University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saturday, September 21
St. Charles, Mo.
1:00 p.m. CT
at
Lindenwood
Joseph Obeto (6) celebrates a turnover against Black Hills State Saturday.
Photo by: Kylie Macziewski
Tommies face Lindenwood in first road game of 2024
9/16/2024 12:15:00 PM | Football
ST. PAUL, MINN. – The University of St. Thomas football team is back to its winning ways. After defeating Black Hills State University on Saturday 24-14, the Tommies will hit the road for their first away game of 2024. St. Thomas will travel to St. Charles, Missouri to face Lindenwood University at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 21.
Saturday's contest will feature two transitioning Division I opponents, something that's not exactly common in today's era of college athletics. After leaving the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 2020, St. Thomas received permission from the NCAA to jump directly from Division III to Division I. As part of the reclassification process, the Tommies will compete at the Division I level for five season and will officially be eligible for NCAA Championships in 2026-27. In February 2022, after being a full member of Division II for nine seasons, Lindenwood announced it would begin its own transition to Division I and accepted an offer to join the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). Like St. Thomas, Lindenwood is also ineligible for the NCAA tournament in 2026-27 and can currently compete for OVC championships in all sports.
Tommie football fans can purchase tickets online through Lindenwood's official athletics website, lindenwoodlions.com/tickets. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+, meaning St. Thomas will make its ESPN season debut this weekend. Subscriptions to ESPN+ currently start at $10.99/month, with the price to jump to $11.99/month in October. Live stats will be available on the program's website and fans can listen to the game on 1500 ESPN and the Varsity Network App.
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas is back to its winning ways after securing a 24-14 victory over Black Hills State University on Saturday. The Tommies took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Shagen. From there, the two teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter, which eventually resulted in a 17-14 Tommie lead. Michael Rostberg scored St. Thomas' two touchdowns with his legs to give the Tommies the three-point halftime advantage. However, neither team scored in the third quarter, and it looked like the game may end 17-14 in favor of St. Thomas. Rostberg once again provided a little insurance in the closing seconds, scoring his third rushing touchdown of the game to secure the 24-14 victory for the Tommies.
THE OPPOSITION: Lindenwood will be the fourth scholarship team St. Thomas has faced to open 2024. Unlike the Tommies previous opponents, the Lions are not off to a rip-roaring start. Lindenwood in 0-3 and looking for its first win of 2024 after opening the year with games against #22 Kansas, #9 Central Arkansas and Missouri State. The Lions have been outscored 110-30 in that stretch and have surrendered 979 yards of combined offense over the three games.
SHOW ME THE MONEY: St. Thomas played four scholarship teams to open a season for the first time in program history this season, hosting Sioux Falls (DII), Northern Iowa (FCS) and Black Hills State (DII) in its previous three games. All-time, the Tommies are 4-5 against scholarship football programs, with two wins over Michigan Tech and Black Hills State. In fact, St. Thomas' first Division I win came against a scholarship program, as the team downed Michigan Tech 12-9 on September 11, 2021. The Tommies other scholarship opponents are Northern Iowa (0-2), Southern Utah (0-1), Sioux Falls (0-1) and South Dakota (0-1).
LEGS FEED THE WOLF: Placekickers Stephen Shagen and Elliot Huether continued to impress in St. Thomas' win over Black Hills State on Saturday. Together, the duo set a combined five Division I program records, including four by Huether alone. The duo kicked for a combined 692 yards on kickoffs and punts, the highest combined total in any game since the team jumped to Division I in 2021. Additionally, Huether set the DI program record for single-game punt yards (388), single-game punts (9), longest punt (60) and multiple 50+ yard punts (2) in a single-game.
MR. 2000: Senior running back Hope Adebayo joined the 2000 career club on Saturday, becoming the first running back in the DI era to rush for over 2000 yards for the Tommies. Adebayo eclipsed the mark in the first quarter on Saturday, rushing for 11 yards on St. Thomas' first two offensive plays of the game. The senior is currently credited with 2019 career rush yards in his career.
SIOUX FALLS CONNECTION: Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart has a big connection to one of St. Thomas' early season opponents: the University of Sioux Falls. The Lions skipper lead the Cou from 2010-16 and played a large role in Sioux Falls early Division II success. Stugart posted a 65-17 record in six seasons with the Cougars, including a 32-5 mark over the final three seasons. He additionally led Sioux Falls to the NAIA Championship game in 2010, his first season at the helm, before the Cougars made the transition to DII in 2011.
IN TRANSITION: There is one unique storyline in Saturday's game: it features two teams transitioning to Division I. St. Thomas officially announced its intent to begin the reclassification process in July 2020, when the NCAA granted the school permission to jump directly from Division III to Division I, and is currently in year four of its mandatory five-year transitional period. Lindenwood made a similar announcement on February 23, 2022. After becoming a full Division II member in 2013-14, the Lions announced they would make the jump to Division I, joining the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) as a full-time member. Currently, Lindenwood is eligible to compete in OVC Championships but cannot compete or earn automatic bids to NCAA Tournaments until 2026-27. St. Thomas will also be eligible for postseason action that same season.
