DAYTON -- The University of Dayton Flyers return home to face Marist.  The Flyers and the Red Foxes are two of the four teams currently tied for third in the Pioneer Football League with a 3-2 record.  

Dayton snapped a two-game skid last Saturday with a 49-35 win at Morehead State.  Sophomore running back Jake Chisholm had a big day on in his second career start.  Chisholm gained 268 yards, the second-highest single-game effort in UD history.  He was named PFL Player of the Week.

Safety Brandon Easterling continues to lead FCS football in tackles (13.1 per game), solo tackles (7.6) and fumbles recovered (3).  

Dayton is 5-3 overall, and 3-2 in the PFL.

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 484 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 122-42 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 90-41.
• 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 384 of UD's 684 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 90 as a head coach.  He has also been a part of 501 of UD's 1,035 games. 

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 160.
• 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, breaking the Dayton record.  He now has 28.
• His 11 touchdown catches are also a Flyer single-season record.
• For the season, Trautman has 52 receptions for 688 yards (13.2 yards per catch) and 11 touchdowns.  He leads the PFL in receiving TDs (11), and is second in receptions per game (6.7) yards per game (86.0).  He is third in scoring (8.2).  
• In FCS football, he is the top-ranked tight end in all four categories.  Overall, he is tied for first, 15th, 25th and 20th.

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 52 catches this year are 18 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 145 of 239 passing (.607) for 1,987 yards and 25 touchdowns.
• Among active FCS quarterbacks, Cook is second in career passing efficiency (157.95), behind Sac State's Kevin Thomson (158.10). 

 JACKED UP
• Redshirt sophomore quarterback Jack Cook was named to the HERO Sports FCS Freshman All-America Team and was also the Pioneer Football League's Freshman Offensive Player of the Year in 2018.
• He was thrust into the starting quarterback role after redshirt senior and four-year starter Alex Jeske tore his ACL in the first quarter of the season's first game. Cook's first two starts came against teams that not only reached the FCS playoffs last season, but they both won their first-round game.
 • Cook led all FCS freshmen in passing efficiency (155.5, 8th overall) and was ranked third among all FCS freshmen in passing yardage (2,421) and passing touchdowns (20).
• He was 170 of 280 passing (.607) for 2,421 yards and 20 touchdowns (with just two interceptions) for the year.  Both of his interceptions were in late-game desperation downfield situations.  The yardage was the second-best single-season mark in UD history, and the passing TD's were third.
• Cook was also Dayton's second-leading rusher, with 421 net yards on 91 attempts. (4.6 avg.).  He ran for eight touchdowns.
• In the PFL, Cook was fourth in total offense per game (258.5).  The next closest freshman was Stetson RB Jareem Westcott at 78.2.   Cook was also fifth in passing yards (220.2) behind then-seniors Anthony Lawrence of USD, Colin McGovern of Stetson, Grant Kraemer of Drake and Will Marty of Butler.
• He is on the 2019 College Football Performance FCS Performer of the Year Award Watch List.

HITTING THE SLOPES
• Ryan Skibinski is second on the team with 34 catches (15.6 avg.) with six TDs.
• He had touchdowns on his first three touches at Morehead State.  He caught two passes for 61 yards and two TD at Morehead.
• 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.
• Ski had a season-high seven catches (all in the second half) for 117 yards against USD.
• He was second on the team in receiving with 33 catches (15.1 avg.) in 2018.  
• He led UD with a Flyer freshman-record 40 receptions in 2016.  

1-2 PUNCH
• Both Adam Trautman and Ryan Skibinski are 1-2 in career receptions at Dayton.
• Bill Franks entered the year with sole possession of the record of 133 catches from 1988-91.  
• Trautman now has it, with 160.
• Skibinski has 136. 
• (Full disclosure, the title of this note is not accurate.  While Adam Trautman is the tallest player on the team, Ryan Skibinski is nowhere close to being the shortest player.)

CHISHOLM TRAIL
• In his second career start, Jake Chisholm had 35 carries for 268 yards and two touchdowns in the win at Morehead State.
• That was the second-most in a single game in UD history, behind Connor Kacsor's 301 yards vs. the Georgetown Hoyas in 2014.
• It's also the most this season in the PFL, and third-most in FCS football this year.
• He leads the PFL in all-purpose yardage (198.7) and is second nationally. 
• He averages 25.4 yards per kick return.  That is fourth in the PFL.
• 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).
• In his first career start against San Diego, he had career highs in yards (117) and carries (17), with four receptions for 65 yards.
• For the season, he has 670 yards on 91 attempts (PFL-high 7.4 yards per carry).  He leads the team and third the PFL in rushing.  

EASTER BONNET
•Brandon Easterling leads FCS football in tackles per game (13.1), solo tackles (7.6) and is tied for first in fumbles recovered (3).
• 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.
• In the Morehead win, he had 14 hits (seven solo) and two PBU.

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, 39-for-41 on PATs, and 19 of his 28 kickoffs have been touchbacks. 

FCS NUMBERS
• Brandon Easterling leads FCS football in tackles per game (13.1) second in solo hits (7.6), and tied for first in fumbles recovered (3).
• Jack Cook is first in points responsible for (24.8), fifth in passing TDs (25) and seventh in passing efficiency (160.8).  
• Adam Trautman is first in receiving touchdowns (11). 
• Jake Chisholm is second in all-purpose yardage (198.7), and fifth in rushing yards per carry (7.4).

UP NEXT
• The Flyers go on the road for the final time in 2019 next, playing at Drake on Saturday, Nov. 16.  Game time is 2 p.m. ET.
• UD closes out the regular season at Welcome Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 23 against Butler on Senior Day.  Game time is 1 p.m. ET.