DAYTON -- The University of Dayton football team will wrap up the non-conference portion of the 2023 season Saturday when the Flyers host Taylor at Welcome Stadium.  

UD is 1-1  after last week's 64-24 win at home over Central State.

The win was the first of new coach Trevor Andrews' career.  

Sam Webster was named the Pioneer Football League's Special Teams Player of the Week after making all six of the PATs he put his foot into and also booting field goals of 47 and 38 yards in the game.

UD got a career-high 125 yards rushing from running back Michael Neel, two passing touchdowns from both quarterbacks Dante Casciola and Cole Dow, and a pair of late defensive touchdowns in the win.

GOOD NEWS WORTH REPEATING
The Flyers entered the season with the fourth-best winning percentage (.7273, 176-66) in FCS football since 2000 AND have produced the most football Academic All-Americans (36) in Division I in the same time frame.  The top five in winning percentage are North Dakota State (.807), Harvard (.749), Montana (.748), Dayton (.7273) and San Diego (.7269).

700 CLUB
The Flyers are one of nine FCS teams to win 700 games.  The previous eight members of the FCS 700 Win Club are Yale, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, North Dakota State, Dartmouth, Delaware and Lehigh.

PFL POWER
• The Pioneer Football League is in its 31st 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.  
• The Flyers' 136-46 record is the best in PFL history. 
• UD's 12 league championships are the most in PFL history.  San Diego also has 12.

FLYER AT THE HELM
• Trevor Andrews was named the University of Dayton's head football coach on Dec. 12, 2022.  
• A 1998 Dayton graduate, he brings 25 years of college coaching experience to his alma mater.
• Andrews was a three-year letterwinner at defensive back for the Flyers.  
• He was a member of three Pioneer Football League championship teams that had Mike Kelly as the head coach, and Andrews' predecessor at Dayton, Rick Chamberlin, as the then-defensive coordinator.  
• The Flyers were a combined 37-5 over Andrews' four years.  That includes Dayton's undefeated (11-0) team in 1996.  
• Andrews brings a wealth of college coaching successes back to The Hilltop.  
• He returns to Dayton from Western Michigan, where he coached the Bronco linebackers for four seasons.  
• Prior to that, he was at William & Mary for 18 years, including six as Associate Head Coach, five as defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator for nine years.  
• He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Illinois Wesleyan in 1999 and coached one season at Randolph-Macon before moving to William & Mary.

CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS
• The Flyer co-captains for the 2023 season are redshirt senior linebacker Nathan Arthur, graduate safety Matt Lenti, graduate offensive guard David Tkatch and redshirt senior wideout Derek Willits.
• Michael Franks was voted the special teams captain at the start of the season.

PRESEASON PFL
• Four University of Dayton Flyers were named 2023 Preseason All-Pioneer Football League, as chosen by the PFL.  Dayton's selections consisted of linebacker Nathan Arthur, safety Cole Hildebrand, defensive tackle Sam Schadek and offensive tackle David Tkatch. 
• The Flyers' four selections were second only to defending champion St. Thomas' six picks.  
• Phil Steele's College Football also picked eight Flyers to its All-PFL teams.  In addition to Arthur, Hildebrand, Schadek and Tkatch, four others were also named. Luke Brenner (KR) and Sam Webster (PK) were on the second team, and  Sam Bubonics (WR) and Michael Neel (RB) were on the third team. 
• Dayton was picked third in the 2023 PFL Coaches Poll.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
• Taylor is 1-2 on the season, earning a thrilling come-from-behind-win in the season opener at home against St. Ambrose, and then dropping road games at Concordia and Butler.
• The Trojan attack is built around a deep running game.  In just three games, seven different players have at least 13 carries.  Six of them average at least 25 yards a game.
• The top three runners -- Ja Thomas (48.7 yards per game), Braxton Ream (34.7) and Stephen Ellis (34.0) -- all average over 7.5 yards per carry.
• Quarterback Damon Hockett has completed 23 of 48 passes (.479) for 256 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.  His two rushing touchdowns lead the team.
• Wideout Dakohta Sonnichsen is a long-distance threat.  He averages 21.3 yards per reception, 25.3 yards per kickoff return and 14.0 yards per punt return.
• Linebacker Aven Jones leads Taylor in tackles (35), solo hits (17), tackles for a loss (2.5) and sacks (1).
• Isaiah Grybauskus averages 41.2 yards per punt.

UP NEXT
• Dayton begins the pursuit of its Pioneer Football League-record 13th PFL championship at San Diego on Saturday, Sept. 23.
• Game time for the league opener for both teams is 5 p.m. ET.
• UD's next home game is on Saturday, Sept. 30 against PFL favorite St. Thomas.