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KIRKSVILLE — Truman State hopes that finishing strong in 2011 could lead to better things in 2012.
The Bulldogs (3-7) will visit Southwest Baptist (6-4) Saturday in Bolivar, Mo.
The Bulldogs beat Lincoln 53-0 last week and will face a Bearcats team that will rejoin the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in football next season after four years of playing as an independent.
Truman State head coach Gregg Nesbitt said that Southwest Baptist has turned its football fortunes around.
“[SBU] began the season 6-1,” he said. “They are a senior-dominated team that seems to have turned it around. They have skill people who can compete at the MIAA level. They don’t seem to do anything different scheme-wise, you’ve seen just about everything there is to see at this stage of the year, but they have a solid receiving corps and running backs.”
Southwest Baptist coach Keith Allen said his team is getting used to what life will be like in the MIAA. SBU has lost three consecutive games against the MIAA’s Emporia State, Missouri Southern and Missouri Western.
“It’s a tough, hard-nosed league,” he said. “Every team seems to have very good offensive and defensive lines. The teams are very competitive.”
SBU is led by quarterback Dan Connors, who has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season. Running back Thad Everson has 514 yards rushing with receivers Charles Johnson and Nathan Mourick catching 47 and 40 passes, respectively.
“Overall, I’ve been happy with the way our kids have played,” Allen said. “Our skill people have been pretty good. We’ve had trouble with our line on both sides of the ball.”
Truman gained 615 total yards last week against Lincoln.
“We executed well,” Nesbitt said. “We jumped out on a team that was struggling and we took control early. We played every kid who wasn’t a redshirt last week and we tried to play football up until the last play of the game. We kept focus.”
Conrad Schottel started in place of the injured quarterback J.B. Clark last week.
Nesbitt said Clark is feeling better this week, but that Schottel would get the start if Clark is at less than full strength.
“Conrad played very efficiently last week,” Nesbitt said.“So did Taylor [Breen]. Conrad will more than likely start, but J. B. will play some. I feel he’s earned that opportunity for what he has done for us this year. We had a good running game against Lincoln that set up our play-action passing.”
Truman running backs Donald Harvey and Harnish Ayora gained over 100 yards each against Lincoln. That kind of production has caught Allen’s eye.
“[Harvey and Ayora] both run hard,” he said. “Between them, they have over 1,000 yards rushing.”
Allen also has concerns about stopping Bulldogs receivers Anthony Brown and Dallas Grier.
Nesbitt said his team wants to continue its winning ways.
“It’s been a long and very frustrating year for us,” he said, “but the kids come to practice every day ready to go to work. They had a little extra bounce to their step this week.”
KIRKSVILLE — Truman State hopes that finishing strong in 2011 could lead to better things in 2012.
The Bulldogs (3-7) will visit Southwest Baptist (6-4) Saturday in Bolivar, Mo.
The Bulldogs beat Lincoln 53-0 last week and will face a Bearcats team that will rejoin the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in football next season after four years of playing as an independent.
Truman State head coach Gregg Nesbitt said that Southwest Baptist has turned its football fortunes around.
“[SBU] began the season 6-1,” he said. “They are a senior-dominated team that seems to have turned it around. They have skill people who can compete at the MIAA level. They don’t seem to do anything different scheme-wise, you’ve seen just about everything there is to see at this stage of the year, but they have a solid receiving corps and running backs.”
Southwest Baptist coach Keith Allen said his team is getting used to what life will be like in the MIAA. SBU has lost three consecutive games against the MIAA’s Emporia State, Missouri Southern and Missouri Western.
“It’s a tough, hard-nosed league,” he said. “Every team seems to have very good offensive and defensive lines. The teams are very competitive.”
SBU is led by quarterback Dan Connors, who has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season. Running back Thad Everson has 514 yards rushing with receivers Charles Johnson and Nathan Mourick catching 47 and 40 passes, respectively.
“Overall, I’ve been happy with the way our kids have played,” Allen said. “Our skill people have been pretty good. We’ve had trouble with our line on both sides of the ball.”
Truman gained 615 total yards last week against Lincoln.
“We executed well,” Nesbitt said. “We jumped out on a team that was struggling and we took control early. We played every kid who wasn’t a redshirt last week and we tried to play football up until the last play of the game. We kept focus.”
Conrad Schottel started in place of the injured quarterback J.B. Clark last week.
Nesbitt said Clark is feeling better this week, but that Schottel would get the start if Clark is at less than full strength.
“Conrad played very efficiently last week,” Nesbitt said.“So did Taylor [Breen]. Conrad will more than likely start, but J. B. will play some. I feel he’s earned that opportunity for what he has done for us this year. We had a good running game against Lincoln that set up our play-action passing.”
Truman running backs Donald Harvey and Harnish Ayora gained over 100 yards each against Lincoln. That kind of production has caught Allen’s eye.
“[Harvey and Ayora] both run hard,” he said. “Between them, they have over 1,000 yards rushing.”
Allen also has concerns about stopping Bulldogs receivers Anthony Brown and Dallas Grier.
Nesbitt said his team wants to continue its winning ways.
“It’s been a long and very frustrating year for us,” he said, “but the kids come to practice every day ready to go to work. They had a little extra bounce to their step this week.”
