THE GAME
Missouri State will kick off its 107th season of varsity football Thursday (Aug. 30) when the Bears travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a 7 p.m., non-conference contest against the No. 25 Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium.
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The contest will be broadcast live nationally on FS1, with Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft describing the action. The game will also be carried on the Missouri State Radio Network, as Art Hains and Dennis Heim will once again have the call.
• Missouri State is 51-52-3 all-time in season openers, including a 15-21 mark since its move to Division I in 1982; MSU is 1-13 in season openers vs. FBS competition over the same timeframe.
• The Bears will be gunning for their first win over an FBS opponent since opening the 1990 season with a 31-24 decision over UNLV.
• MSU is 1-2 in season lid-lifters under head coach Dave Steckel, including road losses to FBS opponents Memphis (2015) and Missouri (2017) and a home win over NAIA foe Southwestern College (2016).
• The Bears racked up 43 points in their 2017 season opener at Mizzou, which represents the program's best single-game offensive performance vs. a Division I FBS school.
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SERIES NOTES
• The Bears and Cowboys will be meeting for the eighth time and the first since 2014.
• OSU has claimed each of the previous seven contests in the series, all of which have been contested in Stillwater.
• The Cowboys claimed a 40-23 decision over the Bears in the most recent meeting on Sept. 6, 2014; OSU reeled off 27 unanswered points after MSU out-gained the Cowboy offense in the first quarter.
• The Bears are also winless against the current membership of the Big 12 Conference, going 0-13 against OSU (0-7), Kansas State (0-4) and Kansas (0-3).
• OSU has averaged 42.0 points per outing vs. the Bears, while MSU has averaged 11.9 points per game; the Bears' 23 points in the two clubs' last meeting represented a series high for MSU against the Cowboys.
THE BEARS
• Missouri State was tabbed for ninth place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference's annual preseason poll.
• The Bears return 36 letterwinners and 15 total starters from last year's 3-8 squad.
• MSU's defense will welcome back nine starters, led by first-team preseason All-MVFC pick Angelo Garbutt and second-team choice Darius Joseph.
• Led by 2017 honorable mention All-MVFC quarterback Peyton Huslig, the MSU offense will also feature several key returners, including preseason second-team all-conference lineman Marquis Prophete.
• MSU is 465-502-3 all-time as a program and 8-25 under fourth-year head coach Dave Steckel.
THE COWBOYS
• Oklahoma State is coming off a 10-3 season and third-place finish in the 2017 Big 12 race.
• OSU returns a number of key performers, including 2017 Doak Walker Award semifinalist Justice Hill, who ranks as the seventh-leading active NCAA rusher entering the season.
• The Cowboys are ranked in the preseason Top 25 for the third consecutive season, entering the week at No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
• OSU is 49-7-4 in season openers at home and 70-41-5 overall in opening games.
SEVEN BEARS EARN PRESEASON HONORS
Missouri State standouts Angelo Garbutt, Marquis Prophete and Darius Joseph were all recognized by the Missouri Valley Football Conference with Preseason All-MVFC honors, as selected by a panel of league coaches, media and communications personnel.
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Garbutt, a junior linebacker from Carrollton, Texas, was a first-team All-MVFC preseason pick, while Prophete and Joseph were second-team selections. Both Joseph, Prophete, and returning starting quarterback Peyton Huslig, were honorable mention All-MVFC performers in 2017.
Garbutt, an Iowa transfer who received Honorable Mention All-MVFC recognition at linebacker in his first season at MSU a year ago, ranked sixth overall in the MVFC with a team-leading 85 tackles. Prophete will take a streak of 27 consecutive starts on the Bears' offensive line into his senior campaign after helping engineer an offensive turnaround in 2017. Joseph was a stalwart in the Bears' secondary, making 10 starts at cornerback and totaling 54 tackles to lead all MSU defensive backs.
Additionally, four more Bears earned preseason All-MVFC laurels from Phil Steele's annual football preview. Prophete was the lone MSU first-team selection. Long snapper Chandler Collins joined Garbutt on the publication's list of second-team honorees, while offensive lineman Aaron Clardy, defensive back Zack Sanders and wide receiver Lorenzo Thomas joined Egbim as third-team selections.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Missouri State can once again make a valid claim as having one of the toughest schedules in the Division I FCS ranks this fall. Based on STATS' preseason FCS Poll, the Bears are slated to meet seven teams ranked among the top 25 or receiving votes in the poll, in addition to their season opener against FBS power Oklahoma State, which garnered the No. 25 spot in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll.
