The McKendree Game
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Last year, Truman entered the final regular season game against McKendree looking to lock up their first outright conference championship since 1985 and secure their spot in the NCAA Division II Football playoffs.
What followed was the Bearcats humbling the Bulldogs for the second straight time 41-14 and knocking Truman out of a most likely playoff berth, the first since 1994.
This year, Truman enters as winners of three straight games and will hope to not only send the 12 seniors out with win but build momentum for the offseason as the Bulldogs host McKendree at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Quarterback Jaden Barr completed 73% of his passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 101 yards in the Bulldogs 28-12 victory over Southwest Baptist on Saturday. After allowing SBU to score on their opening possession, Truman shutdown the Bearcat offense until an inconsequential touchdown in the final minute of the game.
McKendree enters as winners of three straight as well and are 7-3 overall and 5-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Bearcats exploded in the second half for 26 points to overtake Quincy on Saturday 42-14 after trailing 14-13 at the half. McKendree was aided by two interception returns for a touchdown by their defense in the fourth quarter. Running back Shayeen Edwards ran for 181 yards on 30 carries and Reece Metcalf completed 18-of-28 for 252 yards.
The Bearcats have had the upper hand against Truman the last two years. In their last visit to Kirksville in 2015, McKendree outgained the Bulldogs 413 to 175 and handed Truman one of their worst losses in GLVC play 31-3.
In Lebanon last season, McKendree blocked three Truman special teams attempts and returned a punt 90 yards. The Bearcats scored points on three of their first four possessions and ran away with a 41-14 win.
This will be the sixth game between the two schools with Truman winning the first three 25-10 in 2011, 28-21 in 2013 and 30-17 in 2014.
For the season, Jordan Salima is leading the Bulldogs in rushing with 916 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 91.6 yards per game. Jaden Barr has completed 59% of his passes for 1503 yards and 10 scores. Salima also leads the team in receptions with 33 while Jordan Jorgenson has the most receiving yards with 426.
Linebackers Justin Mikeworth (71) and Bryan Edwards (70) lead the defense in tackles and defensive end Sam Reeves is among the national leaders in sacks with 11.5 for 75 yards. Reeves is seventh on the Truman career sacks list with 22 and is half sack shy of the single-season record.
COACHES…Truman is led by Gregg Nesbitt in his eighth year at his alma mater and has a 42-44 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. Mike Babcock is in fifth season at McKendree and is 32-20 overall and 25-12 in GLVC games. Babcock's teams are 17-5 in conference the last three years.
SCOUTING THE BEARCATS…McKendree is second among all league schools in scoring defense at 21.0 points allowed per game and second in rushing offense at 170.5 yards per game…McKendree is seventh out of eight teams in rushing defense allowing 196.2 yards per game but second in pass defense at 177.6 yards per game…in conference games, the Bearcats are second in scoring at 34.8 points per game…the defense has 13 interceptions in league play and have scored 1/3 of their points off of turnovers this season (108 out of 309 points score)…Shayeen Edwards is fourth in conference games in all-purpose yardage at 109.8 per game…Edwards has 948 yards rushing with nine touchdowns…quarterback Reece Metcalf has completed 63% of his passes for 1789 yards and 12 scores with Jalyn Williams catching 40 balls for 517 yards and three TDs…Austin Weltha leads the team in tackles with 108, 11.5 for loss and five of the squads 17 interceptions.
SBU II INSIDE THE NUMBERS
· Quarterback Jaden Barr had his second career 100-yard rushing game with 101 yards on only 10 carries. His other 100-yard game came this season in the opener against Michigan Tech (116).
· Barr broke Jordan Salima's eight game streak of leading the team in rushing yards. Salima finished with 77 on 23 carries and has gone over 900 rushing yards for the season. Salima has been the leading rusher for the Bulldogs in 17 of the last 19 games.
· Barr tossed four passes over 20 yards in the game including the longest pass of the season, a 42-yard TD catch and run to Dante Ruffin.
· Seven receivers caught a total of 18 passes, the second most completions in a game this year.
· The Bulldogs were not officially credited with a turnover but Dillon Weiss picked off T.J. Edwards' two-point pass in the fourth quarter and returned it out to midfield. That INT and yardage do not go into the official final stats.
· Sam Reeves closed to within a half sack of the Truman record for quarterback sacks. Reeves had one and Isaiah Hinton had two in the game.
· Kicker/Punter Brock Rohler had four of his five punts finish inside the SBU 20 yard line and all four of his kickoff attempts were touchbacks.
· In fact, all five of the Truman kickoffs were touchbacks and only allowed one return (a 14-yard punt return) on 10 total kicks and punts.
· Truman won for the first time this year when rushing under 200 yards for the game (181). They were 0-6 entering Saturday's game. The Bulldogs would have had 200 yards but lost 18 yards on a bad snap and two victory formation losses at the end of the game.
· Truman also won for the first time this year after allowing the opponent to score first (1-4). The Bulldogs are now 7-26 when opponents score first since 2010.
