DAYTON  -- The preseason top two teams in the Pioneer Football League will square off Saturday at Welcome Stadium, when the University of Dayton Flyers host PFL favorite San Diego.   

Saturday's game is also the Flyer football program's "Pink Game," to promote awareness in the fight against Breast Cancer.

Saturday's game with be Flyer head coach Rick Chamberlin's 500th game with the Dayton football program.  He played in 45 games as an All-American linebacker, served as an assistant coach under College Football Hall of Fame coach Mike Kelly for 325 games, and has been UD's head coach for 129 games.

Dayton is looking to bounce back from a disappointing 38-21 loss at Stetson.  UD is 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the PFL.

Safety Brandon Easterling continues to lead FCS football in tackles (13.7 per game).  



GOOD NEWS WORTH REPEATING
The Flyers entered the season with the fifth-best winning percentage (.733, 154-56) in FCS football since 2000 AND have produced the most football Academic All-Americans (31) at any level of competition in the same time frame.  The top five in winning percentage are North Dakota State (.792), Harvard (.772), Montana (.744), San Diego (.742) and Dayton (.733). 

STREAKING
UD has not been shut out in a school-record 482 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 27th 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 125-46 record is the best in PFL history. 
• The Flyers' 12 league championships are more than any other PFL team.  

THE MAN AT THE TOP
• Rick Chamberlin is now in his 12th season in charge of Flyer football. His record is 89-40.
• He is third all-time in wins at UD, behind two College Football Hall of Fame members-- Mike Kelly (246 wins) and Harry Baujan (124).
• After coaching the Flyers to the FCS playoffs in 2015, Chamberlin was named the 2015 AFCA District Coach of the Year and the PFL Coach of the Year.  He was the school's first AFCA District Coach of the Year, and his PFL honor was the ninth for a Dayton coach.
• Chamberlin is also in his 45th season as part of the Flyer football program.  A Flyer All-American linebacker in his playing days, he has been a part of 383 of UD's 683 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 89 as a head coach.  He has also been a part of 499 of UD's 1,033 games. 

THE MAN AT THE TOP IN THE PFL
• Rick Chamberlin is the winningest coach in Pioneer Football League history, with 66 wins. 
• No other PFL coaches have 60 league wins. 

TRAUT FISHING IN AMERICA
• Adam Trautman broke two Flyer records in the Jacksonville win and added a third the next week at Valparaiso.
• His first reception vs. JU was a 17-yard touchdown from quarterback Jack Cook that gave Trautman sole possession of the Dayton career receptions record.  Trautman entered the game tied with Bill Franks for 133 receptions.  Interestingly, Jacksonville was UD's annual Alumni Game and Franks was in attendance.  Trautman currently has 154.
• The Flyer tight end's final catch of the day was a 34-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter that was his fourth TD of the Jacksonville game, giving him the Flyer single-game record for touchdown receptions.  It was also the last time he was targeted with a pass, as UD led 35-14 at halftime and threw just three passes in the second half. For the day, he had six catches for 107 yards.
• At Valparaiso, his three TD catches lifted him to 26 receiving scores, a new Dayton record.
• For the season, Trautman has 46 receptions for 615 yards (13.4 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns.  He leads the PFL in receptions per game (7.7) and receiving TDs (10), and is second in yards per game (102.5) and scoring (10.0).  In FCS football, he is the top-ranked tight end in all four categories.  Overall, he is seventh, tied for second, seventh and eighth respectively.

UP AND...
• Adam Trautman was named a Preseason All-America Tight End by two different media outlets this year.  Phil Steele's College Football has him on the second team, while STATS has him on the third team.  
• STATS has also named him to the Walter Payton Award Watch List (the Payton Award goes to the top FCS offensive player.
• Phil Steele's College Football projects him to be the PFL Offensive Player of the Year. 
• He opened 2019 with a career-high 11 catches (third-best ever for UD) for 132 yards at Indiana State.
• His team-leading 41 catches this year are 23 more than anyone else on the team.
• Last year, Trautman led UD in receptions (41) and TD catches (9).  He had a 14.7 yards per catch average.  
• In 2017, he led Dayton in receptions with 43 (12.5 yards per catch).
• He was third on the team in receptions with 24 (9.9 avg.) in 2016.
• Those 24 catches were more than the previous freshman record (18), but Ryan Skibinski was in the process of setting a new record with 40.
• Trautman lined up at tight end, slot receiver, flanker and even as a wildcat QB in 2016.
• His Elk Rapids (Michigan) high school team had 18 players on it his junior year, and 21 in his senior season.

RECORD COOK
• Jack Cook joined in on the record parade in the Jacksonville win, throwing for a Dayton record six TD's.
• Cook was 13 of 16 passing for 198 yards in the Jacksonville win.  His passer efficiency rating was a remarkable 308.95 (roughly double what a normal "solid" rating would be).  Both the rating and touchdowns are the second-most this season in FCS football.
• He was the CFPA FCS Performer of the Week.
• Records are nothing new for Cook.  He had two record-breaking days last season.  At San Diego, Cook threw for a UD-record 432 yards (29 of 40, .725) and had a hand in all five Flyer TD's (4 passing, 1 rushing).  
• At Butler, he tied his current position coach, Kevin Hoyng, for the then-UD record for touchdown passes in a game (5).  Cook completed 16 of 19 passes for 254 yards.