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Seven of the Bears' eight MVFC foes enter the season either ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes from the STATS voters. Over the last four seasons, MSU has squared off against a total of 24 ranked opponents. In fact, the Bears have played no fewer than three ranked opponents in any of the last 13 seasons. MSU has taken on a total of 44 top 25 clubs in the last eight seasons alone and brings a record of 22-94 against ranked foes into the 2018 campaign.
HUSLIGÂ HAULING THE ROCK
Junior quarterback Peyton Huslig will once again spearhead the Bears offense on the heels of a breakthrough debut 2017 campaign that ened with his selection as an Honorable Mention All-MVFC choice. Huslig started all 11 games as a sophomore transfer, registering one of the top debut seasons for a Bears signal-caller in the Division I era of MSU football. His 2,602 yards of total offense ranked as the fifth-best single-season total in program history. Additionally, Huslig completed 159 passes and totaled 1981 yards through the air to rank eighth and 10th, respectively, on those two MSU single-season charts.
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The Andover, Kan., product registered three 100-yard rushing games and three 200-yard passing performances last fall, making him the first MSU quarterback to accomplish that feat in the same season. Huslig turned in his second 100-yard rushing game in a row Oct. 28 vs. Indiana State, breaking the Bears' single-game mark for rushing yards by a quarterback with his 174-yard performance. He racked up 385 yards of total offense by completing 12-of-14 passes for 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while eclipsing DeAndre Smith's Bears rushing record by a quarterback. He also teamed up with J.T. Granato to complete 14 straight passes in the first half, good for the second-longest streak in program history.
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The previous week, Huslig led all rushers with 123 yards on 16 carries vs. South Dakota State, becoming the first MSU quarterback to turn in a 100-yard rushing performance since the 2011 season. Huslig also passed for 189 yards, giving him 312 yards of total offense for the day. Trevor Wooden was the last Bear QB to crack the 100-yard mark with his 121-yard day at Youngstown State on Nov. 19, 2011. Additionally, Huslig became just the third MSU quarterback to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in a game during the same season. Mitch Ware was the first to accomplish the feat, passing for 313 yards vs. Pitt State and rushing for 141 against Arkansas Tech in 1979, before Jeremy Hoog followed suit in 1995, totaling 351 passing yards against Western Illinois and 109 rushing yards vs. SEMO.
WELCOME TO THE PARTY
Missouri State's cause will receive a boost by an influx of talent in 2018, with 42 newcomers adorning the Bears' roster entering the first week of the regular season. Head coach Dave Steckel and his staff welcomed 24 freshmen, as well as 18 transfers to campus at the start of fall camp. MSU expects to see an immediate impact from its decorated group of newcomers, as five true freshmen and six transfers found spots on the season-opening two-deep roster. Additionally, nine redshirt freshmen who sat out last fall are expected to contribute this season.
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MSU's talented crop of newcomers will be aiming to continue a tradition of excellence displayed by Bear rookies over the last two decades. In the history of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, only Western Illinois (82) and Illinois State (82) have produced more MVFC All-Newcomer selections than the Bears, who have collected 79 such honors since the league began recognizing an all-rookie team in 1994. On this year's roster, five Bears have been listed on previous MVFC All-Newcomer squads: 2015 - Jared Beshore (S); 2016 - Coleman Clanton (OL) and McNeece Egbim (LB), and 2017 - Peyton Huslig (QB) and Angelo Garbutt (LB).
MAROON AND WHITE SPECIAL
MSU special teams have been a consistent force for the Bears during the Dave Steckel era, with the Bears ranking among the top five among all MVFC units in both punt average and punt return average each of the last three seasons. Last fall, MSU ranked second in punt return average (13.0), and fourth in net punt average (37.5), thanks to the leg of Brendan Withrow, who ranked 35th nationally with an average of 41.0 yards per punt. Additionally, the Bears kickoff return unit averaged 22.2 yards per return to rank third in The Valley, behind MSU all-time return leader Deion Holliman's third-consecutive All-MVFC caliber performance.
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The Bears also registered a strong showing with its field goal unit, converting 12 tries for the season to finish fourth in the conference in that category.
