KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - It seems fitting that the oldest current rival on the Bulldog schedule and a former member of the Truman State coaching staff are the opponents in the 78th edition of homecoming on Saturday in Kirksville. The Bulldogs will host Missouri S&T for the 85th meeting between the two schools that dates back to 1909. In addition, first-year Missouri S&T Head Coach Andy Ball returns after being a member of Gregg Nesbitt's staff from 2011 until 2014. Ball's father Randy was a team captain for the Bulldogs in 1982 and helped the squad win three straight MIAA Championships from 1969-1971.
After a week off and a dramatic overtime win over Tiffin (Ohio), the Bulldogs will open up their conference slate of games against the Miners. Truman enters with a 3-1 non-conference record and on the heels of their 18-17 overtime win. The Miners lifted the lid on their GLVC schedule with a come-from-behind win over Quincy at home on Saturday 31-24.
Truman received votes in the America Football Coaches Association Division II poll this week. The Bulldogs received four votes in the survey, one behind week one opponent Davenport (Mich.) Fellow GLVC mate and week 11 opponent, Indianapolis is ranked eighth in the poll with a 4-0 record and jumped up six spots from last week's release.
It was the eighth overtime game in school history and first at home since 2009. Zach Zerwig caught a two-point conversion pass from Nolan Hair on the Bulldogs second attempt at the PAT after Tiffin got flagged for defensive holding on the first try. Tiffin led 10-0 early in the second half before Denim Cook scored on a two-yard toss play to pull Truman to within three. With 2:27 left to play and backed up to their own 23, Hair drew a roughing the passer call to start the final drive. On fourth down, Hair scrambled before finding Chris Kerr and a 39-yard reception to move the ball down to the Dragon's 23. Truman would gain just one more yard before Grant Ross was trotted out to attempt the tying field goal with 50 seconds left to play. Ross nailed it from 39-yards out and the teams eventually went to overtime.
Tiffin needed just two plays to strike first in OT with a 17-yard run by Darius Pinnix. Shamar Griffith answered on the Bulldogs third play of OT with a six-yard run setting up the two-point decision by Coach Nesbitt that resulted in a wild celebration in the southeast corner of Stokes Stadium.
For his efforts, Grant Ross earned the GLVC Special Teams Player of the Week award.
The Miners trailed Quincy 21-14 at the half on Saturday night in Rolla and Bryson Burn's 59-yard catch and run from a pass by Staton King with 5:14 left to play gave S&T a 31-24 advantage. They would turn the Hawks away at their own four hardline in the waining seconds after Quincy had marched 71-yards in 15 plays looking for the tie. Gideon Niboh earned GLVC Special Teams honors with a 35-yard punt return and a 70-yard kickoff return.
The Bulldogs have won three straight over Missouri S&T including last year's 38-21 victory in the fall and 46-27 win during the spring season. In S&T's last visit to Kirksville, a dramatic 28-yard field goal by Josh Scheiderer allowed the Bulldogs to pull out a 41-39 win with seven seconds left to play.
Since the two teams restarted their conference series in the GLVC in 2013, the Bulldogs have won six of the nine meetings. The Miners last win came in 2018 with a 34-33 home victory.
Game Recap: Truman State 18, Tiffin 17.
It was the second straight year that these two teams played a nail-biter with both times the Bulldogs coming out on top. Last year, Truman rallied from a fourth quarter deficit and punched in the winning touchdown with 26 seconds left to play while this year a late drive resulting in a game-tying field goal with 50 seconds showing allowed the Bulldogs to erase a 10-0 deficit and eventually win in overtime 18-17.
It was the eighth overtime game in school history (5-3) and first since a 13-7 loss on the road to Drake (Iowa) in 2014. It broke a three-game overtime losing streak by the Bulldogs and was their first overtime win since October 4, 2008 when Demetrius Lavant returned a pass 57-yards for the interception win to cap off a homecoming victory over Nebraska-Omaha.
Truman's first overtime game was on September 27, 1997, a win on the road at Central Missouri. Three of the eight games have come against Emporia (Kan.) State, and one each to Central Missouri, Nebraska-Omaha, Drake and Missouri S&T.
