Football 10/8/2019 6:22:00 PM

NOTES: Bulldogs Head To Unchartered Territory Saturday At Lindenwood

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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – With a national ranking and an undefeated season on the line, the Truman Bulldogs head to unfamiliar territory on Saturday when they travel to Lindenwood University in St. Charles for a featured Great Lakes Valley Conference showdown on Saturday.

The Bulldogs were voted 24^th in the latest American Football Coaches Association Division II poll after a 52-7 victory over Southwest Baptist. It is only the third time Truman has been in the AFCA poll, which started in 2000, with consecutive appearances in October 2001. Truman rushed for 423 yards and put up 615 yards of total offense in their fifth straight win of the season. The trio of Jordan Salima, Cody Schrader and Jaylen Jefferson each had over 100 yards on the ground in which was the fifth highest single-game rushing total in school history.

Lindenwood enters the GLVC after a seven-year stint as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The Lions were picked ahead of the Bulldogs in the GLVC Coaches poll for second in the league and are 2-3 on the young season with both victories coming in conference games. They won a shootout with McKendree on Saturday 45-37 with quarterback Cade Brister and linebacker Drew Seers earning GLVC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week accolades. Brister tossed a career-best 415 yards and four touchdowns and Seers making 17 stops and recovering a fumble in the effort.

Truman/Lindenwood Series Notes:
Despite the short trip to St. Louis, this will be only the second meeting between Truman and Lindenwood on the gridiron. The Lions began football in 1990 and were members of the NAIA and Heart of America conference until 2011.

In 2012, Lindenwood joined the MIAA, the same season that Truman played their final year in the league. The two teams met at Stokes Stadium in the season finale with the Lions prevailing 38-13.

Bulldogs Garnering Attention:
After three weeks of receiving votes to be outside the top 25, Truman picked up 101 total votes this week to grab the 24^th spot in the AFCA Top 25 Division II Coaches poll. The Bulldogs join West Florida (#25) as newcomers to the poll this week. Truman has been in the top 25 twice, both in 2001. They were 21^st on October 23 and 24 on October 30^th of that season.
Truman is one of 20 teams across Division II without a loss and one of seven within Super Region 3 (MIAA, GLVC, GLIAC, GAC) undefeated. Regional teams without a loss include Pittsburg State, Ouachita Baptist, Northwest Missouri State, Ferris State, Indianapolis and Central Missouri.

The Bulldogs also have some lofty rankings in the Division II statistical categories. The Bulldogs are tops in kickoff returns at 39.5 per return, third in scoring defense (9.4/g), sacks allowed (.40/g) and opponent third downs (21.6%). They are ninth in redzone defense (55.6%), 10^th in turnover margin (1.6 or +8), 14^th in passing efficiency defense (91.2), 18^th in scoring offense (39.6/g) and 19^th in both penalties (5.2/g) and time of possession (35:52/g).

Truman is now 11-2 in their last 13 games 15-5 in their last 20 dating back to the end of the 2017 season.

Post Game Notes Against Southwest Baptist:

