Tim Barcus - University Photographer

Football 10/1/2014 8:25:00 AM

Football Notes: Truman vs. McKendree (October 4 - 1:00 p.m.)

Truman Bulldogs (3-1; 2-0 GLVC) vs. McKendree (Ill.) Bearcats (0-4; 0-1 GLVC)
Saturday, October 4, 2014 ~ Leemon Field, Lebanon, Ill. ~ 1:00 p.m.
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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Bulldogs will look to make it four straight as they head to Lebanon, Illinois for a Great Lakes Valley Conference game against McKendree University on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Game Preview: The Bulldogs turned in their best offensive production since a 2012 game when they accumulated 458 yards of total offense in a 29-20 home win over Lincoln (Mo.) University on Saturday night. Garrett White gained 116 yards and Devonte Black tossed for a career-high 216 in the third straight win for the Bulldogs.

White has three straight 100-yard rushing games and is closing in on the top 10 in career rushing yardage, 31 yards shy of the tenth spot. He enters the game second in the GLVC at 119.8 yards per game with 479 yards on 89 carries.

Black has gained 203 yards on the ground and has completed 60% of his passes for 582 yards and five touchdowns in his first season as a starter. Black has spread the ball to nine different receivers through four games with Chico Orlando (14 catches, 130 yards) and Joey Schenck (11 catches, 105 yards) being his top targets.

A week after holding one of the nation's leading rushers to only 29 yards, the Truman defense will turn their attention to one of the top passers in the GLVC in McKendree's Isaac Fisher. The Bearcats enter Saturday's game with the third-ranked offense in the league at 387.8 yards per game with Fisher is first in total offense at 308.2 per game and second in passing yards at 271.2 per contest.

Fisher's top target, Dewayne Gatti leads the conference in receptions per game with 23 for 320 but missed the Bearcats 35-33 loss to Saint Joseph's (Ind.) on Saturday. The Pumas scored with 1:57 left to regain the lead and held on McKendree fumbled the ball away on their last chance at midfield.

Running back Ryan Herring leads the team with 245 yards on 37 attempts for a 6.6 yards per carry average and Fisher has completed 106 passes for 1,085 yards and eight touchdowns. He has thrown seven interceptions.

Three of McKendree's four opponents have been ranked or receiving votes this season. They lost to #14 Ferris (Mich.) State 75-14, #25 Findlay (Ohio) 37-28, Northwood (Mich.) 32-27 and most recently the Pumas, who are receiving votes in the coaches poll.

Series With McKendree:
This is the third meeting with McKendree and second played in Lebanon, Illinois. Truman won the first meeting, a non-conference game back in 2011, 25-10 and held on for a 28-21 homecoming win in Kirksville last season.

In last year's contest, McKendree had 371 yards of total offense with Fisher throwing for 228 and three touchdown passes to Gatti (36, 33 and 33 yards) with the receiver catching seven for 152 yards. The Bulldogs had 448 yards of total offense with senior quarterback Conrad Schottel throwing for 333 on 48 pass attempts and A.J. Hartfield ran for 101 yards on 27 carries.

Coaches:
Truman is guided by Gregg Nesbitt, in his fifth year as head coach of his alma mater. Nesbitt is 22-26 during his tenure. He played and lettered for the Bulldogs in 1978 and 1979, served as the team's defensive coordinator from 1990-93 and returned to the Truman campus in 2010.

Mike Babcock enters his second season on the McKendree campus and was 4-6 in his first year as head coach. Babcock was previously at Colorado St.-Pueblo, who is currently ranked number two in Division II. Babcock is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles where he played on two Pac-10 championship teams in 1997 and 1998.

Bulldogs In The GLVC:
Truman is in their second season as members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference and are 7-2 overall in league games. The Bulldogs were 5-2 and finished in a tie for second in their inaugural run through the league last season.

The Bulldogs have outscored GLVC opponents 241-125.

In all-time GLVC game statistics, Truman has run for 1,706 yards (189.6/game, 4.5/rush) while allowing 528 opponent rushing yards (58.7/game, 1.8/rush). In total offense,
Truman averages 377.0 per game and allows 247.4 per GLVC game.

The defense has sacked opposing GLVC quarterbacks 26 times for 175 while the Bulldog offensive line has garnered eight sacks for 60 yards.

Truman has controlled the ball 34 minutes in all conference games and been successful on third downs 35% of the time while opponents have converted 30% of third downs.

The Bulldogs have scored when entering the redzone on 27 of 34 trips and opponents have scored nine touchdowns on 11 trips.

