Sept. 10, 2004

2004 University of Dayton Football Notes Game #2: September 11, 2004 vs. Morehead State Eagles 7:00 p.m. EDT Welcome Stadium

The University of Dayton football team looks to go 2-0 Saturday, when Morehead State visits Welcome Stadium. Saturday's game is a matchup of the two pre-season favorites in the Pioneer Football League. In the coaches' poll released in August, UD was picked to win the PFL North Division and Morehead was predicted to repeat as South champs. Dayton is 1-0 after a season-opening 38-9 win over Tiffin, while MSU fell in its opener 28-7 to Coastal Carolina. Saturday's Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT.

UD was 9-2 overall last season, and finished 2003 ranked fifth in the final Sports Network NCAA I-AA Mid-Major poll and seventh in the final Football Gazette rankings (the Flyers are currently ranked #2 in both polls). Two of the four teams ranked ahead of Dayton in the Sports Network poll-San Diego and eventual PFL champion Valparaiso-are also members of the PFL's North Division.

The Flyers have had 27 straight winning seasons (among D-I schools, only Florida State, who also has 27 in a row, has done as well). And UD has not been shutout in an NCAA-leading 312 games. The Flyers have won outright or shared the Pioneer Football League Championship eight times in the 11-year history of the league.

Since moving to non-scholarship football in 1977, UD has the second-best winning percentage in all of college football (.833, behind Mt. Union's .851). UD's senior class has a 31-4 record (12-2 in PFL action), and are part of two league championships.

The Game At A Glance... DAYTON (1-0) MOREHEAD STATE (0-1) Mike Kelly (24th Yr., 216-43-1) Matt Ballard (11th Yr., 58-48 at MSU) Avg. Pts. O/D: 38.0/9.0 Avg. Pts. O/D: 7.0/28.0 Avg. Rush O/D: 229.0/157.0 Avg. Rush O/D: 161.0/208.0 Avg. Pass O/D: 84.0/92 Avg. Pass O/D: 32.03/134.0 Total Offense O/D: 313.0/215.0 Total Offense O/D: 193.0/342.0

Tale Of The Tape...Averages of the starting lineups: Dayton O-Line 6-3/267 Morehead D-Line 6-1/249 Dayton D-Line 6-2/243 Morehead O-Line 6-3/272

Series Stuff...Dayton leads the series 7-2, and has won the last five meetings. The series began in 1996, and the two schools have met at least once every year since. UD won the first two meetings, the Eagles then took two straight before the Flyers started their current string. The last two Dayton wins have both been shutouts at Jayne Stadium in Morehead, Kentucky--12-0 on November 6, 2003 and 28-0 on November 23, 2002 in the first-ever Pioneer Football League championship game. The Eagles were 8-3 last year, and are 17-6 over the last two seasons. They won the PFL South Division Championship in 2002 and 2003. Senior middle linebacker Craig Unger is the team's leader. He was PFL South Division co-Defensive Player of the Year, First Team Mid-Major All-America and Academic All-American in 2003.

Flyer Facts... *Senior kicker Jason Resch was named Football Gazette I-AA Mid-Major Special Teams Player of the Week, and Pioneer Football League Special Teams Player of the Week after the Tiffin game. He was 5-5 in PAT and nailed a career-best 48-yard field goal. *UD was 10-for-15 in third down situations in the Tiffin game. *Flyer quarterbacks Brandon Staley and Kevin Hoyng combined for 99 yards rushing on 19 carries (5.2 yards a carry) and three touchdowns. They were also seven-for 13 passing for 84 yards. *Safety Doug Jones led UD with 13 tackles, including a career-high 10 solos (his previous best was nine against Tiffin and Butler last year. *Defensive tackle Chris Dearth had 11 hits, matching his career best that was done in the last game of 2003 vs. San Diego. *Saturday's game will feature two of the five players who were named First Team CoSIDA Academic All-Americans as juniors last year. Dayton safety Doug Jones and Morehead State linebacker Craig Unger were both named, along with Pitt defensive linemen Vic Crochunis and Dan Stephens, and Utah defensive back Morgan Scaley.

