“We didn’t finish in the red zone,” coach Trevor Andrews said Wednesday. “We’re down there three times and miss a field goal and have to settle for field goals two other times. I think that was the biggest one. Offensively, we’ve got to finish. We shot ourselves in the foot. We get an offsides penalty when we had a first down in the red zone. We back it up five. We follow that up with a sack. Now we’re in trouble.”
Andrews also mentioned a 30-yard punt return by Paul Kelly that was erased because of a block-in-the-back penalty. Dayton also had the bad luck of blocking a punt in the final seconds of the first half and not having time to take advantage of it.
On defense, Andrews said defenders got lazy with their eyes on an 88-yard touchdown pass for Morehead State in the third quarter.
“There’s enough blame to go around,” he said. “There’s coaching. There’s players. We didn’t execute like we need to execute to win a close game, bottom line. That’s on me to get us focused and get the most out of our guys and make sure we set them up for success.”
Dayton (5-2, 3-1) returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday against Presbyterian (3-6, 1-4) in Clinton, S.C. The Blue Hose beat Dayton 20-17 in overtime last season at Welcome Stadium. Two years ago, Dayton won 52-28 at Presbyterian.
Presbyterian ended a five-game losing streak with a 42-14 victory at Stetson last week. It is in ninth place in the PFL.
Dayton is tied for third with Morehead State (5-3, 3-1). Drake (5-1, 4-0) and St. Thomas (5-3, 4-0) are tied for first halfway through the league schedule.
“The guys have come out (to practice) with good energy,” Andrews said, “and the focus was really good on Tuesday. So we need to put another one together (Wednesday) and (Thursday) and go down there and expect a 60-minute game. Because, let me tell you something, these guys have played as many 60-minute games as we have this year. They got displaced with the hurricane. They have to go on the road. This will be their 10th consecutive game they’ve played without a bye. They lost two in overtime, and then another one was a one-score game. I think they’re probably finding energy right now because they just got a big win, and they had been trying to break through.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Presbyterian, 1 p.m., ESPN+, 1290, 95.7
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