Missouri State shedding its blighted past under Bobby Petrino THE COME UP
By Jeff Kolpack jkolpack@forumcomm.com
Fargo
Springfield, Mo., is a community with vibrancy and a metro population of around 460,000 people. Just a half hour to the south, neighboring city Branson is a vacation destination, especially for country music fans.
The Missouri State University basketball arena is one of the best in the country. The Bears’ baseball stadium it shares with a minor league franchise is a beautiful park north of campus. Travel south on National Avenue, take a right on East Grand Street and the curb appeal of Plaster Stadium gives the feel of big time football.
The west side has double decker seating. The east side includes a plaza on top for students to hang out. The enrollment at Missouri State is large, almost 24,000 students, and the campus is built to handle the crowd of students.
It’s the second most populated university in the state behind the University of Missouri. Once a directional school (Southwest Missouri State), it changed its name in 2005 to reflect the growth in enrollment.
One mystery remained, however.
Why was its football team so bad for so many years?
Since winning a Missouri Valley Football Conference title in 1990 — the league was known as the Gateway Football Conference then — the program fell on hard times. The best season was a pair of 7-4 records in 1993 and 1996.
The program lived in mediocrity for decades with .500 seasons considered a success.
From 2015 to 2019, the
Bears finished either eighth, ninth or 10th in the Missouri Valley. The end for former head coach Dave Steckel came in 2019 when MSU was 1-10.
Enter Bobby Petrino. Times changed quickly.
“I think it’s two- or three-fold,” said Missouri State athletic director Kyle Moats. “One, his philosophy is believable for kids. They understand they have a chance to go to the next level or win a championship because he’s done it. I think ‘hope,’ as easy and simple as that word is, our kids believe they are championship caliber. And two, he’s gotten better players. You get better players and the ability to coach those players helps you become better as a team.”
One other factor:
Petrino’s assistants understand how he rolls. His son, Nick Petrino, is the Bears’ offensive coordinator. Ryan Beard, the defensive coordinator, is his son-in-law. The MSU
recruiting coordinator, Ronnie Fouch, coached with Bobby Petrino at Louisville.
Moats went the route of hiring an older, name coach before in Steckel, who was popular as the defensive coordinator at Missouri. He was a bust. Petrino has been the opposite. Moats said the difference is Petrino had been a head coach at Louisville, Arkansas, Western Kentucky and the Atlanta Falcons, whereas Steckel was not.
There were hires, fires and off-the-field issues, but at 60 years old, Petrino is back fielding a winning football program.
“I can’t speak to the Xs and Os, but it’s been a combination of a lot of things,” said Rick Kindhart, the MSU assistant athletic director for communications.
“(Petrino) and his staff have made an immediate impact a lot sooner and better than any of us envisioned and that’s fantastic.”
Turning around the
Bears is no small feat. There have been obstacles for some Missouri Valley teams for a lack of success, like funding and facilities at Western Illinois and Indiana State, or the competition of recruiting in eastern Ohio at Youngstown State. Not at Missouri State.
“I got tired of hearing (opposing) coaches come in here and say this is a sleeping giant,” said veteran radio play-byplay announcer Art Hains. “How many times did I hear that? Very successful coaches have not been able to get it done here. I don’t know if I ever had the answer to that question. This coach has gotten it done here for a couple reasons and the main one is his recruiting network.”
Of its 11 opponents this year, the Bears have a winning record against just one of them. They’re 20-14 against Indiana State. They’re close on a couple of others with a 21-22 mark against Southern Illinois, 17-22-1
vs. Illinois State and 3-4 against South Dakota.
But they’re also 6-35 vs. Northern Iowa and 2-11 against NDSU. Petrino hasn’t wasted time in trying to find talent to match the Panthers and Bison. A revolving door of 34 transfers on the current roster landed quarterback Jason Shelley from Utah State, and receivers Xavier Lane from Western Kentucky and Tyrone Scott from Central Michigan.
Shelley has passed for over 200 yards in all six of his games, and Lane and Scott are the top two in receptions. Leading rusher Tobias Little came from Louisville and the third-best back, Kevon Latulas, is a transfer from Kilgore College (Texas).
The fans have responded to the victories. Attendance last weekend was 14,336 against Indiana State. Kindhart said media interest in the area is seeing an uptick.
