Saturday. Kick-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. The Bulldogs are 1-1 after a 36-31 victory over Fort Hays State while the Gorillas are ranked #19 in the latest AFCA Division II poll and are 2-0 after a 38-14 win over Emporia State.
Bulldog quarterback J.B. Clark, the MIAA offensive player of the week, threw three touchdown passes and ran for what proved to be the winning score as the ‘Dogs rallied with 13 points in the final quarter to down the Tigers last Saturday at home.
Andy Mundwiller was the MIAA special teams player of the week and added 152 all-purpose yards including 94 on five punt returns.
Pittsburg State used a 17-point second quarter to put away Emporia State. Running back Solomon Watkins had three touchdown runs and quarterback Zac Dickey connected on a 40-yard touchdown pass late in the half to put the Gorillas up 24-7.
The Gorillas rushed for 265 yards against the Hornets and bring the top MIAA rushing offense into this week’s game.
This will be the 42nd meeting between two programs in the top 10 all-time in Division II football in wins.
The Gorillas are tops with 643 victories and the Bulldogs are eighth with 531. Pitt has won 22 of the last 23 games played but lost in Kirksville in their last visit to Stokes 28-21 and escaped last year’s meeting as the ‘Dogs had a game winning touchdown called out of bounds and a game-tying field goal miss as time expired in the 17-14 defensive thriller.
Five Things To Watch:
1 – Stop The Run
It will be the league’s top rushing offense with 288 yards per game and a 5.2 yards per carry average against a team that has struggled against the run early on.
The Bulldogs have allowed 278 yards per game in the first two outings and a 6.2 yards per rush mark heading into the tilt with the Gorillas.
Quarterback Zac Dickey is Pitt’s top rusher with 85.5 yards per game while bandit Richie Schumacher teams the Truman defense with 18 stops on running plays, twice as many as defensive back Robert Gayden.
2 – Battling The Top D
The Bulldogs will hope to keep the chains moving against the top defense in the MIAA through two games.
Pitt is first in total defense at 261 yards per game and second against both the pass and rush.
They have the top sack unit in the league at eight thus far, however, the Bulldogs O-Line has allowed just two QB sacks in the first two contests, tied for second in the MIAA.
3 –Watching The Fouls
Both Truman and Pitt are in the top three in MIAA stats in fouls called against with the Gorillas second with nine fouls for 76 yards and the ‘Dogs have been called 11 times for 94 yards.
The major difference is drawing penalties as the Gorillas have been able to get 24 calls to go their way for 272 yards through two games. The Bulldogs have drawn just 11 fouls for 96 yards.
4 – Special Teams Successes
Junior punter Eric Phillips and redshirt freshman Jacob Lamp have punted the Bulldogs to the top of the league in average punt with a mark of 43 yard per kick average.
The Gorillas, with return man John Brown, are second in the MIAA in punt returns with an 18.3 yard per return.
On the reverse side, Pitt averages 10 yards fewer in punts while Truman’s Andy Mundwiller is on top of the conferences’ punt return leaders with a 18.6 return average.
Also in the kicking game, Truman’s Derek Koon is 3-for-3 in extra points and 4-for-4 in field goal attempts and Pittsburg’s Chase McCoy has also been perfect with nine point after makes and three field goals.
5 – Turnovers
Truman is a minus-2 in turnover margin and have not converted any turnovers into points this season.
They were able to run out the clock following a key turnover late in the game against Fort Hays State.
Pitt is a plus-5 in turnover margin and have scored 24 points off of opponent turnovers through two games.
Offensive Notebook:
• Senior transfer J.B. Clark completed 42-of-78 pass attempts (53.8%) for 413 yards.
He is seventh in the MIAA in passing with a 206.5 per game average. His long pass was 31 yards to Michael Mayszak against Northwest Missouri State.
• Clark passed for nearly 4,000 yards in 19 starts with 37 touchdown passes while a member of the Lehigh University (FCS) squad.
He did not play in the 2010 season after recovering from an injury.
• Senior Harnish Ayora is ninth in the MIAA in rushing with a 65.0 yards per game average. He’s gained 130 yards on 22 carries for a 5.9 average to lead the Bulldogs.
• Junior Will Mosquera is second in rushing with 15 attempts for 53 yards.
• Senior Anthony Brown leads the receiving corps with 11 catches for 128 yards and one touchdown.
Brown is fifth in the MIAA in receptions per game at 5.5 and 10th in yards per game with 64.0
• The Bulldogs are 6-of-9 in redzone opportunities in 2010 with three touchdowns.
Last season, the team was 80% successful in the redzone with 36 scores (25 touchdowns).
In 2009, they were just 67% in the redzone with only 16 touchdowns in 36 opportunities.
• For the season, Truman is 31% in third down situations.
They are just 4-of-12 (25%) in short yardage third down situations (under three yards) but 45% when facing between four and six yards to go for a first down.
• Truman is averaging 4.5 yards per play at 320 yards per game in total offense in 2011.
The Bulldogs averaged 4.8 yards per play and 324.2 yards in 2010 and were at 4.2 and 278.0 in 2009.
• Last year the team rushed for 1,933 yards, the most by a Bulldog squad since 1997’s 2,015 yards.
The team has not had a 1,000 yard season rusher since Jerard Leverson in 2003 (1,012).
• The best single-game performances last year for the team were both against Nebraska-Omaha (336 rushing and 218 passing).
Defensive Notebook:
• Junior Patrick Blackwell is tied for second in the MIAA in sacks with two so far and has 13 for his career. Truman has three total sacks with Jeramey Dockery picking up the other.
The Bulldogs have eight tackles for loss.
• The D recorded 27 pass sacks in 2010 for 216 yards, five more and nearly 100 more yards than 2009. 14 players were credited with sacks last year with Blackwell (8.0) and M.J. Kang (2.5) leading the attack.
• Junior Richie Schumacher has posted back-to-back 10+ tackle games in 2010.
He is second in the MIAA behind Alex Whitehill (FHSU) in tackles per game with 12 and also has two tackles for loss. Schumacher has 18 tops on running plays.
• The defense had 19 takeaways in 2010 with one going for a touchdown return (Michael Elliott against Missouri Southern).
The Bulldogs offense scored on the ensuing possession on just six of those turnovers.
Truman was third in the MIAA in turnover margin. This season, the Truman defense has just three takeaways.
• The Bulldogs have allowed nearly 500 yards in total offense by opposing teams each game this season and is allowing seven yards per play.
Last year, the Bulldogs allowed 387 per game and 5.9 per play.
• The ‘Dogs have allowed 557 yards on the ground (278.5/game) with Fort Hays State’s Andre Smith posting the single-game high with 204 yards on 21 carries.
• The pass defense has given up 221 yards per game and opposing quarterbacks have completed 33-of-52 passes (63%). In 2010, the pass D allowed 242 yards per game.
• Opposing teams are 8-of-11 (73%) in the redzone with seven touchdowns while last season, opponents were 36-of-42 (85.7%) with 29 touchdowns and seven field goals.
Courtesy Truman State University
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