COOKIN'
• Jack Cook was 21 of 29 passing (.724), for 251 yards and two TDs in the win over 14th-ranked Indiana State.  He also ran 13 times for 52 yards and two more scores.  
• With the score tied in the fourth quarter, Cook engineered a 10-play, 85-yard drive for the winning touchdown.  He completed all four of his passes on the drive for 48 yards. Each of his runs in the drive resulted in a first down.
• He was named the PFL Player of the Week.
• For the season, Cook is 118 of 183 passing (.645) for 1,565 yards and 19 touchdowns.
• Among active FCS quarterbacks, Cook is second in career passing efficiency (160.16), behind Sac State's Kevin Thomson (161.14). 

HITTING THE SLOPES
• Ryan Skibinski is second on the team with 25 catches (14.1 avg.) with three TDs.
• Skibinski has at least three catches in every game this year.  
• In the Jacksonville win, he had three for 67 yards and a TD.  Two of those catches (both acrobatic) effectively sealed the game in the last 26 seconds of the first half.  Dayton stopped JU on fourth down and got the ball at its own 48.  A 19-yarder, followed by a 33-yard TD put UD up 35-14.
• He was second on the team in receiving with 33 catches (15.1 avg.) in 2018.  
• Ski was also second on the team in receptions in 2017 (29 for 15.3 avg.).
• He led UD with a Flyer freshman-record 40 receptions in 2016.  

CHISHOLM TRAIL
• Jake Chisholm has returned averages 29.5 yards per kick return.  That is second in the PFL and fifth in FCS.
• He returned four kickoffs with a 36.2 yard average at Indiana State.  He also had seven carries for 43 yards at ISU.
• Chisholm's 97-yard TD return in the Duquesne game was Dayton's first since Cameron Stubbs' 94-yard return against Marist in 2016, and UD's longest since Gary Hunter's 100-yard return in 2012.
• He was named PFL Special Teams Player of the Week after Duquesne. He also had six carries for 34 yards and caught a TD pass.
• He had his first career 100-yard rushing game against Jacksonville with 101 yards on just 10 carries (79 in the second half).
• For the season on offense, he has 285 yards on 39 attempts (team-high 7.3 yards per carry).  He is second on the team and ninth in the PFL in rushing.  His 7.3 average is best among PFL rushing leaders.
• Chisholm also leads the PFL in all-purpose yardage (156.0) and is sixth nationally.

EASTER BONNET
•Brandon Easterling leads FCS football in tackles per game (13.7).
• He had 19 tackles against Duquesne. 
• Those 19 tackles are the most by a Dayton player since James Vercammen had 19 at San Diego in 2009.
• Easterling was UD's top tackler at ISU, putting his hat on 13 Sycamores (5 solo).  He also had a pass broken up.
• At Robert Morris, he led again with 11 tackles and nine solo hits.
• After 19 vs. Duquesne, he had 16 vs. Jacksonville.
• Easterling "only" had 10 at Valparaiso.  It was the first time he did not lead the Flyers in tackles, but he did have an interception.
• At Stetson, he had 13 hits (11 solo) with a pass interception and fumble recovery.
• His 8.0 solo tackles lead the PFL and are second in FCS.

SIMPLY SIMON 
• Senior safety Tim Simon is a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's Campbell Trophy, which is sometimes referred to as "the Academic Heisman."
• Simon was the Pioneer Football League Player of the Week vs. Indiana State after getting in on 11 tackles (6 solo), an interception, two other passes broken up and 0.5 TFL.
• His red-zone interception and 64-yard return with just over two minutes to go sealed the win at Robert Morris. 
• His 0.3 picks per game are third in the PFL, tied with Brandon Easterling.
• This year, Simon is second on the team and the PFL in tackles (48, 25 solo), with two interceptions and three passes broken up.
• He was second for UD in tackles last season (75) and solo hits (41).
• He was injured early in the Stetson game.

SLAMMIN' SAMMY
• True freshman Sam Webster has made an immediate impact in the UD kicking game.
• He was 6-for-6 in PAT's in his college debut at 14th-ranked Indiana State.
• At Robert Morris, his very first college field goal was a 53-yarder that was the third longest in Flyer history, the longest by a freshman, and the second-longest so far in 2019.
• He scored 10 points in the three-point win at RMU, and was named PFL Special Teams Player of the Week.
• For the season, Webster is 3-for-3 on field goals, 30-for-31 on PATs, and 15 of his 21 kickoffs have been touchbacks. 

UP NEXT
• Dayton is at Morehead State on Saturday, Nov. 2.
• The Flyers are back home against Marist on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. ET.

Please return to DaytonFlyers.com for a more complete preview.