Drake Holds Off Dayton 30-22 Behind Riley Warzynski's 347 Yards
Drake led from the first touchdown to the last whistle, and Dayton spent the afternoon one score short. The final was 30-22, and Dayton's last touchdown came with 2:40 left.
Riley Warzynski did most of the work: 23 of 39 for 347 yards and three touchdown passes, to Mitchell January (51 yards, in the first quarter), Cody Blicharz (18) and Kobe Lewis (10, late in the third). Griffin Kollhoff kicked a 34-yard field goal and missed one extra point, and Kavaughn Clark ran in from 5 yards with 11:39 left in the fourth to make it 30-14. Drake had 468 total yards to Dayton's 306, and 347 of them came through the air.
The oddest number is the pick-six. Dayton's first touchdown was David Curl III's 8-yard interception return, which means that after trailing 13-0, Dayton got its first points from its defense. Take that away and Drake wins 30-15. Dayton's offense scored twice: Gavin Lochow's 2-yard run with 4:03 left in the third, and a Bryce Schondelmyer 2-yard pass to Michael Mussari with 2:40 left, converted for two points on the same combination.
Dayton threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. Drake threw one interception and lost a fumble. The difference was Drake's 347 passing yards to Dayton's 223, and Drake's 121 rushing yards to 83. Drake led 16-7 at halftime and 23-14 after three quarters, then stretched it to 16 before Dayton's late score made the final look closer than it was. Drake improves to 2-2 and Dayton is 1-1.
For fantasy, Warzynski had 31 points despite a lost fumble and 9 negative rushing yards, January had 21.5 and Mussari 21 for Dayton.