Coach Mike Kelly...Is in his 24th year as a head coach (all at Dayton), and has 216 wins. His win in 2002 at Valparaiso, in the 242nd game of his career, made him the second-fastest football coach to reach 200 wins in NCAA history. Only Florida A&M's Jake Gaither, who got to 200 wins in just 240 career games, did it faster (Since then, Larry Kehres of Mt. Union reached 200 wins in 220 games). When Kelly won his 200th, he replaced Penn State coaching legend Joe Paterno in the #2 slot. Paterno did it in 246 games. Other notable coaches to reach 200 relatively quickly are Nebraska's Tom Osborne (did it in 249 games), Michigan's Bo Schembechler (262), Ohio State's Woody Hayes (268), Ithaca's Jim Butterfield (268), Stanford's Pop Warner (276), Florida State's Bobby Bowden (279) and Alabama's Bear Bryant (282). Kelly's .833 winning percentage (217-43-1) ranks third all-time among college coaches with 20 years or more as a head coach (#1 among active coaches). He is behind Florida A&M legend Jake Gaither (.844) and Osborne (.836).

More Mike Kelly...In addition, only six other active coaches at the Division I level--Florida State's Bobby Bowden (342), Penn State's Joe Paterno (339), South Carolina's Lou Holtz (243), Florida A&M's Billy Joe (234), Sam Houston State's Ron Randleman (207) and Albany's Bob Ford (201)--won more than 200 games going into 2004.

Even More Mike ...Mike Kelly was the Football Gazette NCAA Division I-AA Non-Scholarship and Pioneer Football League Coach of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 2001, the PFL Coach of the Year in 2000, and the Football Gazette's Coach of the Year in 2002. UD's win over Evansville in 1996 gave him 150 career wins, making him the third-fastest coach in NCAA history to reach 150 wins, and one of only four to reach 150 in his 16th season. The other three are certain College Football Hall of Famers--Barry Switzer (2001 inductee), Tom Osborne (1998) and Joe Paterno (not in yet, but do you want to bet against him?). Kelly is UD's winningest football coach, surpassing 1990 College Football Hall of Famer Harry Baujan in 1993.

Kelly Gets Lackner Award...Coach Kelly was awarded one the University of Dayton's top honors when he received the Lackner Award in 2001. The award is presented to the UD employee who best represents the spirit of Brother Elmer Lackner, S.M., who served the University for 45 years.

Coaching Experience...The Flyers are fortunate to have an experienced coaching staff with three of the coaches at UD for at least 20 seasons: Mike Kelly, Head Coach (Manchester '70), 24th season as head coach, 28th at UD Dave Whilding, Off. Coordinator/Quarterbacks (Earlham '71), 27th Rick Chamberlin, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers (Dayton '80), 25th

PFL Stands For Pick The Flyers To Lead...UD was named the preseason favorite to win the Pioneer Football League's North Division once again in the annual vote by the league's coaches. This is the fourth straight season UD has been picked to win the league, although there is more variety in pre-season prognostications than in the past--Dayton has been slotted anywhere from first to fourth in this year's football publications. Morehead State was picked to win the PFL South in the coaches' poll.

PFL Power...The Flyers' 43-6 PFL record is the best in the 11-year history of the league.

Tops In I-AA Non-Scholarship...In the eight years I-AA Non-Scholarship has been an option, UD has the best winning percentage (.810, 98-23) of the 27 schools playing at this level.

Welcome Mat...The UD Flyers moved to Welcome Stadium in 1974. The word "Welcome" implies hospitality, but Dayton has been anything but hospitable to its opponents at home. UD is 173-31-1 (.846) at home. The "Welcome" in Welcome Stadium is not a greeting, but honors the late Percival Welcome, longtime Director of Athletics for the Dayton Public Schools. UD has won 27 of its last 31 home games, and 12 of its last 13 road games. UD was 4-0 away in 2003, 5-0 away in 2002, and takes a nine-game road winning streak in 2004.

