PDF Game Notes

The University of Dayton football team will open the home portion of the 2013 season on Saturday, September 7 when the Flyers host Duquesne. Game time at Welcome Stadium is 1:00 p.m. ET.

Dayton opened the year by falling to #24 Youngstown State 28-10 on the road. Duquesne won at home in its opener, 35-24 over former NEC rival Albany.

Dayton won five of its last six games in 2012 to finish the year 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Pioneer Football League. It was UD's 35th winning season in 36 years as a non-scholarship program.

The Flyers return 13 starters (four offense, eight defense, one specialist) from last season. Among the eight starters returning on defense are three preseason all-league selections – end Pat Dowd, linebacker Colin Monnier and cornerback Kyle Sebetic.
Other returning starters on defense are tackle Brannon Dunn, end Victor Kaczkowski, linebacker Clay Krafft, cornerback Howard Savage and safety Matt Bianco. The starters back on offense are tackles Ben Estey and Tom Corcoran, quarterback Will Bardo, and receiver Branden Johnson. In the kicking game, punter Kyle Pignatiello is back for his second season.

GOOD NEWS WORTH REPEATING
The Flyers enter the season with the third-best winning percentage (.762, 109-34) in FCS football since 2000 AND have produced the most football Academic All-Americans (22) at any level of competition in the same time frame. The top five are Harvard (.775), Montana (.769), Dayton (.762), Appalachian State (.739) and North Dakota State (.710).

STREAKING
UD has not been shut out in an NCAA-record 409 straight games, the best such active string in all of college football. The last team to shut out UD was Marshall, 9-0, on Oct. 16, 1976.

SERIES STUFF
The football relationship between Dayton and Duquesne dates back to 1920. Duquesne won the first meeting, Dayton the next three contests in 1923, 1924 and, after a 77-year hiatus, 2001. The Dukes evened the record with wins in 2002 and 2008. UD prevailed in 2009 but DU has won the last three contests to take a 6-4 series lead. Last year in Pittsburgh,

Duquesne scored a pair of fourth quarter TD's for a come-from-behind 17-7 win. The last six games have been decided by 10 points or less.

SCOUTING THE DUKES
Duquesne comes into the game 1-0 on the strength of a stellar debut by redshirt freshman QB Dillon Buechel, who was 21-28 for 309 yards and two TD's.

DU's defense is led by senior linebacker Dorian Bell. Bell, in his third season at Duquesne after transferring from Ohio State, was a Third Team All-American last season. He averaged 11.5 tackles a game in 2012.

Coach Jerry Schmidt is in his ninth year at Duquesne. His 48 wins tie him for third on the Dukes' all-time wins list. He is 4-1 against Dayton.

THE MAN AT THE TOP
Head coach Rick Chamberlin guided UD to 40 wins in his five seasons, going 9-3, 9-2, 10-1 and 6-5 the last two years. Dayton won a share of PFL championships in two of his first three years, and missed the third by just five points at Jacksonville in the last game of 2008.

MORE THAN HIS FAIR SHARE
Rick Chamberlin has been a part of 334 of UD's 634 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 40 as a head coach. He has also been a part of 429 of UD's 1,014 games.

LONG TIME STARTERS
Eight Flyers own start totals of 10 or greater. Cornerback Kyle Sebetic has 29 starts in his career. QB Will Bardo has 22. OT Tom Corcoran and LB Colin Monnier have 20. WR Branden Johnson has 17. DT Brannon Dunn has 14. CB Howard Savage has 12 and DE Pat Dowd has 11. Monnier's 20 is the longest string of consecutive starts on the team.

FIRST-TIME STARTERS
The Flyers had a glut of injuries in 2012 that resulted in 45 starts missed by players who were considered starters in the pre-season. The other side of that coin is that UD has 22 players back this season who have previous starting experience. Still, five Dayton players made their first collegiate start at Youngstown State -- center Grant Georgic, guard Jimmy Vogel, slot receiver Gabe Macis, wideout Cory Stuart and defensive end Nate Sudnic. It was Vogel, Stuart and Sudnick's first action in college.

LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN, CAPTAIN
The Flyers will be led by four co-captains in 2013 -- Brannon Dunn, Ben Estey, Colin Monnier and Kyle Sebetic.

