DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University football team returns to its home turf on Saturday afternoon to host the Truman State Bulldogs in the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
Saturday's game is Drake's annual 'Take a Kid To the Game' day with all children age 12 and under admitted free to the game with a paying adult. Those children will also be invited down to the field prior to the game to welcome Drake onto the field.
Once action starts, first-year head coach Rick Fox's Drake team will aim to play with a greater sense of poise and immediacy than it exhibited in the opening quarter of the team's 45-22 season-opening loss to Grand View in Week 1.
“We've got to play each down with a sense of urgency,” Fox said. “We didn't come out with that at the beginning of the game and dug ourselves a big hole against a very talented football team.”
Despite an early 28-0 deficit, Drake rallied to outscore the Vikings over the final three quarters, thanks in large part to two touchdowns and a two-point conversion from sophomore running back and reigning Pioneer Football League Offensive Player of the Week, Conley Wilkins (Overland Park, Kan.)
“We started to climb out of that hole, but it was too little, too late,” Fox said. “The biggest thing is, we've got to play that way every play.”
Drake will need an effort of that caliber against Truman State, a perennially tough Division II opponent. The visiting squad is playing its first game of the season after posting a 7-4 record in 2013 as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
“Truman State is returning a very strong team that was second in their conference last year,” Fox said. “They're bringing in a very experienced and very good football team.”
Truman State finished just behind an Indianapolis team that Drake defeated, 31-14, last season.
This year, Truman State is again projected to finish second in its league and is receiving votes in the Division II AFCA Top 25 poll. Despite the tough competition, Drake's lineup is itching to secure its first win of the 2014 season before taking to the road to face Western Illinois on Sept. 13.
“Every team is eager to get its first win,” Fox said. “But we're going to have our hands full. We're going to have to play every play for four quarters to make that happen.”
