The Missouri State football Bears jumped on top by 14 points in the first three minutes of the game and stayed in front the rest of the night to record a stunning 51-44 upset of the 16th-ranked Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks Thursday night in Martin, Tenn., at Graham Stadium. It was the Bears’ first road win since Oct. 16, 2004, and ended a string of 11 straight Missouri State losses away from Springfield.
In climbing to 2-0 and matching the season win total of the 2-9 Missouri State team in 2006, the Bears dispatched the defending Ohio Valley Conference champs, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff team last year.
The offensive free-for-all took nearly three and a half hours to complete and marked the fifth highest combined point total for two teams in a game in the 96-year, 882-game history of Missouri State football. It was the most points an MSU team has ever allowed in a victory, the most a UTM team has ever scored in a loss, and it was the highest point total for a Bear ballclub in a game since . . . . . 62 against Missouri-Rolla the previous week. It was the first time the Bears have put 50-point games back-to-back since 1978 and also the most points MSU has scored in consecutive games since 1978.
The two ballclubs amassed 987 total yards between them in the contest with UTM owning a 542-435 advantage for the night but the Bears got some key stops deep in their own territory, protected the football throughout the game and were penalized nearly 100 fewer yards than UTM.
The Bears were in front 14-0 three minutes into the contest and later had 14-point leads at 17-3, 24-10 and 34-20 as they continued to outscore the Skyhawks. After a 50-yard kickoff return by Kingjack Washington to open the game, the Bears needed just six plays to score with QB Matt Krapfl carrying in from the six. An MSU stop got the ball back and Krapfl fired a 61-yard TD pass to WR Tamarkus McElvane to make it 14-0 with 3:08 elapsed. The teams traded field goals and then touchdowns, with QB Cody Kirby scoring on an 11-yard run midway in the second period. A second UTM field goal cut the Bears’ advantage to 24-13 at the half.
The Skyhawks scored to open the third quarter but K Nathan Stokes hit his second MSU field goal, WR Eric Davis scored on a 20-yard pass from Krapfl and Stokes nailed a career-long 44-yard three-pointer to make it 37-20 a minute into the final quarter. The two teams swapped touchdowns again with TB Gerald Davis on a five-yard run and Kirby on a six-yard scamper keeping the Bears’ side of the scoreboard moving to make it 51-34 with three minutes left. UTM took advantage of a recovered onside kick and one of just two punts in the game by MSU to tack on a late TD and field goal but the Bears had the ball at the end and ran out the clock.
G. Davis with 83 yards and Washington with 80 led the Bears on the ground while Krapfl’s 5-of-10 throwing night included his two TD tosses as he finished with 140 yards. E. Davis had five catches for 99 yards to go with his four kickoff returns for 84. The three field goals by Stokes matched his career high for a game, set last year at Indiana State.
Defensively, the Bears got nine solo stops among 13 tackles by LB Jeron Poole while CB Derek Miller was in on nine stops and LB Sam Block had eight.
The Bears, off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2004, now have nine days to prepare for their next encounter, a Sept. 15 visit to Manhattan, Kan., to take on the Kansas State Wildcats.
