Football 11/3/2021 10:06:00 AM

Bulldogs Head To Land Of Lincoln To Face McKendree Saturday

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – A tough road assignment is on tap for the Truman State Bulldog Football team when they travel to Lebanon, Illinois to square off against the McKendree Bearcats. The Bulldogs and Bearcats are part of a four-way tie for second place in the GLVC with 3-2 conference marks. Truman is 7-2 overall while the Bearcats are 4-5.

Truman trounced rival Quincy 49-28 on Saturday behind five touchdown passes from Nolan Hair and two interceptions by Ben Thomas. The Bulldogs led 28-0 at the halftime intermission. Hair finished with 325 yards passing while running back Cody Schrader churned out his seventh straight 100-yard rushing game and eighth this season with 119 yards on 21 carries and added 50 yards on three receptions. Schrader is closing in on 1,500 rushing yards and has 18 rushing touchdowns.

Thomas was named the GLVC Defensive Player of the Week following his performance on Saturday. The Bulldog defensive back is fourth on the team in tackles with 59 this season and leads the unit with three interceptions and 11 pass breakups. It was the second time this year a Truman defensive player has earned the GLVC weekly award as Thomas joins freshman Jack Marth with the honor.

The Truman defense enters Saturday's tilt second in the GLVC in total defense allowing 340.8 yards per game. They are also second in points allowed at 23 per game and against the rush at 86.3 yards allowed per contest.

McKendree rallied for a 45-42 win at Southwest Baptist in their Saturday contest. The Bearcats scored 22 points in the fourth quarter and were down 12 with 11:40 to play before quarterback Turner Pullen threw two 20+ yard touchdown passes, the last coming with 2:28 to play. SBU ran three plays inside the McKendree four yardline but turned the ball over on downs with 22 seconds left.

The Bearcats boast the #3 offense in the GLVC in 428.7 yards per game. They are third in rushing (190.6) and fifth in passing (238.1) with running back Jace Franklin fourth in the conference rushing charts at 76.3 yards per contest. The McKendree defense is fifth overall in the conference at allowing 407 yards per game 167.9/rushing and 239.8 passing.

Truman has taken the last three over the Bearcats and are 6-2 all-time. They had their largest margin of victory back in 2019 with a 45-17 win at Stokes Stadium. The last time they played on the McKendree campus, it was another big fourth quarter push by Truman that gave them a 45-38 victory.

Back in that 2019 game, Truman scored 35 unanswered points after the first quarter was tied at seven to win going away 45-17. The Bulldogs rushed for 304 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns with Jordan Salima finishing with 132 and Cody Schrader with 90. McKendree's Turner Pullen was 22-of-31 for 292 and was sacked three times.

About the Bulldogs:
Offense:
Cody Schrader is looking to accomplish something that only three Bulldogs have done at Truman in a season and that is rush for 1,500 yards. Schrader sits at 1,436 yards, which is sixth on the single-season rushing chart. Jarrett Anderson has the single-season record at 2,140 yards and rushed for 1,575 and 1,502 in his 1994 and 1995 seasons respectively. Chad Guthrie is second and fifth on the list with seasons of 1,649 yards in 1991 and 1,562 in 1992. Mike Harris is third at 1,598 in 1978. Schrader is still 30 carries shy of cracking the single-season top 10 in attempts, held by Anderson in 95.

Schrader is third nationally in Division II rushing yards and yards per game. His 1,436 is just behind Joran Terrell (1,440) of Barton and Toriano Clinton of Indianapolis (1,525). He has the longest 100-yard rushing game streak by a Bulldogs, currently at seven, since Jarrett Anderson had nine-straight in 1996. Schrader's 32 career touchdowns is eighth in a Truman career.

Quarterback Nolan Hair is 10-3 as the starting quarterback with four games in the spring and all nine games in the fall season. He has thrown for 2,558 yards with 26 touchdowns in those 13 games and completed 62% of his passes. This season, Hair has thrown for 1,740 yards with 17 touchdowns and added 137 yards and one rushing touchdown. His five TD performance against Quincy was the most TD passes thrown by a Bulldog since Jade Barr tossed five in a non-conference win against Malone (Ohio) back in 2016. The school mark for TD passes in a game is six held by Jake Czeschin against Missouri S&T in 2004. Matt Ticich had two 5-TD games in his career, against Missouri Western and Washburn, both in 2007.

Truman has had 13 different players catch passes from Hair this season led by Dante Ruffin's 35 and Matt Hall's 27. Ruffin has five receiving touchdowns and 396 yards this season while is also the active leader in receiving yards with 1,312 on 113 receptions. Ruffin cracked the career top 25 at Truman in his last game and sits in 21^st position. He can move past Charles Blakley for 20^th with 48 yards. Jake Ellis is second on the active list with 1,154 yards on 93 catches and is tied for the school record for career touchdown receptions with 22.

