KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Home Sweet Home. The Truman Football team returns to Stokes Stadium for Family Day after a grueling but successful two game road trip to both the mountain and eastern time zones. The opponent will be another stern test as Tiffin (Ohio) University is receiving votes in the America Football Coaches Association top 25 poll and are coming off a last second defeat at the hands of #16 Indianapolis at home on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs traveled round trip over 2,600 miles but came away with wins over South Dakota School of Mines and Hillsdale (Mich.) College the past two weeks. In Saturday's win over the Chargers of Hillsdale, Truman shrugged off a slow start and rallied from a 13-0 halftime deficit to win 21-13. The offense started the second half with an 18-play, 88-yard drive that grinder nearly 10 minutes off the clock before Matt Hall caught a five-yard pass on fourth down from quarterback Nolan Hair.
The well-rested defense forced a quick three-and-out that led to another Truman State touchdown and their first lead of the game at 14-13. A Ben Watson interception followed by another three-and-out by the defense set the Bulldogs up with a short field and Shamar Griffith raced in for 20-yards out for the insurance touchdown. The defense held Hillsdale to 85 yards in the second half.
Tiffin allowed a 98-yard kickoff to Jeremiah Lee of UNIDY on the first play of the game but then built up a 20-7 second half lead over the Greyhounds. The Dragon's held a six-point lead with 4:18 left to play. The Greyhounds had a 76-yard touchdown run nullified due to a holding half but then engineered a 12-play, 81-yard drive and converted on a pair of fourth downs before scoring on a 12-yard TD pass with six seconds left to play. UNIDY added another touchdown following a fumble after Tiffin attempted a heroic scoring play with several laterals.
Last year in Tiffin, the Dragons fell in a similar fate to the Bulldogs. Tiffin led Truman 35-17 in the third quarter and held an 11-point advantage when Truman took over with 8:09 to play. Hair managed a 10-play drive and found Dante Ruffin for a two-yard touchdown with 3:29 to play to pull the Bulldogs to within five at 35-30. Jacob Morris recovered the ensuing onside kick for Truman and Hair completed a pair of passes as the Bulldogs faced both a fourth and five and fourth and six during the drive. Cody Schrader ran into the endzone with 26 seconds left to play and the Bulldogs raced out of Tiffin with a 38-35 win over the then #12-ranked Dragons.
Game Recap: Truman State 21, Hillsdale College 13
For the third time in 13 games, the Bulldogs were on the winning end when facing the Hillsdale Chargers on the gridiron. Nolan Hair completed 22-of-28 passes for 187 yards and also rushed for another 52 as the Bulldogs came back from a 13-0 halftime deficit to win.
It was only the eighth time during the Coach Nesbitt tenure that Truman won a game after trailing at half (8-42) and only fifth time winning after being behind after three quarters (5-40). The last time was against Tiffin last season where Truman was down 28-17 after two and 35-24 after three quarters of play.
After having nine drives in the previous two games being a three-and-out for the offense, Truman did not have a single three-and-out Saturday afternoon.
Shamar Griffith went over the 2,000-yard career rushing milestone during the game and turned in his longest run from scrimmage in his brief Truman campaign. Griffith busted a 20-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to put the Bulldogs ahead 21-13. He ran for 60 yards on 15 attempts and combined with his totals from his previous school, Missouri Western, has 2,033 career collegiate rushing yards.
Hair targeted three different receivers six times each with both Zach Zerwig and Matt Hall reeling in five catches each and Chris Kerr nabbing another three. Zerwig finished with 60 receiving yards. All three receivers climbed over the 100-yard mark for the season with Zerwig the current leader with 126 yards on 13 catches.
The defense allowed two touchdowns on the first four drives Saturday and 149 yards of total offense in the first half to Hillsdale but after recharging at half and resting for the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, shutout the Chargers in the second half and forced two punts, an interception and a turnover on downs before stopping a short pass at their own 44 on the final play from scrimmage.
Isaiah Estes and Ulysses Ross tied for game-high honors with nine stops each. Estes and Garrett Linn each recorded quarterback sacks and Ben Watson picked off his second pass of the season as Truman has now forced seven turnovers (5 interceptions and two fumbles) in the first three games.
The Bulldogs finished with 291 yards of total offense compared to the Chargers 214.
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 30-9 in there last 39 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 punt yards with 5,086 yards and is eighth in punt attempts as a Bulldog with 129. In those boots, Cornish has a career average of 39.4, the fourth career best of any Bulldog punter to date.
In 19 games as a starter, Nolan Hair has completed 61.6% of his passes for 3,516 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 170 by Ben Watson in 31 career games. The other three are Isaiah Estes with158/29 games, Ben Thomas 145/27 games and Peyton Carr with 107/18 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:
The Bulldogs will be idle next week before opening up Great Lakes Valley Conference action The original schedule had Truman at Lindenwood to begin conference play but the Lions departed the GLVC after last season for Division I and the Ohio Valley Conference. It will be Homecoming in Kirksville when Truman welcomes their longest rival on the schedule, Missouri S&T, on October 8th at 2 p.m.
