Game Coverage:
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman State Bulldogs will welcome the newest member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference while recognizing around 25 seniors on Saturday when the Bulldogs host Upper Iowa University at noon.
The 2023 senior class will end up having the second-best five-year run of any Bulldog team. Starting in 2019, Truman State has a 37-10 overall record with a 78.7% winning percentage. You need to go back nearly 90 years of Bulldog Football to find a similar stretch of dominance. Those teams, under the direction of Don Faurot and later his brother Fred, won 97% of their games from 1932 through 1936, including a school record 27 straight games.
Upper Iowa is in its first season of GLVC play after being a longtime member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Peacocks are 1-4 in conference play this year and 3-6 overall. They have a victory over Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University two weeks ago at home 35-13 but were defeated by the top team in the league, Indianapolis, 35-7 last Saturday night on the road.
Speaking of Southwest Baptist, they hit a field goal on the final play of the game to down the Bulldogs 20-17 on Saturday in Bolivar. It was the second loss of the season for Truman. The game was hampered by poor weather conditions and driving rain that also delayed the game for nearly an hour in the first half due to lightning. It was the Bearcats second straight victory over Truman in Bolivar.
While new to the league, the Bulldog Football team has played the Peacocks on three other occasions with the last coming in 2007. In what was the first night game in over a decade at Stokes Stadium, Bulldog quarterback Matt Ticich lit up the scoreboard with a school record 493 yards passing and totaled 516 yards of total offense in a 55-31 win over the Peacocks. The Bulldogs led 38-10 at half while Ticich tossed four touchdown passes and Vanness Emokpae caught seven balls for 170 yards. As a team, Truman finished with 33 receptions for 536 yards that evening.
The other two Truman/Upper Iowa games occurred back in 1965 and 1941. Both were played in Kirksville and both saw the purple and white come out on top.
With Iowa being the closes neighboring state to Kirksville and the Truman State campus, the Bulldogs have played 13 schools from the Hawkeye state on the gridiron. Overall, the Bulldogs are 35-21 in games against schools from Iowa and under Coach Nesbitt, the Bulldogs have a 2-3 record with wins over Drake and William Penn and losses to Drake, in overtime and a pair of losses to Morningside. The most games against a single school from the state are 12 coming against the defunct Parsons College in Fairfield and 10 in the recently closed Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant. In most games against an active school is seven against Northern Iowa but the Bulldogs have not played the Panthers since 1985.
A Look Back At Last Week:
Abel Carter ran for 185 yards with 44 coming in the final drive of the game that set up a walk-off winning field goal for Southwest Baptist on Saturday over the Bulldogs 20-17. Truman was playing from behind most of the afternoon as both teams battled the rain, cold and a lightning delay that halted the contest for nearly an hour in the first half.
The Bulldogs started their first possession of the game at the Bearcats 24 but went backwards and with the conditions turned the ball over on downs at the Bearcat 27. SBU promptly marched down the field to take a 7-0 lead.
Jack Weltha recovered a fumble at the Bearcat 25 and
Denim Cook punched it in from six yards out to tie the game at seven as both teams headed for shelter due to lighting detected after the score.
Following the delay, a slick ball on a punt snap got away and tumbled down to the Bulldog goal line where one play later Carter scored to put SBU up 14-7. The Bulldogs would get a late field goal of 36-yards by
Grant Ross to pull within four at half.
Logan Turner connected on a 27-yard field goal after Truman turned the ball over on a fumble at midfield in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs returned the favor and recovered a fumble in plus territory but against failed to convert on a fourth and one from the SBU 37. The Bearcats drove the ball to the Bulldog 34 and set up for a long field goal that was blocked by
Jacob Carmack. On the ensuing possession,
Nolan Hair converted on a fourth and five and later ran it in from 15 yards out to tie the game with 3:45 remaining.
Carter started the next drive with runs of 11 and 20 yards as SBU quickly moved into field goal range. They would milk the clock down to three seconds and Turner, who leads Division II in field goals made, drilled a 31-yarder as time expired for the win.
Meanwhile later that evening over in Indianapolis, Upper Iowa took their shot at the soon-to-be conference champions. The Greyhounds raced out to a 21-0 first quarter lead behind pass plays of 19, 70 and 30 yards. UINDY QB Gavin Sukup completed 24-of-35 passes for 332 yards and tossed four scores.
The Peacocks got 77 yards on the ground from RJ Wells and 178 yards through the air from quarterback Darryl Overstreet Jr. Eddie Burgess caught four passes for 65 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 87-59 under Coach Nesbitt and have a 38-10 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 36 with a record of 28-8 in those contests at quarterback and is sixth on the career passing yards list with 6,181 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 nine games, he has also caught 10 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.
Tate Crane has been the top target with 38 catches for 483 yards and
Zach Zerwig has hauled in 23 catches for 229 yards. The duo has eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards with Crane at 1,161 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 nine games this season, the Bulldogs have 15 turnovers gained.
Isaiah Estes has entered the top 25 on the career tackles list with 267 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 230 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 72 of 74 extra point attempts and has made his last 61 straight. Ross is 9-of-13 in field goals this year and 18-of-25 for his career with a long of 45. He is ninth on the all-time career list and tied for 10
th in career field goals.
Mason Gessert has averaged 33.2 yards per punt and has had nine fair caught and 10 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 close out the regular season with a trip to Missouri S&T next Saturday. The Miners and Bulldogs are the oldest rivalry among all GLVC team as the two schools have played 84 times dating back to 1909. Kickoff from Rolla, Missouri is scheduled for 1 p.m.
