FIRST AND TEN
- The Missouri State Bears will take aim at their third MVFC victory Saturday (Nov. 5) when they travel to Brookings, S.D. for a 2:04 p.m. contest against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium
- SDSU holds a commanding 7-1 all-time advantage in the series with MSU, including a perfect 4-0 home mark vs. the Bears; Saturday's game will be the first meeting of the clubs at the Jacks' new home facility, which opened at the beginning of the 2016 season
- The Bears are 2-2 on the road this season and would post their first three-win road ledger since 2009 with a victory in one of their final two road tilts; SDSU is 3-1 at Dykhouse Stadium, averaging 33.3 points per home outing
- Missouri State's defense has allowed an average of just 55.8 rushing yards and 10.6 points in the second half this season; the Bears have recorded 12 of their 15 takeaways in the third and fourth quarters as well
- Preseason All-America linebacker Dylan Cole is coming off a season-high 19-tackle performance vs. SIU, giving the senior 19 double-digit tackle totals in his 43 career games, including 13 in the Bears' last 15 contests
- Cole is second among all active FCS defenders in career tackles (414), which is good for sixth on the Bears' career list, just six stops behind DeLaun Fowler in the No. 5 position on the chart
- Cole leads the MVFC and ranks third in the nation in tackles per game (12.3); he also ranks second among all FCS defenders in solo stops (7.5) per contest
- Quarterback Brodie Lambert logged career highs for completions (25) and both passing (339) and rushing yards (51) vs. SIU last Saturday; additionally his 390 yards of total offense ranks sixth on MSU's all-time single-game list
- Junior return specialist Deion Holliman ranks fifth in the nation in combined kick return yardage (644) and needs just 89 more return yards to reach the 2,000-yard mark for his career
- Holliman is the only FCS returner with both a punt and kickoff return for a TD in each of the last two seasons; with his 57-yard punt return for a TD vs. SIU — the fourth touchdown return of his career — he moved into a tie with Ken Braden for second on the Bears' career touchdown return list, just one behind all-time leader Cornelius Perry
GAME PREVIEW
Fresh off their second Missouri Valley Football Conference victory of the season, the
Missouri State Bears (4-4, 2-3 MVFC) will be looking to continue their turnaround with a road contest against the No. 13
South Dakota State Jackrabbits (5-3, 4-1 MVFC) Saturday (Nov. 5) at Dana J. Dykhous Stadium in Brookings S.D. After previously posting wins over Murray State and Indiana State as part of their 3-1 start to the season, the Bears could secure three road wins in a season for the first time since 2009 with a victory in one of their final two road games against the Jackrabbits or Illinois State (Nov. 12).
Missouri State is coming off a 38-35 home win over Southern Illinois that saw the Bears rally from a 14-point, second-half deficit to climb back to the .500-mark for the season. Reigning MVFC Offensive Player of the Week
Brodie Lambert passed for a career-high 339 yards and four toucdowns in leading the comeback, in addition to piling up the sixth-best single-game total offense (390) mark in school history.
Zac Hoover (150 receiving yards, two touchdowns) and
Erik Furmanek (6 catches for 68 yards) were the primary targets for Lambert, while
Dylan Cole logged a season-high 19 tackles to pace the defense's second-half shutdown.
Although still positioned in a three-way tie atop the MVFC standings, South Dakota State suffered its first Valley setback of the season last weekend at Illinois State. Like the Bears, the Jacks found themselves in a 14-point hole at halftime. But Illinois State scored the final 10 points of the contest to salt away the win after Jake Wieneke hauled in his second touchdown reception of the day in the third quarter to pull SDSU to within seven points. The Jacks enter Saturday's contest with the top offense in the Valley (462.4 ypg.), led by the Valley's leading scorer in Wieneke (14 TD's), quarterback Taryn Christion (319.8 passing ypg.) and Dallas Goedert (117.1 receiving ypg.).