Dunn started at defensive tackle in 2012, but was limited to six games due to an in-season appendectomy. He was in on 14 tackles and 2.5 hits in the backfield with 1.5 sacks. In 2011, he played in all 11 games with seven starts and had 38 tackles with eight sacks.

Estey started the last six games of 2012 at offensive tackle when the Flyers finished the season by winning five of their last six contests. He played in all 11 games last year after seeing action in just four career games heading into the season. He was the 2009 Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year.

Just the fifth two-time captain in Dayton football history, Monnier is a preseason First Team All-PFL selection. He was the team's White-Allen Most Valuable Player Trophy 2012. The only member of the defense to start every game, Monnier led the team in tackles (92), solo hits (46) and tackles in the backfield (12.0). He was also tied for second in interceptions (2) and batted away another pass and had a quarterback hurry.

A three-year starter at cornerback, Sebetic led NCAA FCS football in passes defensed in 2012. He had 15 passes broken up and three interceptions in nine games, for a 2.0 per game average. He also had 52 total tackles and was second on the team with 39 solos. Sebetic was also named preseason First Team All-PFL.

"We've got a great mix" according to coach Rick Chamberlin. Colin is the veteran of the bunch, having been a captain already last year. He's an outstanding player and the emotional leader of the team. Brannon is a down and gritty kind of leader. The tougher things are, the more he likes it and he showed that by battling back from having his appendix removed to play that last part of the year."

"Ben may have shown the biggest improvement as a football player of anyone on the team, and his hard work, maturity and leadership have earned him the respect of all of his teammates and coaches. Kyle is the quiet one of the group. He lets his play and work ethic do his talking for him. But when he does speak, everyone listens."

DOWD GOES THE QUARTERBACK
One of three Flyer preseason First Team All-PFL selections, senior defensive end Pat Dowd led UD and was third in the PFL in sacks (0.85 per game). All but one of his 8.5 sacks in 2012 were in PFL action. Dowd was in on 36 hits and was also second on the team in TFL (10).

BIG-TIME BACKER
Senior linebacker Colin Monnier picked up right where he left off in 2012 by leading all players with 12 tackles at Youngstown State. He had eight solo hits and one TFL.

GOTTA HAVE HEART
Senior cornerback Kyle Sebetic had 10 tackles at YSU, but none of his seven solos were as impressive as the one that he ran down Adaris Bellamy from behind to prevent an 83-yard TD. Bellamy had a 15-yard lead on everyone on the Dayton defense when he broke free on a third-and-one, but Sebetic refused to concede and erased the gap.

SAVAGE HITS
Senior cornerback Howard Savage returns after missing the last half of 2012 with an injury (ironically, the injury happened against Butler in his hometown of Indianapolis). He was second on the team in tackles per game (6.6) and also had two interceptions and four passes broken up. He had five (four unassisted) at YSU.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL
Will Bardo returns for his third season at the helm of the Flyer offense. He accounted for 227 yards total offense at Youngstown State, and moved into fifth place in career total offense at UD. He now has 4,134 yards. Kevin Johns is fourth with 4,252. In 11 games last year, Bardo passed for 1687 yards (152 of 306, .497, 8 TD, 9 INT) and rushed for 405 yards and three touchdowns. After beginning the year 58 of 131 (.443), Bardo completed 94 of 175 of his passes (.537) for 1,087 yards in his last seven games. He threw for a career-high 255 yards at Butler, completing 25 of 47 passes. A dual threat, he averaged over five yards a carry on designed run plays in 2012. (5.7 per carry without sacks, 3.9 with sacks factored in).

FRESHMAN FEAT
Connor Kacsor was the first Flyer freshman football player to run for 100 yards in a game three times in a season last year as a redshirt freshman. He had 135 at Davidson, 106 in the Morehead State win and 124 vs. Valpo in back-to-back-to-back weeks. He is only the second freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game at UD. The first was quarterback Kelly Spiker, who ran for 142 yards vs. Morehead State and 157 vs. Butler in back-to-back weeks in the 2000 season. Kacsor led the PFL with a 10.6 yard-per-carry average in 2012. Kacsor missed most of his senior season in high school, and then redshirted his first year at UD in 2011.