· The Bulldogs held SBU to 91 yards rushing which was the third straight game an opponent failed to gain 100 yards on the ground and fourth this season, all wins.
· It was the third time this year that Truman held an opponent to under 20 points in a game and 29th time since 2010 (25-4).
· SBU finished with 12 penalties for 115 yards while Truman was flagged twice for 20. Seven of the 12 fouls were called unsportsmanlike with Kendrick Payne receiving two for an ejection.
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.
SURPURLATIVESSEASON
· Jordan Salima has 916 rushing yards, which is 24th in Truman single season ranks. He needs 84 for his first 1,000 yards season and 20th by a Bulldog running back. Last was Garrett White (1,166 yards in 2014).
· Salima has 212 attempts and will crack the top 10 for a season with 17. He will tie Bulldog great Dale "Paley" Mills's 1960 total of 229. Jarrett Anderson's 1995 total of 232 is next on the list in ninth.
· Salima has 1,282 all-purpose yards and will hit the top 10 with 115 on Saturday. Lenvil Elliott is 10th with 1,397 all-purpose yards in 1972.
· Malique Robbins' 565 kick return yards is ninth in a single season passing Art Austin (562 – 1994), Marcus McCoy (535 – 1991) and Tremaine Millender (505 – 2010). He could push past Donald Harvey's 581 in 2011 and Larry Jones' 582 in 1973 to get to seventh.
· Sam Reeves tied his total from last season with 16 tackles for loss which is third in a single season at Truman. He needs a half to tie Nic Abbate (2013) and one to tie Patrick Blackwell (2012) for the record.
· Reeves needs a half sack to tie for the school record with Al Fulton (1972) and Elijah Lockhart (1982).
· Bryan Edwards is fifth with four fumbles recovered in a season. The last Bulldog with more than four recovered in a season was Courtney Jordan with six.
CAREER NOTABLES:
· Quarterback Jaden Barr, through two seasons, has 3,408 passing yards which ranks 13th on Truman career passing list. His 59.5% completion percentage is second among all Bulldog QBs with at least 100 attempts and his 27 TD passes is three shy of the Bulldog top 10.
· Barr is in the top 15 in Truman total offense with 4,258 yards and has been responsible for 42 touchdowns, two shy of the top 10.
· Punter Brock Rohler, through three seasons, is fifth in punting yardage with 5,868 yards and closing in on Mike Miletich's 5,950 total between 1986-89. Rohler has 157 punts (fifth most) and averages 37.4 for his career.
· Jordan Jorgenson is fifth in punt return yards with 491, he is 13 shy of Pat Fine (1984-87) and 20 back of Jason Douglas (2002-05) for third on the list. Jorgenson has 51 returns (sixth most) and a 9.6 yard average (fourth best).
· Sam Reeves has 32 tackles for loss through two years which ranks fifth on the career list. The record for a career is 42 by Nic Abbate (2010-14).
· Reeves has 22 career quarterback sacks, tied for fourth all-time with Tim Gildehaus (1979-82) and Pete Grathwohl (1975-78) and is 10 back of Ernie Myerson's total of 32 (1984-87).
· Ben Chaney has six career interceptions but his 193 INT return yardage is good four fourth all time. Only three Bulldogs have had over 200 INT return yards, Kelvin Cunningham (246), Freddy Thompson (220) and Gary Evans (205).
SETTING THE BARR…Quarterback Jaden Barr is 12-7 as a starter. 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.
CHASING 1,000…Running back Jordan 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 1,612 yards. Salima is first on the team with 33 receptions and has 278 yards.
OFFENSIVE QUICK HITS… Jordan Jorgenson leads the receiving corps with 30 catches for 426 yards and freshman Jake Ellis has 18 catches for 207…Truman is averaging 5.0 yards per play and 163.4 rushing and 169.3 passing yards per game.
DEFENSIVE QUICK HITS…Jordan Brown has gone over 200 career tackles (226) and is the Bulldogs active leader in stops…Brown has 56 this season and four pass breakups…Ben Chaney has six career interceptions and has one of the three by the defense this season…Isaiah HInton is second on the team with 6.5 tackles for loss…the defense has allowed 24.4 points per game and 363.2 yards of total offense…they have allowed 130 rushing yards per game and 232 passing yards per game.
SPECIAL TEAM NOTEABLES… Brock Rohler has averaged 36.9 yards per punt with 11 of his 50 inside the opponents 20, he is averaging 56.6 yards on kickoffs with 12 touchbacks…Danny Spencer has made seven of 12 field goal attempts with a long of 42, he is 25-of-26 on extra point attempts…Jordan Jorgenson has returned 19 punts for 116 yards (6.1) with a long of 18.
AROUND THE GLVC…Indianapolis has won their fifth GLVC championship in six years as a conference sport. The Greyhounds downed Missouri S&T 42-34 after trailing 28-17 at half against the Miners. UINDY is the second ranked team in the Super Region 3 standings and will most likely host the first round of the playoffs when the field is announced on Sunday.
UP NEXT…Next week the GLVC will announce the all-conference teams and the national signing day will be on February 7.
