DES MOINES -- As has been the habit all season, the University of Dayton football team proved to be a second-half team, scoring 17 unanswered points after intermission. But the Flyers were down 21-0 at halftime, and a late Drake TD made the final score Drake 27, Dayton 17. For the Flyers, it was the first loss of the season.
Dayton (10-1, 7-1 PFL) had already earned the Pioneer Football League's automatic bid in the FCS playoffs. The playoff field will be announced Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on ESPNU.
SCORING• Drake led 21-0 at halftime.
• The Bulldogs scored on three extended drives of 80, 64 and 62 yards
• Drake led 7-0 after one quarter on a 23-yard Andy Rice to Zach Zlabis pass.
• The 'Dogs scored twice more in the second. Conley Wilkins scored on a 25-yard run with 13:45 remaining in the half, and then Rice hit Michael Hudson from 21 yards out with just 23 seconds to go.
• Dayton got on the board with an
Alex Jeske three-yard run with 8:19 in the third quarter.
• The Flyers reached the Drake 25-yard line twice more in the third, but came away with no points after a missed field goal and an interception.
• Dayton made it a 21-14 game on
Jack Adams' one-yard run.
• Faced with a fourth-and-7 with 6:16 left in the game,
William Will's 29-yard field goal made it a 21-17 game.
• UD's defense forced its sixth straight three-and-out to five the Flyers the ball back with four minutes left in the game. The Flyers moved the ball 24 yards to the Drake 40, but Jeske's downfield pass was just off a diving
Jack Euritt's fingers on fourth down.
• On the very next play, Wilkins busted through line and outraced the Dayton secondary 60 yards for the game-clinching TD.
STATS• UD quarterback
Alex Jeske was 27 of 44 for 215 yards. He was 24 for 34 for 210 yards in the second half.
• Three Flyers --
Tyler Tumpane,
Joe Bodnar and
Cory Stuart -- each had six receptions.
• Stuart has caught at least one pass in 23 consecutive games.
•
Ryan Schwenke led UD with 11 tackles. Schwenke and
Cameron Stubbs took team honors in solo hits with six apiece. Stubs also had 1.5 tackles in the backfield.
• Stubbs forced and recovered the same fumble. Schwenke and
Michael Gray also forced fumbles.
Christopher Beaschler and
Nolan Harmotto both recovered fumbles.
•
Christian Searles returned six punts for 71 yards.
Cameron Stubbs returned two kickoffs for 49 yards.
• Punter
Sean Smith averaged 40.8 yards a punt on six punts.
NOTES• The loss, coupled with San Diego's 28-27 win over Butler, created co-champions in the PFL. Dayton won its 12th league title, while San Diego has placed first seven times.
• UD has not been shut out in an FCS-record 442 straight games, the best such active string in all of college football.
• Drake has won the last three meetings in the series.
UP NEXT• The Flyers will find out who they play in their first trip to the FCS playoffs when the FCS Selection Show airs on ESPNU Sunday at 11 a.m. ET. The first round of the playoffs are played on campus sites on Saturday, Nov. 29.
