Sept. 14, 2015
- The Missouri State Bears will look to make it two victories in a row this Saturday (Sept. 19) when they travel to Jonesboro, Ark. to meet the Arkansas State Red Wolves at Centennial Bank Stadium
- First-year Missouri State head coach Dave Steckel claimed his first victory this past weekend with the Bears' 21-13 win over Chadron State; with the victory, first-year MSU head coaches are now 12-6-2 in their first home contests leading the Bears
- MSU drew a sellout crowd of 17,835 Saturday, marking its second-largest home audience in the 104-year history of the program; since the most-recent renovations to Robert W. Plaster Stadium were completed prior to the 2014 season, the Bears have drawn an average of 12,694 spectators per home contest
- Redshirt freshman quarterback Breck Ruddick racked up 197 yards of total offense in his first start at Plaster Stadium last Saturday, marking the biggest single-game output by a freshman QB since Cody Kirby totaled 278 yards of offense vs. SEMO on Nov. 10, 2007
- Ruddick's 55-yard scoring run vs. Chadron State represented the longest rush by a Missouri State freshman since the 2009 season, when Mikael Cooper-Falls ripped off a 57-yard run at North Dakota State (Oct. 24); it also marked the longest for a Bears signal-caller in 22 years
- Senior punter Chris Sullens added to his MSU career record for total punt yardage (9,372), totaling 312 yards on nine kicks Saturday; Sullens is just four punts short of Warren Baker's MSU career record of 239 total punts
- Sophomore running back Calan Crowder ran for a career-high 164 yards on 23 carries Saturday, logging the best rushing day for a Bear since Vernon Scott's 201-yard day at Murray State on Sept. 14, 2013
- MSU's defense limited Chadron State to four combined third and fourth-down conversions in 17 attempts Saturday; the Bears currently rank third in the Valley and 35th nationally in pass defense (184.5 ypg)
- Junior linebacker Dylan Cole made a team-high 11 stops vs. Chadron State and leads the Bears defense with 19 total tackles for the year; MSU's starting front four of James Barnes, Cecil Bratton, Colby Isbell and Brad Pryor combined to make 24 total tackles Saturday
- Sophomore Deion Holliman averaged 12.0 yards on three punt returns last week and currently leads the MVFC with a season average of 13.0 yards per return, which is also good for 15th nationally
Road Test With Arkansas State Awaits
|
Following a successful start to their 2015 home campaign last weekend, the Missouri State Bears will hit the road once again for a non-conference match-up with a Division I FBS foe when they travel to Jonesboro, Ark., Saturday (Sept. 19) for a 6:04 p.m. game against the Arkansas State Red Wolves at Centennial Bank Stadium.
MSU rode a career-best rushing day from Calan Crowder and a gritty defensive performance to nip Chadron State by a 21-13 score and hand Dave Steckel his first victory as head coach. Crowder racked up 164 rushing yards on 23 carries to lead a Bears offense that totaled 279 yards on the ground, while Breck Ruddick also delivered in his first home start as MSU's quarterback, gaining 197 yards of total offense, including the game-clinching 55-yard scoring scamper late in the third period.
Arkansas State dropped a hard-fought 27-20 decision to Missouri last Saturday at home after capitalizing on several early turnovers to take a seven-point lead into intermission. The Red Wolves mustered only three points in the second half in falling to 0-2 on the new season.
Saturday's contest will mark the fourth game in MSU's series with ASU, but the first since a 28-24 Red Wolves victory in Jonesboro on Sept. 19, 1998. The Bears lone win (37-20) in the series came on Oct. 26, 1991 in Jonesboro.
Missouri State's defense came up with two key second-half takeaways Saturday to continue a recent string of thievery and help lock down the club's first victory of the new season over Chadron State. Vashon Landers picked off a T.D. Stein pass at the MSU 13 to thwart the Eagles' opening drive of the third period, and Anthony Upchurch hauled in his first interception as a Bear at the goal line with just under four minutes to play.
The Bears picked off 13 passes last fall and recorded a total oft 22 total takeaways to post the second-best turnover margin in the MVFC (0.83). That followed a 2013 campaign that saw MSU snag 17 interceptions and tally 25 total takeaways.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Breck Ruddick displayed the poise of a veteran in his home debut as the Bears' signal caller Saturday. The Marion, Ark., product completed a career-high 19 passes in 34 attempts for 128 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown pass to Eric Christophel that paved the way to a 21-13 victory over Chadron State.
Ruddick also chipped in with 69 rushing yards on 12 attempts, including a 55-yard scoring run in the third period that gave the Bears some much-needed breathing room after the Eagles had pulled to within one point. That run marked the longest for a Bears quarterback since Phil Johnson scored from 58 yards out vs. SEMO on Sept. 4, 1993, and the biggest run for a freshman QB since 1987, when David Johnson turned in a 63-yard scoring run. In all, Ruddick accounted for 197 yards of total offense and has a team-high 303 for the season. Additionally, he has connected with 10 different receivers over the first two weeks of the season.
Stec Victorious in Home Debut
|
The Bears handed Dave Steckel a victory in his first outing as head coach at Plaster Stadium Saturday. Steckel's first official head coaching victory marked the 12th time a Missouri State sideline boss notched a win in his first home game.
With the Bears' 1-1 start to his tenure, Steckel has the opportunity to match four previous MSU head coaches for the second-best start to a coaching career in program history. Should the Bears pull out a victory Saturday in Jonesboro, Steckel would equal the 2-1 starts posted by Walter Langston (1909), Fred Thomason (1949), Jim Mentis (1965) and Randy Ball (1999). Only Tommy O'Boyle (1947) logged a better start, winning his first three games as Bears coach en route to 7-2-1 debut season.
Head coach Dave Steckel is certainly no stranger to developing shutdown defenders after mentoring a series of All-America performers during his time as defensive coordinator at Mizzou. It may be too early to draw any conclusive parallels between the Bears' crop of talented defensive linemen and the star-studded group of front men Steckel helped mold into the core of what became known as `D-Line U' in Columbia.
But if Saturday's returns are any indication, the young Bears are well on their way to big things. MSU's starting front four of James Barnes, Cecil Bratton, Colby Isbell and Brad Pryor teamed up to log 24 total tackles in the Bears' 21-13 victory over Chadron State Saturday. So far through two games, the Bears' D-Line has combined to make 33 stops -- including 3.5 for losses.
