That’s only part of the scouting report on Marist, though.
“I hear Poughkeepsie has got a pretty good deli,” Andrews said. “There’s some sandwich everybody raves about.”
Dayton last played at Marist in 2022, winning 24-7 in the last season for coach Rick Chamberlin. Dayton beat Marist 35-6 at Welcome Stadium last season.
The Flyers (2-1) return to Marist (0-3) for a noon game Saturday in the Pioneer Football League opener for both teams.
“The PFL is super important,” center Dylan DeMaison said. “We’ve got to be perfect every week. The last two years there hasn’t been a loss out of the PFL champion.”
Drake won the PFL championship last season with an 8-0 league mark. Two years ago, St. Thomas went 8-0 in PFL play.
Dayton finished 7-1 the last time it tied for the championship in 2015. The Flyers last finished 8-0 in 2010 when they tied Jacksonville for first place.
Dayton, which was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll, was one of four PFL teams to finish non-conference play above .500. Butler is off to a 3-0 start. Davidson and San Diego are also 2-1.
Dayton started 0-6 in the PFL last season before beating Marist and Davidson in its last two games.
“You get a jolt of energy anytime you start league play,” Andrews said. “We’ve been through the first three games of non-conference, and now it’s time to get into the conference. That’s what it’s all about.”
Marist opened the season with three losses to Patriot League teams: 31-10 at home to Georgetown (2-2); 56-14 at Lafayette (3-1); and 34-18 at Bucknell (2-2). Marist ranks last in the PFL in scoring defense (40.3 points per game) and second to last in scoring offense (14.0).
Marist has a first-year head coach, Mike Willis, who previously served as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Princeton. He replaced Jim Parady, who retired in November after his 32nd season at the helm.
“Totally new offense, totally new defense,” Andrews said. “Nothing like what they did last year on either side of the ball. You try to follow the career paths of the guys that are running the offense and defense and kicking game, and then you match that up with the film you’re seeing. I think the first three games they’ve been trying to figure out who they are. The coaches are getting used to the players and vice versa. You start to see them evolve schematically a little bit. You don’t know really exactly what you’re going to get because it’s conference play. They might save things for that.”
Last week, Dayton beat Ave Maria 49-7 at Welcome Stadium, bouncing back from a a 24-13 loss at Indiana State.
“In the last game before we go into the league play, I really was hoping we’d come out a little bit crisper offensively and defensively,” Andrews said. “The first two series we were three and out, and then we gave up a touchdown drive with some uncharacteristic play defensively. We missed a tackle, and they pop a run. Then we get a pass interference, and next thing you know, they’re down there. I was pretty fired up because that’s not what the expectation is. Coach (John) Bowes got on them, and coach (Greg) Whalen got on them. We came back and got it going and played well. There were a lot of good performances last week, and we definitely took some steps forward.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Marist, Noon, 1290, 95.7
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