Milestone Watch
Garrett White has become the 13^th Bulldog to rush for over 2,000 career rushing yards (2,146 yards) and first since Mike Redding finished with 2,054 yards in 2002. He is 31 yards away from passing James McCoy (1986-89) for tenth on the career rushing list and 203 yards from Mike Harris (1977-78) for the ninth spot.

White has 25 rushing touchdowns, good for seventh on the Bulldog career list three behind Lenvil Elliott (1969-72).
He averages 5.5 yards per carry with a single-game high of 158 against Kentucky Wesleyan and a long rush of 80 yards against William Penn.

White has seven career 100+ yard games.

Nic Abbate is third all-time in tackles for loss with 33.5. He is one back of Eric Sternberg (2005-09) for second and four behind former line mate Patrick Blackwell for the overall career lead.

Lincoln Game Highlights:

The win was the Bulldogs' 19^th straight over the Lincoln Blue Tigers and improved the overall series to 20-4-1.
Garrett White ran for over 100 yards for the third straight game and seventh for his career.
White has been the team's leading rusher in 15 of the last 17 games played and the last eight straight.
It was the third straight game that Truman has rushed for over 200 yards as a team (242) and first time since 2001 that the Bulldogs had three straight games over 200 yards rushing.
Devonte Black had his first 200-yard passing day as a Bulldog with a career-high 216 yards on 21-of-27 pass attempts. Black added 71 rushing yards on 11 carries.
With 1.5 tackles for loss, Nic Abbate passed Judd Lienhard (1998-02) for third place all-time with 33.5 TFLs.
The Bulldogs controlled the ball for 39:33 with nearly 23 minutes alone in the second half. Truman had three drives last more than five minutes and four drives of 10 plays or more.
Ben Chaney picked off his first two passes in his Bulldog career and was the first since Robert Gayden to notch two INTs in a game. Gayden last accomplished that feat in 2012 against Lindenwood (Mo.).
It was the 12^th straight game Truman's defense has held an individual under 100 yards rushing. It is the longest streak prior to the 2000 season. The last 100 yard rusher against the Bulldogs was Evan Ressler of William Penn (164 yards).
In eight of the last 11 games, Truman has held opponents team rushing total to 100 yards or less.
Truman was 6-of-11 on third downs and 4-of-5 in redzone chances.
The 110 yards of penalties against the Bulldogs were the most committed by Truman since they had 124 penalty yards against Southwest Baptist in 2010.
The Bulldogs committed eight 15-yard fouls, two for unsportsmanlike conduct and one personal foul while Lincoln had seven 15-yard fouls. Six of the seven Blue Tigers 15-yard flags were for personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct and they had two plays in which 30-yards of penalty yards were assessed.

Thrillers:
The Bulldogs have had nine of their last 15 games (6-3 Record) in which the final score was within single-digits. Seven of the previous 33 games (21%) fell within that margin in the previous three years (3-4 Record) and since 2000, the Bulldogs averaged three games a season (26% of all games)in which the outcome was a one-possession game (17-12 Record).

In The Classroom:
The Bulldogs had 36 players named to the Academic All-GLVC list last season, most of any school in the conference. To earn Academic All-GLVC, a player must have a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average or have posted a 3.40 over two semesters. The team's cumulative GPA last season was 2.94 for over 100 members of the squad.

Bulldog Pedigree:

Truman has won 548 games in 106 years of football which is 8^th all-time in Division II in terms of wins. The 1931-35 Bulldogs, under Coach Don Faurot, still have the eighth longest winning streak and 25^th longest unbeaten streak among Division II schools.
This will be the 973rd game in Truman Football history. The Bulldogs' .581 winning percentage is tops among the 15 NCAA (FBS, FCS, II, III) schools in the state of Missouri.
Truman is 4-3 in overtime games. Six of the seven games have been played at home with the last being a road overtime loss to Drake 13-7 on September 6, 2014.

