By Bane Rossi
Game Time Is 1 P.M. ET
DAYTON –– The University of Dayton football team will play its 2023 home opener on Saturday when Central State visits Welcome Stadium.
The Flyers are looking for a bounce-back win after a 41-0 loss to start the year last Saturday at Illinois State of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The Flyers were 8-3 and 6-2 in the Pioneer Football League in 2022, finishing tied for second in the PFL.
UD will wrap up non-conference play next Saturday at home against Taylor.
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 30th 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.
SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS
• Central State comes into the Dayton game with a big win under their belt, knocking off Mississippi Valley State 24-21 in the Chicago Classic last Saturday.
• A Division II program who can offer up to 36 scholarships, CSU has 34 transfers from four-year schools on its roster, including 16 from NCAA Division I programs.
• The Marauders play in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and they had four players named Preseason All-SIAC. Sophomore defensive end Mike White and sophomore linebacker Jalil Lenore were both named to the first team, and junior wide receiver Brandon Brock was on the second team. Central State was predicted to finish ninth in the 13-team league.
• Head coach Kevin Porter is in his second season at CSU. A four-year starter at Auburn, he played six seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets. He had previously been a college head coach at Avila, Point and Fort Valley State.
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 f our 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.
UP NEXT
• UD closes out the non-conference portion of the schedule next Saturday, Sept. 16 at home against Taylor.
• Game time is 1 p.m. ET.
COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS
