LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University football team will close out its 2021 season Saturday with a Great Lakes Valley Conference game at Lindenwood University. Kickoff for Saturday's season finale is set for 1 p.m. at Hunter Stadium on the Lindenwood campus.
 
McKendree enters Saturday's game sporting a 4-6 overall record and 3-3 mark in the GLVC following its 44-13 loss last Saturday on Senior Day at home against Truman State. The loss to Truman State helped the Bearcats close out their home schedule with a 1-4 record.
 
With a win on Saturday over Lindenwood, McKendree will post its first winning season in league play since going 5-2 in 2017. The Bearcats went 3-4 in league play in both 2018 and 2019.
 
Saturday's game with Lindenwood will mark just the second meeting between the two schools on the gridiron since the 1997 season as the two teams squared off in 2019 on Homecoming at Leemon Field, a game the Bearcats lost, 45-37. Lindenwood and McKendree have met three times on the football field since McKendree restarted its program in 1996 and the Lions hold a 2-1 edge in the series with McKendree's lone win coming in its season opener at home in 1997.
 
In last Saturday's home finale against Truman State, the Bearcats were held to just two touchdowns and 13 points as it snapped its streak of six consecutive games of scoring 24 or more points and the 13 points were the Bearcats' fewest points scored in a conference game since tallying 10 points in a 48-10 loss at Indianapolis during the 2018 season.
 
Against the Bulldogs, McKendree's offense gained 329 yards of offense as they passed for 289 yards and were held to a season low 40 yards rushing, including rushing for 11 yards after halftime. The 40 yards rushing was McKendree's lowest total in a game since being held to 21 yards rushing against Truman State in 2019.
 
One of the biggest bright spots offensively for the Bearcats last time out was the play of redshirt sophomore receiver Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) as he was targeted 11 times and caught 10 passes for a game-high 62 yards and the 11 receptions helped Bachman set a new single season school mark for receptions as he has now caught 71 passes on the season and that bettered the old school record of 64 receptions set by Dewayne Gatti in 2013. Bachman has now caught double-digit passes in two consecutive games.
 
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) continued to climb both the school's career and single season passing and total offensive charts after going 31-for-43 passing for 289 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception. The 289 passing yards pushed his season total to 2,253 yards and that allowed Pullen to become just the second quarterback since football was restarted in 1996 to record at least two seasons of passing for 2,000 or more yards. In addition, he moved into fourth in single season touchdown passes with 20 and he pushed his career total offense total to 5,578 yards, which is second on the school's all-time chart.
 
Coming into play on Saturday, Pullen is just 154 yards shy of his 2019 mark of 2,407 yards passing and is four touchdown passes shy of tying his 2019 mark of 24, which is second most in a single season in school history. Pullen is also just 18 passing yards shy of becoming just the third quarterback in school history to throw for at least 5,000 career yards. Additionally, Pullen is 12th in Division in points responsible for with 176 and has had a hand in 26 of McKendree's 37 touchdowns this season.
 
While Pullen, who is 174-for-310 passing with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions on the season, nears several single season passing marks, Bachman also comes into Saturday's game just 188 yards shy of the school's single season record for receiving yards of 939 set by Matt Cole in 2019, while redshirt junior receiver Steven Towns, Jr. (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) comes into the game just two receiving touchdowns shy of Matt Cole's all-time school mark of 17 touchdowns and just 141 yards shy of the school's all-time pass receiving yard mark of 1,618 yards held by Cole.
 
Defensively, the Bearcats come into play fifth in the league in total defense as they are allowing 414.5 yards per game and are eighth nationally in Division II in fumbles recovered with 11 and is fifth in the league in scoring defense as they are allowing 33.7 points. McKendree has also recorded 20 sacks and 61 tackles for loss on the season.
 
Leading the way defensively for the Bearcats is senior linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep), who has recorded 81 tackles, including 46 solo stops and leads the team in tackles for a loss with 11 and is tied for second in sacks with four, while sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston (Cahokia, Ill./East St. Louis) is second in tackles with 61, but leads in tackles for loss with 8.5 and sacks with 5.5. Houston is fourth in the league as he averages 0.55 sacks per game. Tucker and redshirt junior defensive back Kenneth Garrett, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Whitehaven) have each recovered two fumbles on the year.
 
