DAYTON – The University of Dayton football team takes to the road Saturday, traveling to Iowa to visit Drake.  Kickoff is at 2 p.m. ET.

For the second straight Saturday, the Flyers take on a team that is tied for first in the Pioneer Football League.  Dayton is 1-4 overall, and 0-2 in the PFL, while Drake is 3-2 in 2017, and 2-0 in the PFL.

• Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin is in his 10th season as UD's head coach.
• 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, sometimes referred to as "the Academic Heisman." UD is one of two D-I teams to have a semifinalist the last 12 years.

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 459 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 110-35 record is the best in PFL history.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
• Drake's attack is powered by the top-rated QB in the PFL, senior Grant Kraemer.  Kraemer leads the league in passing efficiency (151.7 rating), passing yardage per game (284.6, 30 yards more than the next guy) and total offense (277.0).
• Kraemer has completed 103 of 164 passes (.628) for 1,423 yards, with 11 TD against five interceptions.
• Aside from Kraemer at quarterback, the Bulldogs get a lot of production from a lot of players on both sides of the ball. 
• Ten different players have scored TD's, six have at least 15 rushing attempts, and five have at least 12 pass receptions.
• WR Mitch McFarlane is Kraemer's favorite target, catching 4.6 passes a game (7th in the PFL) for 78.0 yards a game (5th), while averaging 17.0 yards a catch (4th).
• Defensively, six Bulldogs have interceptions, 12 have at least 10 tackles, 13 have defended a pass, and 17 have at least a half (assisted) tackle in the backfield.
• Cornerback Terry Allen, who is currently listed second on the depth chart, leads the PFL in passes defensed (1.50 per game).

THE MAN AT THE TOP
• Rick Chamberlin is now in his tenth season in charge of the Flyer football program. His record is 75-31.
• 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 369 of UD's 659 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 75 as a head coach.  He has also been a part of 476 of UD's 1,061 games.

DOUBLE NICKEL COACHES
• Dayton's 110 Pioneer Football League wins are split evenly between Rick Chamberlin and his predecessor, Mike Kelly.
• 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 (with a 10.6 career punt return average), he is this year's Special Teams Captain.
• He was named PFL Special Teams Player of the Week after a 71-yd. punt return TD vs. Duq.
• Remarkably, Searles leads UD this season with five 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 is recovering from a broken foot and returned to practice last week.  His playing status will be determined as the week goes on.
• 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).  He was Second-Team All-PFL.
• After just two seasons, he is already third at UD in career completions (343), fourth in passing yards (3,988) and fifth in total offense (4,750).  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 an 18-4 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 125 passing (.536) for 697 yards, five TD and two interceptions.
• Last year, he played in just two games and a handful of end-of-game plays in 2016 after redshirting his freshman season.  He had no pass attempts and no rushing attempts in his limited action.

FLYER TUCK
• Tucker Yinger enters the Drake game with 1,792 career yards and a career average of 6.0 yards-per carry average (the current UD record is 6.24).
• He matched his career high in carries (24) in both of the first two games of 2017.
• He opened the season with 107 yards at Robert Morris., and then had 141 vs. SEMO.  He added 104 yards at Morehead State.
• He is now 16th in career rushing at Dayton.
• Yinger is currently third in rushing in the PFL (92.6).
• 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).  He was also fourth in the PFL and the only freshman in the top 10.
• 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 11 of the 23 games he has played in his career, but in those he averages 121.4 yards per game.
• He has 18 runs of 25 yards or longer in his last 18 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).

UP NEXT
• Dayton returns home to take on Campbell on Saturday, Oct. 14.  Game time is 1:00 p.m. ET
• Campbell is in its last year in the Pioneer Football League as the Camels have begun preparations to move to the scholarship Big South Conference.  Campbell is already a member of the Big south in its other sports.
• Before the game, UD athletics is sponsoring its "Flyer Fan Fest" where the men's and women's basketball teams will appear and sign autographs.
• The Campbell game is also part of Flyer athletics' Breast Cancer Awareness" weekend.  Every fall sport is hosting its annual "Pink Game" that weekend.  At the football game, Pink Ribbon Girls will be holding a silent auction to raise funds to fight breast cancer.