MSU football history lesson: At least it wasn’t 150-0
It does not take a football genius to project that Missouri State is going to have a difficult time winning many games in the rugged Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The next seven Saturdays will see the Bears as underdogs in each game except perhaps the Oct. 24 visit to South Dakota, the only team picked to finish below Missouri State in preseason. Five top-10 teams await.
The first season after a coaching change is a time of adjustment that usually is filled with hard knocks. Of 14 Missouri State coaches before Dave Steckel, only four had a winning record in year one:
•Walter Langston was 4-2 in 1909, the first year of football at what was then the Fourth District Normal School. Springfield High School, Monett High School and Aurora High School were opponents. Talk about the anti-Valley of 2015.
•Howard Blair went 4-2-2 in 1938, Fred Thomsen 5-4-1 in 1949 and Jim Mentis was 7-3 in 1965.
Even the man whose name once was on the football stadium until a remodel in 1991, Arthur Briggs, did not enjoy immediate success. His first team, in 1912, was 0-3 and outscored 293-0 including a 150-0 loss at Pittsburg State. That score is not a typo.
Jesse Branch, the only coach to lead the Bears to the playoffs in the Division I era, went 3-7 as he began in 1986. Three years later, the Bears went 10-3 and were league champs and in the FCS quarterfinals.
After that brief history lesson, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s 56-28 loss to No. 24 Indiana State:
It’s tough being young: Winning teams averaged 34.6 points in five Valley games. Having 16 freshmen and sophomores on the defensive two-deep means there’s a lot of learning-on-the-job going on for the Bears and that’s hard against high-level offenses.
Some hope: There were some shiny defensive nuggets, especially the pass rush. The Bears had a season-high six sacks, including two from promising sophomore end Colby Isbell who has the look of a future difference-making defender.
Nice returns: Bears’ special teams highlights over the years have been as rare as Bigfoot sightings. But they had two gems on Saturday, with Chris Sullens’ 38-yard run on a fake punt and Deion Holliman’s 58-yard punt-return touchdown. Of course, the Bears also surrendered a punt-return touchdown after a short Sullens punt in the first quarter so it’s a mixed bag.
First-year MSU coaches
1909: Walter Langstson (4-2)
1912: Arthur Briggs (0-3)
1934: Andy McDonald (1-5-1)
1938: Howard Blair (4-2-2)
1949: Fred Thomsen (5-4-1)
1956: Aldo Sebben (3-6)
1961: Orville Pottenger (4-4-1)
1965: Jim Mentis (7-3)
1969: Don Cross (0-10)
1976: Rich Johanningmeier (5-6)
1986: Jesse Branch (3-7)
1995: Del Miller (4-7)
1999: Randy Ball (5-6)
2006: Terry Allen: (2-9)
Bears at Southern Illinois
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Carbondale, Illinois
Records: Missouri State 1-3 overall, 0-1 Missouri Valley Football Conference; SIU 1-3, 0-1
Radio: KTXR, 101.3 FM