Whether you want to believe it or not, Missouri State is slowly becoming a football school with its recent announcement that it will leave the Missouri Valley Football Conference for Conference USA beginning with the 2025 season.
Missouri State historically hasn’t had the best football program. The school snapped a 30-year FCS Playoff drought when it qualified in 2020 and still won a postseason game since 1990. The Bears won’t be eligible to qualify for the 2024 playoffs due to NCAA rules as it transitions from FCS to FBS.
Heading into their last FCS season, the Bears have had only 20 winning seasons since 1967 and just one since 2010.
“I think everyone that’s been around our university has seen football is a little different infrastructure-wise,” MSU second-year coach Ryan Beard said. “We need to make sure that we catch up in a hurry with our facilities and the things that we need to put our student-athletes to make sure they have everything they need to be successful.”
Missouri State football has been noticeably better since 2020 when the school hired Bobby Petrino as its head coach. Petrino led the Bears to two FCS Playoff appearances in three seasons and elevated the program somewhere many thought it couldn’t reach when some wondered aloud if MSU should even have a football program. In recent years, Missouri State has recruited a handful of its best players in the program’s history.
More: How Missouri State football coach Ryan Beard is approaching Conference USA, FBS jump
Petrino departed the Bears after the 2022 season while the school promoted Beard, who served as Petrino’s defensive coordinator, to head coach. The Bears’ step back a year ago was due in large part to injuries at the quarterback position and an extremely young defense. Two of their losses were one-score games when giving up touchdowns in the final minute.
“Playing in the Valley, We’ve got some really, really good student-athletes already on the team,” Beard said. “I still believe the Valley is hands down the best conference in the FCS. The talent we’ll be able to acquire will improve but I don’t think the talent is as far off as just the infrastructure as we need to put around the student-athletes for success.”
Beard said he didn’t believe the level of talent in Conference USA is too far off from what the Bears have been playing when they’ve been in a league with FCS powers like North Dakota State and South Dakota State.
More: Q&A with Conference USA commissioner Judy MacLeod: Why did CUSA add Missouri State?
According to Jeff Sagarin’s College Football Ratings, an analytical tool that uses several metrics to rank college football teams, Missouri State would have been competitive in Conference USA a year ago.
Sagarin’s Ratings ranked Missouri State as the 132nd-best team when combining FBS and FCS programs. That would have placed the Bears sixth in what the 12-team league will be once 2025 comes around.
Conference USA Sagarin Ratings from 2023 season
- Liberty – 52
- Jacksonville State – 82
- Western Kentucky – 96
- New Mexico State – 98
- Middle Tennessee – 121
- Missouri State – 132
- UTEP – 140
- Delaware – 142
- Sam Houston – 146
- Louisiana Tech – 153
- Florida International – 178
- Kennesaw State – 201
By the same numbers, Conference USA ranked as the second-worst FBS league, only ahead of the MAC. The Missouri Valley Football Conference ranked CUSA and the MAC and as the top league in FCS.
The biggest difference? Conference USA offers television dollars and bowl payouts among other new revenue streams that the Bears wouldn’t have received if they stayed put.
That’s not to say Missouri State won’t have its struggles. The Bears won’t have a postseason to play for in 2024 and it’s not bowl eligible upon entering the league in 2025. There will be athletes who pass on the Bears wanting to have a postseason to play for. There will be athletes who won’t commit to the Bears until they have the promised Plaster Stadium upgrades.
But there are already signs of a move to FBS paying off. Recruits in recent days have resumes Missouri State isn’t used to landing. It’s not often MSU beats a school like North Dakota State for a prospect and it happened.
Beard thinks the Bears will be ready to compete at the highest subdivision in college football.
“I don’t think we’re going to have a ton of trouble being able to acquire talent,” Beard said. “We’ve seen an uptick in interest over the last few days from the time we put it out that we’re going FBS. You have a different guy calling you saying, ‘Hey Coach, I’m interested, let’s talk.’ and that’s good for everybody.”
2024-05-19 08:14:46
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