Five things to know about Missouri State football before inaugural Xbox Bowl
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Missouri State Bears accepted Xbox Bowl bid after successful FBS transition.
- QB Jacob Clark led offense, paced CUSA with 24 TD passes and high efficiency.
- Coach Ryan Beard guided program through FBS move; team went 7-5 with first FBS bowl.
The Missouri State Bears are bowl-bound, an impressive feat to cap off the start of a new era of FBS play.
The Bears (7-5, 5-3 Conference USA) finished fourth in their conference this season. Typically, six wins is enough to clinch bowl eligibility, but the Bears were not initially eligible because of NCAA rules about teams transitioning to FBS.
With a lack of eligible bowl teams, however, the Bears were extended a bid for the inaugural Xbox Bowl, the program’s first FBS bowl.
The Bears — looking for a new head coach (more about that below) — are set to take on Arkansas State (6-6, 5-3 Sun Belt) in Frisco, Texas, next week. Here’s what you should know about Missouri State ahead of kickoff:
Missouri State vs. Arkansas State: Game details
Kickoff: Thursday, Dec. 18, at 8:03 p.m.
Where: Ford Center at The Star (Frisco, Texas)
TV: ESPN2
Radio: KWTO (101.3 FM), Bears Radio Network
Betting line: Missouri State is a 1.5-point favorite (via FanDuel).
Over/under: 56.5
Five things to know about Missouri State
1. Missouri State coach hired by Coastal Carolina. Missouri State head coach Ryan Beard was hired by Coastal Carolina on Thursday. It’s a big loss for the Bears. Beard was defensive coordinator under Bobby Petrino in 2020 and landed his first head-coaching gig with Missouri State in 2023. His last stop before coming to Springfield was as special teams and safeties coach at Western Michigan.
The Bears went 19-16 under Beard, and the teams made back-to-back FCS playoff appearances in 2020 and 2021 when he was defensive coordinator. In both seasons, the Bears broke the program’s single-season sacks record (27 in 2020, 30 in 2021).
2. QB Jacob Clark has guided the Missouri State offense. The senior quarterback averaged 263.2 yards per game in the regular season and led CUSA with 24 passing touchdowns. Clark is the program leader in career pass efficiency (162.8), passing touchdowns (60) and 200-yard passing games (21). Clark transferred to Missouri State in 2022 after three seasons at Minnesota.
3. The Bears had eight players receive CUSA honors this season. Beard’s squad took home some accolades in 2025, including for Clark at QB. Other headliners included running back Shomari Lawrence (1,065 yards from scrimmage), receiver Dash Luke (471 yards, three touchdowns), offensive lineman Erick Cade, tight end Jeron Askren (223 yards, five touchdowns) and kicker Yousef Obeid.
Freshmen long snapper Mitch Weisenborn and defensive tackle Dezmond Barnes were named to the conference all-freshman team.
4. The Bears closed their FCS era with an impressive season. Despite back-to-back losses to open that season (2024), the Bears ultimately rolled out eight straight wins as they were heading out the door to the FBS level. The 8-2 start was the team’s best through 10 games since 1990. The Bears won six conference games for the third time in program history.
Missouri State was unable to reach that same mark this year in CUSA but still won five conference games in its inaugural FBS season.
5. When faced with a fourth down, the Bears have had success. Though they rank toward the bottom of the conference in third-down conversions at 34.6%, the Bears have found success when they’ve opted to be aggressive on fourth down. Their 61.5% conversion rate on fourth down is right behind FIU, ranking second in the conference.
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 6:15 AM.