Ranking Run...Dayton has been ranked either first or second in the Sports Network I-AA Mid-Major poll for 38 of a possible 44 weeks the Sports Network poll has been in existence. The Flyers have been #1 almost half of the time (20 of 44 weeks).

Oh Captains, My Captains...Seniors Chris Dearth, Doug Jones and Brandon Staley have been named football captains for the 2004 season. Dearth was a first-team All-Pioneer Football League performer, tallying 51 total tackles, 22 solo tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks. He was selected a First Team Pre-Season All-American by the Football Gazette. Chris' brother Eric was a captain last season, making the Dearths only the third set of brothers to serve as Flyer football captains. Al (1914), John (1922) and Lou (1925) were the first, and more recently Mark (1998) and Brad (1999) Thobe were the second. Jones earned First Team Division I-AA Mid-Major All-America honors from the Sports Network, and was also named a First Team Academic All-America in his first year as a starter. He led UD in tackles (105), solo tackles (60) and tackles in the backfield (11). He was chosen a pre-season All-American by the Sports Network (first team) and Football Gazette (second team). Staley's 1,961 yards in total offense were the fourth-best single-season total in UD history. He completed 100 of 169 passes (.592) for 1,617 yards and eight touchdowns, with eight interceptions. He was also Dayton's third-leading rusher with 344 net yards and eight rushing TD's. The Football Gazette tabbed him a Second Team Pre-Season All-American.

Pre-Season All-Americans...The Sports Network and I-AA.org both picked senior safety Doug Jones as one of their Pre-Season First Team All-Americans. The Football Gazette awarded senior defensive tackle Chris Dearth the same honor. In addition, the Football Gazette named Jones to its second team, along with junior quarterback Brandon Staley and junior offensive tackle Ryan Winner. The Gazette also named kicker Jason Resch, punter Brian Gooding and tailback Marques Warner (as a kick returner) Honorable Mention All-Americans.

Shutout String Continues...The University of Dayton has not been shutout in a school-record 312 games, the longest active streak in college football. When you talk streaks, you should speak of Cal Ripken. Cal ended his streak in 1998, but the Flyers didn't. The last time the Flyers were shut out (versus Marshall in 1976), Cal Ripken Jr. was a 16-year-old high school student at Aberdeen High School in Aberdeen, Maryland. Putting it another way, Dayton has not been blanked in more than two decades. And while Ripken's Farewell Tour is over, the Flyer offense isn't going anywhere, having averaged 32.0 points a game during the streak.

Hitting The Books...The University of Dayton had three football CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in 2003, the most from one school for the third straight year. UD had eight players named to the 2003 CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, which was nearly double any other team in the district (Ohio State had five). UD has had 41 football Academic All-Americans. Among schools currently playing Division I football, only Nebraska (78)and Notre Dame (44) have had more. UD has had at least one football player named Academic All-American in 12 of the last 13 years. Twelve Flyers were nominated for Academic All-America last year.

Gotta Play Smart...The University of Dayton placed a league-best 11 players (tied with San Diego) on the 2003 Academic All-Pioneer Football League team. Since the league's origin in 1993, nearly a third (103 of 364) of the PFL All-Academic selections have been Dayton Flyers. UD also had a league-high 49 players on the PFL Academic Honor Roll (3.0 GPA or better). Drake was next with 38.

