Column: Updating my Bearcat checklist
Skye Pournazari
Jon Dykstra Managing Editor The Maryville Forum
On July 10, I published a column titled ‘Five things I want to see from the McMenamin first year’ — not a catchy title if I’m being honest. Halfway through the regular season, let’s check in how those priorities are working out for Northwest Missouri State.
‘5. Elite play in the middle of the defense’
Despite defensive tackle Nile Schuett missing two games and safety Shane Fredrickson missing one, the 4-1 Bearcats have undoubtedly delivered on this.
The top five tacklers are part of that spine of the defense with the top three being the senior linebacking trio of Carter Edwards, Ben Einess and Parker Bowen. Edwards is one of the nation’s absolute best middle linebackers with 30 tackles, four for loss, a sack and a half, an interception and a forced fumble.
Clayton Power has delivered as the leader of the defensive line with 18 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and a couple of sacks. Holden Zigmant is the young guy of the group as a sophomore safety, but has been very reliable with 18 tackles and five passes broken up.
‘4. Easy buttons for the quarterback’
This may have been the most universal take on this list after the offensive struggles of the past and through five games, the mistakes have definitely been minimized.
Last season, Chris Ruhnke was productive with 2,848 yards and 19 touchdowns, but 14 interceptions plagued his season. This year, Ruhnke only has three interceptions and has increased his yards per pass from 11.7 to 13.7.
So early on, Ruhnke is making fewer mistakes and delivering more big plays. Why is that?
Last season, the passing game revolved around Luke Mathews, who had nearly twice as many yards as the next closest receiver. This season, despite Mathews being the only returner with a catch in a Bearcat jersey, Northwest has had four different leading receivers in individual games.
Mathews detailed the difference after the win over Texas A&M-Kingsville: “Last year, we’d go into a game plan and we’d have plays drawn up for one or two guys. In this offense, we draw up plays for every single person, every single week. … It is a new life in this offense. We are going to go out there, have a lot of yards, score a lot of points, and I am confident in saying that because we have the guys who can do it.”
‘3. Offensive line growth’
From my view, this has been the most glaring key to the early success. Last season, the Bearcats allowed 23 sacks for 183 yards — ranking seventh in the MIAA. This season, they’ve allowed two for six yards — ranking first in the MIAA with second having five for 26.
And it is not just the passing game. Last season, the Bearcats were eighth in the MIAA, rushing for 110.1 yards per game. This season, Northwest is leading the conference in rushing at 208.6 yards per game.
Collin Prosser, the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, deserves a lot of credit for what his group of Kaleb McCullough, Wes Merriman, Harrison Merriman, Reece Trammel and Pierce Wand have doing in the trenches. They have also rotated plenty of other linemen in this season.
‘2. Keep the defensive identity’
The defense wasn’t broken at Northwest despite overall team regression over the years and Rich Wright turning Central Missouri’s defense from a laughing stock to a middle-of-the-pack unit is evidence as to his coaching ability.
However, Wright wasn’t the only reason for that success and Chad Bostwick had plenty of opportunities to run other teams’ defenses in past years. The new guy wearing the red hat was loyal and stayed in Maryville and Bearcat green. He quickly became McMenamin’s first hire — and it has proven to be a good one.
Northwest leads the MIAA in scoring defense at 19 points per game and in total defense at 314.6 yards per game.
‘1. Align Bearcat Nation’
This was always the cheesy part of the equation and really a big-picture one, but the excitement among Bearcat Nation certainly feels real.
My column in July ended with the statement: ‘If McMenamin’s crew can accomplish 2-5 on this list, fun football should follow and No. 1 should take care of itself, but step one from the fanbase is uniting behind the vision.’
I think the Bearcats are 5-for-5 on my checklist of success here. Of course, five games does not make a season, but Bearcat Nation sure feels aligned right now and these Bearcats are giving them plenty to be excited about.
