SATURDAY’S GAME
Duquense at Dayton, 1 p.m., 1290, 95.7
Scheduling a bye week is nothing new for the Dayton Flyers, but taking that week so early in the season is a bit different.
Rick Chamberlin’s team was idle last week after a season-opening win at Robert Morris, and the coach certainly wasn’t complaining.
“I like it a little better,” Chamberlin said about the early break. “All at once now you could be rolling and there’s no bye week to slow things down. Now you can get into a routine, a rhythm and hopefully carry it for the next ten weeks.”
The first of those 10 weeks is Saturday’s home opener against Duquesne. The Dukes come to town with back-to-back wins to start this season, and a 20-point win over the Flyers in Pittsburgh a year ago.
“You can’t give them any easy touchdowns with turnovers,” Chamberlin said. “That’s what killed us last year. We had an interception for a touchdown, a punt return for a touchdown, and we blew a coverage for another touchdown.”
For the second straight game the Flyers will have a different quarterback making his first career start. Alex Jeske gets the nod after he came off the bench to lead Dayton to a comeback win against Robert Morris.
“We are going to start Jeske because we feel he deserves a start after the way he played at Robert Morris,” Chamberlin said. “But we are confident in playing Blake Bir if a need arises. It’s comforting for a coach to have two quarterbacks that he believes have the talent to win games.”
Dayton’s defense was a difference-maker in the season opening win. Senior safety Danny Leach picked off two passes, returning one 93 yards for a touchdown.
“It was definitely one of my better games,” Leach admitted. “I was just blessed to be in a position to make that play and create a momentum change for our team. Hopefully we keep building on that and take that momentum in against Duquesne.”
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