Game Coverage:
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Looking to shake off their first loss of the season, the 6-1, #25/#22 Truman State University Football team will welcome William Jewell College for Homecoming on Saturday at Stokes Stadium.
The Bulldogs have avoided consecutive losses since November of 2018 and have won seven straight games following a defeat. Since 2013, Truman State is 19-11 in bounce back games.
Despite the loss to Indianapolis on Saturday, the Bulldogs remained in both the American Football Coaches Association and D2Football.com polls. In the coaches poll, Truman is 25
th while the media poll, the Bulldogs are 22
nd. There are now just four teams in Super Region 3 that are undefeated, Davenport (Mich.), Harding (Ark.), Pittsburg (Kan.) State and UINDY with another five one-loss teams, Truman, Central Missouri, Ouachita Baptist (Ark.), Grand Valley (Mich.) State and Southern Arkansas. The first Super Region 3 ranking of teams under consideration for a postseason playoff spot, will be made public at the end of the month.
William Jewell opened their conference slate with a victory over Upper Iowa 30-13 on September 30
th but lost at Indianapolis 59-17 and then at home to Quincy 41-28 last weekend. The Cardinals have already matched their win total from last season with a non-conference victory over Fort Lewis (Colo.) 42-6 in the first week of the season.
Truman has claimed the last eight meetings with the Cardinals and are 9-1 in the 10 encounters during the Great Lakes Valley Conference era. The one loss came at Homecoming in 2014 when Jewell overcame a 17-0 halftime deficit to win stun Truman 21-17.
Since that game, the Bulldogs have averaged 37.3 points per game against William Jewell and the average margin of victory has been over 20 points. The last two games, Truman has won 52-0 here in Kirksville in 2021 and 42-7 in Liberty in 2022.
The all-time series is 14-8-2 and dates back 100 years to the 1903 season.
A Look Back At Last Week:
Tied at 14 and had just picked off the Greyhounds at their own 34, the Bulldog Football team was poised to take their first lead of the game. After picking up a first down, the drive stalled and Truman brought out the field goal unit, however the kick was blocked and then returned 82 yards as Indianapolis took the lead and snatched the momentum.
UINDY added 10 more points in the third quarter and went on to hand the Bulldogs their first loss of the season 38-17. Truman had an uncharacteristic three turnovers in the game and were 3-of-7 in redzone opportunities despite outgaining the Greyhounds 379-313 on the afternoon.
Denim Cook rushed for 130 yards on 15 attempts (8.7 per carry) and had two runs of over 40 yards on the afternoon. The Bulldogs rushed for 214 yards as a team and
Tim Johnson Jr. added 50 yards with one touchdown and averaged 8.3 yards per rush.
Brock Jones set a career-high with 10 tackles including a sack for the defense and
Ben Thomas picked off his 13th career pass to move into sole possession of fourth on the all-time career interception list.
The Cardinals ran into the high-powered Quincy Hawks on Saturday and with the score tied at seven, Quincy reeled off four touchdowns and a field goal before halftime to lead 38-7. Jewell clawed back with three fourth-quarter scores to make the final score 41-28.
Quarterback Taylor Eggers completed 22-of-46 for 293 yards and two touchdowns but tossed three interceptions. Nathan Barnett caught seven passes for 136 yards and a score but the team's rushing total was just 38 yards on the day. It was Eggers second start of the season since taking over for C.J. Ward.
Sean Mitchell leads the GLVC in tackles per game at 8.7 and has three interceptions. Mitchell had 10 stops against the Hawks on Saturday.
Bulldog News & Notes:
Gregg Nesbitt is in his 14
th season on the sidelines second only to the 16 seasons of Maurice "Red" Wade in head coaching years of service at the school. The Bulldogs are 86-58 under Coach Nesbitt and have a 37-9 record since the start of the 2019 season.
The Bulldogs have averaged close to or more than 200 yards rushing per game over the past five seasons and have scored over 30 points per game in the past four.
Quarterback Hair has started the past 33 games at quarterback and is sixth on the career passing yards list with 5,890 yards. Hair will next catch Tom Hayes, who threw for 6,276 yards in 1981-83. He has completed 62% of his passes. His 52 touchdown passes is tied for fourth all-time in school history with his predecessor Jaden Barr. Jeff Frost (1987-90) had 54 TD throws and Matt Ticich (2006-08) had 58. The school record is 70 touchdown passes by Eric Howe (1998-01).
Mason Huskey has averaged 5.6 yards per carry in seven games, he has also caught seven passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns.
Tate Crane has been the top target with 33 catches for 439 yards and
Zach Zerwig has hauled in 21 catches for 196 yards. The duo has eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards with Crane at 1,117 and Zerwig at 1,032 yards.
The Truman defense has been stingy with 20 or more turnovers forced in each of the last three full seasons. The last two years, Truman defense has had 24 takeaways with defensive backs
Ben Thomas (13) and
Ryan Olivas (10) on the career interception lists.
Isaiah Estes has entered the top 25 on the career tackles list with 254 stops and is the team leader this year with an average of 7.1 tackles per outing. The last Bulldog defensive player to enter the top 25 in tackles was Austin Zoda in 2016. Zoda finished with 318 stops to rank sixth all-time.
Ben Thomas has 223 career tackles and is in sole possession of fourth on the career interception list with 13. The school career record for picks is 15 held by Freddy Thompson, Gary Evans and Darren Blair.
Grant Ross has converted on 66 of 68 extra point attempts and has made his last 55 straight. Ross is 7-of-11 in field goals this year and 16-of-23 for his career with a long of 45.
Mason Gessert has averaged 31.1 yards per punt.
Thomas is averaging 8.3 yards per punt return with a long of 25 in 14 attempts. Thomas has 44 career returns for 506 yards and a long of 64. He is fifth on the career list and five yards back of Jason Douglas (2014-17) for fourth. Alfonso Pugh (1999-02) is second with 721 and Eric Holm (1977-80) is the career leader with 809 yards.
Gerry Marteen Jr. has averaged 29.6 yards on eight kickoff returns with a long of 50 this year.
Mason Huskey has five returns this season for a 36.2 average and a long of 72 yards.
Up Next:
Truman will play their only October road game in the final week of the month when they head to Bolivar, Missouri to face Southwest Baptist University. The Bearcats are 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the GLVC and will be playing at Upper Iowa this weekend.
