DAYTON – The University of Dayton football team returns home to host the San Diego Toreros Saturday in a special 12 noon ET kickoff at Welcome Stadium.  The game features the teams who were picked 1-2 in the Pioneer Football league's preseason poll. Defending champion USD was picked to repeat, while the Flyers were picked to finish second.  Between them, Dayton and San Diego have won 20 league championships.

UD is 1-3, and 0-1 in the PFL, while USD is 2-2 and 1-0.  All four of the Flyers' decisions have been by six points or less (4.3 avg.).    Every Torero game has been decided by at least 10 points (18.3 avg.).
Saturday will also be UD's annual Football Alumni Game.  All reachable Flyer football alums have been invited back for the game.  Those in attendance will be hosted at by the Varsity D at its tailgate and recognized on the field at halftime.  Dayton's 2007 team will have a special recognition on the 10th anniversary of the season that saw them win the PFL championship, beat Albany in the Gridiron Classic Bowl Game and be named the 2007 NCAA Division I-AA Mid-major (non-scholarship) national champion.

• 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. 
• Jeske, who is recovering from a Jones fracture in his left foot, is practicing but has not yet been cleared to play.
• Crain earned a singular honor earlier this week.  He was named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's Campbell Trophy, which is sometimes referred to as the "Academic Heisman."  Dayton is one of two D-I schools to have a semifinalist for 12 straight years.
• Christian Searles, a preseason All-America kick returner, is UD's special teams captain.

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 458 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 110-33 record is the best in PFL history.

SCOUTING THE TOREROS
• San Diego was picked as the PFL's preseason favorite for the seventh consecutive season when USD received nine of 11 first-place votes in this year's preseason poll.
• QB Anthony Lawrence is this week's reigning PFL Co-Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 367 yards and five TD's vs. Butler. Lawrence was First Team All-PFL in 2016.
• Lawrence is one of seven preseason All-PFL performers for the Toreros.  He was joined by S Ray Clark, OT Daniel Cooney, TE Ross Dwelley, C Joe Hurney, OT Miles McCardle and DE Jonathan Peterson.
• McCardle and Peterson are two-time All-PFL performers and are also team captains.
• Cooney (2nd team) and Peterson (3rd team) are preseason STATS FCS All-Americans.
• Freshman RB Emilio Martinez leads the PFL in all-purpose yardage per game (142.2), He is fourth in the league in rushing (74.2) and fifth in kickoff return average (24.4).
• WR Justin Priest leads the PFL in receiving yards per game (106.0) and is second in receptions per game (6.8).
• On defense, LB Kim Mahoney leads the team in tackles (31) and fumbles recovered (2). 

THE MAN AT THE TOP
• Rick Chamberlin is now in his tenth season in charge of the Flyer football program. His record is 75-30.
• 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 475 of UD's 1,060 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.

FLYER TUCK
• Tucker Yinger enters the San Diego game with 1,758 career yards and a career average of 6.06 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 became the 25th player in school history to have 1,500 rushing yards in his career.  He is now 16th.
• Yinger is currently third in rushing in the PFL (107.2).
• 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).

UP NEXT
• Dayton is back on the road, playing at Drake on Saturday, Oct. 7.  Game time is 2 p.m. ET.
• UD is back home on Saturday, Oct. 14 when the Campbell Camels visit Welcome Stadium.  That is UD's Breast Cancer Awareness Game.  In addition, before the game the UD Athletics Division is hosting a "Flyer Fan Fest" to allow fans to meet the men's and women's basketball teams.