The Southwest Baptist Game (II)
Four Saturdays ago, the Southwest Baptist Bearcats used a goal line stand to win their first game at Stokes Stadium, now the Bearcats return to Kirksville with the Truman Bulldogs looking to exact revenge in a non-conference rematch.
The two teams had an open date on their schedule based on the closure of Saint Joseph's College this past spring. SBU was below the minimum number of games needed to be considered for an NCAA playoff spot (10) and Truman obliged to fill that hole by teeing it up again against the Bearcats on the week they were suppose to host the Pumas at Stokes.
The Bulldogs (3-6; 3-3 GLVC) are winners of two straight road games. Truman took care of business in a 31-7 defeat over Quincy on Saturday. All three phases of the team had notable impacts with the offense scoring on three of their first four possessions, the defense taking a shutout until late in the fourth quarter and the specials teams coming up with a punt block to set up another TD.
Quincy native Malique Robbins had a rushing touchdown and his first career receiving score and finished with 101 all-purpose yards for the Bulldogs. Jordan Salima had 98 yards rushing and 54 receiving.
The Bearcats (4-4; 3-3 GLVC) led 24-7 after the first quarter at Missouri S&T on Saturday but then watched the Miners outscore SBU 35-14 the rest of the game to fall 41-38. S&T racked up 492 offensive yards to SBU's 240. Bearcat QB T.J. Edwards was 21-of-36 for 181 yards but tossed two interceptions and was sacked five times.
Truman led 17-7 entering the fourth quarter against SBU back on October 7 but Edwards capped off a 13-play drive with a one yard run and tossed a 22-yard pass to Jerminic Smith with 10:41 to play to give the Bearcats a 21-17 lead. The Bulldogs would get a first and goal on their final drive but Mygeish Dennis knocked away a fourth down pass in the endzone to Jordan Jorgenson to preserve the win.
For the season, Jordan Salima is leading the Bulldogs in rushing with 839 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 93.2 yards per game. Jaden Barr has completed 58% of his passes for 1324 yards and eight scores. Salima also leads the team in receptions with 29 while Jordan Jorgenson has the most receiving yards with 379.
Linebackers Justin Mikeworth (65) and Bryan Edwards (61) lead the defense in tackles and defensive end Sam Reeves is among the national leaders in sacks with 10.5 for 67 yards. Reeves is seventh on the Truman career sacks list with 21 and has matched his 2016 total which is 1.5 shy of the single-season record.
COACHES…Truman is led by Gregg Nesbitt in his eighth year at his alma mater and has a 41-44 overall record. Nesbitt is fifth on the all-time victories list at Truman and is the sixth Bulldog taskmaster to have also played and lettered for the team he now leads. Robert Clardy is in third season at SBU and guided the Bearcats to a shared GLVC title with the Bulldogs last year and their first NCAA Division II playoff appearance.
SCOUTING THE BEARCATS…Southwest Baptist has played twice since leaving Kirksville on October 7 with their first win over the Bulldogs since 2005. The Bearcats defeated William Jewell 52-29 but lost to Missouri S&T 41-38. Kendrick Payne was the GLVC Special Teams Player of the Week after averaging 48.3 yards in three returns on Saturday against S&T. Payne had an 83-yard TD return in the first quarter and added seven catches for 62 yards and two touchdowns. Payne now holds the GLVC record for career TD receptions with 32. Quarterback T.J. Edwards has completed 61% of his passes for 2,078 yards and 17 touchdowns. SBU averages 30.4 points offensively and 24.8 defensively with 393.9 in total offense and 370.2 in total defense. In conference only stats, the Bearcats lead the GLVC in passing offense at 283.6 per league game but have allowed 19 sacks in six league games. Tyler Curts is fourth in the league in tackles per game at 9.7.
QUINCY GAME INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The Bulldogs had four drives over 10 plays of which three went over five minutes in possession time. Truman had a season-high 35:17 in possession time.
- Truman was 7-of-13 in third down conversions and are 51% in the last two weeks when facing a third down.
- The defense forced six punts and had a season-high six three and outs.
- Of Quincy's 253 yards of total offense, 160 came in their final three drives of the game.
- Jordan Salima was in line for his sixth 100+yard rushing day until a seven yard loss on his final carry dropped him to 98 rushing yards. Salima had his eighth rushing touchdown of the season and 13th career rushing score.
- The defense had only three tackles for loss and one sack in the game. That sack was by freshman Michael Neisler.
- Jordan Brown led the D with eight stops and Zavian Hill had his first career interception with a return of 21 yards.
- At the half, Truman had 16 first downs to Quincy's two and had outgained the Hawks 238-76.
- The Bulldogs had their first offensive fumble lost this season and only their second fumble lost for the year. Truman had gone 1,211 offensive plays since losing a fumble dating back to week two of last season.
- Truman improved to 6-2 overall against the Hawks and held them under 100 team-rushing yards for the fifth time in the last seven games.
ACADEMIC SUCCESS…The Bulldogs had 42 players named to the GLVC All-Academic team last season, up from 29 the previous two years. To earn Academic All-GLVC, a player must have a 3.3 cumulative GPA or a 3.4 GPA over the academic year. The team had a team GPA last year of 2.94 and is ranked among the top public schools in the NCAA Academic Success Rate.
SETTING THE BARR…Quarterback Jaden Barr is 11-7 as a starter. He has thrown for 3,229 yards with 25 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions. He has become just the 14th Truman signal caller to throw for over 3,000 yards in a career. His single game high in passing is 275 yards against Southwest Baptist this year and rushing is 116 yards against Michigan Tech this year. Barr has accounted for 38 touchdowns in his career.