HAND IT TO BRANDEN
Wide receiver Branden Johnson (28 catches for 270 yards, 9.6 avg) is back after missing the last five games of the season with an injured shoulder. Even though he missed those five games, Johnson was still the Flyers leading receiver with 28 catches. Before the injury, Johnson set career highs in catches (eight at Butler) and yardage (98 at Duquesne). He was the second-leading Flyer receiver in 2011 (25 catches for a team-high 15.9 yards per catch average). He remains out due to disciplinary reasons.

SPREAD IT AROUND
Dayton had eight different pass catchers with at least 10 receptions in 2012. Seven receivers caught passes at YSU, with five getting five our more balls.

THE HUNTER
Flyer senior slot receiver Gary Hunter had a career-high six receptions for 56 yards at Youngstown State. He averaged 22.6 yards per touch as a pass receiver (25.0 yards on 7 catches), punt returner (25.5 on 4) and kick returner (21.2 on 20) in 2012.

HUNTER THE HISTORY MAKER
Gary Hunter is believed to be only the second Flyer football player to have three special teams touchdowns in his career (available statistics are incomplete prior to 1950). Kelvin Kirk (the original Mr. Irrelevant) had three from 1974-77. Hunter had what is believed to be the first kickoff return for a touchdown by a freshman in the history of University of Dayton football when he had an 82-yard scamper against Valparaiso in 2010. He returned a kickoff for a TD in both of his first two seasons at Dayton and had a 77-yard punt return in the 2012 opener at Illinois State.

MR. SMITH
Dayton senior Ross Smith has caught at least one pass in 10 straight games. He had three receptions in the opener. Smith was second on the team with 26 catches in 2012. He had nine for 108 yards in his last two games of the year.

IT'S WHAT'S UP FRONT THAT COUNTS
Dayton returns three players with starting experience in 2013 on the offensive line. Tackles Ben Estey and Tom Corcoran are back from a year ago, and Chris Cortopassi, who has also started in the past at tackle and is now at guard, give the Flyer o-line experienced depth. The Flyers led the PFL in rushing (196.9 yards a game) in 2012, averaging 5.0 yards a carry.

PIGGY'S PUNTS
Kyle Pignatiello is back for his second season as UD's punter. At YSU, he punted a career-high eight times for a 40.4 average, with three kicks inside the 20. As a redshirt freshman, he averaged 37.4 yards a punt in 65 kicks. Twenty-four of his punts were inside the 20 (with only three touchbacks), and 19 were fair caught. His career-long 63-yard punt at Davidson was the third-longest in the PFL last season.

2013 PLAYER OF THE WEEK SCORECARD
Gary Hunter, Kyle Pignatiello, Kyle Sebetic

2013 SCOUTS OF THE WEEK SCORECARD
Nick German, Cory Stufflebeam, Owen Williams

LET'S TALK CAMPBELL TROPHY
Dayton has had at least a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's Campbell Trophy, the major award of the NFF's Scholar-Athlete Award program (the academic Heisman if you will), for seven straight years. This season, linebacker Colin Monnier is UD's nominee. Semifinalists will be announced in late September. Previous Flyer picks were Bill Petraiuolo (2012), Devon Langhorst (2011), Brandon Wingeier (2010), Sean Heenan (2009), Bart Bergfeld (2008), Brandon Cramer (who was also a finalist in 2007), and Brandon Godsey (2006). Dayton is the only PFL team to even have three straight (Drake has two). Among Division I schools, the Flyers are one of 10 institutions with a semifinalist in the last seven years. The others are Austin Peay, Bucknell, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Rutgers, South Dakota State, Texas, and Wisconsin.

PFL POWER
The Pioneer Football League is entering its 21st 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' 84-26 PFL record is the best in the history of the league. The league will expand by two members this season as
Mercer and Stetson begin varsity play. Dayton has won 11 (shared or outright) league championships, the most of any Pioneer Football League member.

