Playoff bid on line for Dayton on Saturday at Davidson

“Each week has been a playoff game for us,” Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin said Thursday. “But we’ve always said if we can go into the last game of the year with the opportunity to win a championship to go on into the playoffs, that’s where we want to be and that’s where we’re at right now.”

Dayton (8-2, 6-1) plays Davidson (7-3, 5-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Davidson, N.C., in the final week of the regular season. The Flyers’ bus left campus Thursday for the 400-mile trip.

A victory would give Dayton the PFL’s Football Championship Subdivision playoff bid because the first-place team, St. Thomas, is a new FCS program and ineligible for the playoffs.

“It would mean the world,” linebacker Ben Schmiesing said. “We just love being around each other, so getting a chance to do it for one more week, that’s all we can ask for at this point.”

Dayton could still win a share of the PFL championship as well. Dayton last won a share of the title in 2015 when it and San Diego each finished 7-1.

If Dayton beats Davidson and St. Thomas (9-1, 7-0) loses at Butler (7-3, 5-2), Dayton and St. Thomas would tie for first place. If Davidson beats Dayton, it would get the playoff bid because it would own the tiebreaker against Dayton and Butler.

The Flyers have won five straight games since the loss to Butler. The offense has scored 101 points in the last two games: a 52-28 victory at Presybyterian and a 49-27 victory against Morehead State at Welcome Stadium.

“We had a new quarterback when we first started the season,” Chamberlin said. “We had some injuries early in the season to the offensive line. Then Dante gets hurt. So all those little little injuries here and there mess up the timing of your offense. Well, now they’ve been a complete offense for several weeks. They’re into a rhythm now. The tempo of the offense is much better than it was four weeks ago.”

Jake Chisholm, who’s averaging 96 rushing yards per game, has three straight 100-yard games and topped 200 yards for the first time this season last week. He has increased his rushing yards in every game since gaining 47 in the loss at Butler.

Dayton will face the PFL’s best rushing team and highest-scoring offense this week. The Wildcats have averaged 360.1 rushing yards and 35.6 points in seven PFL games.

Davidson tied San Diego for the PFL championship last season with a 7-1 mark. The Flyers handed Davidson its only PFL loss: 38-29 in the final game of the regular season thanks in part to five touchdowns by Chisholm.

To get ready for Davidson’s offense, Dayton leaned on its scout team offense in practice this week. Freshmen running backs Will Cohen and Sean Banks and freshman wide receiver Levi Moell carried the ball against Dayton’s defense.

“(Davidson has) a triple option,” Chamberlin said, “but they’re not your Air Force or Army triple option. There’s little tweaks to it that cause you to really zero in. You have to be disciplined and play assignment football just like a triple option, but they give you some different reads that teams that run a triple option don’t give you. That’s where the challenge is. They run it very effectively. They’re very confident in what they’re doing. They’ll go for it on fourth down because they just feel like they can get it.”

A victory Saturday would write another special chapter for all the players who stayed at Dayton even after the 2020 season was cancelled by the pandemic.

“The amount of guys that we didn’t lose because of COVID is, I think, something very unique to this program,” Chisholm said. “I think it just goes to show how special this place really is. Guys want to stay here. They want to stay even if we get our season canceled.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Dayton at Davidson, 1 p.m., 1290, 95.7