Dayton won 21-14 at Butler last Saturday, taking the lead on a 33-yard touchdown pass from VanVleet to Luke Brenner with 11 seconds to play.
Dayton (5-1, 3-0) won its fourth straight game and kept pace with two other unbeaten teams in the PFL standings: Drake (5-1, 4-0); and St. Thomas (4-3, 3-0).
Dayton has already beaten two teams predicted to finish ahead of it in the preseason poll: Davidson (5-2, 3-1) and Butler (5-2, 1-2), picked third and fourth, respectively. It plays San Diego (4-2, 2-1), picked fifth, on Nov. 9 at Welcome Stadium and closes the regular season at St. Thomas, picked second, on Nov. 16.
Dayton’s next opponent, Morehead State (4-3, 2-1), was picked to finish ninth. The Flyers play Morehead State at noon Saturday at Welcome Stadium. It’s the annual alumni game, and players from UD’s 2010 PFL championship team will be the guests of honor.
Morehead State, which beat Dayton 31-7 last season in Kentucky, beat Valparaiso 17-5 in its PFL opener and then lost 40-6 at Butler before beating Presbyterian 14-7 last week.
Morehead State has lost its last six games at Welcome Stadium since a victory in 2008. It has a new coach, Jason Woodman, who was hired when Rob Tenyer’s contract was not renewed after 10 seasons. Woodman had coached at Fairmont State since 2013.
Morehead State leads the PFL with 10 interceptions.
“We’ve got to be very mindful of that,” Andrews said. “They do some man schemes, and they do some zone schemes where they can keep the eyes on the quarterback and step into some windows. They’ve done a great job of it.”
Dayton counters with a defense that has given up a league-best 14 points per game — exactly 14 points in each game, in fact — in three PFL games.
We speak a lot about the defense,” cornerback Jeremy Jonozzo said, “but really in all three phases we have been playing really well. We just try to do our part. We try to create as many turnovers as we can and give the offense as many possessions and opportunities as we can.”
Award news: VanVleet, a redshirt freshman, was named a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, which goes to the top freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision, this week. VanVleet has completed 104 of 157 passes (.662) for 1,229 yards, with 15 touchdowns against four interceptions.
SATURDAY’S GAME
Morehead State at Dayton, Noon, 1290, 95.7
About the Author
