DAYTON -- The University of Dayton football team turns into a cross country team this week, playing at San Diego on Saturday.  Game time is 5:00 p.m. ET.  

Dayton is 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the Pioneer Football League after last week's 53-20 win over Valparaiso.  San Diego is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the PFL.  

The two teams were picked 1-2 in this season's PFL preseason coaches poll.  USD is the league's defending champion, and has won 23 straight PFL games.  The last team to knock off the Toreros in league play was the Flyers, 13-12 in Dayton on Oct. 10, 2015.

The Flyers entered the season with the fourth-best winning percentage (.744, 148-51) in FCS football since 2000 AND have produced the most football Academic All-Americans (29) at any level of competition in the same time frame.  The top five in winning percentage are Harvard (.782), North Dakota State (.778), Montana (.753), Dayton (.744), and San Diego (.741).

UD has not been shut out in a school-record 471 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.

The Pioneer Football League is in its 26th 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 115-38 record is the best in PFL history.   The Flyers' 12 league championships are three more than any other PFL team.  The Toreros are next with nine.


Rick Chamberlin is now in his 11th season in charge of the Flyer football program. His record is 81-36.  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). 
UD's winning percentage with Rick Chamberlin involved in some capacity is .770, without him it is a still-respectable .562. Chamberlin is the winningest coach in Pioneer Football League history, with 60 wins. No other PFL coaches have 50 league wins.

UD's next game is at home Oct. 20 when Drake visits Welcome Stadium.  Drake was picked third in the PFL poll, behind San Diego and Dayton.   Kickoff for Drake is 1 p.m. ET.