Saturday's contest will feature two transitioning Division I opponents, something that's not exactly common in today's era of college athletics. After leaving the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 2020, St. Thomas received permission from the NCAA to jump directly from Division III to Division I. As part of the reclassification process, the Tommies will compete at the Division I level for five season and will officially be eligible for NCAA Championships in 2026-27. In February 2022, after being a full member of Division II for nine seasons, Lindenwood announced it would begin its own transition to Division I and accepted an offer to join the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). Like St. Thomas, Lindenwood is also ineligible for the NCAA tournament in 2026-27 and can currently compete for OVC championships in all sports.
Tommie football fans can purchase tickets online through Lindenwood's official athletics website, lindenwoodlions.com/tickets. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+, meaning St. Thomas will make its ESPN season debut this weekend. Subscriptions to ESPN+ currently start at $10.99/month, with the price to jump to $11.99/month in October. Live stats will be available on the program's website and fans can listen to the game on 1500 ESPN and the Varsity Network App.
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas is back to its winning ways after securing a 24-14 victory over Black Hills State University on Saturday. The Tommies took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Shagen. From there, the two teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter, which eventually resulted in a 17-14 Tommie lead. Michael Rostberg scored St. Thomas' two touchdowns with his legs to give the Tommies the three-point halftime advantage. However, neither team scored in the third quarter, and it looked like the game may end 17-14 in favor of St. Thomas. Rostberg once again provided a little insurance in the closing seconds, scoring his third rushing touchdown of the game to secure the 24-14 victory for the Tommies.
THE OPPOSITION: Lindenwood will be the fourth scholarship team St. Thomas has faced to open 2024. Unlike the Tommies previous opponents, the Lions are not off to a rip-roaring start. Lindenwood in 0-3 and looking for its first win of 2024 after opening the year with games against #22 Kansas, #9 Central Arkansas and Missouri State. The Lions have been outscored 110-30 in that stretch and have surrendered 979 yards of combined offense over the three games.
SHOW ME THE MONEY: St. Thomas played four scholarship teams to open a season for the first time in program history this season, hosting Sioux Falls (DII), Northern Iowa (FCS) and Black Hills State (DII) in its previous three games. All-time, the Tommies are 4-5 against scholarship football programs, with two wins over Michigan Tech and Black Hills State. In fact, St. Thomas' first Division I win came against a scholarship program, as the team downed Michigan Tech 12-9 on September 11, 2021. The Tommies other scholarship opponents are Northern Iowa (0-2), Southern Utah (0-1), Sioux Falls (0-1) and South Dakota (0-1).
LEGS FEED THE WOLF: Placekickers Stephen Shagen and Elliot Huether continued to impress in St. Thomas' win over Black Hills State on Saturday. Together, the duo set a combined five Division I program records, including four by Huether alone. The duo kicked for a combined 692 yards on kickoffs and punts, the highest combined total in any game since the team jumped to Division I in 2021. Additionally, Huether set the DI program record for single-game punt yards (388), single-game punts (9), longest punt (60) and multiple 50+ yard punts (2) in a single-game.
MR. 2000: Senior running back Hope Adebayo joined the 2000 career club on Saturday, becoming the first running back in the DI era to rush for over 2000 yards for the Tommies. Adebayo eclipsed the mark in the first quarter on Saturday, rushing for 11 yards on St. Thomas' first two offensive plays of the game. The senior is currently credited with 2019 career rush yards in his career.
SIOUX FALLS CONNECTION: Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart has a big connection to one of St. Thomas' early season opponents: the University of Sioux Falls. The Lions skipper lead the Cou from 2010-16 and played a large role in Sioux Falls early Division II success. Stugart posted a 65-17 record in six seasons with the Cougars, including a 32-5 mark over the final three seasons. He additionally led Sioux Falls to the NAIA Championship game in 2010, his first season at the helm, before the Cougars made the transition to DII in 2011.
IN TRANSITION: There is one unique storyline in Saturday's game: it features two teams transitioning to Division I. St. Thomas officially announced its intent to begin the reclassification process in July 2020, when the NCAA granted the school permission to jump directly from Division III to Division I, and is currently in year four of its mandatory five-year transitional period. Lindenwood made a similar announcement on February 23, 2022. After becoming a full Division II member in 2013-14, the Lions announced they would make the jump to Division I, joining the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) as a full-time member. Currently, Lindenwood is eligible to compete in OVC Championships but cannot compete or earn automatic bids to NCAA Tournaments until 2026-27. St. Thomas will also be eligible for postseason action that same season.
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