Game Coverage:
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman State Bulldogs will pay visit to the McKendree Bearcats as the two teams open Great Lakes Valley Conference play on Saturday afternoon in Lebanon, Illinois.
The Bulldogs have won all four non-conference games and enter with a 4-0 record while sitting just outside (26
th) in the American Football Coaches Association Top 25 poll and at number 21 in the D2Football.com media poll. The Bearcats enter 0-3 and are coming off a bye week after playing two nationally recognized programs out of their three non-league games to start the season.
Truman State is fourth in Division II in points allowed this season at 12 per game and have held their last two opponents to only one touchdown each. The defense has allowed 252.3 yards per game this season and the opposition rushing was at 80.3 yards per game, both ranked 23
rd in Division II.
Meanwhile, the offense is second in the country in time of possession with having the ball over 35 minutes (35:20) per game this season. The Bulldogs have had nine drives last more than five minutes and 14 drives last longer than four minutes. The longest possession this season is 9:12 that occurred last week in Wayne State.
Ground and pound with a sprinkle of accurate passing has allowed Truman to control ballgames. The team is averaging 164 yards on the ground led by
Mason Huskey's 79.5 yards per game.
Nolan Hair has completed 70% of his passes, good for seventh in Division II, and has spread the ball around to 11 different receivers thus far.
Tate Crane leads the group with 21 catches for 248 yards, while both Crane and
Zach Zerwig are both withing 100 career receiving yards of 1,000.
Also key to success has been the team's third down conversion rate on both sides of the ball. The offense is converting at 53% on third downs, good for first in the GLVC and 14
th in Division II, while opponents are converting at only 33% of the time, second in the conference.
Two of the three McKendree past opponents are receiving national recognition with West Florida currently ranked sixth in the coaches poll and eighth in the media poll and Tiffin at 4-0 while also being listed as receiving votes in the AFCA survey. The Bearcats have a large discrepancy in scoring margin this year as they have allowed 50.7 points per game and have only scored 11.3 points per outing.
Last year in Kirksville, the Bulldogs pounced on the Bearcats for 45 first half points, 24 coming in the first 15 minutes in a 52-7 victory. It was Truman State's fifth straight win in the series and eighth victory out of the 10 meetings.
A Look Back At Last Week:
The Bulldogs went to Detroit and got out of the starting blocks quickly when
Kendall Hutchison forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and
Jake Closser recovered to set up the Bulldogs at the Wayne State 36.
Mason Huskey reeled in a 14-yard pass to open the scoring and on the next Warrior possession,
Nathan Ryan blocked a punt and
Connor Baxley jumped on it at the Wayne 12. On fourth and one,
Nolan Hair punched it in from three yards out and the Bulldogs were one their way up 14-0 at the 7:08 mark of the first quarter.
Huskey finished with a career-high 115 yards rushing and added 15 yards receiving with three touchdowns to earn the GLVC Offensive Player of the Week award.
Grant Ross connected on a pair of field goals and hit all five extra point attempts to run his streak to over 40 straight and was named the GLVC Special Teams Player of the Week.
As the Bearcats were idle and awaiting the meeting with the Bulldogs, they were regrouping from a 38-17 setback to Minnesota State-Moorhead. The Dragons passed for 392 yards and four touchdowns while scoring on all five redzone opportunities. McKendree's Caleb Fisher completed 30-of-47 passing for 228 yards while also running for 57. Yogi Flager Jr. made 10 catches for 84 yards and had one of two McKendree touchdowns.
Truman In The GLVC:
The Bulldogs will kickoff their 11
th season as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference and are tied for second in wins with 47 since 2013. The University of Indianapolis has posted a 69-7 league record since the conference initiated football in 2012 while Truman is second with a 47-21 mark. Missouri S&T has 47 wins as well but have 28 losses to boot.
UINDY was picked first in the GLVC coaches poll back in August with seven of the eight first place votes. Truman was slotted second with 43 points and got the other first place nod.
About the Bulldogs:
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 84-57 under Coach Nesbitt and have a 35-8 record since the start of the 2019 season. Last year, Truman State won nine games for the second consecutive season and capped off the 9-2 record with their third "America's Crossroads Bowl" championship. He was the GLVC Co-Coach of the Year last 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 30 games at quarterback and is seventh on the career passing yards list with 5,326 yards. Hair will next catch Don Cummings, who threw for 5,531 yards in 1967-70. He has completed 62% of his passes with 48 touchdown passes. His 48 TD passes is fifth on the all-time Bulldog career list and will chase down teammate Jaden Barr who is next on the list with 52.
Mason Huskey has averaged 5.3 yards per carry in three games while
Tim Johnson Jr. has averaged 3.9 yards per carry. Huskey has also caught seven passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns.
Tate Crane has been the top target with 21 catches for 248 yards and
Zach Zerwig has hauled in 10 catches for 92 yards. The duo is closing in on 1,000 career receiving yards with Zerwig at 928 and Crane at 926.
The Truman defense has been stingy with 20 or more turnovers forced in the last three full seasons. The last two years, Truman defense has had 24 takeaways each with defensive backs
Ben Thomas (12) and
Ryan Olivas (9) on the career interception lists.
Isaiah Estes is 18 tackles away from reaching the top 25 in career stops as a Bulldog. He is the active leader with 230 for his career. Thomas has 203 career tackles.
Ulysses Ross lead the team this season with 27 tackles.
Grant Ross has converted on 53 of 55 extra point attempts and has made his last 42 straight. Ross is 4-of-6 in field goals this year.
Mason Gessert has averaged 31.1 yards per punt while the team has allowed just one of the 13 punts to be returned for one yard.
Thomas is averaging 9.2 yards per punt return with a long of 25 in 10 attempts. Thomas has 40 career returns for 482 yards and a long of 64. He is one yard behind Albert Coker for sixth on the career punt return yardage list.
Gerry Marteen Jr. has averaged 34.3 yards on four kickoff returns with a long of 50 this year.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs neighbor in the GLVC, Quincy University, will take the short trip over to Kirksville for a 1 p.m. GLVC home game next Saturday. The Hawks are on a roll with a 3-1 record in non-conference and will host Southwest Baptist to open league play.
