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Sept. 16, 2009 – The Bulldog Football team will look to regroup and use the anticipated large Family Night crowd to their advantage as they host Fort Hays State on Saturday night at Stokes Stadium. Both the Bulldogs and the Tigers are coming off of losses in the first week of conference play.
Nebraska-Omaha used a quick start and jumped on the Bulldogs 14-0 in the first 1:06 of the game en route to a 38-0 victory last Saturday in Omaha.
Truman rushed for 101 yards and finished with just 224 total yards in the loss. Freshman kicker Eric Phillips averaged 44.1 yards per punt and set a career long with a 62 yard boot. It was the longest punt since Mark Kamphoefner connected on an 80-yard blast on Sept. 10th, 2005 at Northwest Missouri.
Bulldog signal caller Phillip Davis is seventh in the conference in total offense and is averaging 223.0 yard per game. Davis leads the team in both rushing and passing with 124 yards on the ground and another 545 through the air. He has completed 51% of his passes and thrown three touchdown passes.
The Tigers enter the game with one of the league’s top passers after the first two weeks. Mike Garrison has thrown for 760 yards and six touchdowns and is averaging 253.3 yards per game.
Garrison’s three touchdown passes in the first quarter last Saturday night put the Tigers ahead of visiting Missouri Western 21-14 but the Griffons scored twice to start the second quarter and then ran away with a 58-31 victory.
The Tigers also have major threat back returning kicks in C.J. Lovett. Lovett is a two-time MIAA Special Teams player of the week with two return touchdowns and averaging 131.7 yards in all-purpose.
Last Meeting with the Tigers:
The Bulldogs jumped on the Tigers for 17 straight points with the first score coming on the first play from scrimmage in a 27-7 victory over Fort Hays State last September.
Donald Harvey caught a swing pass from Matt Ticich and took the ball 68-yards to pay dirt to give the Bulldogs the early lead.
Phil Kenney added an eight-yard TD reception and Mickey Masucci connected from 28 and 37 yards out.
Terrence Byrd capped off the scoring with a 27-yard interception return late in the ball game.
The Bulldogs outgained the Tigers 372 yards to 297 and limited Mike Garrison to just 168 yards passing on 20 completions.
What’s At Stake?
- The Bulldogs are looking to even up their conference record at 1-1.
- The Bulldogs will be looking for their 293rd MIAA victory (292-173-20) and 526th (525-357-34) win in the program’s history.
- Fort Hays is seeking their first victory over the Bulldogs in four attempts and have not won in the previous meeting in Kirksville back in 2007 (26-11).
- The Tigers and the Bulldogs are two of four teams in the conference that did not win in their first conference game. The other teams were Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State.
- Fort Hays is looking to get back on the winning track after last Saturday’s setback to Missouri Western, the Tigers won both of their non-conference games, 45-17 at Western State (Colo.) and 31-21 over Colorado School of Mines.
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About The Bulldogs (Defense):
Senior Demetrius Lavant leads all Bulldog defenders in total tackles with 22 (10u-12a) and has one tackle for loss (a sack). Lavant has one interception that he returned for a touchdown, his second of his career, and one forced fumble.
Lavant is tied for fifth in the conference in tackles per game at 7.3
Michael Elliot, Terrence Byrd and Tremaine Millender are tied for second in tackles with 18.
Luther Eta is tied for the conference lead in passes defended with a 1.67 per game average.
Defensive Quick Hits:
- Truman has forced five turnovers this season with two directly being returned for touchdowns. One other turnover resulted in a touchdown by the offense.
- In 123 rushes, Truman’s defense allowed 548 yards rushing for a 4.5 yards per carry average.
- In 37 pass completions for 471 yards, opponents averaged 12.7 yards per completion.
- In 193 offensive plays, opposing teams average 5.3 yards per play.
- Opponents have made eight trips into Truman’s redzone and come away with five touchdowns and a field goal.
- The Bulldog defense has been on the field on average 31:57 minutes per game this season and has allowed 69 points.
- Opponents have converted on third down 39% of the time (14-of-36) with 7-of-15 in the first half and 7-of-21 in the second half.
