Football 8/31/2016 8:03:00 AM

NOTES: Truman Football Starts Tough Schedule Against #14 Midwestern St.

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Football team will crack the seal on the 109^th Season on Saturday evening at home as the Bulldogs host #14 Midwestern (Texas) State at 7 p.m.

Head Coach Gregg Nesbitt, in his seventh season on the sidelines, will return one of the top defenses in Division II from a season ago while debuting new offensive coordinator Jason Killday and offensive line coach Chris Symington.

The Bulldog defense, under seventh year coordinator Kellen Nesbitt, allowed 20.1 points per game a season ago and held opponents to 331.2 yards per game. Truman was fifth in Division II when opponents entered the redzone limiting scores to only 62% of the time.

The Mustangs were the top team in the region last year with a 10-1 regular season record and were rewarded with the number one seed in Super Region 4. Unfortunately for MSU, they lost their playoff game 26-17 to fourth-seeded Colorado State Pueblo.

Head Coach Bill Maskill, in his 15^th season in Wichita Falls, brings a potent offense into Stokes Stadium as the Mustangs averaged 400 yards per game in total offense and were balanced with 208 through the air and 191 on the ground. The Mustangs were a +7 in turnover margin gaining 18 fumbles in the 12 games.

The two teams met last season in Texas with the Mustangs prevailing 31-3. MSU started their first two drives of the game inside Bulldog territory and raced out to a 17-0 first quarter lead. Truman held Midwestern to 321 yards of total offense but two fourth quarter TDs put the game out of reach.

Truman's offense for the night ended up being a predictor for the season. The Bulldogs had 171 yards of total offense with 120 on the ground and 51 in the air. Nick Dolezal's 21-yard field goal in the second quarter was the only points scored.

Last year's meeting was the first between the two programs.

UP NEXT:
The Bulldogs will host a new opponent next week at Stokes Stadium as Malone (Ohio) visits Kirksville for the first time. Malone is an NCAA Division II member in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and from Canton. The Pioneers play their home games at the same site of the NFL Hall of Fame game. Malone was 0-10 last year. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.

HOT ROUTES

The Bulldogs return five all-Great Lakes Valley Conference players from last season, Austin Zoda (First Team), Jordan Brown, Joey Schenck, Ben Wellman (Second Team) and Brian Craft (Honorable Mention).

Zoda is a three-time all-GLVC performer. He was on the second team in both 2013 and 2014. Zoda's 241 total tackles for his career is five shy of entering the Bulldog career top 25. Last season, Zoda finished with 95 stops and had three forced fumbles.

Joey Schenck was second in the GLVC last year in receptions per game (6.5) and led the team with 71 catches for 693 yards and four TDs. He has 90 career receptions, 30 away from cracking the Bulldog Top 10 and has 853 receiving yards.
Quarterback Randy Schroeder started the final six games as a redshirt freshman last season and went 4-2. For the season, he threw for 1,343 yards and four touchdowns and completed 55% of his passes thrown.

Two "True Freshman" took the bulk of carries last season. Andy Satulla led the team with 550 yards rushing and six scores and averaged 3.5 yards per carry. Malique Robbins played in five of the first six games and averaged 5.0 yards per carry and two touchdowns. Satulla had the only two "100-yard" rushing games last year, 172 against St. Francis and 125 against William Jewell.

The Bulldog defense has allowed only five individual opponents to rush over 100 yards since joining the GLVC in 2013 (a span of 31 games). Last year, Bubba Jenkins of Southwest Baptist has the most by an opposing back with 125 yards.

Jordan Brown led the Bulldog defense with two interceptions last year and both were returned for touchdowns. He has three INTs for his career while Austin Zoda has five.

Nick Dolezal led Truman in points scored last season with 50 and converted on 10-of-12 field goals and 20-of-22 extra point attempts. His longest was 43 yards in the season finale against McKendree.

Under Gregg Nesbitt the Bulldogs are 11-1 when they rush for over 200 yards in a game, they were 2-0 last season. In addition, Truman is 18-9 overall and 4-1 last year when winning the time of possession stat.

After playing seven road games last season and travelling over 5,000 miles (the equivalent of going from Kirksville to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Bulldogs will play six times in front of the home crowd. The road schedule in 2016 is kinder as the total miles scheduled to travel is roughly 3,000 round trip or driving to Las Vegas and back.

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