By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES (PDF) | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
MOREHEAD, Ky. — Morehead State football opens its Pioneer League slate Saturday at 2 p.m. ET against its closest league rival, Dayton, at home.
The Eagles and Flyers’ home stadiums lie just 155 miles apart. Dayton enters off a 63-43 shootout at Presbyterian, while the Eagles had last weekend off after their own shootout at Austin Peay the weekend prior.
The game will air live on ESPN+ with Tanner Hesterberg, Ted McCoart and Elle Howard on the call and can be heard on the Eagle Sports Radio Network with WIVY-96.3 FM serving as flagship station. Chuck Mraz, Jason Blanton and Tom Lewis provide the radio call. Fans can also hear it on MSUEagles.com, WGOH-110.9 FM/1370 AM and WMST-106.9 FM/1150 AM.
THE SERIES
Record vs. UD: 6-19First Meeting: 1996 (L, 52-6 at Dayton)Last Meeting: 2019 (L, 49-35 at Morehead)Record in Morehead: 3-10Record in Dayton: 3-9
GAME NOTES • Morehead State has won four consecutive home games. The last time MSU did not pull a victory at home was Nov. 23, 2019.
• Defensive end Vaughn Taylor, Jr., again leads the PFL in tackles for loss (7.5) after pacing the conference in 2019. His 2.3 TFLs per game ranks third among all FCS players, and he has 41 career stops behind opponents’ lines of scrimmage.
• Graduate student QB Mark Pappas was named PFL Offensive Player of the Week after a 286-yard, 5-touchdown effort against Point (Ga.). Pappas established his career high with the five TD tosses. He has 4,300 (on the dot) career passing yards, which places him in ninth place in career yardage in program history.
• Facing the No. 19 team in the nation on Sept. 18, Morehead State generated 35 points and 460 total yards at Austin Peay.
• Graduate student Andrew Foster ranks fifth in the nation in punting among FCS players at 47 yards per boot. His punting has allowed the Eagles to rank in the FCS’s top 10 in net punting as well. If Foster keeps up his average, he will become the first Eagle ever to average more than 40 yards per punt in four consecutive seasons. Foster is on the FCS Punter of the Year watch list.
• Senior receiver BJ Byrd has played in 10 career games for Morehead State after transferring from Jacksonville and has caught at least one TD in eight of them. In fact, the only two games he does not have a TD catch in are both James Madison games.
• BJ Byrd ranks 21st nationally in yards per game at 91.3. His first two games of the 2021 campaign resulted in 100+-yard outputs. His yards per game number would rank third in single-season program history at this point.
• Sophomore receiver Kyle Daly has caught just three passes this season, but boy has he made them count. Of his three catches, two went for touchdowns (47 and 34 yards), including a hail mary catch on the final play of the game at Austin Peay. He is averaging 40 yards per catch.
• Morehead State’s 62 points against Point (Ga.) was the 5th 50-point outburst in the Rob Tenyer era and the most points scored since 76 against Valparaiso in the final game of 2012. It marked the second highest output of the Tenyer era (2013-) only behind the 73 versus KCU in 2019. It is also the 13th highest single-game scoring effort in the FCS so far this season.
• Morehead State ranks tied for first in the nation in the FCS in red zone scoring efficiency. The Eagles have ventured inside the opponent 20-yard lines 13 times and come away with a score every time for 100 percent.
• Morehead State’s defense leads the PFL and ranks ninth among all FCS teams in tackles for loss per game. The Eagles average 9.0 TFLs per outing.