600 CLUB
The Flyers became the 11th NCAA FCS team (and the first west of the Alleghenies) to win at least 600 games in its football history when UD beat Davidson on October 18, 2008. Here are the 15 members of the club heading into the 2013 season. Yale (871), Harvard (829), Penn (824), Princeton (791), Dartmouth (662), Delaware (661), Lehigh (660), Lafayette (659), North Dakota State (641), Dayton (634), Cornell (629), Northern Iowa (625), North Dakota (617), Colgate (618) and Holy Cross (605). Of the 600 Club members, Dayton has played the fewest seasons (104, nine fewer than Northern Iowa's 113). UD moved into the Top 10 in 2010. The Flyers' .640 all-time winning percentage is fourth among the "600 club" and ninth all-time. The top 10 FCS winning percentages going into 2013 consists of Yale (.701), Grambling (.698), Harvard (.677), Florida A&M (.663), Princeton (.662), Tennessee State (.656), Georgia Southern (.647), Appalachian State (.6403), Dayton (.6395) and Penn (.634).

WELCOME MAT
The UD Flyers moved to Welcome Stadium in 1974. The word "Welcome" implies hospitality, but UD has been anything but hospitable to its opponents at home, where it is 205-43-2 (.824). The "Welcome" is not a greeting, but an honor to the late Percival Welcome, longtime AD for the Dayton Public Schools.

FLYER FAMILY
Six current members of the Flyer football team have had relatives who also played for UD, including three players whose fathers played -- Austen Alber (Tim, 1986-88), Alex Husted (Jon, 1986-89) and Kyle Pignatiello (Mike, 1980-82).

SUPER STAT
When Jon Gruden coached the Tampa Bay Bucs to the Super Bowl championship in 2003, he became the second UD grad to coach a Super Bowl winner. Former UD co-captain and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Noll won four as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Noll started at center and linebacker for the Flyers and graduated in 1953. Gruden played quarterback at Dayton and earned his degree in 1986. UD became only the third school (now there are four) to have two alumni coach Super Bowl winners. The others are San Jose State (Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil), Arkansas (Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer), and Eastern Illinois (Mike Shanahan and Sean Payton). At the time of their wins, Gruden was the second-youngest coach to win a Super Bowl and Noll was the fifth-youngest. As a matter of fact, UD has ties to 19 Super Bowl rings. In addition to Noll's four and Gruden's one, six former members of Dayton coaching staffs own a total of 14 Super Bowl rings between them. They include current Saints QB coach Joe Lombardi (XLIV). Lombardi, an Air Force Academy grad and the grandson of Vince Lombardi, began his coaching career at Dayton. He coached for three seasons on Mike Kelly's staff while stationed at Wright-Pat AFB.

LAST TIME OUT--YOUNGSTOWN STATE. 28, DAYTON 10
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State's offense made two long runs to set up touchdowns had three drives of 75 yards or more, while the Penguin defense prevented Dayton from moving the ball one more yard, and those proved to be difference makers as 24th-ranked Youngstown State held off the Dayton Flyers 28-10 Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

YSU jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead after taking the opening kickoff and making a 15-play, 75-yard drive, and then a second-quarter 60-yard run by Andre Stubbs set up a pair of short TD plunges by Torrian Pace.

UD got on the board in the third quarter when William Will's 37-yard field goal just made it inside the left upright, but Youngstown State answered with a nine-play, 68-yard drive to make the score 21-3.

The Flyers then put together their best drive of the night, going 75 yards in eight plays. Quarterback Will Bardo hit Robert Washington out of the backfield for a 19-yard touchdown to make the score 28-10. Matt Bianco's interception and 36-yard return gave Dayton the ball in the red zone. But YSU was able to hold on first and goal from the one.

Adaris Bellamy then ran 80 yards on third-and-one to the three to set up the final score in the fourth quarter, and close out the scoring 28-10 in favor of Youngstown State.

Bellamy carried the ball 17 times for 203 rushing yards as YSU rolled up 367 yards on the ground.

Flyer quarterback Will Bardo was 21 of 44 passing for 195 yards, with the touchdown and two interceptions. Bardo was also Dayton's leading ground gainer with 32 yards on eight attempts. His favorite target was Gary Hunter, who had six catches for 56 yards.

UD's defense was sparked by linebacker Colin Monnier. Monnier had 12 tackles, including eight solo hits and on in the backfield. He was also credited with a fumble recovery. Kyle Sebetic had 10 hits, with seven solos.

UP NEXT
UD' goes back on the road to play Robert Morris in the final non-conference game of the year. Game time is 12 noon in Coraopolis, Pa. Duquesne has a week off before traveling to Youngstown State.