Defensive Notes:

The defense has allowed 15.2 points per game through four games in 2014 after allowing 20.4 points per game last season. The total was the lowest average since the 1994 campaign of 17.6 per game.
Opponents average 2.8 yards per rush this season with 359 yards and four rushing touchdowns.
Quarterbacks have completed 77-of-133 passes against the defense for 839 yards (209.8 per game average). They have completed five touchdown pass.
The defense has not allowed 400 yards of total offense in their last 11 games.
Truman has forced 97 turnovers since Coach Kellen Nesbitt has taken over as defensive coordinator in 2010. The Bulldogs have gained a turnover in 41 of 48 games played and went 33 straight from 2010-2013 forcing a turnover. They have forced a turnover in all four games this season.
Opponents are successful 29% of the time on third downs converting 17 of 59 attempts and 50% on fourth down with six of 12 attempts.
Austin Zoda is the early leader in tackles with 27 through the first four games. Zoda leads the team with 17 solo stops.
Devin Gillespie leads the team with 6.0 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks this season.
The team has nine sacks for 54 yards and 25 tackles for loss for 100 yards.
The Bulldogs have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 12 games dating back to Evan Ressler of William Penn rushing for 164 yards on September 21, 2013.
Ben Chaney leads the defense with two of the five interceptions this season. The team has averaged 17.8 yards per interception return.

Offensive Notes:

On the ground, Truman has averaged 223.2 yards per game and 4.7 yards per rush this season. Last year, Truman averaged 153.5 yards and in 2011 averaged 115.5 yards on the ground.
Truman has 1475 yards of total offense with 368.8 per game and 5.1 per play. They have converted 42% on third down going 24-of-57 and are 2-of-4 on fourth down conversions.
Garrett White leads the team with 90 rushes for 483 yards. He has seven 100-yard rushing games for his career and seven runs from scrimmage over 40 yards.
Devonte Black has completed 60.8% of his passes in his first year as a starter for the Bulldogs. He has thrown for 582 yards and rushed for another 203.
Black's top receiving target has been tight end Chico Orlando with 14 catches for 130 yards. He has thrown to nine different receivers with five touchdown passes.
Kurt Loyd and Joey Schenck have caught two TDs apiece with Loyd having 108 reception yards on seven catches and Schenck catching 11 balls for 105 yards.
The offensive line has allowed eight sacks for 46 yards after allowing 11 all of 2013.

Special Forces Notes:

Jacob Lamp is averaging 38.2 yards in 20 punts in 2014 with seven inside the 20 and a season-long 70-yard boot against Langston (Okla.).
Lamp, for his career is averaging 40.3 yards on 75 punts which is the slightly behind Bob Fletcher's 40.5 career mark during the 1978-79 seasons. Fletcher had 138 punt attempts.
Roger Howard is averaging 53.5 yards per kickoff on 17 attempts and is 1-for-5 on field goals made with a long of 21.
Nick Dolezal has made all 7-of-10 extra point attempts and a field goal of 29 yards.
Between Truman and their opponents, two of nine field goal attempted has been successful.
Derek Hammann has returned eight kickoffs for 164 yards (20.5/return) with a long of 34.
Kurt Loyd has been able to return five punts for 37 yards (7.4/return) with a long of 18.
Chris Stanton has the team's field goal block this season against Langston (Okla.).

Upcoming:
Truman returns to Stokes Stadium to host William Jewell College for Homecoming on October 11. The Bulldogs are 44-25-2 in Homecoming games and defeated the Cardinals last season in Liberty 45-7.

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Players Mentioned

#14 Conrad Schottel: QB; 6' 3"; Senior

#92 Nic Abbate: DE; 6' 2"; Senior

#9 Devonte Black: QB; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#19 Ben Chaney: DB; 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman

#42 Nick Dolezal: K; 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman

#59 Devin Gillespie: DE; 5' 11"; Junior

#38 Roger Howard: K/P; 6' 0"; Redshirt Freshman

#13 Jacob Lamp: P; 6' 1"; Senior

#27 Kurt Loyd: WR; 5' 11"; Senior

#84 Chico Orlando: TE; 6' 2"; Senior

#15 Joey Schenck: WR; 6' 4"; Sophomore

#30 Chris Stanton: DB; 5' 9"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#14 Conrad Schottel
: 6' 3"; Senior
: QB

#92 Nic Abbate
: 6' 2"; Senior
: DE

#9 Devonte Black
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: QB

#19 Ben Chaney
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman
: DB

#42 Nick Dolezal
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman
: K

#59 Devin Gillespie
: 5' 11"; Junior
: DE

#38 Roger Howard
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Freshman
: K/P

#13 Jacob Lamp
: 6' 1"; Senior
: P

#27 Kurt Loyd
: 5' 11"; Senior
: WR

#84 Chico Orlando
: 6' 2"; Senior
: TE

#15 Joey Schenck
: 6' 4"; Sophomore
: WR

#30 Chris Stanton
: 5' 9"; Sophomore
: DB