The Lincoln Blue Tigers turned the ball over three times, had nine penalties for 65 yards and finished with zero rushing yards in a 31-14 loss to Truman State on Saturday.
Truman State (1-3, 1-1 Great Lakes Valley Conference) held the Blue Tigers to just 53 yards of offense in the first half. The Bulldogs scored 14 points in both the first and second quarters to give the visitors from Kirksville a healthy halftime advantage.
Lincoln head coach Mike Jones was quick to voice his displeasure following the GLVC contest.
"We didn't do anything well," he said. "Offensively, we didn't move the ball. Defensively, we didn't make stops that we needed to. We played lousy. Why we played so flat this week is beyond me."
Lincoln (1-3, 0-2) scored all of its points in the fourth quarter of their GLVC home opener.
The Blue Tigers tried to manage with backup quarterback Dennis Vinson making his first collegiate start, as normal starter Owen Jordan served as backup after missing a full week of practice with a MRSA staph infection on his left arm.
Jordan said he was hospitalized from Sunday of last week until Friday with what started out as a turf burn in the Week 1 win at Langston. The wound reopened last week at St. Francis, and he underwent surgery Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Jordan was cleared to play Saturday, but because he hadn't taken a snap, he was the backup.
"(Jordan) wasn't able to practice all week," Jones said. "Against a team like Truman State, I really believe that you've got to have practice time to make sure you were ready to play. (Jordan's) a gamer, I'll give him that, he's going to do everything he can to help this team win. When you don't practice, you don't get those looks, you get your timing off a little bit."
Vinson struggled to move the offense, gaining only four first downs in the first half. He completd 10-of-17 passes.
"I guess I did OK overall," Vinson said. "But in key situations where I have to make a play, where I have to make the right read, I didn't do that. The little things are what got me."
The Bulldogs scored on a Vinson fumbled snap in the end zone just one minute into the game.
Truman State quarterback Devonte Black scored on an 8-yard run with 2:02 left in the first. In the second quarter, Malique Robbins scored a rushing touchdown from 8 yards out.
Black scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, again from 8 yards, with 3:34 left in the first half to put the Bulldogs up by four touchdowns headed into the break.
The Bulldogs rushed for a total of 281 yards with a running back committee of Andy Satulla, Robbins and Black.
Jordan played most of the fourth quarter, and he led the Blue Tigers to two touchdown drives. The first ended with a 4-yard Jordan run. The second was a bit of a trickery when Jordan passed back to wide receiver Bryson Winfrey, who found a wide-open Antwon Davis in the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown.
Darius Hicks led the Blue Tigers receivers with seven catches for 123 yards. All of his catches were in the second half.
Lincoln leading rusher Miles Drummond did not play while nursing what the team called "tightness."
"Bottom line was we did not execute worth a lick today the way we needed to and we didn't play with the energy we needed to win the game," Jones said.