Meanwhile, Lindenwood comes into Saturday's game with McKendree having secured its second GLVC regular season title for the second time in the last three seasons as the Lions are sporting an 8-2 overall record and a 6-0 record in league play. Lindenwood, who sat out the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has gone 13-0 in league play since joining the league in 2019.
 
Lindenwood clinched its second league title in three seasons following its 43-16 win last Saturday at Missouri S&T. Since opening the season with back-to-back losses to Angelo State (Texas), 40-20 and NCAA FCS member South Dakota State, 52-7, Lindenwood has won eight straight games, including all six GLVC games.
 
ABOUT LINDENWOOD
Lindenwood comes into Saturday's game looking to solidify its postseason playoff chances as they are currently ranked fifth in this week's latest NCAA Division II Super Region 3 rankings. The Lions are one of the top teams in Division II at picking off passes as they have picked up 16 in 10 games and those 16 interceptions are fifth-best in Division II, while the Lions are also fourth in Division II in kickoff returns as they average nearly 27 yards per kickoff return and has returned one kickoff for a touchdown.
 
Offensively, the Lions are fourth in the league in scoring as they average 34.7 points per game and are averaging 402.3 yards per game, including 252.2 yards per game passing, which is fourth-best in the GLVC. Over the last two games, Lindenwood has used two different starting quarterbacks after losing their regular starter Cade Brister to an injury prior to the Southwest Baptist game, as senior receiver Alex Faddoul started last week against Missouri S&T and is all he did was pass for over 300 yards and add an additional 60 yards rushing to help the Lions to the lopsided win over the Miners.
 
On the season, Faddoul is 25-for-46 passing for 398 yards and has thrown two touchdown passes and had no interceptions, while the other back-up quarterback, freshman Cole Dugger is 36-for-55 passing for 546 yards and has tossed eight touchdowns and thrown no interceptions. As a team, Lindenwood has thrown just four interceptions in nearly 300 pass attempts on the year. Prior to his injury, Brister was averaging 225.4 yards passing and 269.3 yards of total offense on the season and had accounted for 17 touchdowns (10 passing, 7 rushing).
 
Freshman running back Robert Giaimo leads the Lions ground attack with 660 yards on 104 carries and he has scored 10 times and is averaging 73.3 yards per game and 6.3 yards per carry. Two other Lions have gained 300 or more yards rushing this season as senior Nash Sutherlin has gained 321 yards on the ground and has scored three times, while Brister has gained 307 yards rushing.
 
The top targets in the passing game for Lindenwood are senior tight end Clint Sigg and junior receiver Payton Rose. Sigg has caught 37 passes for 440 yards and three touchdowns, while Rose has hauled in 35 catches for a team-best 576 yards and has had seven touchdown receptions. Faddoul and senior receiver Glen Gibbons, Jr. have also caught over 30 passes on the season.
 
On special teams, sophomore receiver Spencer Redd is one of the top return specialists in the country as is seventh nationally in kickoff returns as he averages 29.6 yards per return and has returned a kick for a score and he is 11th nationally in punt returns as he averages 13.1 yards per return and has returned a punt for a score. In addition, freshman kicker Logan Seibert is 7-for-10 on field goals and is 42-for-45 on point-after attempts and leads the team in scoring with 63 points.
 
Pacing the way on defense for the Lions is senior linebacker Drew Seers, who has recorded 107 tackles, including 49 solo stops, 6.5 tackles for loss and has picked off four passes, including returning one for a score. Seers was named this past week's GLVC Defensive Player of the Week. In addition to Seers, senior safety Grady Daniels is second in tackles with 73, including 37 solo tackles and sophomore safety Kai Ross has recorded 42 tackles, but has picked off a league-leading six passes and is seventh nationally in interceptions per game as he averages 0.6 per game. As a team, the Lions have collected 15 sacks, 39 tackles for loss and have picked off 16 passes.