Game Coverage:
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The next stop on the Truman State Football schedule is Saturday when the team travels to Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar for a 1 p.m. kickoff. The Bulldogs remained in both the American Football Coaches Association Top 25 and D2Football.com media poll as well as being listed in the first NCAA Super Region 3 rankings.
The team jumped four spots to #21 in the coaches' poll while staying steady at 22 in the media poll. More importantly was being listed in the first Super Region 3 regional rankings. Ten teams in the region were listed alphabetically for the first week and then will be slotted based on selection criteria in the following two rankings.
Selection criteria is solely based on wins and losses against other Division II teams. Of the ten teams listed, four are undefeated in Division II, Davenport (Mich.), Harding (Ark.), Pittsburg (Kan.) State and Indianapolis. The Bulldogs are among the group of five one-loss programs joining Central Missouri, Ferris (Mich.) State, Grand Valley (Mich.) State and Ouachita Baptist (Ark.). Missouri Western is the only two-loss team in the ten schools listed. Over the next three weeks, there are only three games that have teams in the top 10 playing each other with two involving Davenport. The Panthers finish with Ferris State and Grand Valley State while Pittsburg State plays at Missouri Western. None of those games will occur this weekend.
Back to the Bulldogs, where they will take their 7-1 record and 3-1 conference record into Bolivar on Saturday. Truman trailed 14-12 at half to SBU last year at Stokes Stadium. The Bulldogs took the second half kickoff 84-yards in over six minutes to grab the lead at 18-14 and it would stay that way until late in the fourth quarter. The Bearcats took over with just under 12 minutes to play and marched 77 yards down to the Bulldog seven as they converted on a pair of fourth downs along the way. Facing a second and four from the seven, the Bearcats were flagged for a false start and were driven back on a sack from
Garrett Linn and
Peyton Carr to force a third fourth down play.
On that play, Cooper Callis' pass fell incomplete and Truman took over with 1:33 left to play.
Denim Cook busted a 50-yard run on the first play to flip the field and three plays later raced into the endzone on a 27-yard run to give Truman some insurance. The Bearcats didn't go quietly as they were able to score quickly and had an opportunity at an onside kick that failed for Truman to win 25-20. The Bulldogs rushed for 279 yards on the afternoon and had 431 yards of total offense.
In the Bulldogs last visit to Bolivar, they jumped on top 7-0 only to watch the Bearcats score the next 24 points en route to a 27-21 win over Truman State. The Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs with 47 seconds left to play at the Bearcat 28-yard line.
Southwest Baptist are 2-6 this season and are coming off a 35-13 loss at Upper Iowa on Saturday. They won their season opener over Panhandle (Okla.) State 65-7 and defeated McKendree (Ill.) 24-17 but have lost six of their last seven. Former Truman quarterback
Collin Sutton has been the starter this year for the Bearcats after transferring following last season. Sutton has thrown for 1,143 yards and seven touchdowns while rushing for 214 yards. Abel Carter is the team's leading rusher with 647 yards on 137 attempts.
The all-time series has Truman leading 29-5 in a series that started in 1988.
A Look Back At Last Week:
Quarterback
Nolan Hair earned his first GLVC Player of the Week honor following the Bulldogs 31-10 win over William Jewell on Saturday. Hair tossed three touchdown passes and completed a season-high 25 passes for 248 yards in the win.
Ben Thomas moved one career interception from tying the all-time record when he picked off his 14
th pass of his career on the game's first play from scrimmage that set up the first Bulldog score. Truman would have 21 points on the scoreboard less than 10 minutes into the game.
The Bearcats made the long trek to Fayette, Iowa and conference newcomer Upper Iowa on Saturday and managed a pair of field goals and a last-minute touchdown in a 35-13 loss to the Peacocks. SBU rushed for 261 yards and outgained UIU by three total yards but could not get the ball into the endzone until late. SBU was also flagged nine times for 90 yards,
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 87-58 under Coach Nesbitt and have a 38-9 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 34 with a record of 28-7 in those contests at quarterback and is sixth on the career passing yards list with 6,138 yards. Hair will next catch Tom Hayes, who threw for 6,276 yards in 1981-83. He has completed 62% of his passes. His 55 touchdown passes third all-time in school history. Matt Ticich (2006-08) had 58 touchdown passes for second. The school record is 70 touchdown passes by Eric Howe (1998-01).
Mason Huskey has averaged 5.4 yards per carry in eight games, he has also caught 10 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.
Tate Crane has been the top target with 37 catches for 476 yards and
Zach Zerwig has hauled in 23 catches for 229 yards. The duo has eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards with Crane at 1,154 and Zerwig at 1,065 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 (14) and
Ryan Olivas (10) on the career interception lists. Through eight games this season, the Bulldogs have 13 turnovers gained.
Isaiah Estes has entered the top 25 on the career tackles list with 257 stops and is the team leader this year with an average of 6.6 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 226 career tackles and is in sole possession of fourth on the career interception list with 14. The school career record for picks is 15 held by Freddy Thompson, Gary Evans and Darren Blair.
Grant Ross has converted on 70 of 72 extra point attempts and has made his last 59 straight. Ross is 8-of-12 in field goals this year and 17-of-24 for his career with a long of 45. He is one PAT shy of ninth on the all-time career list and one field goal way from cracking the top 10.
Mason Gessert has averaged 32.7 yards per punt and has had seven fair caught and eight inside the opponents 20-yard line.
Thomas is averaging 7.7 yards per punt return with a long of 25 in 16 attempts. Thomas has 46 career returns for 513 yards and a long of 64. He is third on the career list. 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:
The Bulldogs will honor a large senior class of over 20 players next Saturday when they welcome the newest addition to the Great Lakes Valley Conference to Stokes Stadium. Upper Iowa and Truman will play for the first time on the gridiron with a kickoff slated for noon.
