Kirksville, Mo. – Kyle Jech topped 300 yards passing for the second straight week and accounted for three Northwestern Oklahoma State touchdowns, but the Rangers had no answers for Truman State's big play offense in a 63-21 setback.
It's hard to imagine a 42-point loss hinging on just a few key moments, but in this case it may have.
Trailing 21-14 late in the second quarter, Northwestern (0-3) gave up 21 points in just over 2 minutes of action. Add in TSU's penchant for the quick strike – four of their scoring drives took just one play– and an otherwise competitive game spiraled out of control quickly.
"When you dig yourself a hole and you're trying to climb out, you can't dig any deeper, but that's exactly what we did," Northwestern coach Alan Hall said. "We just buried ourselves in our own grave. We just made too many mistakes in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – and that's something we need to get corrected."
TSU (3-0) totaled 516 yards of offense on 73 plays compared to 415 on 98 for Northwestern. Jech, who has yet to throw an interception this year, completed 36 of his 55 passing attempts for 336 yards and two touchdowns. He later rushed for another.
Andrew King led the Ranger receivers, following up last week's 14 catch performance with 10 more for 90 yards and a score.
TSU opened the scoring after tipping a Jech punt at the line of scrimmage. They immediately took advantage of great field position, as Will Mosquera took a handoff on the drive's first snap and burst through the left side on a 23-yard touchdown run.
The Rangers moved the ball well in response, picking up the tempo with a no-huddle offense. Jech converted twice on third downs. On first down from the TSU 44, he hit Taylor Hooper on a comeback pattern down the right sideline for 15 yards. A personal foul after the play moved the ball another 15, setting up a fresh set of downs on the Bulldog 14.
Jech showed great patience on the very next play, hanging out in the pocket until Jerami Anderson broke free across the back of the endzone. Jech hit him in stride at the right boundry for a 14-yard touchdown, knotting the game at 7-7 with 9:12 to play in the first quarter.
Again Truman made the big play. Garrett White bounced off of three tackles near the line of scrimmage and found open field for a 46-yard touchdown run and a 14-7 lead.
Northwestern fought its way back with a nice sequence. Derrick Thompson forced a TSU fumble at the Ranger 17, snuffing out a likely scoring chance.
Northwestern then went 83 yards the other way. Jech found Hooper on a 52-yard catch-and-run to get things started. On the next play, Jech lofted a beautiful pass over the shoulder of Andrew King, who made the catch and won a footrace to the left pylon. The 24-yard TD toss briefly evened the game at 14 with just 32 seconds remaining the opening quarter.
Following the touchdown, the Stokes Stadium scoreboard froze and then quit entirely. Symbolic perhaps. The Rangers struggled from that point on.
A long punt return set up TSU at the Northwestern 12, leading to another one-play drive. Quarterback Conrad Schottel threw one up for grabs in the endzone. Dallas Grier won the jump ball for TSU, hauling in the go-ahead score to make it 21-14 Bulldogs.
The Ranger defense held briefly. Thompson had a big tackle for loss to push TSU into a third-and-long situation. Schottel again forced a pass into coverage, but this time Northwestern was ready. David Crumitie pulled in an interception near the goal line for the Rangers.
TSU, however, kept coming. With 17 seconds remaining in the first half, the Northwestern defense blitzed hard, leaving Chico Orlando free in the secondary for an easy six. As a result, Northwestern trailed 28-14 going into the lockerroom.
The Rangers had possession to start the second half, but any hope of a comeback very quickly faded following a pair of tough breaks.
On the kickoff return Avery Morris fumbled and TSU recovered deep in Northwestern territory. Schottel again hit Chico for 15 yards and a touchdown on yet another one-play drive for the Bulldogs.
On their next possession – again on the first snap – Schottel hooked up with Dallas Grier on a 60-yard catch and run to make it a 42-14 game less than two minutes into the third quarter.
TSU made it 35 unanswered before the Rangers at last broke the spell. Jech scrambled in from eight yards out to pull Northwestern within 42-21 with 13:39 remaining in the game, but that's the closest Northwestern would get.
In addition to King's 10 catches, Anderson had six grabs for 62 yards. Jared Jackson was the Rangers' leading rusher, carrying 18 times for 56 yards. He also caught five passes for 51 yards.
Northwestern heads south next weekend for another tough test against the University of Texas – San Antonio. Saturday kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Alamo Dome.
"We've got our work cut out for us, obviously, playing a Division I school with a Conference USA affiliation in the Alamo dome probably in front of 50 or 60,000 people," Hall said. "It will definitely be an experience, I know that much. We'll just come back focused and ready to get better."