“The basic function of what we do doesn’t change, we don’t control outcomes,” he said.
“But when you have a nice, solid base of media following the program and there’s a full stadium for games, it makes for an exciting campus.”
Missouri State has long been known as a basketball and baseball school. Hains points out a lot of communities didn’t play high school football until the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. The Kansas City Chiefs are more popular than ever.
“People look to the university to set the pace,” Hains said, “and people look to theatre, basketball and education. Football has finally come along and joined the other things that are good.”
can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546. Kolpack’s
AA2 | SPORTS | Saturday, OctOber 23, 2021 | the fOrum infOrum.cOm BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA STATE VS. MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State Athletics
Missouri State head coach Bobby Petrino has brought in transfers to try upping the Bears’ talent level.
Blog can be found at www. inforum.com/bison-media-blog and Twitter @FGOSPORTSWRITER
Readers
Media
Special to The Forum
Missouri State’s Plaster Stadium underwent a renovation that was part of a $21.8 million project to upgrade athletic facilities.
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Search JobsHQ today www.jobsHQ.com BISON Watson RUSHING No Yds Avg Long TD Quincy Patterson Dominic Gonnella TaMerik Williams Kobe Johnson 366 315 202 202 5 2 6 3 7 8 4 4 52 75 35 21 5 2 3 0 PASSING Comp Att Yds Int TD Quincy Patterson 50 85 736 3 6 RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg Long TD Christian Watson Noah Gindorff Phoenix Sproles Raja Nelson Braylon Henderson 18 7 7 6 5 377 78 65 49 26 20 9 11 1 9 3 8 2 5 2 4 1 0 0 0 PROBABLE STARTERS Bears RUSHING No Yds Avg Long TD Kevon Latulas Tabias Little Jason Shelley 57 64 77 315 292 246 5 5 4 6 3 2 30 23 30 0 4 4 PASSING Comp Att Yds Int TD Jason Shelley 117 205 1663 3 13 BISON OFFENSE Pos No Name Ht Wt Yr WR LT LG C RG RT TE WR FB RB QB 1 70 66 77 63 67 87 11 44 29 2 Christian Watson Cody Mauch Nash Jensen Brandon Westberg Jake Kubas Cordell Volson Noah Gindorff Phoenix Sproles Hunter Luepke Dominic Gonnella Quincy Patterson 6-5 6-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-6 6-0 6-1 5-11 6-3 208 301 328 287 302 313 266 193 236 205 246 Sr Sr Sr So Jr Sr Sr Sr Jr So Jr BISON DEFENSE Pos No Name Ht Wt Yr DE DT NG DE OLB MLB OLB CB SS 93 92 94 98 31 52 3 23 25 Logan McCormick Lane Tucker Costner Ching Brayden Thomas Cole Wisniewski Jackson Hankey Jasir Cox Jayden Price Michael Tutsie 6-2 6-3 6-4 6-3 6-4 6-2 6-1 6-0 5-11 242 280 284 260 221 219 209 186 192 Sr Sr Sr Sr So Sr Sr Jr Sr FBS transfer Jason Shelley Missouri State is dangerous enough with offensive weapons and veteran enough to not care about the dome field advantage to leave Fargo with an unexpected victory MSU 21, NDSU 20 The Bison need to get their running backs going after leaning on the QB run game the past few weeks NDSU finds enough running room this weekend in the Fargodome NDSU 24, MSU 17 Missouri State is better but lost at Youngstown State? Have to see more to be a true believer NDSU 30, MSU 13 Hofstedt Shelley Lane RUNNING BACKS Finding room for Bison running backs was a chore against a couple 3-4 defenses Mo State plays a 4-3 RECEIVERS Sixth-year senior Xavier Lane a transfer from Western Kentucky has been the answer for the Bears OFFENSIVE LINE M A T C H U P S P R E D I C T I O N S GAME DAY BREAKDOWN DEFENSIVE LINE Only factor holding Eli Mostaert back from being an All-American is NDSU rotating linemen so often LINEBACKERS At 6-1 226 pounds key backup Mason Hofstedt looks more like a middle linebacker, but plays on the outside SECONDARY Bison corners and safeties will have their stiffest challenge of the season with the Bears arsenal of receivers Opposing teams continue to pooch kickoffs against the Bison, wary of Christian Watson's home run