Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011
DES MOINES, Iowa--Drake quarterback Mike Piatkowski set career highs Saturday with 342 passing yards and a 91% percent completion rate (30-33), and tied a career high with three touchdown passes, to lead the Bulldogs to a 31-14 Pioneer Football League victory on Homecoming Day at Drake Stadium.
Drake improves to 4-1 (2-0 PFL), while Campbell slips to 1-3 (0-2).
"He's a very intelligent quarterback and I thought the O-line really protected well," said head coach Chris Creighton. "We were just running our offense. That's two weeks in a row now where I've felt that in both the run game and passing game we've been running our offense and we've had some good results."
Piatkowski's 30 completions tied the school single-game record set by Gary Yagelski vs. Tulsa in 1982 (10/23), and his yardage figure eclipsed his previous best set against Missouri S&T in 2009 (10/10). He completed 16 consecutive passes in the first half after throwing incomplete on his first attempt.
The school single-game record for completion percentage (minimum 10 attempts) is 94.1% (16-17) set by Connor Jostes in 2005 vs. Austin Peay (9/25).
**Update: The NCAA confirmed Piatkowski's 90.9% completion rate is an NCAA Division I FCS record for a quarterback who completed a minimum of 30 passes. The record was 88.9% by Richie Williams of Appalachian State vs. Furman, 10/9/04 (40-45).
"It was just a great feeling," Piatkowski said. "The O-line did great, we had a great game plan and the receivers were getting open. I had the easy part."
It was the second 300-yard passing game this season for Piatkowski, and the third of his career. His effort propelled the Bulldogs to 421 total yards, surpassing the 400-yard mark for the second game in a row. They gained 441 yards in last week's win at Butler.
Drake, the PFL's No. 1 rushing defense, held the Fighting Camels to 78 yards on the ground. Campbell entered the game ranked No. 1 in the PFL in rushing, averaging 194.7 yards per game.
Bulldogs wide receiver Joey Orlando (Park Ridge, Ill.) caught a career-best two touchdown passes, a 4-yarder in the first quarter to give Drake a 7-0 lead, and a 12-yarder in the second quarter to increase the margin to 21-0.
Running back Trey Morse (Elmo, Texas) scored on a 4-yard run with 2:01 to play in the first period, when Drake pushed its lead to 14-0.
The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on three of their first four possessions, covering 67, 80 and 85 yards en route to the end zone to build their 21-0 halftime lead. A third-quarter field goal drive and fourth-quarter touchdown drive covered 70 and 62 yards, respectively, giving Drake five scoring drives of 62 or more yards on the day.
Campbell got on the board for the first time with 6:01 to play in the third quarter when quarterback Braden Smith ran it in from the 1-yard line to cap a 9-play, 60-yard drive.
Drake responded by moving 70 yards in 11 plays to set up a 25-yard field goal by fifth-year senior Billy Janssen (Round Lake Beach, Ill.) to increase the lead to 24-7.
Running back Nathan Paddock (Lee's Summit, Mo.) caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Piatkowski with 9:23 to play in the game, pushing Drake's lead to 31-7. Paddock set career highs with a team-leading seven catches for a game-high 97 yards and the touchdown.
"I think the whole offense was just firing on all cylinders," Paddock said. "It was one of the most full games that we had this whole season so I'm pretty pleased at how well we did. Every throw that I had (from Piatkowski) was on the spot so it's hard to not look good whenever he's throwing perfect balls."
The Fighting Camels made it a 31-14 game with 6:18 to play when Smith found Chad McMichael for a 4-yard touchdown. For the game Smith completed 28 of 50 for 263 yards and one touchdown with one interception.
Linebacker Jake Underwood (Cary, Ill.) made a team-high nine tackles (5 solo), while linebackers Tyler Moorehead and Jeff Grovak followed with eight apiece. Moorehead's seven solo stops led the Bulldogs.
Defensive end Brandon Coleman (Cary, Ill.), who led the PFL and was tied for third in the nation in sacks (1.5/game) entering the game, registered a sack of Smith in the first half to raise his season total to seven.
Drake controlled the ball for a season-best 35:04 to Campbell's 24:56, on the strength of 6-of-15 efficiency on third downs and 28 first downs.
"One of the challenges for our team this week was that we felt pretty good after the Butler win because I think we felt we played pretty well and hadn't had a win where we felt pretty good about ourselves," Creighton said. "So how were we going to respond having played well. We played a pretty good football team (today) and handled them pretty well. We have a lot of respect for this team. So (that's) another challenge we can put a checkmark by and there will be plenty more, but we're very pleased to be where we are right now."
The win was Drake's seventh in a row at home to tie the longest streak in the Creighton era (since 2008), and the fifth straight home PFL win for the Bulldogs. Drake is 17-3 at home under Creighton and has won 11 of its last 12 conference home games.
The Bulldogs now turn their attention to next Saturday's matchup at Morehead State. Kickoff versus the Eagles (2-3/1-1 PFL) is set for 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT).
