohio State who averaged double-digits in hits last year, was held to four tackles (1 solo, three assists) in the game.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL (right-footed VERSION)
Redshirt freshman kicker William Will was named the PFL Special Teams Player of the Week after scoring the last nine points in UD's come-from-behind 23-20 win over Duquesne. Will was three-for-three in field goals in the three-point win. On the year, he is four-for-five in field goals. He leads the PFL in PAT percentage 96-6) and tied for second in in field goals per game.

PIGGY'S PUNTS
Kyle Pignatiello is back for his second season as UD's punter. He is averaging 41.7 yards a punt, third in the PFL. Four of his punts have been inside the 20, with just one touchback. At RMU, he punted six times for a 42.5 average, with three kicks inside the 20. As a redshirt freshman, he averaged 37.4 yards a punt in 65 kicks. Twenty-four of his punts were inside the 20 (with only three touchbacks), and 19 were fair caught. His career-long 63-yard punt at Davidson was the third-longest in the PFL last season. Pignatiello was the first UD player to be named a team player of the week twice this season.

SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS
Dayton leads the PFL in net punting (39.8). Against Robert Morris, Flyer coverage teams limited RMU to one total return yard on three returned punts and 16.7 yards on three kick returns. RMU return man Eddie Antwan came into the game averaging over 13 yards a punt return.

2013 PLAYER OF THE WEEK SCORECARD
Twice: Kyle Pignatiello; Once: Tom Corcoran, Gary Hunter, Branden Johnson, Colin Monnier, Kyle Sebetic, Nick Weston, William Will

2013 SCOUTS OF THE WEEK SCORECARD
Twice: Nick German; Once: Jack Adams, Shane Companey, Danny Dudek, Alex Middleton, Mike Ryan, Cory Stufflebeam, Owen Williams

LET'S TALK CAMPBELL TROPHY
Dayton has had at least a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's Campbell Trophy, the major award of the NFF's Scholar-Athlete Award program (the academic Heisman if you will), for seven straight years. This season, linebacker Colin Monnier is UD's nominee. Semifinalists will be announced in late September. Previous Flyer picks were Bill Petraiuolo (2012), Devon Langhorst (2011), Brandon Wingeier (2010), Sean Heenan (2009), Bart Bergfeld (2008), Brandon Cramer (who was also a finalist in 2007), and Brandon Godsey (2006). Dayton is the only PFL team to even have three straight (Drake has two). Among Division I schools, the Flyers are one of 10 institutions with a semifinalist in the last seven years. The others are Austin Peay, Bucknell, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Rutgers, South Dakota State, Texas, and Wisconsin.

600 CLUB
The Flyers became the 11th NCAA FCS team (and the first west of the Alleghenies) to win at least 600 games in its football history when UD beat Davidson on October 18, 2008. Here are the 15 members of the club heading into the 2013 season. Yale (871), Harvard (829), Penn (824), Princeton (791), Dartmouth (662), Delaware (661), Lehigh (660), Lafayette (659), North Dakota State (641), Dayton (634), Cornell (629), Northern Iowa (625), North Dakota (617), Colgate (618) and Holy Cross (605). Of the 600 Club members, Dayton has played the fewest seasons (104, nine fewer than Northern Iowa's 113). UD moved into the Top 10 in 2010. The Flyers' .640 all-time winning percentage is fourth among the "600 club" and ninth all-time. The top 10 FCS winning percentages going into 2013 consists of Yale (.701), Grambling (.698), Harvard (.677), Florida A&M (.663), Princeton (.662), Tennessee State (.656), Georgia Southern (.647), Appalachian State (.6403), Dayton (.6395) and Penn (.634).

WELCOME MAT
The UD Flyers moved to Welcome Stadium in 1974. The word "Welcome" implies hospitality, but UD has been anything but hospitable to its opponents at home, where it is 206-43-2 (.825). The "Welcome" is not a greeting, but an honor to the late Percival Welcome, longtime AD for the Dayton Public Schools.

