With upset victory, Missouri State football provided needed reasons to believe in future
For as promising as the future appeared to be in Ryan Beard's eyes in recent weeks, the first-year Missouri State head football coach didn't have a lot of wins to show for it.
Wins over the likes of Western Illinois, Murray State and Utah Tech were expected but weren't ones that would ignite a fanbase in a post-Bobby Petrino era. Neither would close losses like one to UT Martin or in a controversial ending against Illinois State.
No one expected Missouri State to go to the playoffs this year, but the Bears needed to provide the fanbase a reason to dream for the future by the end of the season.
And the Bears finally provided that hope on Saturday.
The Bears' dominant 35-16 win over FCS No. 15 Northern Iowa was the best they've looked all year and showed that the 34-year-old coach wasn't blowing smoke.
Missouri State played exceptionally well on both sides of the ball from the opening whistle on against a team that desperately needed the win in the FCS postseason picture.
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"Everybody's asked me all week, 'Why do you think we're heading in the right direction?'" Beard said. "That was exactly why. The defense showed up, the offense showed up and special teams were great with a fake punt."
A complete 60-minute game from the Bears gave Beard his first win over a ranked opponent. They made the Panthers look like a team like Western Illinois with reigning All-Missouri Valley Football Conference First Team quarterback Theo Day completing 14 of 35 passes for 182 yards and two picks. He entered the game as the FCS' 13th-leading passer.
The Bears' defense, which we openly questioned about its regression this week, progressed by keeping UNI to 299 yards, including just 117 on the ground. Statistically, it would have been the Bears' best game if they didn't play a Western Illinois team that would've been blown out by either of Dave Steckel's 1-10 teams when he was Missouri State's coach.
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"I've said all along that we are extremely young, and we took a huge step maturity-wise," Beard said. "You could see it pregame. The guys came out with a focus that they hadn't had in weeks, a determination to get a win.
"When you start playing Pop Warner sports, you roll the ball out with your dad and you play because you love the game, you play because you love your teammates and you love to compete. That's all that was. That was sheer will and determination. That's Bears football."
Offensively, the Bears continued to shine. Quarterback Jordan Pachot was outstanding while completing 27 of 35 yards for 326 yards and four touchdowns — all while standing tall against a defensive line that was getting pressure from up the middle. Pachot delivered strikes down the field in and-long situations to keep the drive alive and put the ball where defenders couldn't touch it.
Pachot was kept clean for the most part while being sacked three times with none coming in the second half. His favorite target, Raylen Sharpe, continued to somehow get open as he went for 11 catches, 160 yards and two touchdowns. He now has 65 catches for 905 yards and seven touchdowns — eight yards behind Jermaine Saffold for the second-best receiving season in MSU history.
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The Bears went over 4,000 yards as a team for the 18th time in school history and already surpassed its total from a year ago with one game remaining.
"This offense has been great this year, and I'm just glad to be a part of it," outgoing senior running back Celdon Manning said. "When I first got here, the defense stopped teams, and now it's the offense. If we can put it together, it would be great, and they'll go deeper into the playoffs and everything."
Missouri State (4-6, 3-4) will finish the season off next week at unbeaten FCS No. 1 South Dakota State with as much confidence as the Bears have had all year.
The 2023 season was never looked at as one that was going to feature a postseason run. It was one where you wanted to see growth from the Bears while beating the teams they were supposed to and knocking off a solid opponent or two along the way.
In Saturday's home finale, the Bears did just that by giving Northern Iowa a loss from which it might not be able to bounce back this season. It also gave the hometown crowd a reason to believe in the Bears' future.
"I want the fans to look at our football team and be as hopeful as I am that we're heading in the right direction," Beard said. "We finally put it on tape in every single phase. It's a special group of men. When you value people in an organization and you value relationships, that's why you get performances like that."
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 gives fans reasons to believe after UNI win