ability SPECIAL TEAMS RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg Long TD Xavier Lane Tyrone Scott Jordan Murray 33 27 11 433 477 151 13 1 17 7 13 7 45 59 27 2 6 1 71 50 26 46 85 32 37 17 12 M E D I A B L I T Z S T A N D I N G S S C H E D U L E Games Saturday Youngstown State at Indiana State, noon (ESPN+) Illinois State at South Dakota, 1 p m (Midco, ESPN+) Western Illinois at North Dakota 2 p m (Midco ESPN+) Northern Iowa at South Dakota State 2 pm (ESPN3) Missouri State at North Dakota State, 2:30 p m (ND ABC Network, ESPN+) S o u t h e r n I l l i n o i s N o r t h D a k o t a S t a t e S o u t h D a k o t a M i s s o u r i S t a t e S o u t h D a k o t a S t a t e N o r t h e r n I o w a Y o u n g s t o w n S t a t e I n d i a n a S t a t e W e s t e r n I l l i n o i s N o r t h D a k o t a I l l i n o i s S t a t e 4-0 3-0 3-1 3-1 2-1 1-2 1-2 1-3 1-3 0-3 0-3 6-1 6-0 5-2 4-2 5-1 3-3 2-3 3-4 1-6 2-4 2-4 10-11 a m : Bison GameDay pregame show with Dom Izzo Kyle Emanuel Logan Campbell Jeff Kolpack and Zach Staton on North Dakota statewide ABC network (WDAY-Fargo, WDAZ-Grand Forks, KBMY-Bismarck and Dickinson KMCY-Williston and Minot) 2:15 p m : Gate City Bison Live Game Stream on inforum com After game: Gate City Media Blog Postgame Show with Mike McFeely, Zach Staton and Jeff Kolpack on www inforum com Sept 11 Sept 18 Oct 2 Oct 9 Oct 16 Oct 23 Oct 30 Nov 6 Nov 13 Nov 20 Valparaiso at Towson at North Dakota Northern Iowa at Illinois State Missouri State Indiana State at South Dakota State at Youngstown State South Dakota 64 0 35 7 16 10 34 20 20 0 Sept 11 Sept 25 Oct 2 Oct 9 Oct 16 Oct 23 Oct 30 Nov 6 Nov 13 Nov 20 Central Arkansas South Dakota at Illinois State at Youngstown State Indiana State at North Dakota State North Dakota at Southern Illinois Northern Iowa at Dixie State 16 43 31 41 33 37 34 23 20 41 7 T E A M S C H E D U L E S Mo State is improved and will bring a talented roster to the dome NDSU will be tested defensively with a dual threat QB Watch for the Bison run game to finally get on track NDSU 31, MSU 23 Dom Izzo WDAY-TV Record: 6-0 The Bison's run game paired with a dominant defense will be a hard combo for the Bears to overcome NDSU 28 MSU 10 Mike
Forum Record: 5-1 Eric
Forum Record: 6-0
Record: 6-0 BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA STATE VS. MISSOURI STATE inforum.com the forum | Saturday, october 23, 2021 | SPORTS | AA3
McFeely The
Peterson The
Logan Campbell WDAY-TV
By Jeff Kolpack and Eric Peterson
The Forum
Fargo
North Dakota State
running back TaMerik Williams will go into Saturday afternoon’s Missouri Valley Football Conference game averaging 7.8 yards per carry. That leads all Bison ball carriers and the junior may get more attempts to back up his statistics.
The transfer from Southern Methodist University in Dallas has been brought along slowly into the NDSU offense, in part because the Bison are deep and in part because learning the offense isn’t an overnight process.
“I think it’s a trust thing,” said NDSU head coach Matt Entz. “Anytime you’re a new player, just throw yourself in his role, it’s no different than being a freshman all over again learning a new playbook, learning new terminology, new protections and maybe being more involved in protections more than he has ever been before.”
Williams left SMU after last season looking to see the field more. He was a backup for three years with the Mustangs and would have gone into this season in more of the same role.
“I think we have to give him a little bit of leeway for some learning,” Entz said. “He’s continued to do a really good job. He’s established himself and coaches trust he can be in there.”
Williams played a couple handfuls of snaps last Saturday against Illinois State. He had five carries for
20 yards.
“Half of them he carried it and the other half he was doing something without the ball,” Entz said. “The expectation is you have to be great even without the football, especially at that position.”
