Bears Fall to WKU in League Opener

Thursday, October 8

Bowling Green, Ky.

6:00 p.m.

Missouri State University

1-4 , 0-1

Western Kentucky

2-4 , 1-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Missouri State	3	3	7	0	13
WKU	7	14	3	10	34

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Bears Fall to WKU in League Opener

October 08, 2026 | Football

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By: MSU Athletics Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Western Kentucky used a balanced offensive attack behind quarterback Brock Glenn to take down visiting Missouri State, 34-13, here Thursday in the Conference USA opener for the Bears.

The Hilltoppers (2-4, 1-1 CUSA) racked up 233 yards on the ground and 231 through the air with Glenn accounting for 326 yards of total offense on his own.

For its part, Mo State (1-4, 0-1) finished with 340 yards on the night but converted just 4-of-15 third downs and turned the ball over on downs three times -- twice in the final quarter.

Starting quarterback Skyler Locklear led the Bears with a team-high 76 yards on 8 carries and finished 12-for-24 through the air for 89 yards before giving way to Henry Belin IV early in the third. Belin was 8-of-14 for 115 passing yards, including a flashy 36-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Myers on the visitors' first drive of the second half.

The Belin-to-Myers play made it a 21-13 game with 7:23 to play in the third and capped an 11-play, 95-yard scoring drive for the Bears – their longest of the season.

The Hilltoppers responded with field goals of 34 and 43 yards by Karl Campbell to stretch their lead to 27-13 early in the final stanza. However, the Bears' next drive stalled at the WKU 23 despite a clutch fourth-down conversion with a 36-yard Belin strike to Myers to the WKU 30.

Western put the game out of reach on a 39-yard touchdown run by Ajay Allen with 5:46 to play, and Mo State was unable to gain any traction down the stretch to drop its CUSA opener. Allen finished with a game-high 105 yards on 13 carries and a pair of touchdowns.

Missouri State's defense was led by the league's top tackler, Jared Lloyd, who racked up a career-high 15 tackles, while fellow captain J.J. O'Neal collected 11 total stops. The Bears' defense collected 4.0 tackles for loss and 6 pass breakups on the evening.

In the first half, WKU capitalized on a pair of Missouri State turnovers and racked up 248 yards to push ahead 21-6 at the midway point.

On MSU's second possession of the night, Locklear's third-down pass near midfield was picked off by Tony Newsome at the WKU 32. Eleven plays later, the Hilltoppers cashed in on a one-yard keeper by Glenn for the game's first score. Glenn carried it himself on the last three plays of the drive to make it 7-0.

Mo State chipped away and got back in the hunt with a pair of Yousef Obeid field goals from 25 and 31 yards, respectively, to make it a one-point game with just over six minutes left in the second quarter. But after Obeid's second field goal, WKU covered 75 yards in just four plays, capped with a 42-yard TD strike from Glenn to Jonathan Stafford, to extend its advantage to 14-6.

The Bears turned the ball over on downs at the WKU 44 on their ensuing drive before the home squad cashed in again before the intermission, covering 56 yards on eight plays to make it 21-6. Allan's 8-yard TD run to paydirt capped the Hilltoppers' final drive of the half.

The Bears return to Plaster Stadium next Wednesday (Oct. 14) for a nationally-televised showdown on CBS Sports Network with Kennesaw State (1-4) at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for the Kennesaw State game are available now at MissouriStateBears.com or by visiting the Great Southern Bank Arena Box Office, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.

#GoBears.