Two teams looking to bounce back from two straight losses will clash on Saturday at Stokes Stadium in Kirksville as the Truman (Mo.) Bulldogs host #22 Pittsburg (Kan.) State University at 1:00 p.m. The Bulldogs have designated this game as their celebration for survivors of Breast Cancer and invite all fans to show their support by wearing pink to the game. The Truman Volleyball team will also “Dig Pink” when they host Southwest Baptist (Mo.) afterwards at 6:00 p.m. in Pershing Arena.
The Bulldogs (4-4; 3-4 MIAA) watched Emporia (Kan.) State's senior quarterback put up 422 yards passing with Shjuan Richardson catching 217 of those yards in a 52-26 loss last Saturday. Truman was picked off four times during the game however
Garrett White broke through with a season-high 97 yards rushing on 19 carries.
The Gorillas (5-2; 5-2 MIAA) found themselves in an unfamiliar spot as they were handled at home by #16 Missouri Western State University 63-14. After John Brown caught a six-yard TD pass from Anthony Abenoja to put the Gorillas up, Western scored the next 56 points in the jungle to win going away. Pittsburg State ran 90 plays to the Griffons 48 on Saturday however Western averaged 9.1 yards to the Gorillas 4.5 per play in the win.
Both teams are tied for first in the MIAA in sacks by a defense with 26 (Missouri Western also has 26 sacks) with
Patrick Blackwell leading the Bulldogs with eight and Gus Toca leading the Gorillas with six.
The overall series has been dominated by the Gorillas (26-15) however they last three years have included a Truman win (28-21 in 2009) and two wins by Pitt by a total of four points. Last year in Kirksville, the Gorillas raced down the field in the final minute to pull out a 27-26 victory over the Bulldogs despite five Pittsburg State turnovers. Briceton Wilson had 140 yards rushing for the Gorillas and
Anthony Brown led the 'Dogs with 119 yards receiving.
Pittsburg State and Truman are in the top eight among all-time overall wins in Division II. The Gorillas are first with 659 wins while Truman is eighth with 538. Up until this year they were 1-2 among MIAA schools in victories but Central Oklahoma entered the conference with 590 overall wins and sits in fourth place.
Bulldogs Quick Glance:
Truman (4-4; 3-4 MIAA) has already matched their victory total from last season and have been led by junior quarterback
Conrad Schottel and junior receiver
Dallas Grier. Schottel has thrown for 1693 yards and 12 touchdown passes while Grier has 55 catches for 798 yards and four scores. Sophomore
Garrett White has 423 yards on 82 attempts rushing and senior
Will Mosquera has 391 yards on 111 rushes. White leads the team in scoring with nine touchdowns, eight rushing and one receiving.
Defensively, senior
Richie Schumacher leads the team with 74 tackles and senior
Patrick Blackwell has seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss. The Bulldogs have picked off 12 passes and recovered nine fumbles through eight games.
Truman won their first three games to start the season defeating Southwest Baptist 24-14, Lincoln 42-12 and non-conference Northwestern Oklahoma State 63-21 before dropping consecutive games at Central Missouri 38-17 and Fort Hays State 37-23. They bounced back with a 16-7 win over Nebraska-Kearney but lost to #19 Washburn 35-24 and #18 Emporia State 52-26 in consecutive weeks.
Gorillas Quick Glance:
Pittsburg State (5-2; 5-2 MIAA) are the defending Division II National Champions and spent the first six weeks atop the America Football Coaches Association Top 25 poll. They lead 14-0 over rival Northwest Missouri two weeks ago in the third quarter but watched the Bearcats score the next 31 of 38 points to end the 10-game winning streak dating back to last season. Following Saturday's second straight loss, the Gorillas fell to #22 in the poll.
The Gorillas feature one of the most dangerous receivers/return specialist in Division II in John Brown. The senior has 52 catches for 780 yards while also averaging 16 yards per punt return and a score as well as 27.0 per kick return. Sophomore Anthony Abenoja is in his first year as the starting quarterback and has thrown 13 touchdown passes and 1888 yards for a 269.7 yards per game average. Briceton Wilson leads a host of running backs for the Gorillas with 365 yards while as a team, the Gorillas have gained 1143 yards on the ground through seven games.
Nate Dreiling is their defensive stopper with 55 tackles (12 solo, 43 assisted) and has two interceptions. Gus Toco has six sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss.
About the Bulldogs:
Head Coach
Gregg Nesbitt is in his third season on the Truman sideline after two straight 4-7 campaigns. The Bulldogs return 47 juniors and seniors, 59 total letterwinners and 18 starters from 2011. Of the starters returning, five are on offense, 10 on defense and both punter and place kicker are back.
