Duquesne trailed, 16-10, and had the ball on Dayton's 11 when coach Jerry Schmitt called a timeout with slightly more than eight minutes remaining. He then sent in one of his favorite plays.

"I love that play," quarterback Connor Dixon would say after Duquesne's 24-16 victory against Dayton yesterday at Rooney Field. "I like any pass to Alex [Roberson]. He's a big-time player who makes big-time plays."

Roberson, a 6-foot-3 senior, went high to catch Dixon's high-arching pass deep in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown and a 17-16 lead. The Dukes tacked on another touchdown on Dixon's 1-yard sneak with 1:26 to go that was set up when Tyler Scruggs blocked a punt.

"That's one of my favorite plays," Schmitt said of the fade pass route to Roberson. "He's our tallest receiver, a guy who goes and gets the ball for us."

Dixon's touchdown pass to Roberson came a play after Dixon's 3-yard touchdown run was nullified because Roberson was called for holding.

"Our attitude was we're scoring anyway," said Dixon, a transfer from Michigan State who completed 12 of 32 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked just once by a Dayton defense that entered the game leading the country with 4.7 sacks per game.

Duquesne (2-1) ended Dayton's 10-game win streak, the longest in Division I-AA. Dayton is favored to win the Pioneer League, while Duquesne was picked to finish in the middle of the pack in its inaugural Northeast Conference season.

Duquesne took a 7-0 lead on Dixon's 43-yard touchdown pass to Michael Rasky and Dayton made it 7-3 later in the first quarter on Nick Glavin's 30-yard field goal.

The Flyers went ahead, 10-7 on Rob Florian's 57-yard touchdown pass to Justin Watkins midway through the second quarter. Duquesne's Mark Troyan, who earlier missed from 32 and 40 yards, kicked a 31-yard field goal to make it 10-10 with 4:57 left in the half.

Bill Poletti saved the Dukes just before the half. He stepped in front of a would-be Dayton receiver at the goal line and intercepted Florian's pass.

Duquesne's offense went nowhere in the third quarter and Dayton took the lead, at 16-10, on Glavin's field goals of 40 and 27 yards.

"I never doubted we could win," Dixon said. "I wasn't worried."

• Russ Myles rushed for 205 yards and a touchdown and Erik Cwalinski passed for 197 yards and three touchdowns for Robert Morris (1-3, 0-1) in a 34-26 loss to visiting Monmouth (2-3, 1-0) in the NEC. ... Chris Garcia returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown as Carnegie Mellon (2-2) defeated visiting Hiram (2-1), 41-6. CMU's Anthony Ruzga rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown. ... Richard Stooks rushed for 140 yards and three touchdowns as host Mercyhurst (3-2-1) defeated Slippery Rock (3-2), 34-10. ... Brad Dawson passed for 217 yards and a touchdown to lead visiting Waynesburg (1-2) to a 21-12 victory against Saint Vincent (1-2). ... Kevin Frank passed for 229 yards and a touchdown for Westminster (2-2, 0-1) in a 31-10 win at Thomas More (2-1, 2-0) in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. ... Gerard Muschette gained 126 yards on 16 carries and Matt Dean scored two touchdowns as Geneva (1-2) defeated visiting Thiel (0-4), 31-17, in the PAC. ... Bobby Swallow completed 28 of 37 passes for 201 yards and three scores as Washington & Jefferson (4-0) downed Grove City (2-2), 49-21, in the PAC.