DAYTON – The university of Dayton Flyer football team returns home to take on long-time rival Butler on Saturday.  Game time at Welcome Stadium is 1:00 p.m. ET.

Dayton is 3-5 overall, and 2-3 in the PFL, while Butler is 5-3 in 2017, and 3-2 in the PFL.  Both teams are coming off big wins.  Dayton used a 27-point third quarter to beat Davidson on the road 48-22, while Butler had an impressive 37-23 victory at home over previously unbeaten Campbell.

Dayton leads the series 29-12-1 and has won the last three contests.

The Flyers will celebrate Halloween early at the Butler game with candy for those in costume and a prize for the best costumes.   It will be Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day, and a PATH Point Event for UD students.

FAST FACTS
• Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin is in his 10th season as UD's head coach. With the win at Drake, he became the winningest coach in PFL history.  He now has with 57 PFL wins.
• Quarterback Alex Jeske, linebacker Jack Crain and defensive end Nick Surges are the Flyer football captains this year.  Christian Searles, a preseason All-America kick returner, is UD's special teams captain.
• Crain is a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's Campbell Trophy, aka "the Academic Heisman."  UD is one of just two Division I schools to have a semifinalist the last 12 years.  Bucknell is the other.

GOOD NEWS WORTH REPEATING
The Flyers entered the season with the third-best winning percentage (.761, 143-45) in FCS football since 2000 AND have produced the most football Academic All-Americans (26) at any level of competition in the same time frame.  The top five in winning percentage are Harvard (.799), North Dakota State (.761), Dayton (.757), Montana (.755), and San Diego (.719).

STREAKING
UD has not been shut out in a school-record 462 straight games, the best such active string in all of college football. The last team to shut out the Flyers was Marshall, 9-0, on Oct. 16, 1976. That is also the all-time FCS record.

PFL POWER
• The Pioneer Football League is in its 25th 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. 
• UD's 111-36 record is the best in PFL history.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
• Butler has won three consecutive games and handed Jacksonville and Campbell their first league loss in the last two games. 
• BU leads the PFL in time of possession (33:56), propelled no doubt by an amazing 42:11 to 18:11 game of keep-away in the Campbell win.
• The Bulldogs utilize a two-quarterback attack.  Will Marty is the passer, completing 149 of 251 passes for 1,581 yards and seven touchdowns. Sam Schrader is the runner, averaging 5.0 yards a carry in 292 yards rushing (second on the team) with seven rushing touchdowns.
• Wideout Temple Pace leads the league in receiving yards per game (93.4) and is second in yards per catch (17.8).
• Safety Isaak Newhouse leads the PFL in solo tackles (55) and is third in tackles/game (9.8)
• Kicker Drew Bevelhimer leads the PFL in scoring (7.9 points a game).  His 13 field goals also lead the league and are fifth nationally.
• Butler leads the PFL in turnover margin (+10), kickoff coverage (17.0), 4th-down success (68.8%, 11-16) and red-zone success (93.3%, 28-30, 20 TDs, 8 FGs).
• The 'Dogs are top ten in FCS football in kickoff coverage (9th) and red-zone success (5th).

THE MAN AT THE TOP
• Rick Chamberlin is now in his tenth season in charge of the Flyer football program. His record is 77-32.
• He is third all-time in wins at Dayton, behind two members of the College Football Hall of Fame -- Mike Kelly (246 wins) and Harry Baujan (124).
• Chamberlin is also in his 43rd season as part of the Flyer football program.  A Flyer All-American linebacker in his playing days, he has been a part of 371 of UD's 661 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 77 as a head coach.  He has also been a part of 479 of UD's 1,064 games.

THE MAN AT THE TOP IN THE PFL
• Rick Chamberlin is the winningest coach in Pioneer Football League history, with 57 wins.
 • He entered the season tied with his predecessor, Mike Kelly with 55.
• No other PFL coaches have 50 league wins.

SEARLES A PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
• Senior cornerback Christian Searles was named Second Team All-America cornerback by College Sports Madness.
• Searles is two-time First Team All-PFL.
• In 2016, he was tied for second in the PFL in interceptions (5) and was third in passes defended (16) a year ago.  The two-time First Team All-PFL cornerback was in on 36 tackles, with 25 of the solo variety.  His three interceptions at Jacksonville last year tied the Flyer single-game record.
• An outstanding kick returner as well (he has a 9.9 career punt return average and leads the PFL in kickoff returns average -- 25.1), he is this year's Special Teams Captain.
• He was named PFL Special Teams POtW after a 71-yd. punt return TD vs. Duquesne.
• Remarkably, Searles leads UD this season with 10 passes broken up.  Remarkable because of how few passes are being thrown to his side of the field.

