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Truman State University Athletics

15FBTS04

Football

Bulldog Football Heads To Jefferson City Saturday

 
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Bulldogs and the Lincoln Blue Tigers will square off in Jefferson City, Missouri for the first time since 1989 when the Bulldogs travel on Saturday to the capital city for a 2 p.m. showdown.

Truman will be seeking their first win of the season against a team they have a 19-game winning streak against. When the teams first restarted their series in 2011, the Bulldogs won 53-0, in 2012, Truman again prevailed 42-12 and in 2014 the Bulldogs defeated Lincoln 29-20. All three games had been played in Kirksville. Truman's last visit to Jefferson City for football was in 1989 and resulted in a 43-9 victory.

The Bulldogs own a 20-4-1 all-time series lead over Lincoln and have won 19 straight starting in 1974. Lincoln won four of the first six games played between the two schools with three of those wins coming in Jefferson City.

Match-Ups:
  • The Blue Tiger defense comes in allowing over 400 yards of total offense per game while Truman has averaged 228 through the first three games.
  • Lincoln has been an equal opportunity defense as they have given up 197 on the ground and 220 through the air. The Bulldogs have been equal in their approach with 112/game rushing and 115/game passing.
  • On the flip side, Truman has allowed 20.7 points per game and 304 yards of total offense while the Lincoln offense is averaging 27.3 points and 387.3 yards of total offense.
  • The Bulldog redzone defense has been outstanding allowing nine scores (7 TDs/2 FGs) in 14 trips (64%). Opponents have started 11 drives on Truman's side of the 50 yard line and have five scores to show for it.
  • Quarterback Devonte Black leads Truman's offense in both rushing and passing. Black averages 44.7 yards per game on the ground and 89.7 yards through the air. He is the team's leading rusher with 33 attempts with a long of 27.
  • Miles Drummond is the feature back for Lincoln with 68 attempts for 276 yards (92.0/game; 4.1/carry). Owen Jordan has thrown for 719 yards and six touchdowns while completing 61% of his passing attempts.
  • Opponents have sack Jordan seven times for 37 yards in the first three games and Lincoln has given up 22 tackles for loss totaling 83 yards.  Truman has five sacks in three games and 24 tackles for loss accounting for 83 yards.
 Last Time vs. Lincoln:
  • Truman led 26-7 entering the fourth quarter and won 29-20 on September 27, 2004.
  • The Bulldogs had season highs in first downs (31) and yards passing (216) while totaling 458 yards of offense.
  • Lincoln was held to 290 yards with 51 coming on the ground and 239 in the air. Owen Jordan completed 21-of-37 for 214 but Lincoln threw a three interceptions.
  • Truman led in time of possession with 39:34. The Bulldogs ate up over 12 minutes of clock in the third quarter alone and 10 minutes in the fourth quarter.
  • It was the most penalized game of the season with Truman being flagged nine times for 110 yards and Lincoln called for 13 fouls and 123 yards.
  • Devonte Black was 21-of-27 for 216 yards with touchdown passes to Joey Schenck and Vince Garcia. Schenck led Truman receivers with five catches for 64 yards.
  • Devin Gillespie and J.D. Hurd led the Truman defense with eight and seven tackles apiece, while Truman had no sacks, they did have six tackles for loss.
  • The Bulldogs had four fumbles and lost two but finished a +1 in the turnover margin with three interceptions gained.  
Truman/Missouri S&T Game Notes:
  • Truman led 7-0 after Devonte Black found Joey Schenck late in the first quarter for a five-yard TD pass to cap off the longest drive of the season at 15 plays, 85-yards.
  • A 35-yard punt return, the longest allowed by the Bulldogs since the 2009 season, set up Missouri S&T for their first score of the game, a 23-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3 at the half.
  • The Miners took the lead as backup quarterback Tyler Swart plunged in from a yard out with eight seconds to play in the third quarter. Swart replaced injured QB Lamar Wilkes in that series and completed two of five passes with a game changing long of 43-yards to Ray Mullen on third and 11.
  • S&T had nearly a two-to-one advantage on possession time in the second half. The Miners held the ball for 19:54 while Truman had it for 10:06. In the fourth quarter alone, the Miners had the ball for nearly 12 minutes.
  • The Miners had 198 of their 321 yards of total offense in the second half while Truman had 84 of their 287 in the final 30 minutes of play.
  • Both starting quarterbacks led their respective teams in rushing. Lamar Wilkes tied Dalton Major with 50 net yards rushing and Devonte Black led Truman with 56 yards on 13 carries.
  • S&T started four drives deep in Bulldog territory but came away with just three points. The Miners missed three field goals of 24, 27 and 29 yards.
  • Malique Robbins garnered the most carries for his young career with 13 for 49 yards and a long of 12.
  • Joey Schenck caught eight passes for 66 yards, a long of 36 and the touchdown.
  • Black finished 15-of-28 for 116 yards and an interception.
  • Randy Schroeder, in one series, was 5-of-6 for 53 yards before the Bulldogs turned it over on downs at the S&T24.
  • Austin Zoda led Truman's defense with 11 tackles and the Bulldogs finished with 10 tackles for loss totaling 30 yards.
  • Austin Truvillion was the Miners' leader on defense with 15 stops and 2.5 tackles for loss. Truvillion was named the GLVC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
  • The Miners collected three Bulldog turnovers while Truman did not gain a turnover on the night.
  •  The Bulldogs were held scoreless in the second half for the second straight game and have now only scored three points total in the second half of the three games this season.
  • Truman's last 0-3 start was in 2006, that year they would win six of the final eight games to finish 6-5.
Behind Enemy Lines:
The Blue Tigers enter week four with a 1-2 record…they won their season opener at Langston (Okla.) 35-32 but were then dealt a 13-10 home loss to St. Francis (Ill.) and a 42-37 loss at Quincy (Ill.)…the Bulldogs will play that same St. Francis team for a non-conference game on October 17…Vanzell Richardson was named the GLVC Special Teams Player of the week following an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Quincy last week…Lincoln is 1-8 since moving to the GLVC from the MIAA last season…their lone conference win last year was a 42-13 victory over Quincy…Head Coach Mike Jones is in his fifth season on the sidelines at Lincoln…Jones was a 12-year veteran of the NFL and is noted for making "The Tackle" which clinched the St. Louis Rams Super Bowl victory over the Tennessee Titans in 2000.

