One-near record performance trumped another Saturday at Jacksonville, as the JU Dolphins celebrated homecoming by turning aside a hard-fought comeback by the University of Dayton and beating the Flyers 28-21.

Jacksonville's near-record performance was by a veteran. Redshirt senior tailback Jerry Brant carried the ball 35 times for 224 yards, one yard shy of the Jacksonville single game rushing record. Dayton's near-record effort came from a virtual newcomer. Not only was junior quarterback Rob Florian making his first start in place of Kevin Hoyng, who was out with a knee injury, Florian came into the game without having thrown a collegiate pass. Florian fell three yards short of the Dayton record for passing yardage in a game, completing 20 of 47 yards for 411 yards.

After going five for 16 for 103 yards in the first half, Florian was 15 of 31 for 308 in the second.

Jacksonville took a 7-0 lead on a Brant 11-yard run in its first possession of the game, and made it look easy, going 82 yards in seven plays. But the Dayton defense bowed its collective back and kept the Dolphins out of the end zone the rest of the half despite two JU red zone penetrations. Jacksonville took the second-half kickoff and drove 80 yards to go up 14-0 when quarterback Chris Horton hit tight end Charles Lusk on a two-yard score.

Dayton got on the board with 3:27 left in the third quarter when Ben Shappie scored on a four-yard run after a 68-yard drive. Jacksonville answered in a big hurry, going 80 yards in just three plays. Horton connected with Nate Conner for a 47-yard touchdown to make the score 21-7 with 2:03 left in the third.

UD then drove 81 yards in seven plays (Matt Champa catching a nine-yard pass from Florian) to make it Jacksonville 21, Dayton 14 heading into the fourth quarter. A Scott Horcher interception gave the Flyers the ball at their own 45, and after two long pass completions, Shappie pounded it in from the three, and Matt Swartz's PAT tied the score at 21 with 10:43 left.

The two teams traded a pair of punts, and after the Flyers had to punt from their own end zone, Jacksonville had the ball on the Dayton 35. JU drove to the Flyer 11-yard line, but the Dayton D held and dodged a bullet when the Dolphins missed a field goal. Unfortunately for Dayton, the next bullet came from the blind side on a blitz the very next play. Jacksonville's Mirco Zanella came from Florian's blind side, sacking him and knocking the ball loose at the 12. The ball rolled to the seven and Zanella picked it up and took it in to put Jacksonville back up 28-21.

On the next possession, Florian threw a jump ball under pressure that was picked off, but the Flyer defense forced a three-and-out. But UD also had to use all three of its time outs in the process, and after a punt to the Dayton three, the Flyers literally and figuratively, had their backs against the wall. A third-down completion to Shappie, and fourth-down completion to Carlton McFadgen and a pass interference at the goal line gave UD one more play from the Jacksonville 35, but Florian's Hail Mary was intercepted to end the game.

Dayton's "Good Hands People" of McFadgen, Nick Ruhe and Champa were at the other end of 17 of Florian's 20 aerials. McFadgen had seven for 136 yards, Ruhe had six for 159 and Champa had four for 87.

Defensively, linebacker Brian Kelly had a game-high 13 tackles (six solo). Nickel John Hoppe had eight hits (six solo) and safety Brandon Cramer was in on six tackles (five solo) and had two pass break ups.

The loss evened UD's record at 3-3, and was the Flyers' third straight loss. It's the first time UD has had a three-game losing streak since the first three games of the 1982 season. That is before any player currently on the Dayton football team was born.

The Flyers will look to bounce back next week at Davidson. Game time at Richardson Stadium is 1:00 p.m. EDT.