JUST IN TIME JESKE
• Two-year starting quarterback Alex Jeske suffered a broken foot before camp and did not play until Drake. 
• He was 12 of 22 for 197 yards in his season debut. Against Campbell, he was 27 of 48 passes for 228 yards.  At Davidson, he was 15 of 22 for 223 yards with two touchdowns.
• The 48 pass attempts were a career high and the 27 completions matched his career high.
• Jeske took over as the Flyer QB as a redshirt freshman and guided the Flyers to 10 straight wins, a PFL championship and UD's first-ever appearance in the FCS playoffs. 
• He followed that up with an MVP season. Jeske completed 56.2% of his passes (149 of 256) and led UD in rushing (676 yards, 5.6 avg., 14 TD's).
• Jeske led the PFL in TDs responsible for (29), was second in scoring (90 points) and was fourth in total offense (2,623). 
• After just two seasons and three games, he is already third at UD in career completions (397), third in passing yards (4,636) and fourth in total offense (5,489).  The yardage records are held by his position coach, Kevin Hoyng (8,852 passing, 9,528 total offense), who played 2004 to 2007.
• As a starter, Jeske has a 20-4 record.

AFTER ALEX
• A pair of redshirt sophomores -- Kyle Kaparos and Will Bobek -- battled during preseason camp to win the starting job.
• Kaparos won the job and was 13 of 18 passing for 122 yards and a TD with no interceptions in his debut at Robert Morris.
• Against San Diego, he was 21 of 37 for 191 yards (all career highs).
• For the season, he is 67 of 126 passing (.532) for 697 yards, five TD and two interceptions.

FLYER TUCK
• Tucker Yinger enters the Butler game with 2,141 career yards and a career average of 5.9 yards-per carry average (the current UD record is 6.24).
• He has matched his career high in carries (24) three times in seven games this season.
• He opened the season with 107 yards at RMU, and then had 141 vs. SEMO.  He added 104 yards at Morehead, 101 at Drake 113 vs. Campbell, and 135 (playing only one play in the second half) at Davidson.
• He is now 10th in career rushing at Dayton.
• Yinger is currently second in rushing in the PFL (101.5).
• As a redshirt freshman, Yinger started five games after Connor Kacsor's career-ending injury and led UD in rushing yardage (731 yards) and yards per carry (6.1). 
• In 2016, Yinger fought through injuries to play in six games, starting four.  He was second on the team in rushing (598 yards), first in yards per game (99.7) and his 7.0 yards per carry was the best in the PFL.
• In the only two games Yinger was able to start and finish last season, he ran for 172 yards (Drake) and 193 yards (MSU).

GOING THE DISTANCE
• Tucker Yinger has been able to start and finish just 13 of the 25 games he has played in his career, but in those he averages 121.4 yards per game.
• He has 19 runs of 25 yards or longer in his last 21 games.
• A Mechanical Engineering major, Yinger was a CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American in 2016.  He is a two-time First Team Academic All-PFL selection. 
• He had a career-high 237 yards against Marist in 2015 (211 in the second half).

TO SERVE AND PROTECT
• On the Dayton O-line, tackle Ben Gauthier and guards Jim Hammontree and Wes Hegemann returned as starters from 2016.
• Gauthier started his very first game as a true freshman, and has 28 career starts.

TRAUT FISHING IN AMERICA
• Adam Trautman led UD in receptions in the first five games this year.  He had a career-high six for 45 yards at Morehead State.
• He leads UD with 32 receptions (10.1) in 2017.
• He was third on the team last year in receptions with 24 (9.9 avg.). 
• Those 24 catches were more than the previous freshman record (18), but had already been surpassed by Ryan Skibinski, who set a new record with 40.
• Trautman lined up at tight end, slot receiver, flanker and even as a wildcat QB in 2016.
• His career-best in receiving yardage was 73 at San Diego last year.

UP NEXT
• The Flyers remain home for Senior Day when the Marist Red Foxes come to town on Saturday, Nov. 4.  Game time is 1:00 p.m. ET.
• Dayton's 19 seniors and their families will be recognized before the game.  At halftime, one of them will be named the 2017 winner of the Lt. Andy Zulli Memorial Award, a character-driven honor that is considered the most prestigious in the UD football program.
• The Marist game is also Military Appreciation Day.