Flyers Looking For Their Sixth Consecutive Pioneer Football League Win

DAYTON — The University of Dayton football team will play the first of two Pioneer Football League road games Saturday when the Flyers visit Morehead State. 

UD is 2-1 and 1-0 in the PFL after coming back from a 23-point deficit to defeat Presbyterian 63-43 at home last week.  Morehead is 1-2, and will be playing in its 2021 PFL opener.  

Flyer quarterback Jack Cook accounted for six TDs and 336 yards in total offense in the Presbyterian win.  Safety Brandon Easterling led UD with nine tackles, and defensive end Chris Pepe, had seven hits and 2.5 sacks with a fumble forced and a pass batted down.  Mike Stodola also had 2.5 sacks.  

Cook and Pepe were named PFL Players of the Week on Sunday.

On Wednesday, safety Brandon Easterling was named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation’s Campbell Trophy, which is sometimes referred to as the “Academic Heisman.”

Going into Saturday’s game, Cook is two TD passes away from tying Kevin Hoyng’s UD career record of 59 career touchdown passes.

GOOD NEWS WORTH REPEATING
The Flyers entered the season with the fifth-best winning percentage (.733, 162-59) in FCS football since 2000 AND have produced the most football Academic All-Americans (34) at any level of competition in the same time frame.  The top five in winning percentage are North Dakota State (.801), Harvard (.7538), Montana (.7537), San Diego (.741) and Dayton (.733). 

STREAKING
UD has not been shut out in a school-record 490 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 29th 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 125-42 record is the best in PFL history. 
• The Flyers’ 12 league championships are more than any other PFL team.  San Diego has 11.

THE MAN AT THE TOP
• Rick Chamberlin is now in his 13th season in charge of Flyer football. His record is 95-42.
• 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 47th season as part of the Flyer football program.  A Flyer All-American linebacker in his playing days, he has been a part of 389 of UD’s 689 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 95 as a head coach.  He has also been a part of 507 of UD’s 1,090 games. 
• The Springfield, Ohio native is the 23rd head football coach since the program began in 1905. He is the first of the 11 modern era coaches to have lettered for the Flyers, and the second to be a graduate of the University of Dayton (Pete Ankney was the first alum when he coached in 1963 and 1964).
• Chamberlin, 63, had been on the Flyer coaching staff for 31 seasons before being named head coach. First as linebackers coach and then as defensive coordinator, Chamberlin helped mold the Dayton D’s reputation for its preparation and execution.
• A four-year letterwinner (1975-78) for the Flyers, Chamberlin is the Flyer career record holder in tackles with 419.
• He was named to the Football Coaches Association Small College All-America team as a senior. Chamberlin was the third Dayton player to be named a First Team All-American, but the first defensive player.  He joined the UD Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.

THE MAN AT THE TOP IN THE PFL
• Rick Chamberlin is the winningest coach in Pioneer Football League history, with 71 wins. 
• No other PFL coach has 60 league wins. 

CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS
• The Flyer co-captains for the 2021 season are junior running back Jake Chisholm, senior quarterback Jack Cook and senior safety Brandon Easterling.  
• Senior safety Joe Bubonics is this year’s special teams captain.  

UP NEXT
• Dayton stays on the road, visiting Drake on Oct. 9.
• The Flyers return home to host Marist on Oct. 16.

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS