THE GAME
After securing their first victory of the 2018 season last week, the Missouri State Bears will continue their three-game home stand Saturday (Sept. 15) with a 2 p.m. non-conference contest against the 20th-ranked Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at Robert W. Plaster Stadium.
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Saturday's game is part of the
Big Sky-MVFC Challenge Series, which is in its second season. The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN3, with Don West and Corey Riggs 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 holds an all-time mark of 213-168-12 (.557) at Plaster Stadium.
- The MVFC holds an 8-5 all-time edge in the Big Sky-MVFC Challenge Series, including a 3-2 record this season.
- The home club has won each of the five contests in this year's Big Sky-MVFC Challenge.
- NAU enters the week ranked No. 20 in the STATS FCS Top 25 and No. 22 in the AFCA Coaches Top 25; MSU is 22-94 all-time versus ranked FCS opponents, including a 6-13 mark in such games against non-conference opponents; the Bears have squared off against at least four ranked foes in each of the last eight seasons.
- After turning in his fourth 100-yard rushing game as a Bear in MSU's season-opener at Oklahoma State, Peyton Huslig logged another milestone performance last week vs. Lincoln to help the Bears top the 500-yard mark for total offense, finishing with 235 yards passing for his fourth 200-yard passing effort as a Bear; Huslig has either rushed for 100 yards or passed for 200 in eight of his 13 career starts.
- Jason Randall rushed for two touchdowns in last week's win over Lincoln, marking his third multi-TD effort as a Bear; he has scored at least one touchdown in five of MSU's last six games overall, dating back to Oct. 28, 2017 vs. Indiana State.
SERIES NOTES
- The Bears and Lumberjacks will be meeting for the first time Saturday.
- Additionally, the game will mark MSU's first against any opponent from the state of Arizona.
- MSU has gone 1-3 in its history against the Big Sky Conference, with the most-recent meeting coming last Sept. 13, with a 34-0 setback at North Dakota, which was in its final season as a Big Sky member; the Bears knocked off UND by a 38-0 score at Plaster on Sept. 13, 2014, for their lone win against a Big Sky opponent, after losing home dates with Cal State Northridge in 1998, and Idaho in the opening round of the 1990 FCS playoffs.
THE BEARS
- The Bears (1-1) brought back 36 letterwinners and 15 total starters from last year's 3-8 squad.
- MSU's defense, which welcomed back nine starters, is led by first-team preseason All-MVFC pick Angelo Garbutt and second-team choice Darius Joseph.
- McNeece Egbim and Kevin Ellis share the team lead with 16 tackles through the first two contests, while Skyler Hulse leads the MVFC in both TFL's (5.0) and sacks (1.5).
- Quarterback Peyton Huslig's average of 252.0 yards of total offense per game is the fourth-best among all MVFC players.
- Preseason all-conference lineman Marquis Prophete earned MVFC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors Monday.
THE LUMBERJACKS
- The Lumberjacks (1-1) return 39 total letterwinners and 19 starters from last year's 7-5 squad that tied for third in the Big Sky Conference race.
- Under the direction of 21st year head coach Jerome Souers, NAU knocked off FBS foe UTEP in a 30-10 season-opening affair on Sept. 1, before falling at home to No. 5 Eastern Washington Saturday in its Big Sky opener.
- The Lumberjacks, who average 28.0 points and 248.0 passing yards per contest, are led by All-American quarterback Case Cookus; the junior left Saturday's game against Eastern Washington due to injury, however, with sophomore Daniel Bridge-Gadd leading the NAU offense down the stretch.
- Junior linebacker Taylor Powell (17 tackles) leads an NAU defense that has surrendered an average of 399.5 yards of offense per outing to date.
LAST TIME OUT
Missouri State opened its home slate last Thursday (Sept. 6) with a convincing 52-24 victory over Lincoln, topping the 500-yard mark for total offense to notch its first win of 2018.
- MSU's 507 yards of offense represented the third-highest single-game total of the Dave Steckel era.
- The Bears recorded seven sacks, led by 2.0 from Claudio Martin--the first two of his MSU career.
- Peyton Huslig passed for 235 yards in just under two quarters of play, completing each of his last 11 attempts and teaming up with J.T. Granato for a string of 13 straight completions.
- Jason Randall rushed for a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to help the Bears tie a school record for points (28) in the period.
- The Bears outscored the Blue Tigers 28-0 in the second quarter and limited LU to 70 yards of offense in the first half overall.
- Nick Masoner's 59-yard reception marked the second scoring catch — and longest — of his MSU career.
