Drake poses a familiar challenge

It’s happened DAYTON — once in the past 33 years of Dayton football. The Flyers had a three-game losing streak during the 2006 season, and now Rick Chamberlin’s team will try to avoid a similar skid when Drake rolls into Welcome Stadium today.

“We know we’re going to be playing some tough teams and not all of them will go your way,” Chamberlin said. “It comes down to the one who makes the big plays when they need to, and the one that makes the least mistakes and unfortunately we haven’t been that team.”

Here are five things to know about the matchup:

TODAY’S GAME

Drake at Dayton, 1 p.m., AM 1290, News 95.7 WHIO

The Flyers have lost three in a row to the Bulldogs, including the final regular-season game last year that kept Dayton from an unbeaten season. There is nobody on the current roster who has played in a winning effort against Drake, as none of the redshirt seniors played when Dayton won 28-13 in 2012.

Drake gave up the last 20 points last Saturday against Morehead State but still beat the Eagles 30-28. The Flyers weren’t as fortunate, giving up the final 13 points after taking the lead at San Diego and losing 34-22.

Stats usually give you an idea of what to expect, but not from these teams. Drake is the Pioneer Football League’s top-ranked passing team, but the Bulldogs are last in the league in pass defense. They’ve given up more points than any PFL team.

Dayton is last in the league in total offense but tops in takeaways with seven interceptions and three fumble recoveries. It’s rare for a true freshman to get a lot of playing time with the Flyers, but Ryan Skibinski has been an exception. The wide receiver out of Geneva, Ill., leads PFL first-year receivers with 16 catches. Skibinski has often been the go-to guy on third down for quarterback Alex Jeske.

Senior kicker William Will needs one field goal to take sole possession of the UD career record. Will has 46 field goals, and added another “first” last week when he threw a pass for a two-point conversion after his kick for an extra point was blocked.