The Bulldog offense is third in Division II in fourth down conversions at 84% (11/13). They are second in rushing yards per game in the GLVC at 197.7 and have won 34 straight games when running for over 200 yards in a contest dating back to the 2010 season. Truman is averaging 33.0 points per game.

Defense:

Isaiah Estes and Peyton Carr are Truman's tackle leaders with 67 and 64 stops respectively.. Estes has five TFLs and has the season high in tackles with a 14-stop performance against Southwest Baptist. Carr has six tackles for loss and a pair of interceptions, including a pick-six against Missouri S&T.

Seven Bulldogs have picked off 11 passes this year led by Ben Thomas' three. Carr and Ryan Olivas have two each.

The Bulldogs have had 68 tackles for loss this season and 28 quarterback sacks. Ulysses Ross is the leader with 5.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss. Jack Marth is second in sacks with 3.5 and has eight TFLs.

Eight of the top 11 defenders this season have played in 13 or fewer career games only Ben Watson (25), Estes (23) and Thomas (21) have played in more games.

The Truman defense is first when it comes to red zone defense in the GLVC. Opponents have made 27 trips inside the Bulldog 20 yardline and have scored on 20 occasions (74%) with 17 touchdowns (63%). The team is second in the conference and 11^th nationally against the run at 80.4 per game and third in the conference and 29^th nationally with 2.89 sacks per game.

Special Teams:
Truman special teams have again been "special" this season. They are second in the conference in kickoff returns and eighth nationally and first in the league and eighth nationally in kick return defense. Josh Scheiderer is averaging 54.9 yards per kickoff with 10 touchbacks.

Scheiderer is 5-of-11 on field goal attempts with a long of 46 this season. He has converted on 40-of-41 point after touchdown attempts. Scheiderer has 254 career points which ranks him fifth on the career scoring list at Truman. His 37 field goals is tied second all-time and he is second alone in PAT kicks made with 141. The Bulldog career record for a kick scoring is 255 held by Derek Koon from 2010-13.

Punter Taylor Cornish is the GLVC leader in punting with a 39.4 yards per boot mark. He has 34 punts on the season with three touchbacks, 11 fair catches and 11 inside the opponents 20. His long this season was 54 yards.

Jaylen Jefferson is third in Division II after leading the nation in kickoff return yards at 34.9 per attempt and has two kick return touchdowns. He has 14 returns for 475 yards.
Ben Thomas has 14 punt returns for 176 yards (12.6/return) with a long of 26.

Miscellaneous tidbits:
Truman appeared in both the American Football Coaches Association Division II Top 25 and the D2Football.com media poll. The Bulldogs were 18^th in the AFCA and 22^nd in the D2Football polls the week of September 27. They dropped out of both polls following the loss to Lindenwood and for the third straight week this season, did not pick up any votes in the poll.

The Bulldogs did not make the second NCAA Super Region 3 ranking that was released this week. The rankings are the initial indicator for the Division II playoffs. Lindenwood was fifth in the rankings and the only representative of the GLVC.

Head Coach Gregg Nesbitt is second in school history in coaching wins with 69 and has the second-longest coaching tenure at the school in 11 seasons. He is 69-54 all-time and 41-19 in GLVC games played since joining the league in 2013.

The Bulldogs are eighth in Division II in all-time wins with 593 in 113 seasons. Northwest Missouri is seventh with 606 wins.

Up Next:
Two of the top three running backs in Division II will be on display in the regular season finale next Saturday at Stokes Stadium when the Greyhounds of the University of Indianapolis visit for a noon kickoff. UINDY's Toriano Clinton leads all of the NCAA in rushing yards with 1,525 while Truman's Cody Schrader is third in the entire NCAA in rushing at 1,428. Both teams also are the top two teams against the run defensively.

It will be senior day with senior recognition taking place 30 minutes prior to kickoff.

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Players Mentioned

#17 Peyton Carr: DB; 6' 0"; Freshman

#98 Taylor Cornish: P; 6' 4"; Junior

#83 Jake Ellis: TE; 6' 7"; Senior; National Letter of Intent

#33 Isaiah Estes: LB; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#6 Nolan Hair: QB; 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman

#10 Matt Hall: TE; 6' 3"; Sophomore

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

#8 Ryan Olivas: DB; 5' 11"; Freshman

#41 Ulysses Ross: LB; 5' 10"; Freshman

#11 Dante Ruffin: WR; 5' 11"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#17 Peyton Carr
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: DB

#98 Taylor Cornish
: 6' 4"; Junior
: P

#83 Jake Ellis
: 6' 7"; Senior; National Letter of Intent
: TE

#33 Isaiah Estes
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: LB

#6 Nolan Hair
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman
: QB

#10 Matt Hall
: 6' 3"; Sophomore
: TE

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

#8 Ryan Olivas
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: DB

#41 Ulysses Ross
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: LB

#11 Dante Ruffin
: 5' 11"; Senior
: WR