2018 Missouri State Bears football team

The 2018 Missouri State Bears football team represented Missouri State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Dave Steckel and played their home games at the Robert W. Plaster Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 4–7, 2–6 in MVFC play to finish in ninth place.

2018 Missouri State Bears football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
2018 record	4–7 (2–6 MVFC)
Head coach	Dave Steckel (4th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Sean Coughlin
Co-offensive coordinator	Mack Brown
Defensive coordinator	Marcus Yokeley
Home stadium	Robert W. Plaster Stadium (Capacity: 17,500)

2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					15	–	0
No. 3 South Dakota State ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 23 Northern Iowa ^		5	–	3					7	–	6
Indiana State		5	–	3					7	–	4
Western Illinois		4	–	4					5	–	6
Illinois State		3	–	5					6	–	5
Youngstown State		3	–	5					4	–	7
South Dakota		3	–	5					4	–	7
Missouri State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Southern Illinois		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Bears finished the 2017 season 3–8, 2–6 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for eighth place.

Preseason

Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Bears predicted to finish in ninth place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	390 (39)
2	South Dakota State	270
3	Northern Iowa	258
4	Youngstown State	248
5	Illinois State	248
6	South Dakota	206
7	Western Illinois	163
8	Southern Illinois	139
9	Missouri State	90
10	Indiana State	41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Bears placed three players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.[2]

Offense 2nd team Marquis Prophete – OL

Defense 1st team Angelo Garbut – LB 2nd team Darius Joseph – DB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	at Oklahoma State*		Boone Pickens Stadium Stillwater, OK	FS1	L 17–58	50,103
September 6	10:00 a.m.	Lincoln (MO)*		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN3	W 52–24	1,284
September 15	2:00 p.m.	No. 20 Northern Arizona*		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN3	W 40–8	7,217
September 29	2:00 p.m.	No. 9 Illinois State		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	W 24–21	12,224
October 6	2:00 p.m.	at South Dakota	No. 24	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN3	L 28–35	10,092
October 13	1:00 p.m.	at Indiana State		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 29–26	6,721
October 20	2:00 p.m.	Western Illinois		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 14–31	12,109
October 27	2:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 35–49	6,374
November 3	2:00 p.m.	at No. 7 South Dakota State		Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN+	L 7–59	5,869
November 10	2:00 p.m.	No. 1 North Dakota State		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 7–48	5,224
November 17	4:00 p.m.	at Northern Iowa		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN+	L 0–37	10,072
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

at Oklahoma State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	7	10	0	17
Cowboys	17	14	14	13	58

See also: 2018 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–7	2014	OKST, 40–23

Lincoln (MO)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Tigers	10	0	7	7	24
Bears	7	28	10	7	52

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–5	1983	MOST, 36–12

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Lumberjacks	0	6	0	2	8
Bears	10	13	10	7	40

See also: 2018 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Redbirds	0	0	14	7	21
Bears	3	7	7	7	24

See also: 2018 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
15–21–1	2017	ILST, 34–9

at South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Bears	7	14	7	0	28
Coyotes	14	3	10	8	35

See also: 2018 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–2	2015	USD, 40–10

at Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	14	0	8	29
Sycamores	0	10	7	9	26

See also: 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–13	2017	MOST, 59–20

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	7	3	7	14	31
Bears	7	0	0	7	14

See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–17–1	2017	WIU, 49–30

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	0	21	21	7	49
Bears	7	14	0	14	35

See also: 2018 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–20	2017	MOST, 36–28

at South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	7	0	0	7
No. 7 Jackrabbits	7	31	7	14	59

See also: 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–9	2017	SDSU, 62–30

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	20	14	14	0	48
Bears	0	0	7	0	7

See also: 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–8	2017	NDST, 38–11

at Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
Panthers	10	10	7	10	37

See also: 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–33	2017	UNI, 25–10

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	24	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

References

1. http://www.valley-football.org/news/2018/7/19/football-north-dakota-state-tabbed-as-favorite-to-win-2018-mvfc-title.aspx
2. http://valley-football.org/documents/2018/7/31//2018_MVFC_Preseason_Team_and_Poll.pdf?id=41