Game Preview: Missouri State

The Jacks (6-2, 3-1)  make their last long road trip of the regular season and head to Springfield, Missouri to take on the Missouri State Bears (1-6, 1-3).  Springfield is a weird city to get to and Plaster Field, although unique, has zero atmospheres because of a lackluster home crowd.  The Jacks will need to generate their own energy which can sometimes be hard to do coming off an emotionally draining game against NDSU.

Missouri State is led by Dave Steckel who is now in his fifth year.  It felt like the program was starting to turn the corner under his leadership but the last two years have been brutal.  In a sign of "we need to win NOW" the Bears have 24 transfers or jucos on their roster. It is hard to build a winning culture when your roster is built this way.

Offense
The MSU offense is virtually one dimensional.  On the season they have only rushed for 405 yards or 57.9 per game.  They have however passed the ball for 217.9 per game.  This one-dimensional offense is only scoring 15 ppg and has scored just 16 total points in their last three games.  The offensive line has given up just 15 sacks.  In terms of efficiency, they convert on just 28% of their third-down attempts and score on 79% of their visits to the red zone.  I did watch the NDSU vs. MSU football replay and it was clear early that the Bears were not going to have any luck against the NDSU defense.  We'll see how the Jacks fair in this contest.     

#15 Peyton Huslig is back for his senior season.  The former Juco National Champion at Garden City Community College has had a nice career for the Bears.  Huslig is a dual-threat and has rushed for 119 positive yards this season and 1 TD.  He has done most of his work this season through the air where he has completed 58.5% of his passes for 1,525 yards and 11 TDs vs 6 INTs.  He's a good player that can make some plays for his team when needed.  Last year against the Jacks he did get pretty beat up behind a leaky offensive line.

The running backs for MSU have not enjoyed much success in 2019.  The three leading rushers are all averaging less than 3.1 yards per attempt and less than 20 ypg.  #35 Donovan Daniels (5-10, 196) is the lead back and he has 131 yards on the season.  He is also a threat to catch the ball where he has 11 receptions for 65 yards.  #25 DJ Frost (6-1, 197) and #14 Myron Mason (5-8, 175) are the next two in line and they have 98 and 93 yards.  Frost has just 4 receptions on the year but 2 of them have been for a TD.   MSU does not use a fullback.

The wide receiver grouping for MSU is talented and has a variety of body types.  #11 Tyler Currie (6-3, 206) leads the group with 37 receptions for 385 yards and 2 TD.  He has good size and speed for the Bears.  A player whose status is unknown right now is #4 Lorenzo Thomas (6-5, 202).  On the season he has 25 receptions for 263 yards and 3 TD. He did not play last week in the loss against UNI and I can't find anything on social media or in the news about an injury.  If he is back, that is a big addition for the Bear offense.  The third starting wide receiver is #16 Damoriea Vick (6-3, 207) who has 22 receptions for 251 yards and 1 TD.  Antwan Woods earned the start in place of Thomas last week and comes into this week with 8 receptions for 144 yards and 1 TD.  MSU does utilize multiple tight ends. #9 Jordan Murray (6-4, 232) has 13 receptions for 140 yards and 1 TD.  #81 Armand Baker (6-4, 248) has 8 receptions for 108 yards.

The offensive line for MSU from left to right is #77 Kobe Brandt (6-6, 305, Fr), #55 Andrew Colvin (6-3, 297, Sr), #70 Casey O'Brien (6-5, 291, Jr), #72 Derek Kohler (6-3, 294, So), and #79 Daniel Allen (6-5, 293, Jr).  This group has played together for the past two weeks. On the season they have allowed just 15 sacks but 11 of those have come in MVFC play with 8 combined in the last two weeks (NDSU and UNI).  The previous starter before Brandt moved into the left tackles spot was fellow freshman #65 Ian Fitzgerald (6-5, 284).  Again, I have no idea of his status as local news is hard to find in Springfield.                 

Defense
The Bear defense has some strong individual players and put-up its best effort of 2019 against NDSU where they only allowed 22 points.  Otherwise, their defense is allowing 36.7 ppg.  They are allowing 213.1 ypg on the ground and 223.7 through the air.  Opponents score on 80% of their visits to the red zone with 64% of those being of the touchdown variety.  On the bright side, they do hold opponents to just a 34% conversion rate on third down.

