Students gathered in Evans Dining Hall to watch the Lindenwood Lion’s first football game of the season against the Kansas Jayhawks on Aug. 29.
Lindenwood won the game-opening coin toss and elected to receive the ball first, however, they quickly went three and out and had to punt the ball to the Jayhawks. From there, Kansas showed why they were the preseason No. 22 team, and why they had the highest chance from the BIG-12 to make the college football playoffs. They marched 65 yards in 9 plays leaning heavily on senior running back Devin Neal who, by the time the game had gotten out of hand and the backups were in, had totaled 8 carries 112 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
Being down 7-0, Lindenwood arguably had their second-best drive of the game and marched down the field through a combination of Cortezz Jones runs and Nate Glantz passes to Abe Haer and Reece Thomas before facing a 4th down from the Kansas 37-yard line. Coach Jed Stugart elected to go for it, and it backfired as Glantz was sacked and the Lions turned the ball over on downs. However, with their backs up against the wall the Lion’s defense came up with the first of two takeaways on the night. Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels threw a touch pass to Quentin Skinner, who took it down the Lion’s 20-yard line. However, as he was tackled junior Ethan Stuhlsatz punched the ball out and Eric Gant pounced on it to give the Lion offense back the football. However, it was more of the same from the Lion offense as the Kansas defensive line was ferocious and dominant all night long pushing the Lions offensive line all over the field. The Lions appeared to have something going following the takeaway but ultimately were forced to punt.
That’s when the Lion’s defense came up with their second takeaway of the night as sophomore corner Tre Bell intercepted Jalon Daniels pass and set the Lions up with great field position. However, that’s largely where the positive things ended for the Lions, as their offense would go three and out again and the Jayhawks would methodically pound the rock down the field on their next drive, which was capped off by a Neal touchdown run. Glantz would come out on the next drive and try to force a third down pass across the field to Jeff Caldwell, but was intercepted and returned for a pick six, and the blowout was on. Kansas would lead 34-0 at the half and continue to pound the rock to the tune of 530 total yards and 331 rushing yards. A couple more touchdowns by Kansas and a field goal by Lindenwood kicker Logan Seibert late in the fourth quarter would finalize the score at Kansas 48, Lindenwood 3. The Lions were never able to establish any offense early as Jones was held to just 26 yards and returning all-conference wide receiver Jeff Caldwell was only held to 2 catches for 4 yards.
The Lions will start the season 0-1 and look to next week for their home opener against the No. 13 ranked Central Arkansas Bears at 6pm at Hunter Stadium on Sept 7th.
Game Stats:
Nate Glantz: 18/31, 127 yards, 0/1 (Touchdown/interception), 10 carries, 23 yards
Steve Hall: 7 carries, 26 yards
Cortezz Jones: 9 carries, 26 yards, 4 receptions, 26 yards
Abe Haer: 4 receptions, 58 yards
Steve Hall: 5 receptions, 25 yards
Reece Thomas: 3 receptions, 11 yards
Jeff Caldwell: 2 receptions, 4 yards
Devon Edwards: 8 tackles
Tre Bell: interception
Ronald Bobka • Sep 1, 2024 at 6:02 pm
A very nice and thorough article. It made me feel I was there watching the game in person. Thank you for a job well done.