Preseason Polls:
The Bulldogs were picked to finish second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason coaches' poll that was released on July 31. It is the third straight year Truman was picked second by league coaches behind returning GLVC champion, the University of Indianapolis. Lincoln was picked eight out of the nine-team league with 12 points, one ahead of Southwest Baptist (Mo.).

The Bulldogs In The GLVC:
Truman is 10-6 as they enter their third season of GLVC action. Both years the Bulldogs have tied for second in the league race behind champion the University of Indianapolis.

In those games, the offense has averaged 24.6 points per game with an average of 354.6 total offensive yards (176.7 rushing/177.9 passing).

The defense has allowed 15.8 points per GLVC game with an average of 298.5 yards of total offense (99.1 rushing/199.4 passing).

The defense has posted 42 sacks in 16 GLVC games while the offense has allowed 25 sacks.

Truman has outscored GLVC foes 393 to 252 (+141) with 51 Touchdowns to 28 Touchdowns Allowed.

Road Warriors:
Seven of the first nine games will be played away from Kirksville and the Truman campus. It ties the 2005 season with the most road games on a single season schedule.

Out of 172 NCAA Division II programs, Truman is one of three schools with seven true road games. The Bulldogs join Minnesota State Moorehead and Chowan (N.C.) with seven road games. Lane (Tenn.) and Central State (Ohio) also has seven games away from campus but each has one with a neutral site designation.

