Both Stetson and Dayton come into Saturday's Pioneer Football League tilt at Spec Martin Stadium with one blemish on their 2019 records, both in games the teams certainly feel like they could have, and maybe should have, won.
 
For Dayton, that loss came outside of conference play, against Northeast Conference champion Duquesne. The Flyers are 2-0 in PFL play so far this year with victories over Jacksonville (56-28) and Valparaiso (41-28) over the last two weeks. Dayton is tied for first in the PFL standings and is in search of a 12^th league title.
 
The Hatters stumbled in conference play, falling to Marist 26-23 back on September 14. That loss leaves Stetson no room for error the rest of the way if the program is to earn its first PFL title.
 
Kickoff for the game on Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m. The game will be available on ESPN+ with Evan Weston and Victor Anderson on the call. Kenny Schierlinger and Davion Belk will have the call of the action on the Hatters Radio Network.
 
Stetson will be looking for its first victory in four tries against Dayton. The Flyers won each of the three previous meetings – 49-20 in 2013, 27-14 in 2015 and 21-10 in 2016. The last time the teams played, the Hatters played the entire game without All-American Donald Payne on defense, and played most of the game with receiver Darian Wright at quarterback because of injuries.
 
The Hatters have seven players on their roster now who saw action in that game in 2016 – LB Colby Duncan, DB Reggie Gantt, DB Peter Katz, LB Jamieson Craske, LB Grant Hodges, WR Austin Perlman and DT Shane Parton – while the Flyers have just three – WR Ryan Skibinski, RB Sean Prophit and TE Adam Trautman.
 
Trautman is now the Flyers' all-time leading receiver and a potential NFL draft pick, Skibinski scored a touchdown against Stetson and is close behind Trautman on Dayton's career receptions list and Prophit is third in the PFL in rushing this year.
 
For Stetson to run its home win streak to 11 games, controlling the Flyers' offense will be the key. Sophomore quarterback Jack Cook was the PFL Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2018 and leads a Dayton offensive unit that is averaging 40.8 points per game. Cook has thrown for 1,183 yards and 16 touchdowns in five games with just two interceptions.
 
On the other side, the Flyers are allowing 31.4 points per game and have allowed 284.6 yards per game on the ground. That fits into the hands of the Hatters, who have rushed for a PFL best 259.2 yards per game this year with the trio of sophomore Jareem Westcott (460 yards), freshman Jalen Leary (352) and junior Chase Blackmon (222) sharing most of the load.
 
Graduate quarterback Gaven DeFilippo has also enjoyed a strong final season, passing for 1,219 yards and 13 touchdowns, but he will be looking for a bounce-back performance this week after having had four passes intercepted in the win over Butler two weeks ago.
 
DeFilippo missed out of the game at Dayton in 2016, suffering injuries against Campbell the previous week that not only cost him the rest of the 2016 season, but all of the 2017 campaign.
 
With the extra week off to rest and recover, the Hatters should be near full strength for the game against Dayton this time around. Senior receiver Steven Burdette and senior corner Jalon Scott both played in the win over Butler, but were both at less than full speed after missing previous games. They are both expected to be back to full speed on Saturday.
 
Series History

• Dayton's only previous trip to DeLand came in 2015. The Flyers took a 27-14 victory that day despite rushing for just 57 yards and generating just 280 yards of total offense.
• Stetson has scored just 44 points in three games against Dayton - 14.6 per game.

Stetson Notes

• Stetson will be looking to run its home win streak to 11 games and, in the process, earn the program's first victory over Dayton.
• The Hatters were 0-5 following off weeks before the 2018 season when they won twice after having a week off.
• Stetson had two players (Westcott and Leary) rush for more than 100 yards in the win over Butler. It is just the second time the Hatters have had two rushers surpass 100 yards in a game in the modern era. The first was at Birmingham-Southern on Sept. 20, 2014. Westcott finished with 159 yards on 17 carries with one TD while Leary finished with 111 yards on 20 carries, with his final five attempts covering 55 yards to set up the game-winning FG.
• Stetson improved to 8-13 in the modern era in games decided by a touchdown or less.
• Burdette came back after missing two games to record three receptions for 51 yards and a TD. He became the fourth player in the modern era to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards, joining with Donald Parham, Kegan Moore and Justin Jordan.
• Justin Jordan became just the second player in the modern era of Stetson football with 100 career receptions, with the biggest being his 21-yard TD reception with 3:02 left in the game to tie the score at 27-27. Jordan had two receptions for 45 yards in that 8-play scoring drive that covered 63 total yards. Jordan now has 103 career receptions for 1,252 yards and 9 TDs in his Stetson career.
• Jonny Messina became Stetson's all-time leading scorer with his 27-yard game-winning field goal on the final play of the game to give the Hatters their first victory over Butler. He had 12 points in the game on three field goals and three PATs to move past Cole Mazza into the career scoring lead with 165 points. It was the second last-second game-winning FG in Messina's career. His 22-yard boot against Jacksonville last year gave Stetson its first win over the Dolphins. Messina was named PFL Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against Butler.
• Stetson has allowed its opponent to score first in each of the last four games and in 47 of 71 games since reviving the sport in 2013. The Hatters are just 15-32 in games in which their opponents score first.
• Going back to 2013, October has been the Hatters' most successful month. Stetson is 11-13 in October games since bringing the program back. Overall, Stetson has a 70-53-7 record in games played in October.
• The Hatters have been a quick strike team on their 28 offensive touchdowns this year. The average for the scoring drives - which includes 15 rush TDs and 13 pass TDs - has been 6.35 plays covering just 61.4 yards. The Hatters have needed an average of 2:07 off the clock on those scoring drives.
• Redshirt senior linebacker Jamieson Craske will be recognized before the game by the Mayo Clinic as a Comeback Player of the Year candidate. A total of 30 players from across all levels of college football will be selected for the award with the top nine earning donations in their names to their schools' general scholarship fund. The three finalists will travel to the Fiesta Bowl in January and be recognized on the field. 

Ticket Information

• Tickets for Saturday's game, and all Stetson home football games this season, are available through the Stetson Athletics Ticket Office, which is open at the Edmunds Center from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. during the week. The ticket windows at Spec Martin Stadium open at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
• Single game tickets for Stetson football start at $20 for general admission seating.
• The game against Dayton is the Hometown Heroes game. All military members and first responders will be able to purchase $10 tickets for the game and will be recognized during the game.
• All Stetson University students receive free admission with a valid student ID card. Students can also catch a free ride to the stadium from the ATC starting at noon.
• For information on tickets, visit GoHatters.com/tix or call 386-738-4287.

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.