Chamberlin: Dayton Flyers ‘played their hearts out’ in upset of No. 14 Indiana State

After the game, Chamberlin said it was the best victory he has experienced, and he repeated that Monday.

“I would have to way it’s right at the top,” he said. “To go against a team like Indiana State, which was well deserving of their ranking because of their talent and the way they played Kansas the week before, this has got to be at the top of my list.”

Indiana State lost 24-17 at Kansas, a Division I team, in its opener. The Sycamores finished last season ranked 24th, began this season ranked 16th and moved up to 14th, their highest ranking since 2012, after the loss to Kansas. It was the highest-ranked Football Championship Subdivision opponent Dayton has played.

Chamberlin said it was a quiet bus ride home to Dayton because his players were exhausted after building a 35-21 lead and then seeing Indiana State tie the game at 35-35 in the fourth quarter. Sean Prophit’s 13-yard touchdown run with 1:57 to play proved to be the game-winning score.

“When you go up against a team that’s physically bigger than you and you’ve got those big bodies laying on you all game,” Chamberlin said, “plus the speed that they had and us running down and how hard we played, that’s part of the reason we won. We didn’t let up for four quarters. Our players played their hearts out and we gave all that we had. When we got on those buses, I think they needed some well-deserved rest.”

Quarterback Jack Cook was named the Pioneer Football League Offensive Player of the Week after completing 21 of 29 passes for 251 yards with two touchdown passes and two touchdown runs.

Safety Tim Simon won the Defensive Player of the Week award after recording 11 tackles and an interception.