2019 Missouri State Bears football team

The 2019 Missouri State Bears football team represented Missouri State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-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 1–10, 1–7 in MVFC play to finish in a two-way tie for ninth place.

2019 Missouri State Bears football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
2019 record	1–10 (1–7 MVFC)
Head coach	Dave Steckel (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Justin Kramer (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Marcus Yokeley (4th season)
Home stadium	Robert W. Plaster Stadium (Capacity: 17,500)

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					16	–	0
No. 5 Northern Iowa ^		6	–	2					10	–	5
No. 7 Illinois State ^		5	–	3					10	–	5
No. 10 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Southern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	5
South Dakota		4	–	4					5	–	7
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Youngstown State		2	–	6					6	–	6
Missouri State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Western Illinois		1	–	7					1	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

On January 10, 2020, Steckel was bought out of his contract with Missouri State.[1]

Previous season

Main article: 2018 Missouri State Bears football team

The Bears finished the 2018 season 4–7, 2–6 in MVFC play to finish in ninth place.

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Bears were predicted to finish in tenth place.[2]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	392 (32)
2	South Dakota State	348 (4)
3	Illinois State	289 (3)
4	Indiana State	279 (1)
5	Northern Iowa	266
6	South Dakota	176
7	Youngstown State	153
8	Western Illinois	128
9	Southern Illinois	89
10	Missouri State	80

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Bears had one player selected to the preseason all-MVFC team.[3]

Defense Angelo Garbutt – LB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 29	8:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona*	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	Pluto TV	L 23–37	6,891
September 14	7:00 p.m.	at Tulane*	Yulman Stadium New Orleans, LA	ESPN3	L 6–58	18,846
September 21	2:00 p.m.	Kennesaw State*	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 24–35	11,421
October 5	3:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	W 37–31 ^3OT	3,149
October 12	2:00 p.m.	South Dakota	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 10–45	5,784
October 19	2:30 p.m.	at No. 1 North Dakota State	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN+	L 0–22	18,252
October 26	2:00 p.m.	No. 11 Northern Iowa	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 6–29	6,583
November 2	2:00 p.m.	No. 4 South Dakota State	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN3	L 14–35	5,108
November 9	2:00 p.m.	at Southern Illinois	Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	ESPN3	L 14–37	4,678
November 16	12:00 p.m.	at No. 7 Illinois State	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN+	L 12–17	5,701
November 23	2:00 p.m.	Indiana State	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 24–51	3,352
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

[4][5][6]

Game summaries

at Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	3	3	10	7	23
Lumberjacks	3	17	14	3	37

See also: 2019 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	2018	W, 40–8

at Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	6	0	0	6
Green Wave	10	28	13	7	58

See also: 2019 Tulane Green Wave football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Kennesaw State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Owls	0	7	21	7	35
Bears	6	10	0	8	24

See also: 2019 Kennesaw State Owls football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	3OT	Total
Bears	0	7	0	14	7	3	6	37
Leathernecks	7	7	0	7	7	3	0	31

See also: 2019 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–18–1	2018	L, 14–31

South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	7	24	14	0	45
Bears	7	0	0	3	10

See also: 2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–2	2018	L, 28–35

at North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
No. 1 Bison	8	7	0	7	22

See also: 2019 North Dakota State Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–9	2018	L, 7–48

Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Panthers	0	19	10	0	29
Bears	0	0	0	6	6

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–34	2018	L, 0–37

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Jackrabbits	6	8	7	14	35
Bears	0	0	0	14	14

See also: 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–10	2018	L, 7–59

at Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	7	7	14
Salukis	13	17	0	7	37

See also: 2019 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–21	2018	L, 35–49

at Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	6	3	0	3	12
No. 7 Redbirds	7	7	0	3	17

See also: 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–21–1	2018	W, 24–21

Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	7	14	23	7	51
Bears	0	7	7	10	24

See also: 2019 Indiana State Sycamores football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
20–13	2018	W, 29–26

References

1. "Missouri State buys out Dave Steckel, looking for new coach". Jefferson City News Tribune via Associated Press. January 10, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
2. "North Dakota State Picked to Win Missouri Valley Football Crown". www.valleynewslive.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
3. "MVFC Announces Preseason All-Conference Team". valley-football.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
4. "2019 Missouri State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
5. Kelley, Kevin (April 6, 2019). "Missouri State releases 2019 football schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
6. "2019 Football Schedule". Missouri State. Retrieved July 31, 2019.