By Michelle Richardson
GAME NOTES
https://daytonflyers.com/documents/2024/11/20/Notes_St._Thomas_Web.pdf
DAYTON — The University of Dayton football team will end the 2024 season with the Flyers’ first-ever trip to the Twin Cities to visit St. Thomas. Game time is 2 p.m. ET. Dayton is now 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the Pioneer Football League after last week’s 26-14 win over Valparaiso on Senior Day. UD clinched its 44th winning season in the last 47 campaigns.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Gideon Lampron was named the PFL’s Defensive Player of the Week after the Valpo win. He is the only player in the league to earn four weekly awards this season. Lampron made back-to-back short-yardage stops at midfield in the second quarter, setting up a scoring drive that gave the Flyers the lead for good. On the day, he was in on 11 tackles (six solo) with 2.0 TFL.
Lampron leads FCS football in tackles for a loss (2.1). He and safety Vincent Firenze are tied for third in FCS in kicks blocked (2), As a unit, the Dayton defense leads FCS in total defense (238.7), passing yards allowed (121.6) and first downs allowed (12.5). UD also leads FCS football in blocked kicks (7). Dayton is second in FCS opponent third down conversion (26.0%). The Flyers also leads the PFL and is fifth in FCS in fewest penalty yards (335).
St. Thomas is 5-6 overall and 4-3 in the PFL after losing its last three games. Those three losses were the first time in the 17 years Glenn Caruso has been the St. Thomas coach that his team has lost three consecutive games.
The Tommies passed for over 300 yards last week at Butler. It was the first time in 24 games the Tommies threw for at least 300 yards. Quarterbacks Tak Tateoka and Michael Rostberg combined to complete 18 of 36 passes for 305 yards. The bulk, of those yards wound up in the hands of Colin Chase (five catches, 121 yards) and Jacob Wildermuth (5, 103). Chase caught a TD pass from each quarterback.
The Flyers entered the season with the fifth-best winning percentage (.711, 180-73) 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 (.804), Montana (.766), Harvard (.751), San Diego (.712) and Dayton (.711).
The Flyers are one of 11 FCS teams to win 700 games. The first eight members of the FCS 700 Win Club were Yale, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, North Dakota State, Dartmouth, Delaware and Lehigh. Dayton was the ninth. Northern Iowa and Lafayette joined the 700 win club last season.
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’ 142-55 record is the best in PFL history. UD’s 12 league championships are tied with San Diego for the most in PFL history.
Trevor Andrews was named the University of Dayton’s head football coach on Dec. 12, 2022. A 1998 Dayton graduate, he brought 25 years of college coaching experience back home 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.
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