LOS ANGELES – A new era for Missouri State football began here Saturday at the historic LA Memorial Coliseum, a venue that provided a memorable and electric backdrop for the Bears’ first game as an FBS program.
Despite a lack of hospitality by the host Trojans, who prevailed 73-13, the Bears registered some program firsts that will long outlive the game’s final outcome.
Freshman Tristian Gardner logged Missouri State’s first touchdown of the FBS era, pulling in a 33-yard, fourth-down scoring pass from Jacob Clark midway through the second quarter for MSU’s longest play of the game. Yousef Obeid was 2-for-2 on field goals and tacked on an extra point after Gardner’s TD to finish with seven points on the evening, including impressive field goals of 44 and 46 yards.
On the defensive side, Mitchell Toney and DJ Wesolak teamed up to record the Bears’ first takeaway of the season. A fumble recovery at the USC 22 midway through the third quarter that ultimately set up Obeid’s second field goal.
Starting QB Clark finished 16-of-24 for 147 yards and a TD. He was picked off twice, although his second turnover was tipped at the line of scrimmage. Twelve different MSU receivers picked up receptions, including three apiece from Jmariyae Robinson (30 yards) and Dash Luke (25). Robinson extended his streak to 24 consecutive games with a pass reception.
In his debut, Shomari Lawrence led the MSU ground attack, carrying a dozen times for 50 yards, including a key third-down rush of 23 yards on the game’s opening drive that ultimately led to the Bears gaining a 3-0 lead.
Maguire Neal led the Bears with a game-high 9 total tackles, including 5 solo stops, while Bird Lloyd registered 6 total stops.
For the Trojans, who received preseason Top 25 votes in both major polls, Jayden Maiava completed 15-of-18 passes for 295 yards and two scores and also rushed for a touchdown. His understudy Husan Longstreet finished 9-of-9 for 69 yards with a TD pass and a pair of rushing scores.
Longstreet was USC’s second-best rusher, behind King Miller who carried four times for 80 yards, including a 75-yard TD in the third quarter.
In the first half, the Bears opened up the game’s scoring, taking the opening kickoff and chewing up 48 yards on the way to a 44-yard field goal by Obeid to take an early 3-0 advantage. The drive took less than five minutes and was kept alive on a key, 23-yard third-and-three rush by Lawrence to get the Bears into USC territory. The drive stalled at the USC 27, but Obeid put MSU’s first points as an FBS program on the board to punctuate the nine-play scoring march.
The Trojans tacked on scoring drives of 76 and 97 yards in the final minutes of a 28-point second quarter and led 42-10 at the game’s midway point, outgaining the visitors by a 382-143 margin in the process.
For the game, USC accumulated 597 total yards to Missouri State’s 224, accounting for 233 yards on the ground and 364 through the air with 27 first downs to MSU’s 11.
Next week, the Bears will complete their two-game road swing to start the season when they travel to Huntington, W.Va. to take on Marshall (0-1) at 5:00 p.m. (Central).
The Bears home opener on Saturday, Sept. 13 against No. 16 SMU will start at 2:30 p.m.