- The Bulldogs have held on the only fourth down attempt this season (Oklahoma Panhandle State).
- The Bulldogs allowed their first 100 yard rusher of the season when Bryce Hawthorne went for 180 on 23 carries last Saturday for Nebraska-Omaha. The defense had not allowed a 100-yard single-game rusher since Oct. 18, 2008 (Justin Cooper – Washburn) a span of six games.
- The longest drives by the opposion this season have been 16 plays, 84 yards and took 7:01 off the clock. The result of the drive by Oklahoma Panhandle State was a turnover on downs at the Bulldog one-yard line.
About the Bulldogs (Offense):
Junior quarterback Phillip Davis has thrown for 545 yards this season and rushed for another 124 yards to be ranked seventh in the conference in total offense per game at 223.0 yards. Davis is also ninth in the conference in passing/game yards at 181.7.
Davis has completed 51.0 percent of his passes (49-of-96) and thrown three touchdown passes with four interceptions. His longest pass was a 40-yard TD pass to senior Charlie Brunette against Oklahoma Panhandle State. He has five completed passes over 25 yards this season.
Junior Donald Harvey is second among the 10 ball carriers this season in yardage gained. Harvey has 80 net yards on 14 attempts for a 5.7 yards per carry average.
The total among the 10 different Bulldog rushers this season has resulted in 368 yards from scrimmage and a 3.9 yards per carry mark.
Truman has had 10 different receivers catch 50 passes this season with sophomore Anthony Brown leading the way with 10 catches for 94 yards. Senior Steve D’Antonio has the highest number of receiving yards (125) and the most yards per catch (17.9).
Offensive Quick Hits:
- The Bulldogs have recorded 58 first downs on this season, 28 by passing, 19 by rushing and 11 by penalty.
- In 94 rushing attempts, Truman is averaging 3.9 yards per carry..
- Truman gained 434 yards on the ground but lost 66 to end up with a net 368.
- With 50 pass completions, the Bulldogs had 552 yards passing and an 11.0 yards per completion average.
- With 193 offensive plays, the Bulldogs have amassed 920 yards of total offense for a per play average of 4.8 yards.
- In their nine trips to the redzone this season, the Bulldog have three touchdowns, three field goals and two drives end on downs.
- The Bulldogs are 20-42 (48%) on third down conversions. They are 10-of-26 in the first half and 9-of-16 in the second half.
- Truman 0-4 on fourth down conversions.
- The offense has been on the field 28:03 per game this season and has scored 51 points.
- The Bulldogs longest drive of the season has been a 12-play 52-yard drive that consumed 5:28 but the result was a missed field goal from 32-yards out.
- The last 1,000 yard rusher for the Bulldogs was Jerard Leverson (1012 yards) following the 2003 season.
About the Bulldogs (Special Teams):
Senior Mickey Masucci became the all-time career field goal kicker for the Bulldogs with his 32nd make against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday. Masucci is 32-of-51 on field goal attempts for his career and passed Scott Bresaw (1989-91) and Jeff Klee (1996-99).
Masucci is tied for fifth in kicker scoring at 5.7 points per game. Masucci is sitting on 199 career points and has made 103 point after attempts with the last 41 being consecutive.
Freshman Eric Phillips rebounded after a tough debut and averaged 44.1 yards per punt in eight attempts last Saturday against Nebraska-Omaha. For the season, Phillips is averaging 39.1 yards per punt with a long of 62.
Truman averaged 21.4 yards per kickoff return on this season with Vanness Emokpae’s 62 yard return down to Minnesota State’s 16-yard line being the season long thus far.
Phil Kenney has 10 returns for 179 yards or a 17.9 yards per return average and is sixth in the conference rankings.
Albert Coker has four punt returns for 23 yards (5.8 per return) this season and for his career has averaged 7.9 yards per return and has a touchdown.
Special Teams Quick Hits:
- The Bulldogs are 3-of-5 on field goal attempts this season. The longest attempt has been 37 yards (missed).
