Football 9/11/2013 8:11:00 AM

Game Notes: Football Travels To Face #10 Grand Valley State

Truman State University Bulldog Football Game Notes:

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Bulldog Football team will play their first road game of the 2013 season as they head to Allendale, Mich. to take on #10th ranked Grand Valley State (Mich.) University on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern time.

The Series:
This will be the third meeting between the Lakers and Bulldogs with the first two coming during the 1987 and 1988 seasons.
Truman won both meetings taking a 30-24 win in Kirksville in 1987 and winning 36-35 in Lubbers Stadium in 1988. In that last meeting, Truman trailed the Lakers 28-7 midway through the second quarter engineered the comeback with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Nate Turelson and a successful two-point conversion with 3:27 left to play for the Bulldog victory.

The Match-Up:
The Bulldogs are coming off a 40-37 victory over Southwest Baptist on Saturday night. Special teams were the difference as Truman recovered a muffed punt in the first quarter that set up the first touchdown, got a 100-yard kick return from Tremaine Millender, forced a safety on a punt by SBU and had another 59-yard kick return to set up the game winning field goal with six minutes left to play.

The Lakers were impressive in their debut winning 38-17 over Azusa Pacific University. Michael Ratay accounted for 110 yards
rushing and 61 yards receiving to spearhead the Lakers to the win. Heath Parling threw for 177 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Grand Valley scored on four of their first five possessions of the contest.

The Coaches:
Gregg Nesbitt is in his fourth season as head coach of his alma mater. Nesbitt has gone 4-7 in the three previous years for an overall record of 13-21. His teams are 6-0 in non-conference games, 8-3 when leading at the end of the first half and 10-1 when taking a lead into the locker room at half.

Matt Mitchell is in his fourth season at GVSU and is 28-8 during that span. The Lakers were 8-3 last season and have a 17-2 record in games played at home under Mitchell.

Quick Hits:
Truman returns 44 letterwinners from last season with 25 coming from the offensive side of the ball.
Nine offensive returners and five defensive returners started at least six games in 2012 including all-MIAA players Dallas Grier (2TM - WR), Jeramey Dockery (HM - DL), Derek Koon (HM – K) and Tremaine Millender (HM – DB).
Truman is 539-385-34 (.580) all-time since 1900. The .580 winning percentage is the best by any NCAA I Football playing school in the state of Missouri. Next highest is Northwest Missouri State at (.565).
Truman allowed 117 points in the second quarter last year and were outscored 42-31 in the last five minutes of the half.
Tremaine Millender won the first GLVC Special Teams Player of the Week award this past week. Millender 100-yard TD return, 163 total return yards and 54.3 yards per return average were all GLVC records.
Grand Valley State won more games than any Division II program from 2000-09 going 122-13 during that span including five NCAA Division II National championships.

Opening Drives:
The Bulldogs are 0-for-1 in scoring on their opening possession this season, however the ensuing punt was muffed and recovered by true freshman Chris Stanton to set up the first touchdown of the game. In 11 games last season, Truman scored one touchdown and had four made field goals in their first possession of the game while opponents scored three touchdowns in their opening drives. The Bulldogs also had two opening possessions end with missed field goals.

To start the second half, Truman had two TDs in 2012 while opponents scored five touchdowns. Both Truman and their opponents had three turnovers apiece and the Bulldogs missed one field goal to begin the third quarter.

Third Downs:
Truman was 7-of-15 (47%) on third downs against Southwest Baptist on Saturday and 5-of-6 when facing a third down and between seven and 10 yards. The defense allowed 6-of-15 conversions including a third and 20 touchdown pass by the Bearcats.

The Bulldogs were 32% on third down conversions in 2012 going 53-of-166. They were 42% when facing a third and less than five yards to go but only had that situation 62 times during the year. The longest conversion was a 39-yard pass on third and 19 against Emporia State.

Opponents converted on 41% of third downs and were 60% in less than five yard situations. They had 80 of their 184 third down plays come from less than five yards. The longest conversion was a 15-yard run by Nebraska-Kearney when facing a third and 13.

Red Zone:
Truman scored touchdowns on two of their three redzone trips on Saturday, the third trip was push back by penalty and resulted in a missed field goal from 51 yards away. The Bearcats scored four touchdowns out of their six trips to the Truman redzone.

Last year, Truman scored on 33 of their 50 trips in the redzone (66%). Of the 33 scores, 13 were rushing touchdowns, 11 were passing and the 'Dogs kicked nine field goals.

Opponents scored on 35 of their 44 redzone trips (79.5%) They had 19 rushing and 11 passing touchdowns while also converting on five field goals.

Turnovers:
Truman had a key fumble recovery on a muffed punt and SBU picked off a pass with both resulting in touchdowns in the season opener. The Bulldogs have had a positive or equal turnover margin in 23 of 34 games played under Coach Nesbitt.

The defense gained 28 turnovers last season with an equal split of 14 interceptions and 14 fumbles recovered. The team scored 55 points off of the turnovers with six touchdowns, two field goals and one defensive score.

The offense turned the ball over 27 times with 17 interceptions and 10 fumbles lost. Opponents scored 87 points off turnovers with 10 touchdowns, one field goal and two defensive scores.

Drive Chart:
With their special teams play on Saturday, Truman's average field position was their own 44 while SBU started 20 yards farther back at their own 24. The Bulldogs had three possessions start in enemy territory resulting in a touchdown and field goal.

The Bulldogs scored on 25% of their drives last year (43-of-169) and started 43 drives on the opponents side of the field scoring 50% of the time.