Nolan Hair threw for 156 yards on 19 completions and targeted Matt Hall 13 times with nine catches for 68 yards. Chris Kerr caught three of the nine passes thrown his way for 55 yards.
Shamar Griffith scored the touchdown in overtime and finished with 75 yards on 15 carries. Denim Cook tallied his first Bulldog touchdown with a two-yard run in the second quarter and Zach Zerwig broke the plane of the endzone with the game-winning two-point conversion catch.
In special teams, Grant Ross had the game-tying 39-yard field goal and averaged 55.7 yards on three kickoffs. Taylor Cornish continued his stellar season with six boots for 243 yards (40.5 average) with four inside the Tiffin 20.
The Bulldog defense held the Dragons to 399 yards of total offense and scoreless in the final nine drives of regulation. Tiffin amassed 151 yards on their first two possessions that resulted in a 10-0 lead on 31 plays but never had another drive go over 46 yards the rest of the game while forcing five punts, a missed field goal and an interception by Ryan Olivias.
Tiffin won the time of possession with 34:12 and were 11-of-19 on third downs, while Truman was only 1-of-11 on third down conversions.
Isaiah Estes led the defensive unit with 10 tackles and Ulysses Ross and Ben Thomas combined on the only Bulldog quarterback sack.
Truman Tidbits:
Truman went 12-4 in 16 games played during the 2021 calendar year and 9-3 during the traditional fall season. The Bulldogs had the GLVC Offensive Player of the Year in Cody Schrader, who led Division II in rushing yards with 2,075 and touchdowns with 25 before entering the transfer portal and signing with the University of Missouri-Columbia. Robert Greco and Ben Watson, both defensive players are returning 2021 first-team all-GLVC members. In total, the Bulldogs had 178 players selected to the all-league list and will return 60 letter winners and 23 starters from 2021.
The Bulldogs were picked second in the GLVC Preseason Coaches poll behind perennial champion Indianapolis and ahead of McKendree, Southwest Baptist, Missouri S&T, Quincy and William Jewell.
Head Coach Gregg Nesbitt is in his 13th season on the sidelines of Truman State, the second most by any previous coach in school history. The team has gone 31-9 in there last 40 games with two America's Crossroads Bowl championships.
Punter Taylor Cornish is quickly moving up the Bulldog career punting charts this season. Cornish is now seventh in both punt yards with 5,329 yards and in punt attempts as a Bulldog with 135. In those boots, Cornish has a career average of 39.5, the fourth career best of any Bulldog punter to date.
In 20 games as a starter, Nolan Hair has completed 61.4% of his passes for 3,672 yards and 34 touchdowns. He is 14th on the Truman career passing list and is ninth in TD passes, two back of Tom Hayes (36) and four behind Don Cummings on the charts.
Four Bulldog defenders have over 100 career tackles led by 177 by Ben Watson in 32 career games. The other three are Isaiah Estes with168/30 games, Ben Thomas 149/28 games and Peyton Carr with 112/19 games.
Thomas has nine career interceptions, one away from cracking the top 10 in Truman career interceptions. He will join Tommy Hernandez, Steve Ernst, Marcus Yokeley and Mike Dahlberg with his next pick.
Robert Greco is just two tackles for loss from cracking the top 10. Greco has 26 TFLs, two behind Ernie Myerson, Derek Kent, Eliah Lockart and Devin Gillespie.
Offensive coordinator Jason Killday's squad was first in the GLVC last season in scoring offense and averaged 6.27 yards per play, the second most in school history.
Defensive coordinator Kellen Nesbitt has been by his dad's side for all 13 seasons and has held opponents to an average of 22.3 points per game. Last season, the defense held the opposition to 19.3 points and only 77.3 yards on the ground per game.
Since 2018, Truman has returned seven kickoffs for touchdowns and three punts for scores. The last opponent to score on a kickoff was 2016 by William Jewell.
Up Next:
Truman will stay at home for the third consecutive game when they host Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University for their only night game of the season next Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The last time Truman played three consecutive home games during a season with in 2011 when Northwest Missouri, Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State came to Kirksville on consecutive weeks.
SBU is 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference and will host William Jewell on Saturday. The Bearcats used 401 yards passing against Truman last year to win on their home field 27-21, snapping a four-game Truman winning streak against them.
