ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T hits the road for the first time in the 2017 season as it opens its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule Saturday night, as the Miners head to Kirksville, Mo., to take on Truman State in a 7 p.m. game at Stokes Stadium.

Saturday's contest will feature two teams seeking their first victory of the year, as the Miners have dropped contests to West Florida and Northwood and Truman has suffered setbacks to Michigan Tech and Morningside.

The Miners topped the Bulldogs 10-7 in their last trip to Kirksville two seasons ago – when both teams also came in with 0-2 records – but Truman came away with a 44-20 win last September in Rolla.  Saturday's game is the 80^th meeting between Missouri S&T and Truman.

ABOUT THE MINERS: The Miners had a slow start out of the gate Saturday, as Northwood scored on its first five possessions and also got a touchdown on a blocked punt along the way to build a big lead in an eventual 47-34 win over S&T.

For the second straight week, the Miners outgained their opponents in the contest as they finished with 398 yards of total offense to Northwood's 344, getting most of that through the air and the right arm of quarterback Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) as he surpassed his career high with 374 yards.

Swart has completed 61.8 percent of his passes on the season for 731 yards and three touchdowns; his 731 yards, the third-most in NCAA Division II, are the third-most by a Miner quarterback over the first two games of a season in history.  His top two targets have been Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) with 15 catches for 343 yards and Spencer Elrod (Lancaster, CA/Eastside), who has caught 14 balls for 169 yards.

Graham's 343 receiving yards are also the third-most in Division II this season and he is also sixth nationally in all-purpose yards with 451 through the first two weeks of the season.

Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) leads the Miner rushing attack with 101 yards on 24 carries.

S&T's defense recorded six sacks in last week's contest, two coming from linebacker Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) who leads the Miners with 21 stops on the year.  Compton, who recorded his 200^th career tackle in the Northwood contest, also has a team-high three tackles for a loss.

Fellow linebacker Austin Truvillion (Kansas City, MO/Park Hill) has made 18 stops on the season, while defensive end Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) has been in on 16 stops.  Safety Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) leads the Miners with four pass breakups.

ABOUT TRUMAN STATE:  Truman State's rally from an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter Saturday fell short as the Bulldogs lost 35-30 at Morningside, the fourth-ranked team in the NAIA ranks.

Jordan Salima, who rushed for 110 yards in the loss and leads the Bulldogs with 147 yards on the ground this season, spearheaded the rally effort with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one on a six-yard run and the other on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Jaden Barr, last year's GLVC "Freshman of the Year."

Barr threw for 239 yards and two scores Saturday and has completed 58.3 percent of his throws for 318 yards on the season.  He had a pair of touchdown throws in the loss to Jordan Jorgenson, who leads Truman with 13 receptions for 204 yards.

Truman's defense has been led by safety Jordan Brown, who has a team-high 17 tackles, while linebacker Bryan Edwards has been in on 15 stops and fellow linebacker Justin Mikeworth has made 14.  The Bulldogs have allowed 351.5 yards on average in the first two games of the 2017 campaign, including an average of 189 a game on the ground.