The Salukis come out of the bye with their MVFC opener against the Bears.
Meet the Bears:
The Bears are coached by Ryan Beard in his first season with the team. Beard joined former Bears coach and father-in-law Bobby Petrino in 2020 as defensive coordinator. In his first season with the team, the Bears broke the program record for single-season sacks and they broke it again in 2021. Beard is the program's youngest head coach on record at 33 years old.
Missouri State started the season with a 48-17 loss at Kansas and then a 38-31 loss at #22 UT Martin before coming home and beating Utah Tech 59-14 last week. The Bears were picked 8th in the MVFC Preseason Poll after finishing 8th last year.
The quarterback of the Bears is 6-5 Junior Jacob Clark. Clark was a 3 star recruit out of Rockwall, Texas and started his collegiate career at Minnesota. He spent 3 seasons at Minnesota throwing just one pass, a 39 yard completion vs Maryland in 2019. Last season, Clark played in 1 game against Western Illinois where he completed 9 of 11 passes for 72 yards. This season, Clark is completing 62.9% of his passes for 889 yards and has 9 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions. In their game last week against Utah Tech, Clark threw for 414 yards and 5 touchdowns.
The Bears' leading rusher so far this year is 6-0 Junior Jacardia Wright. Wright was a 3 star recruit out of St. Teresa High School in Decatur, Illinois and started his collegiate career at Kansas State. Wright tallied 1 touchdown in his 3 years at Kansas State. Last season in his first year at Missouri State, Wright ranked 6th in the Valley in rushing yards per game (71.1), 6th in rushing TD's (9), 7th in total touchdowns (10), 8th in yards per carry (4.56), and 9th in rushing yards (711). So far this season, Wright has rushed 39 times for 144 yards and 1 touchdown.
Missouri State's leading receiver this year is 5-9 Junior Raylen Sharpe. Sharpe was a 3 star recruit out of Allen, TX and started his collegiate career at Houston where he appeared in 1 game. In his first season at Missouri State last year, Sharpe played 10 games and had 16 receptions for 307 yards and a touchdown. So far this season, Sharpe has caught 17 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown. Sharpe has tallied over 100 receiving yards in his last two games.
Weather:
Massey Ratings:
Massey Ratings has SIU winning 30-24 and gives SIU a 65% chance of winning.
Links:
Nick Hill Press Conference 9/25
Missouri State HC Ryan Beard Press Conference 9/25
Missouri State CB Caleb Blake & QB Jacob Clark Press Conference 9/25
Must win here, obviously.
Top 10 team, first home game in almost a month, conference opener against a rival.
I'm assuming the staff will have a bunch of recruits at this one. It needs be a great crowd. I'll be disappointed if we don't get 10K.
@saluki44 I think we will easily get 10k. My guess is we fall between 11-12k. That might be wishful thinking on my part. But a higher than normal amount of early tickets sold plus family weekend. I have high hopes!
Only game we ever get that many is Homecoming. I'm guessing 8221. 🙂
Gonna be hot at 4pm Saturday. 87 and sunny - wee breeze
Not to look ahead because these next 2 are gonna be tough but the Homecoming game might end up being the biggest game in Saluki Stadium history
@saluki44 I think we will easily get 10k. My guess is we fall between 11-12k. That might be wishful thinking on my part. But a higher than normal amount of early tickets sold plus family weekend. I have high hopes!
Only game we ever get that many is Homecoming. I'm guessing 8221. 🙂
Gonna be hot at 4pm Saturday. 87 and sunny - wee breeze
We got 8K for Austin Peay (allegedly). Surely we'll get over that for this one.
Sure hope we aren't overlooking Mo. State. They have a bunch of FBS transfers, including a tall QB that's a good passer. I don't put much stock in their Utah Tech game - that's a weakling opponent.
They did give up 400+ yards rushing to UT-Martin, so maybe our RBs will have some fun against them.
@saluki44 I think we will easily get 10k. My guess is we fall between 11-12k. That might be wishful thinking on my part. But a higher than normal amount of early tickets sold plus family weekend. I have high hopes!
Only game we ever get that many is Homecoming. I'm guessing 8221. 🙂
Gonna be hot at 4pm Saturday. 87 and sunny - wee breeze
We got 8K for Austin Peay (allegedly). Surely we'll get over that for this one.
That would be nice. We need the money. I went to that game - sure looked pretty sparse on the East side, so that is a questionable number IMO. There were quite a few AP fans too, since that is only a 3 hr drive.
Our ranking and record and summer weather might draw more fans, but I looked at the last few seasons and Family Day has usually been < 9K.
Homecoming usually draws 10K+.
The one side was sparse against Austin Peay but the other side looked completely full. 8,000 is exactly what I would’ve guessed in the first game.
7.5 spread seems about right.
I'd like to really lay it on MSU in this game. That program thinks they're better than they are, and it'd be nice to make a statement win in the first conference game.
With an extra week to prepare, this team has to be ready to go, no excuses.
I would really like to see some semblance of a run game. Feels an awful lot like last season when we really struggled to get much push up front. MSU has given up a ton of yardage on the ground so far (245 yds to KU, 406 yds to UTM, and 138 to Utah Tech). Utah Tech only ran the ball 24 times so they still averaged 5.5 per carry. This needs to be a priority. I thought they had more talent last year in the secondary with Braswell and Thomas but we were still able to throw on them, so I don't think we absolutely have to have a big run game, more if we can't run on these guys, it's going to be tough sledding the rest of the year.
Defensively, I think they have solid QB play (same as last year) and a Wright is a really good RB, need to do what we did last year. Pressure the QB and force mistakes. We are a pretty blitz heavy defense, so if they are able to give their QB time, he can pick us apart.
Family weekend and nice weather should make for a good crowd, let's give them a reason to come back for homecoming. If this team is for real, this is a game they have to win and ideally handily...I don't care as much about the handily part, just win baby!
The Dawgs are off to a fantastic start. They need to maintain focus and intensity. No let downs after a week off.
The Dawgs are off to a fantastic start. They need to maintain focus and intensity. No let downs after a week off.
I think The'll be ready. The ending to last season is a reminder to stay focused.
GO DAWGS!
