Unfortunately, not much has changed on the field --- the bottom line hasn't changed, anyway. The Blue Tigers lost, as the Truman State Bulldogs bolted to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter on their way to a 41-14 win to spoil the football part of Lincoln's Homecoming before a good crowd Saturday at Reed Stadium.

It was an uncomfortably hot day and Lincoln was facing a proud program --- a program under the direction of former Hickman coach Gregg Nesbitt --- that had gone 8-3 last year, but was 0-3 this year.

They were wounded and they were hungry and it showed --- it took them four plays to cover 73 yards on the game's first possession to take a 7-0 lead. Later in the first quarter, it moved to 21-0 after Lincoln lost fumbles at its own 38 and 18 to set up touchdowns.

Wounded, hungry teams don't need any help.

In years past --- in decades past --- a 21-0 start would have led to a 56-6 finish for the Blue Tigers. Not this year, not with this team. The results are the same, but how they're losing is different.

After Truman State's opening 73-yard salvo, the Blue Tigers (1-3) outgained the Bulldogs (1-3) 293-234 the rest of the way. After the first quarter, the edge for Lincoln was 287-156.

In the second quarter, and after foiling a fake punt, the Blue Tigers went 45 yards in eight plays, scoring on a 10-yard pass from Eugene Sainterling to Blake Tibbs to get within 21-7 at the half.

They then took the opening kickoff of the second half and sprinted 75 yards in six plays, an effort capped on a 14-yard run by Kimbo Ferguson and it was 21-14.

The game was on.

Sure, the Bulldogs would score the game's final 20 points to win going away. But after being down 21-0 before you could say Here we go again, Lincoln had gotten back within a touchdown and had outplayed Truman State in the process.

These Blue Tigers are giving effort until the end, they're not quitting --- more proof is that they'd advanced the ball to the Bulldogs' 6 when the game ended. The product under first-year head coach Steve Smith and his staff is better, it's just not showing where it counts the most.

Moral victories are for losers? Maybe. But when you haven't had a winning since 1972, moral victories are okay, they're something, they're a start.

Baby steps, because 45 years of history can be a heavy burden to bear, a heavy weight to shake.

The Bulldogs --- who received a touchdown pass and touchdown run from quarterback and California graduate Jaden Barr --- had no turnovers, while the Blue Tigers committed four. Two set up Truman State touchdowns, while Jordan Siegel returned an interception 62 yards for a score.

It's tough to win when you're minus-four in the turnover column, it almost never happens. Take this --- entering this NFL season, teams that had been minus-four or more in the turnover margin since 2005 had lost 97.4 percent of the time.

In last week's 7-3 loss at Quincy, Lincoln was minus-two in turnovers. For the season, the Blue Tigers are minus-10.

Obviously, that's not good. But when you look at it another way, even that could be considered progress. Those are (hopefully) fixable in-game problems that when corrected, can turn a close loss (like last week) into a win, or a four-touchdown loss (like Saturday) into a much more competitive --- perhaps even winnable --- situation.

That's certainly better than getting manhandled, dominated and having no chance at all, something that's been the rule --- not the exception --- for this program for a long, long time.

Smith, his staff and these players are saying the right things and by all appearances, they're doing the right things off the field. The on-the-field success will come, you just can't expect it to happen overnight. Or in one offseason.

Turning around a football program is a multi-year project. It's not the same as other sports, like basketball, where a few players, such as Michael Porter Jr. and friends, can turn a program around in a blink.

One day, this football team will have as much entertainment value as the band and dance team. Just not yet.

Here's hoping --- and believing --- it will happen sooner rather than later.

Lincoln's Blake Tibbs tiptoes into the end zone after catching a 10-yard touchdown pass from Eugene Sainterling during the second quarter of Saturday's game with Truman State at Reed Stadium.

Even in (another) defeat, Lincoln
showing some signs of progress