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DAYTON -- The University of Dayton defense kept Robert Morris in its own end of the field for almost all of the first half and came up with four second-half turnovers, as the Flyers beat the Colonials 31-7 Saturday at Welcome Stadium.

The Flyers took the opening kickoff and drove 77 yards in seven plays to draw first blood when quarterback Will Bardo scored on a QB sneak.  The Dayton defense held RMU to a minus eight yards on a three-and-out, and Dayton only needed three plays to go up 14-less than six minutes into the game when Bardo hit Cory Stuart on a 22-yard scoring pass.

UD added a 28 yard field goal off the foot of William Will with 3:09 left in the half.  And then the Flyers got the ball back with 1:37 to go and needed three plays and just 51 seconds to drive 63 yards to make the halftime score 24-0.  Bardo hit Ross Smith for 26 on the score.

The Dayton defense did not allow the Colonials to cross the 50 until 2:05 left in the half when Luke Brumbaugh completed a pass to Duane Mitchell to put Robert Morris at the Dayton 46. Two incomplete passes and an unsportsmanlike conduct call followed, forcing the Colonials to punt from their own 39, setting up the final UD score of the half.

Robert Morris got on the board with 7:15 left in the third when Forrest Barnes scored from the two to cap off a 10-play, 56 yard drive.  Dayton completed the scoring six minutes and four seconds later when Connor Kacsor scored from the two.  Kacsor's TD came one play after Nate Sudnick recovered a fumbled handoff in the Colonial backfield.

In addition to Sudnick's recovery, Zach Elias, Sean Sward and Danny Leach all came up with interceptions.  Linebacker Christopher Beaschler led UD for the third straight week with nine tackles, with a forced fumble.  Matt Brown had eight hits and a sack , while Flyer Ryan Schwenke and reserve linebacker Jack Crain added seven hits.  Schwenke also had a sack.  Devon Morgan led with two sacks.

Quarterback Will Bardo was 15 of 26 for 201 yards passing with two touchdowns on the day.  He also added a rushing score.  Ross Smith led the Flyers with six catches for 76 yards, and Kacsor caught four balls for a career-high 48 yards out of the backfield.

Placekicker William Will remained perfect on the season with four PAT and the field goal.  Punter Kyle Pignatiello averaged 41.5 yards on his eight punts, but a more critical stat was that five of them were inside the 20-yard-line with no touchbacks.

Barnes led Robert Morris on the ground with 61 yards on 16 carries.  Mitchell caught eight passes for 64 yards.  Jake Tkach was the game's top tackler with 11.

Dayton closes out non-conference play 2-1 on the year, while Robert Morris fell to 0-4.  The win was the Flyers' 12th-straight against Robert Morris, but the 24-point margin was the largest in the series since UD won 38-7 at Robert Morris on Sept. 8, 2001.

The Flyers have a week off before traveling to North Carolina for their first PFL game of the year.  Dayton will play at Davidson on Saturday, Oct. 4.  Kickoff is at 1 p.m. ET.