The Hogs have navigated through a difficult first two weeks with a 2-0 record. Now Bobby Petrino’s Missouri State Bears come to town. This should be the easiest game on the schedule, but that’s not saying much: the Bears are ranked 5th in the FCS poll and are certainly good enough to give the Hogs a scare if they’re looking ahead to Texas A&M.
Series & Program History
Because of their close proximity to each other, the Hogs and Bears have played seven times over the past 111 years. The Razorbacks lead this series 7-0, and Missouri State has scored a total of 40 points in seven matchups, with three shutouts.
The schools went 76 years without playing (1924 to 2000), before the Hogs won 38-0 to open the 2000 season. The most recent meeting was a 51-7 victory that opened the 2011 season. Joe Adams returned two punts for touchdowns in that game.
Missouri State – formerly known as Southwest Missouri State – has been an FCS program for its entire existence. It lacks a strong football tradition, with an all-time win percentage of .480 and only four playoff appearances ever, with a 1-4 record. The lone win was in the first round of the 1989 playoffs.
2021 Recap and 2022 Start
Bobby Petrino took over as Missouri State’s head coach after the 2019 season. He’s 15-9 in three seasons, including an 11-3 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, which is basically the SEC of the FCS. The 2021 Missouri State team finished 8-4 (6-2). They tested Oklahoma State, losing 23-16, and also pushed eventual champion North Dakota State before falling 27-20. They were upset in the first round of the FCS playoffs by UT Martin. Petrino now has half of Missouri State’s all-time playoff appearances (2 of 4).
Expectations are sky-high for the Bears in 2022, as this is expected to be the best team they’ve ever fielded. Star quarterback Jason Shelley is up for the FCS version of the Heisman, while Tyrone Scott is considered one of the better receivers in the FCS. The secondary is also solid, led by all-conference CB Montrae Braswell. That unit is coached by former Hog safety Tramain Thomas.
The Bears came to Conway and knocked off UCA, 27-14. They then avenged last season’s loss to UT Martin with a 35-30 victory at home. So far this season, Shelley has been as-advertised, throwing for 280 yards per game with six touchdowns and no interceptions. But there have been some issues, especially on the offensive line: Shelley has been sacked nine times through two games, and the run game has struggled to get going, with leading back Jacardia Wright rushing 36 times for just 158 yards (4.4 per carry). The defense has fared better so far, but allowed UCA’s top two backs to rush 26 times for 183 yards (7.0 per carry), while UT Martin’s quarterback threw for 344 yards.
Recent articles
- Box Score Breakdown: Arkansas 24, Auburn 14
- The Day After: Week 4
- Matchup Analysis: Auburn
- The Week Ahead: Week 4
- Box Score Breakdown: Arkansas 37, UAB 27
Interesting Names
A coach you’ve heard of: Fred Thomsen. I won’t do the obvious one here, and instead go with the other coach these two share in common. Thomsen went 56-61 across 13 seasons at Arkansas, from 1929 to 1941. He led the Hogs to their first-ever bowl game (1933 Dixie Classic) and first-ever conference title (1936). Thomson was big on the forward pass, and receiver Jim Benton led the nation in receiving yards in 1936. He later became the first NFL receiver to record a 300-yard game, a record that stood for 40 years. After a 3-7 season in 1941, Thomsen left for Springfield, where he coached four seasons, leading the Bears to their first-ever conference championship. Arkansas (famously) had an agreement to hire to Arkansas native Bear Bryant to replace Thomsen, but the outbreak of World War II caused Bryant to enlist and later embark on a… different coaching path.
A player you’ve heard of: DeAndre Smith. Smith led the Bears to 1989 and 1990 conference titles and started the only FCS playoff win in school history. He was a triple-option quarterback and his number is retired by the school. He’s been a longtime running backs coach, and was about to be hired by Bret Bielema at Arkansas in 2016 to replace Jemal Singleton, but changed his mind and went to Purdue instead. He currently coaches running backs for the New York Giants.
A game you’ve heard of: Arkansas 100, Missouri State 0, 1911. You honestly probably haven’t heard of many Missouri State games, so we’ll stick with this one. This remains the Hogs’ largest margin of victory and most points in a game in school history.
Random Facts
Missouri State is located in Springfield, Missouri – a short drive from Northwest Arkansas and most of the northern part of the state. If you’ve never been, it’s a fun weekend trip.
The city is famous for being the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops and has an enormous “home” store in the middle of the city. Attached to it is the Johnny Morris Wonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquarium. If you haven’t been since it reopened in 2017 following years of renovations and expansions, I cannot recommend it enough. The aquarium is very large and very well-done; you can spend hours in it alone. But don’t forget to visit the museum, too: it can be accessed from the second floor of the Bass Pro. It contains thousands of taxidermied animals in incredibly-intricate settings that mimic Ozark forests, Louisiana swamps, and plenty of other natural settings. The complex has a pair of restaurants, but if you don’t like fish, you can head across the street to eat at Little Rock’s own Whole Hog Cafe.
Springfield is also the headquarters of Andy’s Frozen Custard. In addition to Missouri State, the city is home to two other universities: Drury and Evangel.
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