Opponents scored on 26% of their drives (42-of-167) and started on the Bulldogs' side of the 50 on 15 occasions.

Offensive Notables:
Senior Dallas Grier recorded the second most receiving yards in school history last year with 1,026 yards and the third most catches by a Bulldog with 81…he is fourth all-time in receiving yards with 2,254 and needs 133 to move into third place and 1,204 to break Andrew Blakley's Truman record…Grier has 169 career receptions and trails Fontaine Walker by 11 for third place all-time, second place is held by Rich Otte with 206 while Blakley holds the all-time mark with 300 receptions from 1999-2002…He is a three-time all-MIAA player, one second team and two honorable mentions…single-game high for yards is 178 against Nebraska-Kearney in 2012…has seven career games of over 100 yards receiving…career longest reception is 66 yards against Nebraska-Kearney…has 19 punt returns for 209 yards for an 11.0 average and a long of 39.

Junior Garrett White recorded his first 100-yard game as a Bulldog with 143 on 17 carries against Southwest Baptist in the 2013 season opener…was the team's leading rusher and scorer last season…had nine rushing touchdowns and four receiving scores for 66 points…gained 585 yards on 118 carries for a 5.0 yards per rush average and a long of 55…is the Bulldogs "Big-Play Player" with eight of the teams 20 plays of 30 or more yards…caught 20 passes for 265 yards.

Senior Conrad Schottel started all 11 games last season and has played in 26 at quarterback for the Bulldogs…Schottel has thrown for 2,744 yards for his career completing 50.7% of his passes and throwing 17 touchdowns. He averages 105.5 yards passing per game with a long pass of 66 yards.

The offensive line is anchored by three seniors Steve Bosilovatz, Steven Backes and Erik Stone…the three have combine for 63 games played and are joined by redshirt sophomore Charlie Brynac and redshirt freshman Brad Wellman at center…the 'Dogs allowed 23 sacks for 135 yards in 2012.

Defensive Notables:
Redshirt freshman Austin Zoda was the team's leading tackler in the opener against Southwest Baptist with nine.
Senior Jeramey Dockery is the team's top returning tackler from a year ago…Dockery recorded 65 total tackles including seven for loss and three sacks to be placed on the honorable mention all-MIAA team. He has 13 career tackles for loss.

Junior linebackers Connor Nagel and Matthew Bell had 62 and 41 total tackles respectively last year.
Junior defensive lineman Nic Abbate missed the final nine games last year due to injury but brings 23 games of experience back…Abbate is the active career leader in sacks with 7.5 and 14.5 tackles for loss.

Senior Paul Taylor has the most game experience in the Bulldog secondary but all of his previous 25 games have been played with the offense and special teams…junior Brady Schroeder has 20 games of experience but will be making his first start while junior Steven Day has 15 games and has the only career interception of the group…Tremaine Millender has played in 33 games in the Bulldog secondary but will start the season on top of the depth chart in the running back position.

Special Team Notables:
Senior Derek Koon is the Bulldogs all-time field goal king with 38 makes in his four seasons…he has made 69.0% of his field goal attempts with a long of 46…has attempted just two field goals from over 50 yards (51-twice)…has converted on 80 of 90 point after touchdown attempts and has averaged 58.0 yards per kickoff.

Junior Jacob Lamp is in his first full season as the team's punter…he averaged 55.7 on six punts on Saturday night with a long of 59…for his career, Lamp has 13 punts and averages 39.2/punt.

Around the GLVC:
Four GLVC teams came away with non-conference wins in the season opener last week with #19 Indianapolis knocking off #9 Ashland 10-9. Other two winners last week were Saint Joseph's (Ind.) defeating Valparaiso (Ind.) 34-31 and McKendree taking down Tiffin 32-28. All four wins came by four points or less.
Truman's 40 points scored were the most by a GLVC member in week one and the Bulldogs also posted a league high 200
yards rushing. They were second in kick return average at 42.3 and in punt average at 38.0.

Individually, Garrett White leads the league in rushing yards per game with 146, Tremaine Millender in kick return average at 54.3 and Jacob Lamp in punting average at 44.7.

It will be a showdown weekend for GLVC Football this weekend as four teams square off against nationally-ranked opponents while two others travel to Division I FCS opponents.
#14 Indianapolis host #4 NAIA St. Xavier (Ill.) while Missouri S&T heads to #6 Missouri Western and McKendree travels to #9 Henderson (Ark.) St. Truman plays at #10 Grand Valley State.
William Jewell and Quincy will go up against the Division I programs as the Cardinals head to Valparaiso (Ind.) and the Hawks go the Indiana State.

This Date In Bulldog History:
Truman is 2-2 in games played on September 14 all-time. The lost 21-16 to Harding in 1974, defeated Missouri Western 31-30 in 1985, lost to Missouri State 44-13 in 1996 and won 69-14 over Quincy (Ill.) in 2002.
In the 1985 game against Missouri Western, the Bulldogs trailed 30-17 at the end of the third quarter. Chris Hegg connected with Larry Tisdale for a 29-yard touchdown pass and Andre Gillespie rushed another score from 27 yards out with 7:09 left that stood as the game winner.

Up Next:
Truman returns home for Family Night on Saturday, September 21. The Bulldogs will host nationally-ranked William Penn (Iowa) for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff. The Statesmen were a preseason #16 in the NAIA before knocking off #9 Bethel (Tenn.) 34-8 in their season opener. They were off last week but face #5 Saint Francis (Ind.) this week.

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