Nov. 5, 2005

Final Stats

The University of Dayton Flyers completed the 2005 season Saturday with a 41-7 win over Butler at the Butler Bowl. UD finishes the season 9-1 overall, 3-1 in the Pioneer Football League and ranked #2 in the NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major rankings.

During the game, redshirt sophomore Kevin Hoyng set the Dayton record for total offense in a season. Hoyng was 11 of 16 for 179 yards passing and carried the ball eight times for another 22 yards, giving him 2,547 yards on the season. That broke Steve Keller's old record of 2,460 set in 1991. Hoyng also completed his second season for the Flyers seventh in career total offense, with 3,373 yards.

Butler took the opening kickoff and moved the ball to midfield, UD's Casey Klaus intercepted Ryan Diggins' pass at the 20 and returned it to the Flyer 28. On the very next play, Hoyng hit senior wide receiver Ryan Wrobleski in stride for a 72-yard bomb to give Dayton an early 7-0 lead. On the day, Wrobleski caught six passes for 129 yards, giving him career totals of 117 catches (second all-time at UD) and 2,058 yards (extending his own school record that was set last year).

A pair of ten-play drives resulted in two more Dayton touchdowns (a Matt Mong one-yard run and a Greg Wimberly nine-yarder), giving the Flyers a 20-0 lead at halftime. UD took the second-half kickoff and matriculated the ball down the field on its longest drive of the day - an 11-play, 70-yarder - that took 4:58 off the clock and ended when Hoyng found tight end Matt Champa in the end zone for a four-yard TD.

Butler got on the board in the fourth quarter with a 70-yard drive of its own, when Diggins got the ball off just ahead of the blitz and Nate Miller went up and got it at the goal line. The Bulldogs put a charge into the crowd when they recovered an onside kick. But Klaus took that excitement with him down the sideline when he picked off Diggins' pass and returned it 71 yards for a touchdown.

Senior Robert Dence ended the scoring with a one-yard run with 3:50 left in the game. UD got the ball back one more time and drove to the Butler 23, but took a knee on the last play.

Dayton's co-captains - linebacker John Hoppe, tailback Steve Verhoff and offensive tackle Ryan Winner - all finished their careers in fine style. Hoppe led both teams in tackles (11), Verhoff led UD in rushing (55 yards on ten carries) and Winner started his 31st straight game as UD averaged 5.5 yards a carry on the day.

Verhoff was one of five Flyers (four of them being tailbacks) to gain at least 35 yards in the game. The exception was senior fullback Matt Mong, who gained a season-high 48 yards on seven carries, and scored his 12th touchdown on the year. Mong led UD in scoring in 2005, and finished his days as a Flyer with the distinction of never having been thrown for a loss in 104 rushing attempts.

UD's 9-1 record in the 100th Anniversary Season of Dayton Football marked just 18th time in school history a team ended the year with no more than one loss. Twelve of those teams have been coached by Flyer coach Mike Kelly. Going into Saturday's game, only seven teams in I-AA football had only one blemish on its record (Hampton is the sole undefeated team in I-AA.).