Flyers busy sizing up big Southeast Missouri State 1. Avoiding an early skid:

The Dayton Flyers open the home portion of their schedule at 1 p.m. today at Welcome Stadium against Southeast Missouri State.

Last week, Dayton lost at Robert Morris 13-10 while Southeast Missouri was com- petitive, but on the wrong end of a 38-16 score at Kansas.

It’s the first-ever meet- ing between the Flyers and the Redhawks. Dayton will return the favor with a trip to Cape Girardeau in 2018.

Here are four storylines to watch. The Flyers haven’t lost back- to-back games to start a season since they dropped two straight road games to kick off the 2012 season.

Dayton has won five straight home openers and 13 consecutive regular-sea-

TODAY’S GAME

Southeast Missouri State at Dayton, 1 p.m., AM 1290, News 95.7 WHIO son home games.

2. Round two for Kaparos:

Dayton’s Kyle Kaparos was 13-of-18 passing with a TD in his first college start.

The redshirt sophomore hadn’t played significant minutes in a game since his senior season at Upper Arlington High School.

“It took a little bit to get going,” he said. “After getting a couple of hits out of the way I started to get into a rhythm and stay loose out there.”

3. Huge challenge:

South- east Missouri will provide a big challenge for the Flyers ... literally. The SEMO roster lists 13 players weighing in at more than 300 pounds.

“We’ve talked about it all week,” Flyers 237-pound defensive lineman Nick Surges said. “We’re just going to have to execute really well and use the technique we are taught to make plays and keep our offense out on the field.”

“They’re big, they’re fast, they’re physical,” Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin said. “We’ve got them here at Dayton, we’re practicing well. We’ve got to go out and just play our game and do the best that we can and not worry about them.”

4. Work in progress:

The kicking game struggled at Robert Morris. Freshman Patrick Sandler was 1-of-3 on field-goal attempts. He connected from 25 yards, while missing from 32 yards (hit the upright) and 44 yards (wide right) in the fourth quarter.

Those miscues might be overlooked in a blowout, but they tend to be glaring issues in a game that finished with a three-point margin.

On the other side, preseason All-America candidate Christian Searles returned two kickoffs for 57 yards, with a long of 39 yards.