QB Shelley a dangerous dual threat
Missouri State junior quarterback Jason Shelley is among the top passing quarterbacks in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, averaging 277.2 passing yards per game. Shelley ranks second behind Western Illinois QB Connor Sampson, who is averaging 295.3 yards per contest.
The 5-foot-11, 197-pound Shelley has passed for more than 300 yards two times this season. He spent time at Utah and Utah State before transferring to Missouri State.
Bears head coach Bobby Petrino said Shelley’s decisiveness is one of his strengths.
“That’s where his experience shows up is he doesn’t hesitate, he sees it and he believes it, trusts it,” Petrino said. “Then he can really make the throws and make the throws under duress. … His ability to run helps us a lot.”
Shelley has rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns on 77 attempts through six games. He has completed 117 of 205 passes (57%) for 1,663 yards and 13 touchdowns with three interceptions. Shelley, from Frisco, Texas, leads the MVFC in total offense, averaging 318.2 yards per game.
“He’s a good quarterback,
one of the best we’ve seen,” said Bison safety Dawson Weber. “He reads his keys really well. He’s really decisive with his decisions and his ability to have that dual-threat in him and take off and run puts pressure on the whole defense. It’s an extra phase we have to worry about throughout the game.”
Bears embracing
dome atmosphere
Missouri State safety Titus
Wall said he’s excited to play in the Fargodome, which has gained a reputation for its ample crowd noise. Wall is averaging 7.5 tackles per game.
“It’s a cool atmosphere,” said Wall, from Plano, Texas. “That brings a lot of energy and it tends to motivate us to play even harder. … If they (the fans) are quiet at the end of the day, it means we’re doing our job. It’s fun being in that stadium.”
Missouri State is coming off a spring season in which it won the MVFC conference championship along with South Dakota State and the University of North Dakota.
Tight end Ron Tiavaasue said he feels like the Bears are still trying to earn respect, despite last spring’s conference championship.
“I feel like everything we did last spring, I mean it’s a new season and stuff, but we still feel disrespected,” said Tiavaasue, who is from Auckland, New Zealand. “We feel like we can compete with anybody. We like being the underdog because that’s all we were last spring. … That’s just how we play. We play like we have a chip on our shoulder, everybody’s counting us out.”
Petrino said his team welcomes the challenge. The Bison have won 10 consecutive games against the Bears.
“It’s just exciting to go in there and play them,” Petrino said. “You have to go through them to win the conference. They have the tradition, they have the facilities, great players, really well coached. It’s a great challenge for us.”
Odds and ends
► The Bison defense is on pace to set a Missouri Valley record in scoring defense, giving up 7.2 points per game. The 2013 NDSU team set the mark at 11.3 points per game. The 226.5 yards per game the Bison have surrendered this year is ahead of the league record of 235.1 set by the 2012 NDSU defense.
► The 99 yards the Bison gave up last week to Illinois State was the fewest since Robert Morris got only 57 total yards in a 2017 regular season game. It was the seventh-fewest the Bison have given up since 2004.
► South Dakota State and NDSU continue to be the top two FCS teams in the USA Today Sagarin Ratings, which measures all Division I football programs. The Jackrabbits are No. 50 mainly on the heels of a win at FBS Colorado State. NDSU is No. 58. The next-best FCS team is Eastern Washington at No. 89.
► A pair of Bison took home Missouri Valley weekly honors last week. Right tackle Cordell Volson was named the Offensive Lineman of the Week for the second time this season. He graded out at 92% with zero quarterback hurries. Quarterback Quincy Patterson was named the Newcomer of the Week after rushing for 100 yards and completing 13 of 22 passes for 124 yards.
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Dave Samson / The Forum North Dakota State running back TaMerik Williams (22) dives ahead for extra yards against Illinois State last Saturday at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Ill. North Dakota State running back TaMerik Williams (22) celebrates his touchdown run against Illinois State with teammates last Saturday at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Ill. Running back Williams earning more trust with Bison coaches
by
Barriere, Maxwell, Dartmouth headline FCS national Week 7 awards
By Craig Haley Stats Perform
Eastern Washington’s Eric Barriere, Chattanooga’s Devonnsha Maxwell, Marist’s Mekhai Johnson and Southern’s Kobe Dillon were selected Monday as the Stats Perform FCS National Players of the Week for Week 7 games ending on Saturday.