The strength of this Bear defense is their linebackers.  They have a nice duo in #52 McNeece Egbim (6-0, 231) and #8 Angelo Garbutt (6-2,232).  Egbim is a multi-year starter who leads the team with 63 tackles this season.  He also has a sack and 8.5 TFL.  Garbutt is a transfer from Iowa and has 37 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss. The third linebacker spot has been unsettled with  #48 Tyler Lovelace (6-2, 218), #23 Jordan Wilkes (6-0, 231), and #29 Paris Jackson (6-1, 198) all spending time in that role. Lovelace leads the group with 30 tackles and a team-leading 2 INT along with a forced fumble and 2 recoveries.  Wilkes has 22 stops and 2 TFL while Jackson has 20 tackles and 1.5 TFL. #10 Tylar Wiltz (6-1, 209) has 17 tackles on the season in a reserve role. Last season he played at Independence Community College and was a starter for the Pirate defense that was featured on the Netflix series "Last Chance U."   

The secondary for MSU is young.  They only have 5 cornerbacks on the roster; 1 senior, 1 sophomore, and 3 freshmen.  #2 Darrius Joseph (6-0, 198) is that senior and he has 24 tackles and 3 PBU.  Opposite him starts #31 Jaylen Henderson (6-1, 171) a true freshman who has 13 stops and 3 passes defended.  #30 Jacquez Carter (6-2, 182) and #17 Nick Hessefort (6-2, 187) have spent time in the starting lineup and have 18 tackles between them.  This group does not have any interceptions or forced fumbles so I'm interested to see them matchup against the Jackrabbit passing game.  The safties for MSU are in on a lot of tackles.  #7 Titus Wall (6-0, 201)  is third on the team with 36 tackles.  #47 Kam Carter (6-1, 197) has 29 of his own stops and 1 PBU.  #22 Austin Henderson (6-2, 194) plays quite a bit and has 26 tackles of his own along with 3 PBU.  Wall and Carter have played a lot of ball the last three years together.  They are a nice duo.

The defensive line for Missouri State seems to always have a high-quality edge rusher.  This year they may not have that bendy pain in the butt guy but they do have a couple of guys who can give you a headache.  #27 Matt McClellan (6-4, 214) is a high-motor guy who leads the team with 3 sacks and 3 additional QBH.  He also has 27 tackles and 7 TFL.  Opposite him is #43 Kevin Ellis (6-4, 234) who has 23 tackles and 2 sacks along with a forced fumble.   On interior #57 Claudio Martin (6-2, 286) has good experience and can mess up a play.  He has 21 tackles and a forced fumble.  #99 Kylin Washington (6-2, 268) has 10 stops and a sack from his interior position. 

Special Teams
Missouri State for years has had dangerous kick and punt returners.  This year they are down in this category.  The kick return duties have been split between Jacquez Carter (5 returns for 85 yards) and Damoriea Vick (3 returns for 61 yards).  The longest return on the season for the Bears is just 27 yards. The Bears punt returner appears to have quit the team prior to the UNI game and they did not return a punt against UNI so I don't know who their new return person is.

Their kicking game is better than their return units.  #42 Nick Williams has 21 kicks for a 59.7 ypc average.  10 have been for touchbacks and the average return is for 26.5 yards. The punting duties below to #49 Brendan Withrow who has 51 punts for a 42.4 average.  He's forced 13 to be fair caught, landed 14 inside the 20 and has booted 13 50+ yards.  #40 Parker Lacina handles the placekicking duties where he is 6 of 9 on the season with misses from 30, 41, and 41 yards with a long make of 45.  He is just 8 of 10 on extra points.   

Prediction
Jacks- 35
Bears- 0

This is a good "get right" game coming off the loss to NDSU. Missouri State has just been decimated by roster attrition.  They have done well in recruiting the last few years but it amazes me how few of those guys are still on the roster.  It is hard to build a program when there isn't a culture of sticking it out and battling through.  There are too few players like Egbim on this roster who have put in the time.  Plaster Field is a fast surface and I'm excited to see Pierre, CJ, and Cade get loose on this track.

Go Jacks!
Matt