Bears switch quarterbacks in fourth quarter in loss to North Dakota State

Going into the fourth quarter, Missouri State trailed 24-5 and was looking for a spark on offense.

The Bears turned to transfer quarterback J.T. Granato to start the fourth quarter.

Granato, a transfer quarterback from Rice University, finished the game 3 for 4 with 29 yards.

He replaced starting quarterback Peyton Huslig, who finished the game 13 for 17 with 88 yards and three interceptions.

On Granato's first drive, he rushed for two yards and fumbled his second snap. On 3rd and 19, he hit Tyler Currie for an 11-yard completion. The drive resulted in a three-and-out. 

His second drive resulted in a seven-play, 40-yard touchdown. He hit Currie for an eight-yard completion. He also picked up a third-down conversion by hitting Malik Earl for 10 yards. 

When asked during his postgame radio interview, Bears head coach Dave Steckel said he was unable to evaluate Granato's performance at the time because "it was cleanup stuff at the end."

Steckel pointed to Huslig's performance on the ground as a positive as he finished with a team-high 69 yards on 18 carries. 

He also said the turnovers were costly.

"The thing that got us today was takeaways," Steckel said. "So much progress was being made and then you don't capitalize on takeaways and protect the ball a little more ... it could have been a much better turnaround."

Despite the three interceptions, Steckel still found encouragement in Huslig's performance.

"To the naked eye, other than those three interceptions — which were huge, obviously — Peyton had a pretty good day running and throwing the football," Steckel said. "Two of (the interceptions) were on misreads and one on a misroute.

"We have to clean those up, because I think we're at the tip of the iceberg to do something special, not just for only Missouri State, but for Springfield." 

Granato transferred to Missouri State a few weeks before the regular season.

The sophomore told the News-Leader that the coaches said he would have the opportunity to compete for the starting job.

Granato has made two appearances this season.

Huslig has thrown four touchdowns and seven interceptions through five starts.