In addition, Dartmouth earned FCS National Team of the Week.
The five honorees plus honorable mention selections:
NATIONAL OFFENSIVE
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Eric Barriere, Eastern Washington, QB, R-Sr., 6-1, 210, Inglewood, California
Barriere earned the national honor for the second time this season after setting career highs with 600 passing yards and eight total touchdowns as the secondranked Eagles routed Idaho 71-21 in the Big Sky. He tied for the eighth-most passing yards ever by an FCS quarterback, completing 26 of 35 passes (over 23 yards per completion) while matching his career mark of seven TD passes. The Eagles gained 837 yards of total offense, a school record.
Honorable Mention: Hope Adebayo, RB, St. Thomas; Bishop Bonnett, RB, Florida A&M; Jack Chambers, QB, Charleston Southern; Kevin Daniels, RB, Northern Arizona; Tim DeMorat, QB, Fordham; Westin Elliott, QB, Merrimack; Malik Grant, RB, Sacred Heart; Taylor Grimes, WR, UIW; Tyler Hudson, WR, Central Arkansas; Cole Kelley, QB, Southeastern Louisiana; Ty Son Lawton, RB, Stony Brook; Rashad Raymond, RB, VMI; Cole Smith, QB, Princeton; J.F. Thomas, WR, Tarleton
ETSU allowed only four sacks in its first six games before Maxwell shattered Chattanooga’s single-game record with five for 27 yards in losses as his Southern Conference program won 21-16 to prevent the Bucs from improving to 7-0 for the first time. All seven of Maxwell’s tackles were solos, he forced a fumble to set up the Mocs’ first touchdown, and four of his five sacks occurred in the fourth quarter, including one on fourth down to end an ETSU drive.
Honorable Mention: Jack Cochrane, LB, South Dakota; Christian Dixon, LB, Towson; Josiah Erickson, DE, Sacramento State; Chase Foster, FS, Southern; Patrick Godbolt, DL, South Carolina
Furman; Eli Mostaert, DT, North Dakota State; Garrett Sayegh, LB, Charleston Southern; D’Carrious Stephens, LB, UT Martin
NATIONAL SPECIAL TEAMS
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Mekhai Johnson, Marist, RB/KR, R-Sr., 5-11, 201, Dorchester, Massachusetts Johnson played the key role as Marist posted a 20-17 win at Dayton in coach Jim Parady’s 300th career game and improved to 3-0 in the Pioneer Football League for the second time in program history. He gave the Red Foxes the lead for good 17-10 with a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter. He later had a 17-yard return, also scoring on a 33-yard touchdown run while
PK, Houston Baptist; Ethan Gettman, P, Bryant; Will Gruber, DB/KR, Colgate; Conor Hunt, P/PK, Georgetown; Mason Pierce, WR/RS, McNeese; Steven Ward, LB/ST, Missouri State
NATIONAL FRESHMAN
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kobe Dillon, Southern, RB, Fr., 6-0, 190, Ferriday, Louisiana Dillon set Southern’s single-game rushing record with 267 yards as the Jaguars spoiled Arkansas Pine-Bluff’s Homecoming with a 34-7 victory in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. He rushed for touchdowns of 40, 45 and 75 yards, and averaged nearly 19.1 yards on his 14 carries.
Honorable Mention: Sam Bubonics, WR/KR, Dayton;
Williams, QB, Murray State NATIONAL TEAM OF THE WEEK
Dartmouth (38-21 win at then-No. 23 New Hampshire)
The Big Green (5-0) beat a nationally ranked opponent for the fourth time since 2016 and posted their first win at UNH since 1969. Derek Kyler completed 18 of 23 passes for a career-high 325 yards as well as two touchdowns, and fellow quarterback Nick Howard rushed for three scores as the offense possessed the ball for nearly 39 minutes and totaled 604 yards.
Honorable Mention: Chattanooga (21-16 win over then-No. 10 ETSU); Kennesaw State (14-0 win over North Carolina A&T); Sacramento State (28-21 win at then-No. 5 Montana); Towson (28-7 win over then-No. 12 Rhode
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Erik Smith / EWU Athletics
Eastern Washington senior quarterback Eric Barriere.
AA6 | Saturday, OctOber 23, 2021 | the fOrum infOrum.cOm