Truman will travel nearly 5,000 miles roundtrip this season but will also play three of the four closest NCAA Division II schools on the road. Those three are Quincy, Lincoln and William Jewell that will account for a total of 483 of those roundtrip miles.

Stopping The Run:
In the first three games, Truman defense has held opposing running backs to 3.2 yards per carry (103 /335 yards) but running quarterbacks are fairing slighty better at 3.8 yards per carry (32/124 yards). In Saturday's game against Missouri S&T, the Miners' running backs averaged 3.0 yards per carry while the quarterbacks averaged 4.7 yards per attempt.

For the season, Truman is third in the GLVC in rushing defense at 154.3 yards per game.

String of Close Games:
Four of the last seven games, dating back to last season have been decided by three points or less with Truman's record in those games being 1-3. The other three games have been two 20+ point losses and a 45-point victory.

Going back to the start of the 2014 season (13 games), the Bulldogs have been involved in eight games that have been decided by 10 points or less with a record of 4-4 in those games.

Bulldogs Return To TV
The October 31st conference game with rival Quincy has been selected by the NCAA Division II as part of their weekly national television package to be broadcasted on the American Sports Network. The ASN is comprised of 162 Sinclair Broadcast Group stations. The company, which launched last season, produced 250 college events in nine sports with plans to air more than 375 events this year. The game will be seen locally on KTVO CBS 3.2 and on KHQA CBS Channel 7 and nationwide on NCAA.com.

All Truman home games will be available on the GLVC Sports Network. The free webcasts which can be found on TrumanBulldogs.com/watch, will feature a simulcast of the radio broadcast provided by 104.7 FM KRES. The "Voice of the Bulldogs" Brad Boyer and "Mr. Bulldog" Hank Janssen return for their 21st season in brining Bulldog action to fans. In addition, all games will have a free audio webcast at CentralMoInfo.com/KRES.

Kings of Missouri
With a .579 all-time winning percentage, Truman is the "Top Dog" of all NCAA Football playing schools in the state of Missouri. The Bulldogs are second in terms of overall wins with 551 and trail the flagship institution of the state, the University of Missouri in that regard. Northwest Missouri (.576), Missouri Western (.551), Mizzou (.548) and Westminster College (.525) round out the top five of the 15 public and private schools in the state that play football under the NCAA banner.

Up Next:
Road trip number four takes the Bulldogs to the defending league champion the University of Indianapolis. Truman is looking to dethrone the champs as last year the Greyhounds rallied for a 23-20 win over the Bulldogs at Stokes Stadium. Last time on the road, Truman fell 21-14 as UIndy scored in the final minute to clinch the outright title over the Bulldogs.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (EDT).
 
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Players Mentioned

Vince Garcia

#22 Vince Garcia

RB
5' 6"
Redshirt Freshman
Devonte Black

#9 Devonte Black

QB
5' 11"
Junior
Devin Gillespie

#59 Devin Gillespie

DL
6' 0"
Senior
Joey Schenck

#15 Joey Schenck

WR
6' 4"
Junior
Randy Schroeder

#8 Randy Schroeder

QB
5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
Austin Zoda

#36 Austin Zoda

DB
5' 8"
Junior
Malique Robbins

#30 Malique Robbins

RB
5' 9"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Vince Garcia

#22 Vince Garcia

5' 6"
Redshirt Freshman
RB
Devonte Black

#9 Devonte Black

5' 11"
Junior
QB
Devin Gillespie

#59 Devin Gillespie

6' 0"
Senior
DL
Joey Schenck

#15 Joey Schenck

6' 4"
Junior
WR
Randy Schroeder

#8 Randy Schroeder

5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
QB
Austin Zoda

#36 Austin Zoda

5' 8"
Junior
DB
Malique Robbins

#30 Malique Robbins

5' 9"
Freshman
RB