How difficult will it be for Missouri State football to bounce back from its 0-2 start?

Two games into the season, alarms seem to be already going off with Missouri State and its 0-2 start to the year.

Missouri State is not off to the exact start most would have liked to see it have. While a loss to an FBS foe was for the most part expected, the 38-31 loss at UT Martin should have drawn the most concern because of the ugly way the Bears started the game.

We've still seen some glimpses of what could be a solid team in Ryan Beard's first year as head coach. We think the Bears have a quarterback who can compete, a rising star at receiver and better pass protection from the offensive line than we've seen in recent years.

At the same time, the negatives have outweighed the positives. The rushing offense the Bears expected to have heading into the year has been non-existent as has the team's ability to stop the run on the other side. From re-watching games, there appear to be fundamental breakdowns in the Bears' ability to do some of the small things of the game including tackling.

Missouri State wasn't expected to be a playoff team this year and a loss at UT Martin didn't help change that narrative. Better than what the Bears showed in Week 2 should still be expected with the hopes they can turn it around and maybe climb their way back into postseason contention.

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As of right now, there might be only 3 games the Bears would be favored in

With the way the Bears have played and the schedule they face, there are only three games you'd schedule right now and say they would be favored to win those games — this upcoming week vs. Utah Tech, Oct. 14 at Western Illinois and Oct. 21 at home against Murray State.

The other teams on the schedule either have a win, have played tougher schedules and/or have been more competitive in their losses.

That would put Missouri State at a 3-8 record which would be the program's worst since 2017, the school's third season under Dave Steckel. That type of season should be the worst-case scenario for this team.

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The Bears have shown the capability of being better than that. The offense has put together some good drives with Jacob Clark at quarterback while throwing to an emerging star in receiver Raylen Sharpe. The connection between Clark and receiver Hunter Wood is one to continue to watch as we've seen the two come up with some big plays in critical spots. At the same time, the defense has had some good stretches but way more consistency will be needed.

We've seen in recent Missouri State history that it can win a game or two it's not supposed to and drop one or two at the same time. The Bears should have beaten UT Martin and probably would have if it made the tackles it should have in multiple instances that instead turned into big plays.

Three wins would be the worst-case scenario. There's enough talent on the roster and good enough coaching from the top down to avoid that nightmare.

There are at least 7 teams in the Missouri Valley Football Conference who look better than the Bears

The Missouri Valley Football Conference continues to be king of the FCS which has made it that much more fun when the Bears have been good and it makes it that much more miserable when they're bad and walk into each week knowing the other team circled MSU as a win before the season even began.

Right now, there appear to be at least seven teams that would be considered to be better than the Bears. Those include South Dakota State, North Dakota State, North Dakota, Southern Illinois, Youngstown State, Illinois State and Northern Iowa. The first six are ranked in one of the national polls while UNI is 0-2 but has played FBS Iowa State and No. 9 Weber State to open the season.

That puts Missouri State in a tier with South Dakota, Murray State, Western Illinois and Indiana State. The Bears still appear to be well ahead of the latter three although WIU has shown a bit of growth. A toss-up with USD isn't somewhere the Bears want to be.

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Missouri State was picked to finish eighth in the MVFC with the teams it's tiered with behind it. There is no surprise where the Bears sit in the league right now when it comes to a league-wide perspective.

We've seen the Bears compete with and beat teams like Southern Illinois, Youngstown State, Illinois State and Northern Iowa in recent years. The Bears have all four on the schedule along with games against Murray State and Western Illinois that can give you more hope and avoid the doom and gloom you might have felt in the first half of the Bears' loss at UT Martin.

We're not trying to be so negative

We're not trying to push you into thinking the Missouri State football program is back to where it was before the Petrino family arrived in 2020. It's to show you where the perception of the Bears is at right now and how they have a difficult road ahead of them if they're going to turn it around.

Missouri State is playing with a new-looking roster and it appears clear that it's going to take time for it to develop. There are signs that better days are ahead with some emerging standouts on both sides of the ball. The Bears will be deservedly favored on Saturday when they open the season against Utah Tech which could turn into better feelings about the direction of the program in the first year of a young head coach.

The 2023 Missouri State football season was always going to be about looking for growth in the roster and coaching staff. There will be some hiccups along the way and it's now time to see how the Bears will respond.

Utah Tech @ Missouri State

• When: Saturday, 2 p.m.

• Where: Plaster Stadium

• Watch: MC-22/ESPN+

• Listen: KWTO-FM 101.3

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State football: Poor start will be difficult to overcome