Head Coach Gregg Nesbitt tied his former colleague John Ware for third on the Truman all-time coaching wins list with his 54^th Truman triumph. Nesbitt is now nine wins back of legendary coach Don Faurot for second place.
Truman's 615 total offensive effort was the seventh best in school history. The most recent 600-yard day was 615 against Lincoln in 2011. The school record for total offense is 676 versus Minnesota State Mankato in 1982.
It also gave Truman consecutive games with over 500 yards of offense after the Bulldogs gained 560 against Quincy the week before. The last time that happened was in 2006 with Pittsburg State (524) and Southwest Baptist (564). The last three straight games came in 2001.
The Bulldogs put up their fifth highest single-game rushing total at 423 yards. That total included a bad snap that cost the Bulldogs 21 yards on a fourth down play.
The school record is 526 set in 1960 against Missouri S&T with games of 466 against Missouri State in 1977, 455 against Central Missouri in 1995 and 431 against Missouri S&T in 1995 on the list. The last time Truman topped 400 yards rushing was in 1996 (418 vs. Washburn).
Jordan Salima, Cody Schrader and Jaylen Jefferson accounted for 562 of the 713 all-purpose yards for the Bulldogs in the game. Salima had 191 on 155 yards rushing and 36 on six catches. Schrader had 119 rushing and 67 on six catches and Jefferson had 103 rushing, six receiving and 76 on a pair of kick returns.
Salima had his longest run of the season, 63 yards, and his ninth career 100-yard rushing day. The senior tailback moved to within 138 yards of becoming only the fifth running back at the school to rush for 3,000 or more yards.
Jaden Barr moved up more spots in three career categories. Barr was 18-of-25 for 181 yards in three quarters of work. He went over 2,000 career rushing yards to become the 15^th player and first quarterback at Truman to accomplish that feat. Barr moved up to fifth in career passing yards, fourth in passing attempts and is in fourth alone in passing touchdowns at Truman.
The Bulldogs recorded their longest drive of the season in terms of yardage with 97 yards on 10 plays and most plays in a drive this season with 17 plays going 75 yards, both for TDs.
Truman has had 20 touchdowns in their last three games and has one fewer TD (25) than punts (26) this season. In the last three games, the ratio is 20 TDs to 12 punts.
On the third scrimmage play of the night for SBU, Brenden Smith went 76-yards for a touchdown. It was only the second TD in the first half scored by the opponents this season and only the second time Truman has been "tied" this year outside of 0-0. Truman has not trailed in a game through five games.
Smith finished with 175 rushing yards for SBU

Behind Enemy Lines…

The Lions are 2-3 on the year and 2-0 in the GLVC with wins over William Jewell (28-16) and McKendree (45-37). Their losses have come against FCS Eastern Washington 59-31, then #16 Midwestern (Texas) State 28-27 and Davenport (Mich.) 35-24.
Junior quarterback Cade Brister leads and offense that averages 434 yards per game. Brister is both the leading rusher (70-179) and passer at (120-1433). Najee Jackson (31), Erik Henneman (21) and Payton Rose (20) are the top targets for Brister. Rose has 414 yards and six touchdown receptions.
The offense has allowed a league-worst 20 quarterback sacks this season while Truman has allowed only two.
The Lions have thrown for 17 touchdowns and rushed for four this year.
Defensively they have allowed on average 459 yards per game and 35 points. Opponents have rushed for 184.8 yards per game while throwing for 274.2 yards per contest.
Drew Seers and Grady Daniels are the top two tacklers for the Lions. Seers has 56 total stops while Daniels has 42.
Since joining Division II, the Lions are 13-27 at home, 1-1 this year after an 0-5 home record last year.
Lindenwood picked up 38 votes to finish one ahead of the Bulldogs for second in the GLVC preseason coaches' poll. The Lions were 4-7 last year in the MIAA.

Up Next:
Another tough test awaits the Bulldogs for homecoming in Kirksville when Missouri S&T rolls to town for a 2 p.m. kick. The Miners went 10-2 last season and beat the Bulldogs 34-33 in the season finale last year in Rolla. This year, S&T is 4-1 and receiving votes in the AFCA Top 25. They will be at Texas Southern for a non-conference game this week.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Jaden Barr: QB; 5' 11"; Senior

#4 Jaylen Jefferson: RB; 5' 9"; Junior; National Letter of Intent

#2 Jordan Salima: RB; 5' 10"; Senior

#21 Cody Schrader: RB; 5' 9"; Redshirt Freshman

Players Mentioned

#15 Jaden Barr
: 5' 11"; Senior
: QB

#4 Jaylen Jefferson
: 5' 9"; Junior; National Letter of Intent
: RB

#2 Jordan Salima
: 5' 10"; Senior
: RB

#21 Cody Schrader
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Freshman
: RB