• The Bulldogs have played 954 games all-time. The Bulldogs are 538-382-34 (.582) all time.
• Truman is 4-2 in overtime games. All six games have been played at Stokes Stadium with the last being on Oct. 24, 2009 against Emporia State (Truman lost 30-24).
• The Bulldogs have finished .500 or above in 70 of the 104 seasons of football played at the University and have had five wins or more in 62 seasons.
• Truman is the winningest NCAA program all-time in the state of Missouri with the .582 win percentage. The University of Missouri has the most wins with 627 with the Bulldogs second with 538.
• Truman's 538 wins is eighth all-time in Division II.
Bulldogs In The MIAA/NCAA Statistics:
The Bulldogs are tied for first in the MIAA in sacks and second in tackles for loss with 3.2 sacks per game and 7.7 tackles for loss per game. The 3.2 sacks/game is 12th in NCAA Division II stats. Truman's 26 sacks are tied with Missouri Western and Pittsburg State, however the Gorillas have one fewer game played.
Truman is fourth in the conference with 12 interceptions made while Emporia State leads the league with 17.
Individually,
Patrick Blackwell is second in the conference in sacks with eight, trailing Western's David Bass by .5. Blackwell is tied for 25th nationally.
Michael Elliott is seventh nationally in interceptions per game with five.
Dallas Grier is third in receptions per game at 6.9, fourth in receiving yards per game at 99.8 and fourth in punt return average at 12.5.
Conrad Schottel is eighth in the MIAA in total offense per game (210.2) and fifth in passing yards per game (211.6).
Truman/Emporia State Footnotes:
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With nine receptions Dallas Grier passed James Walton (2002-05) and Jeff Amundson (2004-06) to move into fifth place in all-time receptions with 135. He is 19 catches from Russell Evans (1983-86) and fourth place. Grier also closed to within 55 yards of 2,000 for his career with 121 on Saturday.
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It was the fourth time this year that Grier has had over 100 yards receiving in a game and eighth time in his three years.
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Richie Schumacher had nine tackles to vault up for spots to fifth all-time in stops with 318. He passed Ernie Myerson (1984-87), Judd Linehard (1998-02), Tim Stull (1981-84) and Ricky Ruff (1986-88) on the day.
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Taylor Breen's 164-yards passing was a career high for the senior and he also had his first rushing touchdown as a Bulldog, a 15-yard run in the third quarter.
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Derek Koon's 29 yard field goal was the 32nd of his career placing him all alone in third place all-time among Truman field goal kickers. He is one back of Doug Kolb (1984-87) and five back of Mickey Masucci (2006-09) for the career lead.
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Emporia racked up a season-high 616 yards of total offense against the Bulldogs with Tyler Eckenrode throwing for 422 yards and three touchdowns.
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The 81-yard touchdown pass from Eckenrode to Shjuan Richardson was the longest against the Bulldogs since Mark Smith of Pittsburg State completed a 98-yard pass against Truman in 2007.
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The 422 yards passing by Eckenrode was the highest single-game total by an opposing signal caller since a 1996 game against Valdosta St. (Funderburk) and the 217 yards receiving by Richardson was the most since a 2003 game by Chris Samp of Winona State (281 yards).
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The Hornets had six plays from scrimmage go for over 30 yards. Over the past three weeks, Truman has allowed 13 of their 22 plays of 30 yards or more.
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Truman was just 4-17 on third down situations. They had one running play on third down, a rush for nine yards and a first down by Garrett White while throwing 16 passes (4-16-1) a touchdown and three conversions.
Up Next:
Truman will take the final road trip of the 2012 season as they will face Missouri Southern State University in Joplin on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Lions are 5-3 and will be at Lindenwood (Mo.) this week. Southern defeated the Bulldogs 24-17 in Joplin last year.
Offensive Notebook:
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Sophomore Garrett White leads the team in rushing with 423 yards on 82 carries (5.2/rush, 52.9/g) while senior Will Mosquera is second with 111 attempts and 391 yards. White leads the team with eight rushing touchdowns, nine total.
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Junior quarterback Conrad Schottel has completed 52% of his passes (147-of-278) with 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He has an efficiency rating of 109.6 and has thrown for 1693 yards.
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Junior Dallas Grier has been the top target with 55 catches for 798 yards. Redshirt freshman Chico Orlando has caught 20 passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns. Sophomore Jared Haferbier has 22 catches for 215 yards and senior Brett Nagel has 23 catches for 216.
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The Bulldog offensive line has allowed 19 sacks for 116 yards and 47 tackles for loss for 176 yards.