- Truman has converted on 41 straight point after kick attempts have not tried a two-point conversion this season.
- Opponents are 10-for-10 on extra point attempts and have not tried a two-point conversion this season. They are 2-for-2 on field goal attempts with the longest make being from 46 yards.
- Truman averaged 62.8 yards per kickoff and 39.1 yards per punt.
- The Bulldogs averaged 21.4 yards per kick return and 7.0 per punt return.
- The Bulldogs blocked a punt against Minnesota State. It was blocked by junior Jordan Flores and recovered by sophomore Aaron Tjarks.
- Truman has not had any punts or field goals blocked this season.
The Series:
This will be just the fourth meeting all-time between Truman and Fort Hays State. The Bulldogs have won the previous three encounters with two coming on the road.
In the last game played in Kirksville, it was a scoreless tie at half before Truman jumped on top in the third quarter and won 26-11 on Family Night.
Coaches:
Aaron Vlcko is in his first season as the head coach of the Truman Bulldogs and fifth season overall with the program. As the team’s offensive coordinator, the Bulldogs have averaged 345.7 yards per game with nearly 10,000 yards passing.
Truman has averaged 24.2 points per game under Vlcko calling the plays.
Maurice “Red’ Wade is the dean of Truman coaches with 143 games coached and 99 victories. Don Faurot is the Bulldog leader in win percentage at an .816 clip from 1926-1934, the year before he left for the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Truman is 85-73-4 under first year head coaches. Ten of the 21 Head Coaches have had winning seasons in their first year, the last was a 6-5 record posted by John Ware in 1995. The best winning percentage of first year head coaches belongs to both Don and Fred Faurot who each went 7-1 (.875) in 1926 and 1935 respectively.
The most wins of any first year Truman coach was nine set in 1990 by Eric Holm.
Kevin Verdugo is entering his fifth season as a collegiate coach at Fort Hays State. He is 11-35 during that span.
Verdugo is a graduate of Colorado State.
Bulldogs At Stokes Stadium:
Truman is 225-123-9 (.645) all-time at Stokes Stadium, the home of the Bulldogs since 1930.
The squad is 11-6 in Kirksville over the past two seasons.
Truman’s longest winning streak in Kirksville is 30 games dating from 1930-1936 under Coach Don Faurot and his brother Fred.
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All-Time Records:
· This will be the 917th game in Truman football history. The Bulldogs are 525-357-34 (.592) all time.
· Truman is 4-1 in overtime games. All five games have been played at Stokes Stadium with the last being on Nov. 15, 2008 against Missouri S&T (L 39-38).
· The Bulldogs have finished .500 or above in 70 of the 101 seasons of football played at the University and have had five wins or more in 62 seasons.
· Truman is the winningest NCAA program in the state of Missouri with the .592 win percentage. The University of Missouri has the most wins with 600 with the Bulldogs second with 525. Northwest Missouri is second in win percentage with a .546 percent.
Truman/Nebraska-Omaha Game Footnotes:
· Truman averaged just 3.3 yards per play compared to UNO’s 6.4 yards.
· UNO had 24 first downs compared to the 14 for the Bulldogs.
· The Bulldogs were 3-of-14 on third down conversions and missed on both fourth down conversions.
· The 62-yard punt by Eric Phillips was the longest since 2005 when Mark Kamphoefner nailed an 80-yarder against Northwest.
· Truman was shutout for the first time since Northwest Missouri blanked the Bulldogs on Sept. 20, 2008.
· The Bulldogs did not have a red-zone possession.
· Truman’s longest drive was a seven-play, 71-yard series but was halted by a fumble at the Maverick 20.
· The announced attendance was 3,846.
Up Next:
The Ol’ Hickory Stick game is on tap for the Bulldogs as the team will travel to Northwest Missouri next Saturday afternoon.
The oldest trophy in Division II has resided in Maryville since 2002 as the Bearcats have dominated the series since 1996, winning 12 of the last 13 match-ups.
However, for the record, the Bulldogs have owned the stick in the all-time series 54-30-4. Kickoff from Bearcat Stadium is 1:00 p.m.