FLYER FAMILY
Six current members of the Flyer football team have had relatives who also played for UD, including three players whose fathers played -- Austen Alber (Tim, 1986-88), Alex Husted (Jon, 1986-89)and Kyle Pignatiello (Mike, 1980-82).

SUPER STAT
When Jon Gruden coached the Tampa Bay Bucs to the Super Bowl championship in 2003, he became the second UD grad to coach a Super Bowl winner. Former UD co-captain and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Noll won four as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Noll started at center and linebacker for the Flyers and graduated in 1953. Gruden played quarterback at Dayton and earned his degree in 1986. UD became only the third school (now there are four) to have two alumni coach Super Bowl winners. The others are San Jose State (Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil), Arkansas (Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer), and Eastern Illinois (Mike Shanahan and Sean Payton). At the time of their wins, Gruden was the second-youngest coach to win a Super Bowl and Noll was the fifth-youngest. As a matter of fact, UD has ties to 19 Super Bowl rings. In addition to Noll's four and Gruden's one, six former members of Dayton coaching staffs own a total of 14 Super Bowl rings between them. They include current Saints QB coach Joe Lombardi (XLIV). Lombardi, an Air Force Academy grad and the grandson of Vince Lombardi, began his coaching career at Dayton. He coached for three seasons on Mike Kelly's staff while stationed at Wright-Pat AFB.

Noll and Gruden are honored in the main entryway of UD's newly-renovated Football Offices.

LAST TIME OUT--DAYTON 21, ROBERT MORRIS 14
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The UD Flyers gained 140 yards and scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to beat Robert Morris 21-14 on the road Saturday, Sept. 14. Dayton's second straight win improved the Flyers 2-1 on the year, while RMU fell to 1-2.

UD outgained Robert Morris 327-187 despite being held to just eight yards in the third period. Wideout Brandon Johnson scored two TD's on the afternoon, catching six passes for 133 yards. Quarterback Will Bardo was 13 of 26 passing for 183 yards and the pair of touchdowns. The running back tandem of Robert Washington and Connor Kacsor combined to gain 123 yards on 33 attempts, Kacsor scored Dayton's third touchdown on a two-yard run with 5:44 left in the game.

Safety Nick Weston led Dayton with 11 tackles, an interception and a pass breakup. Punter Kyle Pignatiello averaged 42.5 yards a punt on six punts, with three of them being inside the 20-yard line.

The two teams were tied 7-7 through three quarters, but the game turned when Colonials took a chance near the end of the third.

On a third-and-one at the Flyer 33, RMU tried to catch the Dayton secondary napping. Instead, Devon Morgan and Chris Beaschler sacked Jones for a 13-yard loss.

The punt that followed the sack pinned UD back on its own seven-yard line, but the Flyers responded with a seven-play, 93-yard drive that resulted in a Bardo-to-Johnson 41-yard score. On the ensuing kickoff, Dayton's Nolan Harmotto stripped RMU return man Brian Jones of the ball, and Flyer backup linebacker Mitch Sanders recovered the fumble at the Robert Morris 39.

Dayton covered those 39 yards in 10 plays (nine on the ground), with Kacsor scoring from the two-yard line. Not only did the Flyers make it a two-score game, but they also took six minutes and five seconds off the clock.

The UD defense came up with a three-and-out and got the ball back at midfield with 4:49 to go. The Flyers only gained 15 yards, but they ran seven plays, kept the ball for 2:39 and most importantly, forced the Colonials to use all three of their time outs.

RMU was able to score on a 40-yard Jones-to-Duane Mitchell pass, but Dayton co-captain Colin Monnier gathered in the on-side kick.

UP NEXT
UD will play its only back-to-back home games of the year when the Flyers host Davidson on Oct. 5 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Marist is home for the first time since August, hosting Valparaiso.