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Through eight games, Truman is averaging 29.4 points per game, up from 23.0/game 2011 and from 22.1 in 2010.
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On the ground, the Bulldogs are averaging 134.4/g and have 1075 yards rushing through eight games. Passing, the Bulldogs are averaging 261.4/g (1969 yards) with an average of 380.5/g (3044 yards) in total offense. Last season, the team gained 1,389 yards on the ground (126.3/g), 2,422 yards passing (220.1) for a total offensive mark of 3,811 (346.4/g).
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The longest plays from scrimmage are a 66-yard pass from Conrad Schottel to Dallas Grier against Nebraksa-Kearney and a 55-yard rush by Garrett White against Lincoln (Mo.) University.
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The Bulldogs, though eight games, have turned the ball over 19 times (12 interceptions and seven fumbles lost). Opposing teams have scored nine times following a Bulldog turnover. Last season, Truman turned the ball over 24 times with 16 interceptions and eight fumbles. Of those turnovers, opposing teams scored 11 times (10 touchdowns and one field goal).
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Truman has converted in the redzone this season 67% of the time with 23 touchdowns and six field goals out of 43 trips. Last year, the Bulldogs scored 80% of the time. They were 28 of 35 with 16 touchdowns.
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The Bulldogs have started nearly a third of their total drives (37 of 131) on the plus side of the 50 yardline. They have scored 17 touchdowns and one field goal (49%) when starting a drive in their opponent's territory and their average field position is their own 40.
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The offense has converted 30% of their third downs in 2012 from the 34% last season.
Defensive Notebook:
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Senior Richie Schumacher leads the Bulldogs with 74 total tackles while 10 Truman defenders have over 30 tackles through eight games.
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The Bulldog defense has 26 sacks for 181 yards and 62 tackles for loss for 261 yards. Last season, Truman had 21 sacks for 145 yards and 56 tackles for loss. Senior Patrick Blackwell leads the team with seven sacks. His 20.5 career sacks is seventh all-time in Truman history.
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Truman allows 27.0 points per game through eight this season after allowing 32.5/g last year.
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The team has allowed 1205 yards rushing (150.6/g), 2091 yards passing (261.4/g) and 3296 yards of total offense (412.0). In 2011, the Bulldogs allowed 2,188 yards on the ground (198.9/g) , 2,703 yards passing (245.7/g) for a total defensive mark of 4,891 (444.6/g).
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The Bulldogs have allowed 22 plays from scrimmage over 30 yards this year the longest being a 81-yard pass by Emporia State. In 2011, the Bulldogs allowed 24 plays from scrimmage of 30-yards or more.
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The Bulldogs defense has forced 21 turnovers, 12 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries. The offense has scored touchdowns on six of the 21 turnovers forced with another coming on a defensive pick-six against Central Missouri. Last season they forced 27 turnovers with nine interceptions and 18 fumble recoveries.
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Opponents have been in the redzone 28 times out of 130 drives this season but have converted for scores in 24 trips (86%). Last year, opponents were successful 72.3% of the time with 34 of 47 with 28 touchdowns. The average field position for the opposing is their own 25.4 yard line.
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The opposing offenses are 36% successful on third down after going 39% in 2011.
Special Teams Notebook:
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Junior Derek Koon is 6-of-13 in field goals in 2012 with a long from 37 and three blocked. For his career, he is 32-for-48 in field goals with a long 42 yards against Fort Hays State and Central Missouri in 2011. He has also converted on 73-of-83 extra point attempts.
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Koon made 12 straight field goals to start the 2011 season, breaking the school record of Scott Bresaw's 10 set in 1990 and tied Bresaw's 1990 single-season record of 15 field goals made. Koon also broke Josh Barcus' (Pittsburg State) MIAA record for consecutive field goal. Koon's streak snapped when he missed a 51-yard field goal against Missouri Southern. That record was broken by Missouri Western's Greg Zuerlien also during the 2011 season.
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Senior Eric Phillips has had 52 punts in 2012 for an average of 39.9/punt. His long this season is 58 yards while his career long is 75 against Southwest Baptist in 2011. Last year, Phillips was second in the nation in punting with an average of 42.9/punt.
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Phillips has had five punts this season downed inside the opponents' one-yardline and 24 finishing inside the opponents 20 with four touchbacks.
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The Bulldogs have blocked two punts this season and four in the last two years.
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Dallas Grier has 15 punt returns for 187 yards (12.5/ret) with a long of 39.
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Garrett White (10) and Aaron Hartfield (8) lead the team in kickoff returns. White averages 26.3 per return and Hartifeld 21.2. Hartfield has the longest return of 41 yards against Washburn.