CHASING 1,000…Running back Jordan Salima is a graduate of Truman High School in Kansas City and is in his second year of leading the Bulldogs in rushing and all-purpose yardage. He has 839 yards this season and is looking to become the 20th 1,000 yard rusher in Truman history. He would be only the third one since 2000.
Salima has five career 100+yard rushing games with a high of 147 against Lincoln in 2017. He is 17th on the Truman career-rushing list with 1,535 yards. Salima is first on the team with 29 receptions and has 248 yards. He has 61 receptions for his career for 481 yards. Salima has 2,485 all-purpose yards.
OFFENSIVE QUICK HITS…The Bulldogs have had 23 rushes from scrimmage go for over 15 yards and 27 pass plays go for over 20 yards… Jordan Jorgenson leads the receiving corps with 26 catches for 379 yards and freshman Jake Ellis has 16 catches for 198…Truman is averaging 4.9 yards per play and 161.4 rushing and 165.3 passing yards per game…Jordan Salima is averaging 104.2 yards per GLVC game which is second and second in all-purpose yards per league game at 139.8.
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN…Kick returner Malique Robbins is 36th in Division II and first in the GLVC with 565 kick return yards this season. Robbins is averaging 25.7 yards per return and has three of his 15 go for over 40 yards.
SACKMASTER…Sophomore Sam Reeves has 21 sacks in two seasons as a Bulldog which is seventh on the Bulldog career charts. Reeves is fourth in Division II this year with 10.5 and leads the GLVC with 1.38 per game. Reeves has 10.5 of the 16 Truman sacks this season.
NOSE FOR THE BALL…Sophomore Bryan Edwards is second in Division II with four fumbles recovered. KJ Reid of Arkansas Tech has five and Avery Taylor of Merrimack also has four. Edwards is second on the team in tackles with 61, four behind leader Justin Mikeworth.
BRINGIN THE HEAT…The Bulldog defense set a school record last year with 90 TFLs. Five of the top six years on the record books have been set by a Bulldog defense coached by Defensive Coordinator Kellen Nesbitt. Truman has averaged 6.8 tackles for loss per game since 2010. This year, Truman has 50 tackles for loss for 117 yards through eight games and has 18 sacks for 76 yards lost.
DEFENSIVE QUICK HITS…Jordan Brown has gone over 200 career tackles (221) and is the Bulldogs active leader in stops…Brown has 51 this season and four pass breakups…Ben Chaney has six career interceptions and has one of the three by the defense this season…A.J. Devecchi is second on the team with 5.5 tackles for loss as a redshirt freshman…the defense has allowed 25.8 points per game and 360.2 yards of total offense…they have allowed 135 rushing yards per game and 225 passing yards per game…in GLVC games, Truman is second in scoring defense at 19.5 points per game allowed and third in rushing defense at 118.8.
PITCH & CATCH…Opposing quarterback have completed 67% of their passes against the Bulldogs this season. That is the highest completion percentage against the Bulldogs in 59 seasons of statistics with only 11 other years teams completing 60% of their passes. The next highest season was 65% in 2005. Two of the top five single game opponent completion percentages all time have occurred this season. Morningside completed 89.5% (17-of-19) and Grand Valley State completed 82.6% (19-of-23). Only two games have had 90% or more success, Saint Joseph's College in 2014 (92.3%; 12-of-13) and Central Missouri in 2013 (90.3%; 28-of-31).
PITCH & CATCH II…Opponents have a passing efficiency rating of 159.0 The efficiency rating calculates completion percentage, yards per attempt, interceptions and touchdowns. The previous high allowed by Truman was 163.43 set in 1991.
SPECIAL TEAM NOTEABLES… Brock Rohler has averaged 37.0 yards per punt with seven of his 45 inside the opponents 20, he is averaging 56.2 yards on kickoffs with eight touchbacks…Danny Spencer has made seven of 11 field goal attempts with a long of 42, he is 21-of-22 on extra point attempts…Jordan Jorgenson has returned 17 punts for 109 yards (6.4) with a long of 18…Jorgenson set a Truman record last season with 375 punt return yards (11.7 average).
DOUBLE-DIP…With the closure of Saint Joseph's College in the GLVC, the Bulldogs were left with 10 games on the schedule. Fellow co-champion Southwest Baptist was left with nine games, one below the NCAA Division II minimum for qualification to the national tournament. The two teams had an open date on November 4 and agreed to play again. The Bulldogs have doubled up on an opponent three times in their history, against William Jewell in 1904 (split), Central Methodist in 1909 (Truman wins) and again against William Jewell in 1909. The 1909 games were marred with controversy as the Cardinals won the first game 49-0 but were awarded a 1-0 win after the Bulldogs left the field in protest during the second game.
AROUND THE GLVC…Indianapolis will face Missouri S&T on Saturday for the outright GLVC title. If the Greyhounds (6-0) defeat the Miners (4-1), UINDY would claim its fifth GLVC title in six seasons of football. If S&T can down UINDY, the Miners would grab a share of the title with the Greyhounds and it would be their first league championship
UP NEXT…The Bulldogs saw their playoff hopes and outright GLVC title dashed last year at McKendree with a 41-14 loss to the Bearcats. McKendree has won the last two games against Truman by a 72-17 combine score. Truman will look to exact revenge against the Bearcats when they host McKendree for Senior Day and the season finale next Saturday at 1 p.m.
