Coach Jed Stugart and everyone in the Lindenwood Lions football program knew what kind of game they were in for hosting the 24th ranked team in NCAA Division II, the Truman State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs came into Saturday’s contest 5-0 on the campaign, and some D2 football analysts think they should be even higher than their current ranking. 

Truman ranks even higher in ESPN college football analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings, which, for the uninitiated, is a method of measuring a football team’s efficiency, which takes team quality and game tempo and a number of other things into consideration. Truman ranks 9th in Connelly’s SP+ for D2 football, and he even claims on this tweet of the D2 rankings that Truman State is underrated. For reference, in the same rankings, Lindenwood sits 76th. 

Despite a beautiful day and pristine conditions, Lindenwood started the game with not one, but two fumbles, one on the opening kickoff, and one on the second play from scrimmage. That was about the amount of excitement they created as a whole in the first half, quarterback Cade Brister couldn’t ever develop a rhythm on the offensive side of the football. The Lions defense looked up to the task early, forcing silly mistakes out of the Bulldogs from Truman State, holding them scoreless and largely hopeless in the first quarter. 

Truman’s quality began to show in the second stanza, as they started to lock down even tighter on defense and started to make inroads on offense. Truman QB Jaden Barr started finding his targets, throwing for 135 yards in the first half, and the Bulldogs found the endzone twice through the quick feet of their tailback, Jordan Salima, the first of which you can see here on my Twitter. On the back of those two scores, and their stifling defense, Truman State took a 14-0 lead into halftime. 

The offensive strategy for Lindenwood had to change to break the tough Bulldog defense, and that directive was to start running a no-huddle, pass heavy offense. Outside of occasional scrambles from Cade Brister, Truman contained the Lindenwood rushing attack, and forced the Lions to change course from their first half plans. After Truman took a 17-0 lead with a field goal, Cade Brister threw for all 65 yards on the following drive including the 1-yard touchdown pass to Erik Henneman to give LU their first points of the day. 

Lindenwood looked to be gaining momentum in their hurry-up offense, finding receivers in open space and moving the ball well and looking to bring the game within a field goal, when Cade Brister was hit as he started his throwing motion, fumbling the ball which was recovered by Truman State. Truman State capitalized, and scored a quick touchdown, which would make the 4th quarter an uphill march for the Lions to make a comeback. 

And march they did, after relying heavily on the pass in the 3rd quarter, Lindenwood mixed up the offense more, and got some crucial rushing yards which then set up another Cade Brister touchdown pass, this time to his other favorite target, Payton Rose, to bring LU back within two scores.

A key defensive stop gave the Lions the ball and 8 minutes to make a comeback, where the rushing attack would play an important factor yet again. Nash Sutherlin provided the threat to try to open up opportunities for Cade Brister through the air, but unfortunately for the Lions, Brister was intercepted when attempting to hit Payton Rose in the endzone, giving the ball back to Truman with just 5 minutes of game remaining. 

Lindenwood would get another chance, down 10 with 3 minutes left on the clock. Running the ball proved most effective on this drive, but unfortunately running eats time, and 3 minutes became 80 seconds quickly.. Brister found Erik Henneman for his second touchdown catch on the day to bring the score to 24-21 with 1:16 left, giving them a fighting chance. The Lions lined up for an onside kick, and after a pile of bodies was separated, the officials found LU had recovered, giving them their one last chance, a minute remaining, and fifty yards between them and the endzone. 

The final drive for Lindenwood didn’t start as they would have liked, going backwards a few yards and not stopping the clock in the process. Truman forced 4th down, but Brister kept a cool head and found Erik Henneman for a first down to keep the drive alive. Every decision is amplified in these final stages of football games, and Brister looked more than cool under pressure.

A Brister pass over the middle to Payton Rose connected and gave LU 1st and goal to go at the Truman State 1 yard line, with 14 seconds left of game time. Hurriedly, I got my phone out and Periscoped this highly climactic ending. The first shot to the endzone was caught, but the intended receiver, Erik Henneman, was out of bounds. The second pass found paydirt. Completing his hat trick, Henneman caught his third touchdown pass of the day. 

The extra point gave Lindenwood a four point lead, their first of the game, with just six seconds left on the clock. Truman State tried the hook and ladder desperation play as time expired, but nothing came of the chaotic play, and Lindenwood pulled off the huge upset, beating Truman State by the final score of 28-24. 

As illustrated in my first few paragraphs, this wasn’t a game I was necessarily expecting Jed Stugart’s team to come away with, nor do I think many in attendance familiar with Lindenwood and Truman’s football teams did. Betting lines (hopefully) don’t exist for NCAA Division II football the way they do for Division I or the NFL, but one would have imagined Truman State was a two or three touchdown favorite today. Instead, Lindenwood handed them their first loss of the season. 

Lindenwood has now won two straight, and is building momentum for the last half of their campaign. After this week’s big win against Truman and last week’s victory at McKendree, the Lions are 3-3 going into next week’s contest, where they will host Saginaw Valley State. For more information on Lindenwood Football and all Lindenwood sports, visit LindenwoodLions.com.