Super Stat...When Jon Gruden coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl championship last year, he became the second UD grad to coach a Super Bowl winner. Former UD co-captain and 1993 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls (IX, X, XII. & XIV) as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Noll started at center and linebacker for the Flyers and graduated from the University in 1953. Gruden played quarterback at Dayton and earned his degree in 1986. UD became only the third school to have two alumni coach Super Bowl winners. The others San Jose State, with grads Bill Walsh (XIV, XIX, XXIII) and Dick Vermeil (XXXIV), and Arkansas with grads Jimmy Johnson (XXVII, XXVIII) and Barry Switzer (XXX). Gruden is the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl, and Noll is the fourth-youngest. As a matter of fact, UD has ties to 18 Super Bowl rings. In addition to Noll's four and Gruden's one, five former members of Dayton coaching staff own a total of 13 Super Bowl rings between them. They are the late Len Fontes (New York Giants, Super Bowl XXI), Jon's father Jim Gruden (San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowls XXII & XXIV), John McVay (49ers, XVI, XIX, XXII, & XXIV), Tom Moore (Pittsburgh Steelers, XIII & XIV) and George Perles (Steelers, IX, X, XII & XIV). McVay was the Flyers' head coach from 1965-72. The other four were UD assistants.

Game #1--Dayton 38, Tiffin 9...The Flyer football team rolled up 313 yards of total offense, including 229 on the ground, en route to a season-opening 38-9 win over Tiffin on Thursday, September 2 at Welcome Stadium. It was UD's fourth straight season-opening win and the 21st of their last 22. Both UD's leaders on the ground were quarterbacks, as senior starter Brandon Staley gained 45 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns and redshirt sophomore Kevin Hoyng went for 54 yards on nine rushes. In all, 12 Flyers carried the ball on the night. Staley put the Flyers up 17-0 on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, which bookended a career-long 48-yard field goal by Jason Resch in the closing seconds of the first quarter. The Flyers led 24-7 at the half and racked up 14 points more in the third quarter. Staley's first TD run capped a 6-play, 13-yard scoring drive with 7:18 to play in the first. Following a Tiffin punt, the Flyers were blessed with excellent field position at the Dragons' 31, but a stalled drive of four plays that gained nothing left Resch facing a long field goal with a slight wind at his back. The senior's kick just cleared the crossbar, improving on his previous career-best of 46 yards, which came against the Dragons last season. Another Staley 1-yard TD run followed by a 1-yard run to the end zone by Matt Mong stretched the Flyers' advantage to 24-0. Mong's TD capped an 11-play, 52-yard drive with 4:09 to play in the half. Tiffin (0-2), which remains winless in its four games against UD, finally cracked the end zone with 45 second left in the half on a 2-yard TD jaunt by Earl Haynes. Haynes carried the ball 25 times on the night for a game-best 81 yards. Two big plays, one on offense and one on defense, capped the Flyers' scoring for the night. Hoyng, in his first collegiate action after redshirting as a freshman, slipped thought the Dragon defense for a dazzling 29-yard TD run with 12:23 left. Just under three minutes later, freshman safety Brandon Cramer scooped up a loose ball off the turf and ran 67 yards for the touchdown. The fumble was one of three on the night for TU, resulting in 14 UD points. Chris Cowan and Mike Neuberger had the other two. Defensively, senior DB Doug Jones made a game-high 13 tackles (10 solo), while Chris Dearth was in on 11. Trent Warren had three tackles (1 for a loss), a sack and knocked down two passes. Both pass deflections and the sack for Warren came on a stiff goal line stand late in the fourth quarter. TU had six shots at the end zone inside 10 yards, but came up empty.

UD Players Of The Week... Offense: Adam Love, junior guard from Glenford, Ohio--Graded at 88% vs. Tiffin Defense: Chris Dearth, senior tackle from Bellbrook, Ohio--Had 11 hits (six solo) and one tackle in the backfield Special Teams: Jason Resch, senior kicker from Poland, Ohio--was 5-5 PAT and added a career-long 48-yard FG Scout: Kris Brownlee, sophomore fullback from Garden City, Michigan Scout: Scott Vossler, freshman linebacker from St. Marys, Ohio

Up Next...UD hosts Yale Saturday at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Morehead State returns home to face Butler.