CLOSING TIME
Missouri State's come-from-behind win over Southern Illinois was made possible by a dominant second-half performance by its defense, which limited the Salukis to 146 yards of offense after intermission. The Bears' run defense has been particularly effective in the second half all season and was a key factor again Saturday, holding SIU to 112 rushing yards for the day and just 22 combined yards in the third and fourth quarters. MSU permitted just one offensive touchdown and six first downs after halftime, while forcing five punts to allow the Bears offense time to overcome a 14-point deficit.
For the year, MSU has allowed just an average of just 55 rushing yards and 10.6 points in the second half, with the Bears offense outscoring the opposition by a 73-38 margin in the fourth quarter alone.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Senior quarterback
Brodie Lambert posted career highs for total offense (390), passing yards (339), completions (25) and rushing yards (51), while tossing four touchdown passes to lead MSU's comeback against Southern Illinois Saturday. Lambert, who earned MVFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his MSU career as a result, threw for three TDs in the second half, helping the Bears rally from a 14-point deficit.
Lambert's 390 yards of offense represent the sixth-best single-game total in school history, and the most by a Missouri State player since Kierra Harris's 397 yards at Central Arkansas in 2014. He also connected with three different receivers on scoring passes for the second time in three weeks and has connected with eight different receivers for TD passes this season. The Arlington, Texas, native also registered one of his finest performances as a Bear Oct. 15 vs. No. 12 Western Illinois, finishing the day with a career-best five touchdown passes to match a Missouri State single-game record. That effort marked just the third time in program history four different players have recorded a receiving touchdown in the same game.
THANK ME LATER
Redshirt freshman kicker/punter
Zach Drake continues to ease into his role as the Bears special teams utility man. This past Saturday, Drake drilled the deciding 32-yard field goal with just 10 seconds remaining in regulation to lift MSU past Southern Illinois. In addition to his game-winning kick, the redshirt freshman boomed a personal-best 69-yard punt in the opening quarter, marking the longest punt by a Bear since
Chris Sullens' 74-yarder vs. SIU on Nov. 8, 2014.
Drake finished his memorable day with an average of 47.7 yards on his three punts and four touchbacks on seven kickoffs. The Lee's Summit, Mo., product ranks fourth in the MVFC in punting (40.9) during conference play and his career-best punt Saturday is the second-longest by a Valley punter this season.
ICE COLE
Senior linebacker
Dylan Cole recorded a season-high 19 stops in Saturday's matchup with SIU, continuing a recent string of double-digit tackle totals for the preseason All-American. Saturday's effort marked the 19th time in Cole's MSU career he finished with at least 10 tackles in a contest, including his 13th such performance in the Bears' last 15 games dating back to Oct. 10, 2015.
Cole, who made his 43rd consecutive start for the Bears Saturday, ranks second among all active NCAA Division I FCS defenders — and tops in the MVFC — in career tackles (414) and needs just six more stops to match the total of DeLaun Folwer in the No. 5 position on the Bears' all-time chart.
CHUNK THIS
Missouri State's propensity for big plays has been on display throughout the first eight games this season, with the Bears logging 21 offensive plays of 25 yards or more so far this year. That figure has already surpassed the total of the 2015 Bears, who registered just 15 such 'chunk' gains for their entire 11-game season.
Additionally, MSU has 15 scoring drives of 75 yards or more, as well as 12 different scoring series extending at least nine plays, up from 2015 totals of just seven and 11, respectively.
ROAD TO SUCCESS
One key to Missouri State's turnaround 2016 season has been its play on the road, with three of the Bears' first four games taking place away from Robert W. Plaster Stadium. MSU, which entered the season on a 10-game road skid, is 2-1 on the road against FCS competition this season and needs one more victory in its final two games away from home to claim three road wins in a season for the first time since 2009.
The Bears' Oct. 1 win at No. 24 Indiana State represented their first victory over a ranked foe since Oct. 19, 2013 (vs. No. 15 South Dakota State) and MSU's first win vs. a Top 25 squad on the road since an Oct. 20, 2012 decision over No. 11 Illinois State in Normal.