- Darius Joseph returned a second-quarter LU fumble 27 yards for a touchdown, marking the first fumble recovery for a score by a Bear since Cecil Bratton recovered a North Dakota fumble in the end zone on Sept. 13, 2014.
- Freshman QB Dalton Hill rushed three times for a team-best total of 74 yards and completed 4-of-5 passes for 30 yards in his first game action as a Bear.
- McNeece Egbim logged his sixth double-digit tackle effort as a Bear, finishing with a game-high 10 stops.
- Lorenzo Thomas reeled in game and career highs of five receptions for 89 yards.
- Kevin Ellis (9 tackles) notched his second career-best tackle total in as many games, while Skyler Hulse established a personal best with six stops.
- Aaron Denson's five catches for 70 yards represented career-best figures for the junior receiver.
- Jeremiah Wilson and Tyler Currie each tallied their first touchdowns as Bears; Wilson rushed for a five-yard score in the third period, before Currie hauled in a 33-yard TD pass from Granato early in the fourth quarter.
HUSLIG HAULING
Junior quarterbacks
Peyton Huslig and
J.T. Granato teamed up for their second streak of at least 13 straight completions in as many seasons in last Thursday's home opener against Lincoln. A year ago, the duo joined forces to complete 14 straight passes — which ranks as the second-longest in school history — in a home game vs. Indiana State. Still a bit short of the program record of 20 straight completions, MSU's quarterbacks were a combined 20-for-25 (.800) through the air against Lincoln.
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In addition to his 235-yard passing day against LU, Huslig rushed for 109 yards in MSU's season opener at No. 25 Oklahoma State (Aug. 30), marking his fourth career 100-yard rushing game with the Bears. Huslig accounted for 259 of MSU's 260 yards of total offense against the Cowboys and threaded two TD passes through the OSU defense. Only former Bear DeAndre Smith (1987-90), with six 100-yard rushing games, has more than Huslig from the QB position.
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. In his first season at MSU, 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 last fall 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.
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. With his season-opening performance at OSU, Huslig moved up to 14th on the Bears' career passing yardage chart with his 150-yard day. His career total of 2,366 yards is 106 behind
Brodie Lambert (2,472) in the No. 13 position on the list.
The Bears' 28 points in the second quarter against Lincoln matched the program record for offensive production in the second period, previously set on Sept. 9, 2006 vs. Southwest Baptist.
The Bears posted 150 yards of total offense in the quarter to go with eight first downs and a conversion on their only third down of the period. MSU's high-scoring quarter featured three rushing TD's — two by
Jason Randall — and a 27-yard fumble recovery by
Darius Joseph.
PROPHETE HONORED
Senior offensive guard
Marquis Prophete was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week for his effort in the Bears' win over Lincoln, the league office announced Monday.
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Prophete graded out at 88 percent in Missouri State's 52-24 win last week, playing a pivotal role on the Bears' offensive line that helped racked up 507 yards of total offense. Prophete and his fellow linemen allowed just one sack on the day and propelled the Bears to an 80-percent completion percentage on 25 pass plays, in addition to 6.6 yards per carry on the ground.
Prophete was an All-MVFC honorable mention pick last season and was named to the league's Preseason All-MVFC squad this fall. This is the second Valley Offensive Lineman of the Week honor of his career, also earning the award on Oct. 28, 2017, after the Bears' home win over Indiana State.
HOME COOKING
Missouri State began a rare three-game home stand that runs through the month of September with its home-opening win over Lincoln. The last time MSU hosted three games in a row was 2009, while the last time the Bears played out the month of September without a road game was 1954.
The Bears will also play two of their four October games at home with one home contest slated for the month of November.
BEARS STRONG IN NON-CON
Missouri State's contest with Northern Arizona represents the second of two straight non-conference home games. MSU has enjoyed a history of success in non-conference play at home since joining the Division I ranks in 1982, going 57-20 overall against non-league foes at Plaster.
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The Bears bring a five-game home win streak versus non-conference opponents into Saturday's game, including shutout wins in two of those outings. MSU has out-scored its last five non-league opponents by a combined 196-58 margin, posting a 57-0 win over Southwestern College (Sept. 1, 2016), a 21-13 victory over Chadron State (Sept. 12, 2015), a 38-0 white-washing of North Dakota (Sept. 13, 2015) and a 28-21 decision over Murray State (Sept. 16, 2017) prior to last week's victory over Lincoln. The Bears have now logged at least one non-conference home win in 28 of their last 32 seasons dating back to 1987.
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